Rep. Michael Soboleski’s (R-Phillips) attempt to appeal his failed proposal to ensure enforcement of Maine’s cannabis laws once again failed on Thursday. The bill came in response to a Maine Wire report uncovering over 100 illegal Chinese Marijuana grow sites. Last week, Soboleski joined the Maine Wire to tour several of the locations in Belgrade, including a property on the McGrath Pond Road. "I'm going to do some investigation to see if public funds and tax dollars are being used to finance these triad operations."@mike_soboleski reacts to our reporting on a bank in NY financing almost 70 illegal Chinese marijuana…
Author: Seamus Othot
Seamus Othot
Seamus Othot is a reporter for The Maine Wire. He grew up in New Hampshire, and graduated of The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, where he was able to spend his time reading the great works of Western Civilization. He can be reached at seamus@themainewire.com
Maine’s top legislators considered the appeal on Thursday of a bill concerning the use of advanced Artificial Intelligence (A.I) in state decision-making. The Bill — “An Act to Ensure Determinations Made by the State Are Free from Unethical,Unsafe or Illegal Interference by Artificial Intelligence” — was proposed by Sen. Nicole Grohoski (D-Hancock) The proposal failed with four “yes” votes and six “no” votes. Every Republican on the council, as well as two Democrats, voted against Grohoski’s bill. Sen. Grohoski said that her bill warranted emergency status. “Senator Grohoski considers this bill an emergency, because we are currently in a moment…
The State of Maine intends to develop the untouched Sears Island in Searsport to build and ship offshore wind turbines, according to Downeast lawmakers who oppose the controversial project. “It is the largest undeveloped uninhabited causeway accessible island on the eastern coast of the United States,” said Rep. Lynne Williams (D-Bar Harbor) in her letter defending Rep. Reagan Paul’s (R-Winterport) proposal to stop the development of Sears Island. The lawmakers see the Sears Island project as a negative environmental effect of Maine’s offshore wind plans, which are supposed to lower Maine’s greenhouse gas emission and thereby forestall anthropogenic global warming.…
Maine’s Republican National Committee members are keeping quiet about RNC Chairwomen Ronna McDaniel’s future as the leader of the top GOP fundraising committee as calls mount for her to resign her post following the Nov. 7 elections. Calls for McDaniel to step began almost immediately after the election results came in, but they reached a fever pitch when Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy blamed McDaniel for Republican’s disappointing losses in recent elections during an RNC-sponsored presidential debate the following day. .@VivekGRamaswamySLAMS Ronna McDaniel "Ronna if you want to come on stage tonight, you want to look the GOP voters in…
Following the Maine Wire’s Report on the Illegal Marijuana grow facilities throughout the state operated by Chinese criminals, Rep. Michael Soboleski (R-Phillips) made a proposal to Maine’s legislative committee designed to combat these illegal grow facilities. The proposal was rejected, and unanimously opposed by committee Democrats. The Proposal read “An Act to Provide Investigative Authority to the Maine State Police, Sheriffs and Local Police Regarding Maine’s Recreational Cannabis Laws and Ordinances to Ensure Proper Enforcement.” Rep. Soboleski believes the bill to be extremely important to Maine’s well-being. “This is a serious issue and we need action. “ said Soboleski He…
Rep. Ann Fredericks (R-Sanford), Rep. Lucas Lanigan (R-Sanford), and Sen. Matt Harrington (R-York), submitted a formal letter Saturday objecting to the consolidation of Sanford’s three polling locations into one. “There have been numerous studies that show consolidating polling locations disenfranchises voters,” the Sanford Republicans said in the letter. Harrington announced their official letter of opposition on X (formerly known as Twitter). https://twitter.com/mattaharrington/status/1724116173044777224?s=46&t=xE2MHxG7vFbVWVUqWXYobA The letter comes after the proposal to consolidate the city’s three wards and polling locations into one was discussed at a Sanford city council meeting on November 8th, just one day after a very close election in the…
According to the yearly surveys conducted by the Maine State Housing Authority, homelessness has more than tripled throughout the state since 2019, especially in Cumberland County. At the same time, the state has given vast amounts of taxpayer money to the largest homeless shelters in Portland. According to tax filings, one such organization, Preble Street, brought in $34,328,653 in government funding from 2019-2022, While Shalom House, another similar organization in Portland, brought in a staggering $79,834,717. That money doesn’t include other taxpayer resources, such as services provided by the city or General Assistance. [RELATED: Portland Spends 50 Times More Per…
The Maine State Legislature next year will consider establishing a “Civil Rights Unit” to educate the public on hate and bias following approval by the Legislative Council of a bill from House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland). The proposal, which is only a draft at this point, states “This bill would establish a civil rights unit within the Office of the Attorney General to provide public education on issues regarding hate and bias.” Talbot Ross previously served as the director of equal opportunity and multicultural affairs in Portland, a position she left after an altercation with a parking attendant. The…
The Sanford City Council is considering eliminating two polling locations in future elections, a move Republicans say will disproportionately inconvenience GOP voters. “Since I became the town clerk in 2011, I have had a dream to narrow down the voting places in Sanford and Springdale,” said Sue Cote, the Sanford city clerk, speaking from behind a mask at the City Council meeting. The city council is now considering reducing the number of polling locations in the town from three to one. Sanford is Maine’s eighth largest municipality by population. At the start of her time as city clerk, the town…
Maine’s electrical utilities will not be seized by the state and placed under the control of a quasi-governmental body following the overwhelming rejection of Question 3 by Maine voters on Tuesday. Question 3 asked Mainers “Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine” The new, state-owned company was to be called Pine Tree Power. Question 3 would have dissolved Maine’s two leading, privately owned power companies, Central Maine Power (CMP), and Versant, and replaced them with the state-run Pine Tree Power…
More than 200 colleges across the country, including two in Maine, collectively received billions in funding from foreign powers, including authoritarian, Middle Eastern states, and failed to properly disclose the donations, according to a study conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI). The University of Maine in Orono and Bates College in Lewiston were both listed among institutions that received the funding and failed to report it to the U.S. Department of Education, as is required by federal law. “In 2019, the Department of Education developed an online portal and issued a call to institutions of higher learning to…