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Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
House Speaker Lisa Demuth named among USA Today's 2025 'Women of the Year'
Minnesota's Speaker of the House and Rep. Lisa Demuth has been named among USA Today's 2025 "Women of the Year." Demuth, a Republican representing Cold Spring, became the first person of color to become Speaker of the House this year, having previously made history as the first African American and first biracial Minnesota House minority leader in 2023. The publication has selected 61 women across the United States who are "breaking barriers, pushing for change, and making communities better." The program was first launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. In an interview with USA Today, Demuth spoke about her journey to politics that started in 2007, when she joined the ROCORI Public School District's Board of Education. Demuth then launched her school board campaign and was elected to office as a write-in candidate. She served on the board through 2018 before she made the transition to the Minnesota Legislature. "When [I was] looking at running for a bigger office, or running as a state representative, the footprint is bigger as far as the area that we serve," Demuth told the publication. "I have multiple school districts and multiple constituents." Demuth, who lives in Cold Spring, is also a breast cancer survivor. According to USA Today, the Republican credits her mother for instilling in her values of hard work, independence and integrity, which she considers crucial for leadership. This past November, she was re-elected with 75.4% of the vote. She will be Minnesota's House Speaker at least through 2026 after the DFL and GOP reached a power-sharing agreement after the 2024 elections resulted in a 67-67 split. What followed was controversy when a judge ruled a winning DFL candidate was ineligible for his district, sparking a special election and a power struggle as the Minnesota GOP sought to take advantage of its temporary one-seat majority. The GOP initially refused to seat Rep. Brad Tabke after it emerged 20 votes had been mistakenly thrown out in the Shakopee district, with the DFL boycotting the House in response, denying the GOP a quorum. The struggle ended when a deal was reached towards the beginning of February.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
USA TODAY's Women of the Year: Montana mayor faces affordability alongside her community
Andrea Davis is one of USA TODAY's Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year's honorees at Leading a city she calls "a blue dot" in the Big Sky country of Montana, Andrea Davis understands the need to put people's needs above political ideology. And that's what drew the first-term mayor of Missoula from advocacy to an election in 2023, where voters picked her from a list of non-partisan candidates in part for her focus on an issue affecting her city, her state, and most of her country: housing affordability. Davis grew up in a working-class family from Kalispell, Montana, that always rented. She knows her parents were fortunate to find rentals that were quality homes, in good neighborhoods, and affordable. And she knows that isn't always the case today for many middle-income and low-income families pinched by the increasingly expensive and pinched housing market in the picturesque college town she's called home the past two decades -- which one study named one of the least affordable in the entire country last year. Davis's background in affordable housing, from counseling first-time homebuyers to leading an agency building thousands of housing units, came through the nonprofit Homeward, which under her watch expanded from Missoula to 14 other Montana communities. It's that broad view, encompassing a state with a variety of political views, she's taken to the mayor's office and can now share with communities facing the same issues. In he first year in office, Davis led in Missoula through a process to envision the community's future, in a way that matters to long-time residents, students at the University of Montana, businesses looking to hire and house new workers and to the builders trying to meet the demand for housing. The city's long-range development effort, coined "Our Missoula," adopted a new land-use plan in December after months of working collaboratively across many aisles in the community, finding common ground on wonky issues like zoning maps and permit requirements, just to name a few. Our Missoula hosted meetings across a variety of interest groups along a step-by-step process: asking specific questions on how to improve and what dreams for the future could look like; showing community members the data that helps guide decisions, like a "land equity" map; and promising reforms to land use policy as well as the permitting regulations required of builders in a way that complies with state law. She admits it may have been as important to individuals as it was to attorneys — but that breadth of involvement is what has made the effort meaningful. "When you engage with your growth plan, lean in heavy on engagement. Bring in people, go to them, because they are so much more engaged, and it affects their lives every day," Davis said, offering her advice to other leaders grappling with how to balance building with quality of life and include constituents in decision making. "...You can't have a conversation too early. Don't let this get out so far that you can't do anything about it." Personally, my parents paved the way by teaching me how to afford college when they couldn't pay for it themselves. Professionally, mentors took a chance on me — starting with the founding director of Homeword, Ren Essene, where I built a 22-year career in affordable housing. The board president who hired me as executive director, Ruth Reineking, later encouraged me to run for mayor. Alongside her, a dedicated group of self-proclaimed gray-haired women leveraged their networks and worked hard to help me win. I'm deeply grateful for their belief in me — without them, I wouldn't be here. 2024 USAT's Women of the Year: One of the Montana youth challenging the state to protect climate Proudest: My proudest moment was being elected mayor of Missoula. As a political newcomer, I was considered the 'black horse,' running a true grassroots, community-driven campaign. Winning the five-way primary by 15 points and the general election by 20 points was a testament to the hard work and dedication of so many people who believed in our vision. It was an incredible achievement — but stepping into office came with a dose of humility. Those first few months were a crash course in leadership, reminding me that winning was just the beginning of the real work ahead. Lowest: One of my toughest moments came during a heated debate over an ordinance on homelessness and urban camping. Working with the City Council, I helped shape a policy that was manageable. The community was deeply divided, and no decision of this scale comes without consequences. When the ordinance passed, I felt its weight — some saw progress, others a lack of compassion. But leadership isn't about pride; it's about listening. Community input made it clear that changes were needed, so we adjusted. Responsive government isn't about getting it right the first time — it's about adapting and doing better. Homelessness has no single solution. It requires trial, reflection, and course correction. This experience reinforced my belief that government must always be by the people, for the people — and true leadership means evolving with them. Courage is stepping up and acting, even when you feel unprepared or unsure. People often tell me, 'You're brave,' and I wonder what they mean. Is it because I stepped into leadership without political experience? Is it because I'm willing to serve as an elected official at a time when we are so divided? Is it because I take on complex challenges or have tough conversations? Sure, all of that takes courage. But so does admitting when you're wrong, apologizing, and learning from mistakes. My advice? Own it. That takes courage too. A guiding principle I strive to uphold is maintaining a growth mindset. Every day, I have the opportunity to learn and stay curious, even as I'm expected to have answers and make decisions. In all of it, I remind myself to be aware of both my intent and my impact. My mantras: I am enough. I am the eye of the storm. Because through chaos comes order. As a young girl, I looked up to my older sister — she worked her way through college, traveled, and even taught me to ski. She showed me independence and determination. As an adult, I admire women who lead with grace and compassion. Ruth Reineking, the board president I mentioned earlier, embodies that — she's smart, commanding, and deeply engaged in life. I aspire to live that way too. We only get one life, and I believe in making the most of it — growing, contributing, and creating good for our community. I overcome adversity by leaning on my community and creating space to reset — whether it's a two-minute breather or stepping outside to reconnect with nature. I turn to tools like journaling, reading, poetry, podcasts, and books that offer perspective and resilience strategies. Most importantly, I coach myself to shift my mindset—reframing challenges, considering different angles, and striving to understand others, knowing that their experiences shape their approach. Take care of yourself — your mind and body are the only ones you get. Remember, you can do anything you set your mind to. Seek joy, both in the expected and unexpected. Stay curious, explore freely. Move your body, quiet your mind — exercise and meditate more. Surround yourself with people who lift you up, make you laugh, and give you space to cry. Doing the work to build community is invaluable. This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Missoula mayor Andrea Davis a USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tomeka Hart Wigginton, USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree, melds public service, activism
Tomeka Hart Wigginton is one of USA TODAY's Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year's honorees at Tomeka Hart Wigginton was chairman of the Memphis City Schools and CEO of the Memphis chapter of the Urban League when she had a breakfast meeting that proved to be a pivotal moment in her career. In 2009 the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had just donated $90 million to the Memphis City Schools as part of an ambitious plan to make MCS a national model of great teaching for all children. The next year Bill and Melinda Gates visited Memphis to celebrate the grant and see the work taking place. Wigginton joined a small group that was meeting at a Memphis hotel with the Gateses and others from the foundation. She recalls telling Bill Gates that she would one day work for his foundation. She said Gates' response floored her: "I've heard. What's taking you so long?" Indeed, Tomeka Hart Wigginton has been taking bold steps and rising in the ranks of non-profits for the last two decades. She has been a teacher, lawyer, education advocate, consultant and, yes, she joined the Gates Foundation in 2016. In November, she took on her most high-profile role: President and CEO of the United Way of the Mid-South. Now Wigginton, 53, adds a new title: USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree. In a career defined by public service and community activism, Wigginton says she has been grounded by her working-class upbringing in Memphis. "I have a deep desire to impact the vulnerable communities of Memphis," Wigginton said. Indeed, she realizes that in her years growing up in the Goodwill Village development of North Memphis and, later, Frayser, her family would have been in the target audience for United Way services. More: United Way of the Mid-South appoints Tomeka Hart Wigginton as new president and CEO Wigginton, a graduate of Trezevant High School who received her bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and law degree from the University of Memphis, faced a recent challenge in 2023 when she returned to assist the Memphis Shelby County Schools board in a new role: the board enlisted her as a consultant/facilitator. The board was stymied in its efforts to pick a new superintendent, having to suspend the search. It called on Wigginton, a former school board chair, to help them get back on track. Through board retreats and other meetings led by Wigginton, board members eventually got to a place where they picked a new superintendent. She says career stops and consultant work have helped prepare her to become the chief of the local United Way, a job Wigginton said she became "obsessed" with the prospects of landing once longtime head Dr. Kenneth Robinson announced his retirement in June 2024. "Everything I've ever done -- from teaching, law, CEO of a non-profit and philanthropy -- rolls right into United Way," Wigginton said. "So when I am talking to our clients, I can talk to them about my own upbringing. And how I know what it's like to be poor. That's not judgmental. When I am talking to agency CEOs, I've been a United Way agency CEO, and I know how we are making your life difficult and I want to make your life easier and when we are talking to philanthropists, I've been there, too." She added: "Philanthropy is about the power to impact communities. For a community to grow you need strong community organizations, a strong public sector and aligned philanthropy." What follows is a Q&A with Wigginton: My mom and dad. I was the youngest of five children and, when I got to college, I realized the sacrifices they made for me to go to college, something they had never done. I realized as a kid that I never wanted to let my parents down. When I was a teacher, I had the a-ha moment of realizing that I had to listen more to students. I started talking to them about their families and the environments where they lived. It helped me become a better teacher. I try to be for others what folks have been for me. I try to be intentional about supporting others. It is something I seek out in a genuine way. It is not about me. Passing the bar for the first time. No one in my family had been a lawyer, and I worked really hard in (the University of Memphis) law school. The other was going to work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2016. Gates had helped fund Memphis City Schools' Teacher Effectiveness Program (through a $90 million grant) and I was school board chairman and I met Bill and Melinda Gates. When I first applied to law school in 1997 at Georgia State, I didn't get in. It was a low point and I was shocked. But what I learned from the experience was it was not the right time and place. In 1999 it hit me that I should go home (to Memphis). Every no is not a statement about me and something I did wrong. Coming home to the University of Memphis School of Law was the fight thing. I left at 18 for college (at University of Tennessee-Knoxville) and came back at 28 and it propelled me into what I am doing now. As confident as I am about myself and what I can do, I still struggle with overcoming my thinking that I am not ready for whatever challenge is before me. It's a constant thing (and) I have to remind myself of what I am capable of. The hardest and most rewarding thing I ever did was running for and serving as a (Memphis City Schools) board member for nine years. I would do it all over again, but I am not! My definition of courage is doing what you know needs to be done regardless of consequences. Here's an example from my time on the school board: We had to let go of 300 custodians because we were facing a $60 million budget deficit (at the Memphis City Schools). And we did a study on where we would cut. That was tough, and I was the board chair. But I had to be responsible for this enterprise -- and make a courageous decision. The other decision was the merger of the (city and county) school systems in 2013. And it was the courage to do what was right even though I knew I was going to make a lot of people mad. That you really are smart. You can do hard things and just know that you have no idea who you are going to be, but in 20 years you will be great. Mark Russell is executive editor of The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: United Way's Tomeka Hart Wigginton is USA TODAY Women of Year honoree
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meet Christine Mackay: How she helped breathe new economic life into Phoenix
Christine Mackay is one of the nominees for USA TODAY's Women of the Year program, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year's honorees at Look in any direction in Phoenix, and Christine Mackay's influence can be found. As economic development director of the nation's fifth-largest city, Mackay has played a critical role in attracting companies to Phoenix, diversifying the city's economy and restoring pride in areas worn out by time and disinvestment. Park Central in midtown, the city's first shopping mall, was a lifeless sea of asphalt. It sat mostly vacant before Mackay's efforts helped transform it into a dazzling destination with restaurants, apartments, a hotel and medical school. She's doing the same at Paradise Valley Mall in the northeast and Metrocenter Mall in the west. Both were ghost towns before Mackay set her sights on revival. Now, they're being replaced with lively urban villages with shops, restaurants, entertainment and housing. To the south, Mackay is attracting companies to Phoenix's envisioned tech corridor along the Loop 202 freeway near the towering South Mountain. However, her most widely recognized accomplishment is at the city's north end. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the state's largest direct foreign investment at $65 billion, is set to transform the region. Developers plan to build a "city within a city" surrounding the company, including hotels, offices, industrial buildings, apartments, retail spaces and educational facilities. Mackay was part of the team of local and business leaders who traveled to Taiwan to successfully pitch Phoenix as an expansion site. Her efforts have created tens of thousands of jobs and are expected to make the city more resistant to recession by expanding the economy from one focused on construction and finance to include technology and health care. It has been an "incredible ride" for Mackay, who grew up in Arizona and remembers a time when the Phoenix area looked quite different. "It wasn't the grown-up place it is today. Most of the roads that were north of my home were dirt," she said. Mackay was raised in Scottsdale by a single mom. She remembers horseback riding in the desert and getting in trouble for making "long-distance" phone calls to her friend who lived 30 miles away. "It was just this ideal place to grow up," Mackay said, reflecting. She attended Saguaro High School, then studied at Scottsdale Community College and later graduated from Arizona State University with a business degree. She earned an economic development certificate from the University of Oklahoma. She started working in municipal economic development in Chandler in 1998 and then was recruited to Phoenix in 2014. Before Chandler, she worked in private commercial real estate. Now, she takes joy in helping write the story of the city's future, calling it "the most amazing career you can imagine." But Mackay has had her share of challenges, too. TSMC, a record-breaking deal, was once her biggest defeat. Years before the company selected Phoenix for expansion, it initially rejected the city's proposal. That crushed Mackay, who recalled that she was recruited to Phoenix from her post working in economic development in Chandler for the specific purpose of attracting semiconductor companies. She doubted her worth and questioned her former successes. Maybe it was all a fluke, she thought. Mackay was vindicated when, after re-pitching Phoenix, TSMC announced a $12 billion investment in 2020. That figure would balloon to $65 billion. "The only failure that anybody ever has is not trying again," Mackay said of the experience. She hopes other women remember to be themselves and not accept rejection, even two or three of them. "The worst thing that can happen is someone says no, and that's not such a bad thing," Mackay said. Here's what Mackay said about her life and career. Answers were shortened for length. When I started in real estate in the 1980s, there were not a lot of women in either economic development or commercial real estate, but that didn't stop me. I was excited about the possibilities and worked to learn as much as I possibly could. At that time, I was the only woman in our company, outside of the receptionist and secretaries, so it was me and about 40 men! I worked for Bill Gosnell. He was a signature broker here in Arizona back in the '80s and '90s. And he used to put me — I'm in my 20s — he would stick me in his Mercedes, buy me a Slurpee at the 7-Eleven in the dead of summer in Arizona and take me to failed industrial buildings. And I had to walk the buildings and tell him why they failed. My next was assistant city manager in Chandler to Pat McDermott. He used to challenge me like I've never been challenged in my life. He taught me how to collaborate and how to compromise and convince people that what I needed was right. I would have to say Park Central. ... Nobody had redeveloped a mall in Arizona, so I didn't have anyone to call. My mom worked at Park Central back in the day at Goldwater's. We used to go pick her up when I was a small kid, and there was a pet store in the basement. I'm waiting for my mom, I'm probably 12 years old, and I bought a baby raccoon! ... I didn't own the raccoon by the time my mom came out of the store. Park Central was such a personal project to me, knowing that that was a place my mom had worked and a place that was so near and dear to me where I would go back-to-school shopping when I was a kid. So, being part of solving that puzzle of something no one had ever done before and being part of that team was absolutely amazing. When Creighton University announced that that was the location it had chosen for the medical school, I am surprised that everyone in Phoenix did not hear the war whoop that came from this floor by me when I yelled how excited I was. It was 2016. We had just been informed by TSMC that they had not selected any city in the U.S. to expand. I'd been brought to Phoenix by the city manager to take Phoenix back to being a tech city. It had started as a tech city in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. And in the '90s and early 2000s, it had really lost its way. It had become a back-office, call-center-focused market. The first major pitch I had — to do what I had been part of in the East Valley: bringing semiconductor companies to the market — had slipped through my fingers. I just wore that one really hard. We took this so hard at first and then determined that we would formulate a plan to overcome the challenges they had presented to us. In 2019, after spending three years solving their concerns, Mayor Gallego, Greater Phoenix Economic Council and I went back into Taiwan to pitch one final time. And as they say, the rest is history. While it came out unbelievably well, there were a few years there where I drug pretty low. Was I really worth my salt? Can I really? Was it all a fluke? That everything that had happened in Chandler with the semiconductor companies didn't really have anything to do with our team? It had to do with something else? When we won TSMC in 2020, we kind of got vindicated. The only failure that anybody ever has is not trying again. Until you see a building being built, there is always an opportunity to keep going after these projects. The greatest confidence you have to have in your city is in the fact that you can do these things, that this is a place where you can deliver world-class (projects). My mom taught me to never give up. She used to tell me how stubborn I am, and I carry that stubbornness into my life and always have. What I would tell other women is that don't let one or two or three things get you down. You have to have the confidence from within yourself. ... And if you're confident and you're brave, if you tackle things with humor and grace, it gives a much easier way for you to be able to find that path, to be able to to move a team forward, to help people move forward with you. Just because you stumble and because you fail? Don't get inside your head. Don't get inside your head and think, "I'm a failure. I can't do this. I'm never going to find my place," because trust me, you will. When former Phoenix City Manager Ed Zuercher hired me, he said, "We've interviewed 73 applicants for this job. Why should we hire you?" I had a job (in economic development in Chandler); I didn't really care what I said. And I told him, "Because if you don't hire me, I'm just going to keep taking everything from you that I want." He just laughed. So be brave, be yourself. Don't be afraid that people aren't going to like you because they will. If you're authentic, they will. They will hold on to that. I take on challenges like a puzzle. How do the pieces fit together, what do we need to accomplish and overcome, and who are the people we need at the table to make decisions? We strategize on all possible outcomes and then execute from there. I will tell you though, my team will most likely tell you that I am just stubborn! Don't listen to anyone who tells you that you can't do something. Think about what you want to accomplish, and then go for it. The ride is incredible, and getting to wake up each day and getting to build a city is the most amazing career you can imagine! This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Christine Mackay honored for efforts to grow economy, rebuild Phoenix
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rep. Chellie Pingree, Maine Women of the Year honoree, fights for the environment
Chellie Pingree is one of USA TODAY's Women of the Year, a recognition of women who have made a significant impact in their communities and across the country. The program launched in 2022 as a continuation of Women of the Century, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote. Meet this year's honorees at PORTLAND, Maine — In 2002, then state senator Chellie Pingree lost the race to represent Maine in the U.S. Senate to incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and thought her career was nearly over. 'There was that moment of not having any money, having lost my election, didn't have a job," she said, recalling feeling like it was a "crisis point. I really didn't know where I would go." Twenty-two years later, she has just been re-elected to her ninth term in the United States House of Representatives representing Maine's First District, which covers the southern, coastal part of the state. Pingree, who is the ranking member on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of Appropriation, focuses much of her work on agriculture and the environment. Last session, she introduced over a dozen bills addressing issues facing coastal communities to agricultural concerns like food waste, as well as launched her 'Slow Fashion Caucus' to curb the fashion industry's carbon emissions. 'In Maine, we care deeply about our environment,' she said. With a district largely along the seacoast, her constituents are particularly affected by rising tides and storms. Maine is also home to many natural resource-based industries like fishing, farming and logging, all of which have been impacted by climate change. The past couple years, she's fought back against budget cuts made by the Republican-controlled House to the Environmental Protection Agency, succeeding in limiting the severity, and brought her Republican colleagues to Maine to encourage the creation of bipartisan legislation on agriculture. The fight isn't close to over; Pingree said she is 'tremendously worried' about Congress' ability to address climate change in Donald Trump's second term as president. He has promised to 'drill, drill, drill' and has seemed uninterested in investing in renewable energy. But she's not about to give up either, on climate change action or other priorities. 'If I was a doctor, you wouldn't be able to say, 'Just send me the patients who are going to be healthy, because I don't want anybody who's sick,'' she said. 'Politics is really the same way. You can't say, 'I only want to serve when I'm in the majority.'' In recognition of her leadership in environmental and agricultural issues and her long history of serving the people of Maine, Chellie Pingree is Maine's USA TODAY Women of the Year honoree. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity. I got my start in elected office in a very tiny town. My hometown, North Haven, is only just over 400 people. I started out going to town meetings, seeing how openly people were willing to argue with each other to support the things that they thought were important, and how many people in town ran for office. I continued to be inspired by Maine's many small towns, or people who stand up every day to run for a local office. Sometimes these are the hardest jobs, because if there's a controversy, it's a local controversy. It's your next-door neighbor, it's the person you see at the grocery store. Especially in our sort of fractured political environment in Washington, I think there are good lessons to be learned. If you have a dispute in your small town, you just don't pack up and move away. Generally, you duke it out, and you try to work it out. That's the amazing thing about this kind of work is those moments can be very different. I've had some proud moments on the House floor where I have out argued a colleague, a climate change denier who didn't know what they were talking about, and I could tell in the end that I made a much better argument than them and maybe even won the amendment. I've also had a handful of opportunities where I've gotten to pin the medals on a military vet. You're talking to somebody who served in World War II, or the Vietnam War, or other times who never received the recognition that they deserved. That's a teary moment. Courage is absolutely about speaking up for what you think is right. The courage to say what you believe, to know that you're going to take criticism for it — you never have everybody always agreeing with you, but you have to have a moral compass. It's the very simple question about, what's the right thing here? What's the right thing to do? Things can be tough in this job. You can win elections; you can lose elections. You can make a mistake. But being able to sort of recenter yourself and be around the people that you care about or that you know will ground you in the things that are normal in life really helps. I have a feeling I'm about to approach it. I think in politics, the lowest moments are often when you really face those big questions of, is our democracy going off the rails? When you see those things falling apart at times, you have to remind yourself that we're there to try to make sure that we fix our problems and that we become a better nation. Barring disease or accidental death, you're going to live a long life. I had children young, so there were many times when I thought I missed the opportunity to have a career. I came to realize you get many stages of your life, and you get many opportunities. It's never too late to try anything. Absolutely enjoy what you're doing when you're doing it, and recognize that in three years, you might be doing something totally different again. So don't worry about it. Don't panic. The other thing I always tell people, if you ever have a break, like if you get laid off from your job or take a break from your work, as long as you're financially stable and you can get by, just enjoy that period, because you're going to be working most of your life. It's very rare that you have a few months where you can slow down. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Chellie Pingree, Maine Women of Year honoree, fights for environment
