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.
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PublishedAugust 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.
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PublishedAugust 6, 2019
Narrow Gauge Railroad staying in Portland
The nonprofit considered moving to Gray after the Portland Co. was sold for redevelopment, but it now plans to remain on the Portland waterfront, where it has operated since 1993.
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PublishedAugust 2, 2019
Portland begins final push as it transitions migrants out of Expo
City and immigrant leaders will move asylum seekers to the Family Shelter and a Salvation Army overflow shelter by Aug. 15.
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PublishedAugust 1, 2019
Migrant in Portland ‘shocked’ by fake Twitter account used to smear fellow asylum seekers
Someone posed as Prince Pombo Mafumba in an attempt to stoke xenophobia and anger among Mainers.
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PublishedJuly 30, 2019
Sen. Collins co-sponsors bill requiring presidential campaigns to report foreign contacts
She is the first Republican senator to support the measure, but Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has so far blocked the bill from coming to a vote.
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PublishedJuly 25, 2019
Immigrant leaders in Portland say migrants will accept available housing
That appears to be a shift since Tuesday, when city staffers said housing offers outside Portland had been repeatedly turned down.
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PublishedJuly 24, 2019
Portland intensifies effort to find housing for asylum seekers who remain at Expo
As a political battle over mixed messaging continues, city leaders try to clear up confusion that may have caused some migrant families to turn down housing offers outside Portland.
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PublishedJuly 23, 2019
Several councilors say mayor misinformed asylum seekers about housing options
Mayor Ethan Strimling denies that he has given migrant families a mixed message about refusing housing outside Portland, as the deadline to close the shelter at the Portland Expo approaches.
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PublishedJuly 15, 2019
Portland will debate spending $800,000 in donations for asylum seekers
City staff recommends using some of the money to help pay for costs of running the temporary emergency shelter at the Expo, but immigrant advocates warn that such a use would be contrary to the intent of donors.
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PublishedJune 30, 2019
Migrant influx to Portland prompts emergency declaration, flood of generosity
City officials and others are now focusing on the difficult next phase of the relief effort: moving the families out of the temporary shelter at the Expo into more stable housing.
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