WASHINGTON, March 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Maine Governor John Baldacci is honored tonight with the American Medical Association's (AMA) top government service award for an elected official.

By SHARON KILEY MACK; OF THE NEWS STAFF PITTSFIELD - One mother worried that neither of her adult sons has health insurance. One man talked about how his insurance costs rose to a level he could not afford when he decreased his work hours.

By MEG HASKELL; OF THE NEWS STAFF Trish Riley, the primary architect of Gov. John Baldacci's embattled Dirigo Health Reform of 2003, was in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to deliver testimony on the state's experience in expanding health care coverage to its residents.

By SUSAN M COVER Leaders from various business groups may launch a people's veto effort to overturn new taxes that the Legislature enacted recently on beer, wine and soda.

Regardless of what the future holds for the state's Dirigo Health plan, a proposal to raise the tax on cigarettes - whether to bolster Dirigo or any other health-related endeavor - has little downside when compared to the positive potential to further dampen the scourge that is tobacco addiction.