Randy Billings

Portland Press Herald

Randy Billings is a government watchdog and political reporter who has been covering Portland City Hall for the Press Herald since 2012. His beat touches on a wide range of topics, including immigration, homelessness, education, tourism, real estate development and the economy in Maine’s largest city. He has been a Portland-based journalist since 2005. A life-long Mainer who loves the outdoors, Randy is also a bassist who brews his own beer at his North Yarmouth home, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Latest

Published
September 4, 2019

Portland accepts, allocates donations for asylum seekers

The city received more than $900,000 to help cover shelter and basic needs of more than 400 asylum seekers who arrived over the summer.
Published
September 3, 2019

Fledgling Portland parks group outlines priorities, begins raising money

The Portland Parks Conservancy is looking to establish a Portland Youth Corps for the city parks, while raising money to increase access and enjoyment of a playground and planned trail system in the Riverton neighborhood.
Published
September 2, 2019

Driver charged with manslaughter in rollover crash that killed 3 in Acadia

According to a National Park Service officer, the man had been drinking and was driving too fast.
Published
August 30, 2019

Great Diamond Island residents’ bid to secede from Portland falls short

City Clerk Katherine Jones says the Great Diamond Island Exploratory Committee fell 3 signatures short of the 50 needed to formally begin the secession process.
Published
August 28, 2019

Advocates fail again to get expansion of ranked-choice voting on Portland ballot

City officials reviewed 300 contested signatures and say Fair Elections Portland still fell 76 short, even after the city lowered the number of signatures required to qualify for the ballot.
Published
August 23, 2019

Group pushing ranked-choice voting challenges city’s rejection of petition

Its petition effort to expand the voting system to citywide races fell short, but Fair Elections Portland is challenging signatures that were disqualified.
Published
August 21, 2019

Petition seeking ranked-choice voting for more Portland offices falls short

But Fair Elections Portland did gather enough signatures on a separate petition to ask voters to create a local program to provide public financing to political campaigns.
Published
August 20, 2019

Portland denies developer’s claims in lawsuit over failed Midtown project

City officials dispute allegations in a lawsuit brought by Federated Cos. over the $85 million project that it wanted to build in Bayside.
Published
August 20, 2019

Affordable senior housing proposed in downtown Portland

Community Housing of Maine is proposing an $11.4 million project that would include 11 units of housing for long-term stayers in the city-run homeless shelter.
Published
August 13, 2019

Maine hosts give weary migrant families time to rest – and hope

Some Maine families have opened their homes to recently arrived asylum seekers, who have spent months in temporary shelters and, in some cases, government detention centers.