Author: Steve Robinson

AUGUSTA — Three men were arrested and charged after police say they burglarized and damaged ATMs at two Augusta credit unions late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. According to the Augusta Police Department, who issued a press statement after The Robinson Report made inquiries, officers first responded at about 11 p.m. March 10 to a burglary alarm at Trademark Federal Credit Union on Edison Drive. Shortly after midnight, police were called to a second burglary alarm at Connected Credit Union on Civic Center Drive. When officers arrived at the Civic Center Drive location, they encountered a dark-colored Toyota sedan…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) learned the hard way Friday that President Donald J. Trump was serious about declaring War on Fraud during his Tuesday State of the Union Address. Mills, unbeknownst to the rest of Maine, had quietly pleaded with the federal government for extra time to comply with a Feb. 6 demand from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for detailed records related to Maine’s administration of the multi-billion-dollar welfare program known in Maine as MaineCare. The Trump Administration has rejected Gov. Janet Mills’ request for a 30-day extension to turn over records demanded by federal officials…

What began as a routine warrant check in a quiet Washington County town exploded into a hail of gunfire — and ended with three Massachusetts suspects behind bars and nearly 300 grams of cocaine seized, authorities said. Nena C. Willey (37YO) Steuben ME Freudi A. Gonzales Adame (24YO) Boston MA Yeremi A. Baez (18 YO) Boston MA Corey A. Perry (42YO) Steuben ME Laura M Anderson (36YO) Milbridge ME Erilyn Diaz Gomez (22YO) Boston MA According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, two of the alleged narcotics dealers had deportation orders that were ignored by police in Massachusetts. “Both Gomez…

Thanks to the Trump Administration’s unprecedented release of Medicaid claims data, taxpayers may now get insight into how one of America’s most expensive welfare programs has been spending their money. (Note: The map is based on federal data released by the Department of Health and Human Services. The data show monthly claims-level payments to Medicaid providers from 2018 to 2024. That data was layered with the National Provider Index to form a complete picture of the business connected to each set of billing records. The index used here is a measure of fraud risk based on indicators commonly used by…

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is throwing her weight behind the House-passed SAVE America Act, saying the revised bill strikes the right balance between election security and voter access — while making clear she won’t support scrapping the Senate’s legislative filibuster to get it across the finish line. In an exclusive comment to The Maine Wire, Sen. Collins said she supports the current version of the SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote in U.S. elections.Collins said she will support the version of the SAVE Act that has now cleared the House, calling it a “simple reform” aimed…

The U.S. Marshals executed a high-risk warrant on Howe St. in Lewiston on Monday, searching for two fugitives from justice wanted for a Massachusetts homicide—and the Maine Wire was along for the ride for the Marshals’ first-ever media embed operation. Thompson, right, was arrested on an outstanding Massachusetts warrant for homicide while Slade, left, was suspected of serving as an accomplice after the fact. Both individuals were transported to a nearby facility for processing. The interagency enforcement action resulted in four arrests, including the homicide suspect, a Brockton, Mass., man who had recently been released after serving a 15-year sentence…

The U.S. federal government is demanding a $28.7 million refund from Maine as an audit uncovers rampant documentation failures in rehabilitative and community support services. The Mills Administration continues to face criticism over the mismanagement of Maine’s largest welfare program, MaineCare, including a federal report published Thursday that threatens to blow yet another hole in the state’s budget. [RELATED: One Portland Office Building Has Five Medicaid Agencies and a Somali Money Transfer Office…] The audit also sheds new light on Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey’s Jan. 10, 2025, directive to Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) employees that they refuse to cooperate…

The Maine State Police (MSP) were part of a massive enforcement action Wednesday against Yezi Craft Cannabis, a.k.a. Yezi USA, LLC, on Norridgewock Road in Fairfield, a Chinese-controlled cannabis company with a checkered history and multiple disciplinary actions. Although the details of Wednesday’s enforcement actions at 201 Norridgewock Road are still filtering in, the locations history and ties to Chinese organized crime are apparent from public records from the Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP). Yezi Craft Cannabis and its related companies are a prime example of how Maine’s labyrinthine cannabis rules are no match for sophisticated criminal groups from out…

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives attempted to ban Maine Wire reporter Jon Fetherston from entering the House chamber alongside other members of the media on Wednesday. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/2009007913579499537?s=20 First, some show and organization notes: As you may have noticed, there are some new names and faces at the Maine Wire. Newspaper and talk radio veteran Tom Shattuck has joined us as the Managing Editor. In edition to handling editorial duties at the Maine Wire, he’ll be hosting and train-conducting new weekly live content via Maine Wire TV, which you’ll be able to find on the Robinson Report and YouTube, as well…

Gateway Community Services CEO Abdullahi Ali, a failed candidate for the 2024 presidential race in Jubbaland, Somalia, is selling his four-bedroom Hardy Road home. Gateway Community Services CEO Abdullahi Ali — a top Maine Democrat insider who has been hailed by liberal newspapers for his work on behalf of “New Mainers” — may be saying goodbye to the state where he built a multimillion-dollar Medicaid agency. On Monday, Ali’s primary residence at 58 Hardy Road in Falmouth hit the market for a cool $1 million, suggesting the Somali-American refugee would prefer to have some liquid cash rather than an asset…

Dozens of federal agents working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security probed multiple locations in Lewiston on Tuesday that have been associated with Somali fraud allegations and gun theft charges. Those locations included sites linked to Gateway Community Services CEO Abdullahi Ali and his former deputies State Rep. Deqa Dhalac (D-South Portland) and Rep. Yusuf Yusuf (D-Portland), as well as a 210 Blake St. property owned by Maine Immigrant and Refugee Services (MEIRS) founder Rilwan Osman. News of the federal investigation emerged subtly on an X account associated with Homeland Security Investigations New England, @HSINewEngland.  “HSI is actively conducting…

State Rep. Deqa Dhalac, the former assistant executive director of Gateway Community Services, has become ensnared in a congressional investigation into Medicaid fraud spanning Minnesota and Maine. Abdullahi Ali campaigning for local office in Jubbland with his campaign staffers. House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is demanding briefings from the Justice Department and Treasury over Minnesota’s ballooning social-services fraud scandal. Comer’s sweeping requests expand and escalate an already explosive investigation targeting industrial-scale Medicaid fraud carried out primarily by members of the Somali diaspora in Minnesota. But in the fine print, he flags a Maine Medicaid contractor already under intense scrutiny:…

Gov. Janet Mills twice won re-election with the backing of the state workers union. Now union officials are struggling to explain why Democratic leaders are giving state workers the shaft.  Janet Mills speaks at a Oct. 2022 campaign event with MSEA-SEIU 1989 (Source:Facebook.com) The union representing thousands of Maine executive-branch employees is warning members that contract negotiations with the Mills Administration have reached a breaking point, accusing state negotiators of lowballing pay raises and pushing “unreasonable and unlawful takeaways” in bargaining. In an email sent to executive-branch union members, the Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA-SEIU Local 1989) said it has…

An investigation by The Robinson Report suggests migrant NGOs with no connection to the Lewiston shooting survivors were allowed to raid funds raised in the names of the shooting victims. In the wake of the October 25, 2023, Lewiston shooting, Governor Janet Mills (D) promoted the Maine Community Foundation as the trustworthy conduit for giving to the victims of Maine’s deadliest mass murder.  After accepting $6.6 million in donations made for the benefit of the victims’ families and survivors, the MCF distributed just $4.7 million to those individuals. The remaining $1.9 million went to NGOs, many of them politically connected,…

The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating Maine’s provision of Medicaid benefits to illegal aliens. But Maine officials may be giving congressional investigators political spin and half-truths instead of straightforward answers to the questions posed in a Sept. 3 letter to Gov. Janet Mills (D), according to records obtained under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act. The documents show a coordinated effort by Mills administration officials to minimize disclosure and avoid a congressional subpoena, rather than provide the House Oversight Committee with a full accounting of Maine’s Medicaid spending on noncitizens, including illegal aliens. State officials scrambled…

Federal authorities have arrested a convicted sex offender and illegal alien hiding out in Maine, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. The Maine Violent Offender Task Force apprehended Esteban Chavez-Gonzalez, 35, in Gray on a federal warrant for illegal re-entry, the agency said Thursday. Based on the warrant, federal authorities have concluded that Chavez-Gonzalez, who has used multiple aliases and does not have a social security number, is present in the U.S. illegally. The press release did not reveal his country of origin. It’s unclear how he was able to remain in the U.S. for nearly three years as a…

Unsafe levels of chlorfenapyr present in cannabis vape cartridges have led the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy to issue a recall for products marketed by Yani Maine. “This recall is a result of an investigation into a consumer complaint about an adverse health reaction,” the cannabis regulator said in a statement Monday.” “OCP’s investigation included testing on the batch of vape cartridges alleged to have caused the adverse reaction,” OCP said. “The products are being recalled due to those testing results showing unsafe levels of the pesticide chlorfenapyr.” [RELATED: Illegal Chinese Neurotoxins Are Coming to Maine’s Blackmarket Cannabis Grows: Maine…

A Virginia medical cannabis company has filed a sweeping lawsuit naming DoorDash Inc. among several defendants accused of selling and delivering cannabis products that exceed state THC limits. Dalitso LLC, which operates under the brand Beyond Hello Cannabis Dispensary, filed the complaint in Henrico County Circuit Court on Oct. 24. The company alleges that DoorDash, Total Wine & More, and associated distributors conspired to sell “intoxicating cannabinoid products” disguised as legal hemp. According to the suit, Total Wine’s Arlington store sold a four-pack of “Coastalo THC Red Cream Soda” with a combined 5.65 milligrams of total THC—above Virginia’s two-milligram limit…

Reddit posts reviewed by The Robinson Report show Graham Platner, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, was a member of Maine’s Socialist Rifle Association and taught firearms courses. The progressive star revealed in an Aug. 8, 2020 post that he’d provided advanced firearms instruction to the far left group, including a “defensive handgun course” he put on in June of 2020, shortly after the Black Lives Matter riots erupted across the country.The Socialist Rifle Association first came to national attention following the assassination of Christian activist Charlie Kirk and indications that his assassin, Tyler Robinson, may have connections to the far-left…

Watch Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson’s full episode on the Shawn Ryan Show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bdIKiDQxD8 Subscribe via RobinsonReport.Substack.com

Emails show how a major Chinese chemical exporter is conspiring to evade U.S. tariff and trade policy to get synthetic THC analogues into America’s recreational drug market. How are convenience stores and gas stations throughout the U.S. able to supply so-called “gas station weed” to customers with minimal regulatory oversight and for dirt cheap prices? The answer may lie in messages from a relatively unknown chemical factory in China. An email chain obtained by The Robinson Report shows that one industrial chemical supplier with manufacturing facilities in Zhejiang and Anhui provinces in China, as well as one in Thailand, has a three-step…

The bankruptcy of ModivCare, a Colorado-based transportation company contracted to manage MaineCare’s nonemergency medical transportation program, has thrust one of Maine’s largest public service contracts into uncertainty. Thousands of low-income Mainers depend on nonemergency transportation to reach medical appointments for dialysis, chemotherapy, mental health care, methadone, suboxone, and other essential treatments. When ModivCare filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, those rides—and the health outcomes tied to them—were suddenly in question. A group of state lawmakers gathered on Wednesday to urge the state to coalesce around a strategy to ensure that the financial crisis faced by the out-of-state company won’t…

Steve Robinson talks about the documentary he published with the Tucker Carlson Network (TCN) — High Crimes: The Chinese Mafia’s Takeover of Rural America — and the national security implications of allowing Chinese Communist-backed drug cartels to proliferate throughout the United States. Robinson covers the spread of Chinese organized crime throughout New England, his investigation into black-market cannabis trafficking, as well as the “Hemp Loophole” Congress created that has allowed the CCP’s drug cartels to build an empire generating more than $150 billion per year. That investigation springboards into the full scope of synthetic drugs funneled through unregulated gas stations and hemp…

A Newburgh resident expecting an Amazon delivery of rice, paper plates and a toy lightsaber instead opened a box to find 250 state election ballots. The discovery raised alarms about election security, leading the Maine Republican Party Chairman to call for a federal criminal investigation as the state is mere weeks from deciding on whether it will join 36 other states in requiring some form of Vote ID. The package arrived Tuesday looking beat up and re-taped, as if tampered with. Inside, along with household items, were bundles of ballots packaged in tamper-evident packs of 50 — the same format…

A South Portland man who fled the country after being indicted on multiple counts of gross sexual assault has been captured in Mexico and returned to the United States, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. The Maine Violent Offender Task Force announced Friday the arrest of Marc Assante, 37, in Hermosillo, Mexico, on a State of Maine warrant for seven counts of gross sexual assault. Assante was indicted by a York County grand jury on March 6, 2023, following an investigation by the Healthcare Crimes Unit of the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the Buxton Police Department. He pleaded not…

The number of public school employees who celebrated the political assassination of Christian and conservative commentator Charlie Kirk has reached such a high level that teachers’ unions are now tracking Kirk’s supporters and preparing to coordinate the legal defense for teachers whose jobs are now in jeopardy. An internal union email obtained by the Maine Wire shows the National Education Association (NEA) has told its members that it’s monitoring supporters of the slain conservative activist and is preparing legal and communications defenses for school teachers who publicly celebrated his assassination. The email, sent by the head of the NEA’s Portland…

A Portland man with a lengthy record of arrests and violent encounters with police has been sentenced in federal court after years of run-ins with law enforcement, including shootings, high-speed chases, and a home invasion carried out while he was free on bail. U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced Mohamud Abdullahi, 32, to more than six years in prison this week for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The conviction stems from a November 2023 incident when Abdullahi pulled a gun from his waistband and fired two shots into the air near Commercial Street in Portland. Officers later…

Bowdoin College cancelled a vigil for Charlie Kirk scheduled for Sunday evening in a campus-wide email that said the Maine State Police had warned the elite liberal arts college of “external” threats made against the event, hosted by the Bowdoin College Conservatives. “In the past 15 minutes, we were informed by the Maine State Police of external threats connected to the event,” a Bowdoin College security officials said in an urgent all-campus email. “While details remain limited, the information we received is credible enough to require us to take immediate precautionary steps.” Maine State Police Spokeswoman Shannon Moss has not…

Three men face aggravated drug trafficking charges following a disturbance in Machias that led to the seizure of suspected fentanyl and crack cocaine, police said. The Machias Police Department arrested Gregory Antil, 59, of Machias; David Lawless, 39, of Baring; and Angel Suarez, 27, of Lawrence, Massachusetts, on Friday. All three were charged with Class A aggravated drug trafficking, according to a department news release. Police said officers responded to a disturbance at 1 Pleasant St. at about 12:09 p.m. Friday. When officers arrived, they determined a fight had taken place. Two men were taken to Downeast Community Hospital with…

Twenty-six Maine high school seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2026 National Merit Scholarship Program, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced Wednesday. The students are among more than 16,000 semifinalists nationwide who will compete for nearly $26 million in scholarships next spring. To advance to finalist status, students must submit a detailed application, maintain strong academic records, write an essay, and earn confirming SAT or ACT scores. About 95 percent of semifinalists are expected to become finalists, and roughly half will win scholarships. The Maine semifinalists, listed by town and high school, are: Augusta, Cony High School: John Peter…

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that the individuals it had detained while a deranged transgender activist attempted to crash into them with his Lexus were in fact present in the U.S. illegally. The incident occurred on Aug. 25, when the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) and the Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) responded to the scene of a commercial box-truck accident in Washington. Image courtesy of DHS.gov Authorities quickly ascertained that Victor Cardona-Calderon, 57, of New York, was the driver of a commercial truck. Calderon, who presented law enforcement with both a New York Drivers License and a Colombian…

A Democratic lawmaker has been summoned by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office for allegedly violating Maine election law during an April 4 local election in Blue Hill. Rep. Nina Milliken( D-Blue Hill) is accused of standing in the doorway of the Blue Hill municipal building during the election and urging passersby to vote for her friend and political ally, Amanda Woog, who later won a seat on the select board, according to multiple sources familiar with the case. “[W]hile within 250 feet of the entrance to the voting place, as well as within the voting place itself, Nina A. Milliken,…

A group of conservative students at Bowdoin College in Brunswick are hosting a performance of October 7th, a theater production based on the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks committed by Palestinian terrorists against Israelis. “October 7th is a verbatim play taking the real words of survivors of the October 7th massacre in Israel and bringing their stories to stage. In a time of rising campus antisemitism, it is important to remember, and hear the truth, of that horrific day,” the ticketing page for the event states. “After sold out runs in NY, at Princeton and UCLA, October 7th, the play…

Two New York men have agreed to plead guilty in a federal case alleging they lied to banks to buy three Maine homes that were later used as illegal marijuana grow sites, according to plea agreements filed this week in U.S. District Court in Bangor. The plea bargain is extremely generous to Yuantong Liang, 36, and Yongliang Deng, 34, and was struck by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maine, which still does not have a U.S. Attorney nominated by President Donald Trump. Plea papers say Yuantong Liang, 36, will admit to one count of conspiracy to commit…

The Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office alerted Lewiston police on Aug. 26 to suspicious phone activity by a Lewiston juvenile being held at the Long Creek Youth Development Center, authorities said. In monitored calls, the juvenile used a girlfriend to relay messages to associates, directing them to pressure two people to confess to a recent shooting and threatening violence, including plans to obtain a gun to carry out those threats, the Lewiston Police Department said in a news release. After identifying and interviewing everyone involved, investigators consulted prosecutors, and the juvenile was charged with criminal solicitation of murder and conspiracy…

A tuberculosis outbreak has gripped a large emergency shelter in Portland, Maine, prompting urgent health measures and mounting concern among medical staff and city officials alike. The outbreak, centered at the 166 Riverside Shelter – a 179-bed facility exclusively for non-citizens seeking asylum in the U.S. – has already seen 21 individuals test positive via PPD (Purified Protein Derivative) testing, according to a memo distributed Thursday night to medical professionals in Maine. The situation is being described by officials as “ongoing,” with additional testing efforts being coordinated by the State of Maine in collaboration with Portland Public Health. So far,…

The U.S. Treasury Department is sounding the alarm on sprawling Chinese money laundering networks that officials say are moving hundreds of billions of dollars through the American financial system, bankrolling drug cartels, human trafficking, and real estate purchases. In an advisory released Thursday, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) said it identified roughly $312 billion in suspicious transactions linked to Chinese money laundering networks, or CMLNs, between January 2020 and December 2024. The analysis covered more than 137,000 reports filed under the Bank Secrecy Act by U.S. financial institutions. “Money laundering networks linked to individual passport holders from the People’s…

Three subsidiaries of a major cannabis company filed a lawsuit Wednesday accusing a network of out-of-state manufacturers and local smoke shops of flooding Pennsylvania with unregulated, high-potency THC products disguised as legal hemp, eroding the state’s tightly controlled medical marijuana market and endangering public health. The complaint, filed in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, claims the defendants’ products — including THC-infused flower, vapes, gummies and edibles — violate Pennsylvania’s THC limits and bypass the licensing, testing and safety rules that licensed dispensaries must follow. [RELATED: Illicit Chinese Toxins Discovered at Somerset County Triad Cannabis Operation…] The plaintiffs,…

A 17-year-old was arrested early Thursday after police said he led officers on a short chase through downtown Lewiston before crashing into a building. Now, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are investigating both the juvenile and his mother, according to two sources familiar with then case, suggesting the pair are present in the U.S. illegally. The Lewiston Police Department declined to provide the incident report for the arrest because the driver is a minor, and the Maine Wire is opting not to name the suspect or his mother. The teen faces multiple charges, including refusing to stop, driving to endanger,…

Solon property once the site of an illegal grow targeted for receivorship

Nine people were arrested after Somerset County sheriff’s detectives hit two Skowhegan homes with simultaneous drug search warrants just after 5 a.m. Tuesday, turning up more than 45 grams of suspected fentanyl, more than 20 grams of crack cocaine and a loaded .45-caliber pistol, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The warrants, executed at about 5:08 a.m. on Cedar Street and at 23 Waterville Road, Apartment 3, followed a months-long investigation into alleged drug sales at both addresses, according to the sheriff’s office. Five sheriff’s detectives, seven patrol deputies and four Waterville police detectives carried out the raids,…

A Maine man who vanished in 2024 after paddling off with a canoe, triggering a multi-day, multi-agency search and fears he drowned, was arrested last week at an Amtrak station in La Plata, Missouri, the U.S. Marshals Service said in a Monday news release. Gregory Heimann, 51, was taken into custody Aug. 21 on a federal arrest warrant for making false statements. He had been a fugitive for more than a year following the issuance of an April 29, 2024, warrant obtained by the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General, according to the release. Heimann disappeared April 19,…

An illegal alien from Africa was behind the wheel of a 2013 Buick Verano that killed a Massachusetts woman in Lewiston’s Kennedy Park Friday afternoon, and he had a Maine driver’s permit. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took Lionel Francisco, 31, into custody Friday evening after he was arrested by the Lewiston Police Department. He is currently being held in New Hampshire at the Strafford County Correctional Facility, awaiting deportation back to Angola. According to a press release from the Lewiston Police Department, the accident occurred at approximately 12:55 p.m. Friday. Police said a 911 caller reported that a…

If your only news sources were the Bangor Daily News, the Maine Trust for Local News, or Maine Public, then you might be totally in the dark on a lot of major news. But this week, the lengthy list of stories Maine’s august media are giving a good leaving alone includes some of the most significant revelations to emerge about the corruption of the American intelligence community since the Church Committee. Specifically, new documents disclosed by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have totally blown to smithereens the fake “Russia hacking” narrative. Previous disclosures showed that, following Trump’s 2016 election, former President Barack…

The chief of Maine’s Capitol Police was arrested Friday after allegedly assaulting a local police officer outside a Hallowell bar, records reviewed by The Maine Wire show. It was not the first time the former Massachusetts police officer has had an encounter with Maine law enforcement. Matthew Clancy, 62, of Sidney, was charged with misdemeanor counts of assault, disorderly conduct and refusing to submit to arrest following a late-night disturbance Friday in downtown Hallowell, according to police records. But on July 8, 2023, Clancy avoided a charge of operating under the influence after an interaction with a Waterville police officer.…

Maine Capitol Police Chief Matthew M. Clancy, 62, of Sidney, was taken to the ground, cuffed and stuffed after biting off more than he could chew with a Hallowell police officer Friday night outside some popular drinking establishments. According to information reviewed by The Maine Wire, the Hallowell police officer observed a subject causing a disturbance outside a Water Street bar and quickly identified a tall man arguing with security. When the officer instructed the man to leave the premises immediately, Clancy became belligerent. According to police records, Clancy poked the officer in the forehead and told him he did…

A bitter contract dispute in federal court is shining an unflattering spotlight on a booming, under-regulated corner of America’s hemp industry — a gray-market economy built on synthetic cannabinoids, deceptive labeling, illicit cannabis masquerading as hemp, and overseas chemical sourcing. It’s a lucrative scheme that critics say exploits a legal loophole Congress unintentionally left open in the 2018 Farm Bill. At the center of the legal storm is Asterra Labs LLC, a North Carolina-based manufacturer of hemp-derived products, and a Texas-Colorado conglomerate of businesses — MC Botanicals LLC and MC Nutraceuticals LLC. MC Botanicals LLC and MC Nutraceuticals LLC, run…

Maine’s legal cannabis programs prohibit individuals with “disqualifying drug offenses” from becoming licensed business operators in either the adult-use recreational program or the medicinal caregiver program. But that Office of Cannabis Policy’s process for enforcing that rule came up short in the case of Daniel P. Safranec, 40, of Madison, who was arrested Thursday by the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department for illegally trafficking cannabis — even though he was licensed to do so through his Simple Twist Cannabis Company. “I am astonished that the State of Maine would license an individual to sell marijuana with a federal felony conviction for…

A federal appeals court on Monday affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a Maine mother who accused public school officials of secretly aiding her 13-year-old child’s gender transition without her knowledge. The ruling, handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, highlights the high bar parents face when challenging government entities for alleged constitutional violations. The ruling is the latest setback for Amber Lavigne, a Newcastle resident, who in December 2022 discovered two breast binders in her 13-year-old daughter’s bedroom. The breast binders, which are medical devices intended to help gender-transitioning females obscure the…

Excerpt from congressional report detailing Hunter Biden’s relationship with Chinese-communist linked corporations and agents. Photo of a business card Mervyn Yan distributed while meeting individuals in Maine he hoped would help him with Sherman Growth. A Chinese associate of former First Son Hunter Biden paid $100,000 to an elderly Maine woman in a failed bid to establish a massive cannabis cultivation facility in the remote town of Staceyville, the Robinson Report has learned. “My family was in debt, and that was a lot of money,” 70-year-old Vonalee Sides, the town agent for Staceyville, said in a phone interview. “I’m 70…

Documents obtained from the Waldo County Sheriff’s Department add a new layer of mystery to the deaths of two Chinese illegal aliens who were poisoned by carbon monoxide at a Chinese cannabis house in Waldo County, Maine. Bolin Zhao, 32, and Cansheng Zhao, 32, were both found dead at a home on 555 Belfast Road in Freedom on October 23, 2024 around 6:30 am after the sheriff’s office responded to a report of a gas leak at the residence. According to the documents, the pair of Chinese nationals “died of toxic effects of carbon monoxide with the manner of death…

The final three members of a brazen Chinese money laundering crew that washed more than $90 million in drug cash — much of it from cartels moving dope through Mexico — pleaded guilty Monday in federal court, the Justice Department announced. Two Chinese nationals — Enhua Fang, 38, and Jianfei Lu, 30 — along with Shu Jun Zhen, 36, of Staten Island, admitted to laundering tens of millions in drug profits as part of a Chinese Money Laundering Organization, or CMLO. “These defendants laundered staggering amounts of cash to help drug traffickers hide their profits,” said prosecutors in the Justice…

Seven Chinese nationals are facing federal charges for allegedly running a multi-million-dollar illegal pot empire hidden in quiet neighborhoods across Massachusetts and Maine — complete with smuggled labor, secret grow houses, and mountains of cash. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston, the accused turned suburban homes into unlicensed marijuana grow operations, then laundered the profits into real estate, Rolexes, and luxury cars. SHAMELESS PLUG: A secret drug empire backed by China is taking over small towns across America—now exposed in this shocking documentary, only on the Tucker Carlson Network. Filmmaker Steve Robinson has doggedly pursued the story throughout…

A Maryland man wanted for murder and multiple assaults was nabbed by federal agents in Auburn after nearly a year on the run, the U.S. Marshals Service said Tuesday. Ja’bril Roynell Walters, 31, was arrested in Auburn and charged as a fugitive from justice, accused in Maryland of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, use of a firearm in a violent crime, and five counts of first-degree assault. The Maine Violent Offender Task Force tracked down Walters following a lead from their counterparts in Maryland’s Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. Authorities suspected Walters had fled north and was living under an…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills lost her cool on a Fox News reporter who asked her about re-surfaced allegations that she was a heavy cocaine user in the 1980s and 1990s, including while serving as a district attorney. Gov. Mills dropped an F-bomb on Tuesday after being questioned about her cocaine use, with a cheeky ambush interviewer asking whether an eight-ball of coke costs more these days given inflation. “Is sniffing cocaine at work a human right, Janet?” the reporter asked. “How much more does an eight-ball cost with inflation? Is sniffing cocaine at work a human right, Janet?” A clearly…

ABC News, Facebook, and Paramount’s CBS have all paid millions to Trump over attempts to silence, censor, or maliciously impair his political career. President Donald Trump has triumphed in his legal crusade against the media, securing a staggering $56 million in settlements from three major companies: ABC News, Meta (Facebook), and Paramount Global. The payouts follow a series of lawsuits in which Trump accused the media giants of defamation, censorship, and deceptive practices. The settlements allow each of the media companies to forgo the process of discovery, where the corporations would have to turn over some potentially embarrassing documents that…

https://twitter.com/BigSteve207/status/1939793686344196362 The Chinese Mafia is building a black-market marijuana empire across rural America—buying homes, churches, and even schools. They’re lacing marijuana with poisonous pesticides, laundering money, stealing power, and flooding the market with unregulated, chemical-laced weed that could harm someone you love. It’s a multi-billion-dollar industry. After nearly 600 days investigating and covering the proliferation of Chinese organized crime across rural Maine, the Maine Wire is excited to announce the worldwide release of our first-ever documentary: High Crimes: The Chinese Mafia’s Takeover of Rural America. We’ve partnered with Tucker Carlson and the Tucker Carlson Network to bring this compelling investigative…

The Trump Administration announced Monday a massive fraud investigation that has resulted in 324 defendants facing charges for more than $14.6 billion in welfare and health care fraud, including a man from Lewiston. Joseph Dobie, 36, has been charged with identity theft and fraud for allegedly stealing the identity of a Puerto Rican man to fraudulently obtain over $6,000 in food assistance benefits and over $10,000 in Medicaid benefits, known in Maine as MaineCare, according to federal court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. The Lewiston man faces charges of aggravated identity theft, making…

Thirty-seven year-old allegations of cocaine abuse have returned to haunt Maine Gov. Janet Mills thanks to a resurfaced U.S. Department of Justice memo that details the probe into her alleged drug use when she was a district attorney. The DOJ documents, unearthed by Fox News on Friday, revive longstanding allegations that Mills had a substance abuse problem even as she was putting other Mainers behind bars for selling narcotics or driving under the influence. The newly discovered documents contradict the governor’s longstanding claims that an investigation into her cocaine use was politically motivated and baseless. The 1995 DOJ memo, penned…

Stephen S. Walker gives a speech to the Brunswick Town Council after resigning his District 2 seat. During Saturday’s annual moose hunt lottery, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Judith Camuso accidentally confirmed that a former IF&W supervisor used a state-issued device to purchase drugs on the dark web, an illegal act that went unprosecuted partly because state officials chose to conceal the incident. According to information provided to The Robinson Report by a source, the state Office of Information Technology (OIT) caught IF&W Resource Supervisor Stephen S. Walker attempting to purchase contraband from an international vendor using cryptocurrency and a…

A 27-year-old man from New York was cuffed and charged with a serious drug crime Tuesday after a high-stakes police raid at a Brimmer Street home, the Brewer Police Department said Tuesday. Kaprie Joe Lambert, now living in Brewer, was nabbed by the Brewer Police Department, with backup from the Maine State Police Tactical Team, during a search warrant execution at 7 Brimmer St. on June 17, 2025. Lambert faces charges of aggravated furnishing of Schedule W drugs—specifically cocaine base—a Class B felony. Depending on whether Maine decides to enforce its drug laws in his case, Lambert could land in…

Maine’s Democrat-controlled legislature easily passed a bill that will cement the state’s status as a sanctuary jurisdiction for illegal alien criminals and restrict state, county, and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. The bill (LD 1971) was introduced by Rep. Deqa Dhalac (D-South Portland), a former Somali refugee who has previously worked for the controversial immigrant services agency, Gateway Community Services. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/1924804997830615349 The bill in question will severely restrict the activities of state and local police when it comes to cooperating with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Both…

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, once allies, clashed publicly Thursday in a bitter dispute over the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a sweeping Republican legislative package central to Trump’s second-term agenda. The escalating war of words, fueled by social-media broadsides, threatens to derail the bill, fracture Republican unity, and unsettle financial markets. The social media spat, which played out on Musk’s X.com and Trump’s Truth Social, marks the first public sign of acrimony between the two MAGA billionaires since Trump secured victory in November. Musk had previously backed Trump’s presidential campaign with his America PAC and subsequently joined the…

Here’s the version you’re getting from Maine’s dying legacy media: A brave and loving New Mainer from China who did nothing wrong and only wanted to work hard and live the American dream is now being punished without due process by the evil Fascist Nazi Trump Regime. If you think that’s an exageration, here are a few quotes gleaned from legacy media coverage of Xing Feng “Tommy” Dong’s deportation case: “Family devastated after ICE arrests Lewiston Chinese restaurant owner,” says the Bangor Daily News / CBS 13 headline. Dong’s brother, who despite being in America for several years and running a…

A public school in Maine has suspended a middle school student for barking like a dog at another student who regularly crawls around the school on all fours, hisses at other students, and openly identifies as a furry. “[Student’s Name] will serve a 5-day suspension… for level 2 harassment,” a student incident report obtained by the Maine Wire states. “He barked at a peer in the classroom yesterday afternoon,” the report states. “This has occurred previously, which is the reason for the elevated level 2. During this process, [the student] met with the social worker and [Assistant Principal],” the report…

Eddie DuGay is a Navy veteran, a former Democratic member of the Maine House of Representatives, and a former aide to then-Rep. John Baldacci (ME-CD2). For four decades, DuGay has been a fixture of State House politics, advocating for his constituents in Washington County and later for his clients as a lobbyist and consultant. After his legislative tenure, DuGay founded Harvest Consulting LLC in Augusta, Maine, focusing on government affairs, business development, and tribal government advising, notably as the Economic Director for the Passamaquoddy Tribe. But he soon carved out a niche business as an advocate and advisor to commercial…

Starting this month, the state of Maine has begun rolling out new license plates featuring a nod to the 1901 flag—a green pine and North Star—or a no-fuss blue-and-white design. It’s all part of an initiative spearheaded by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D), who’s looking to have the license plate transformation completed by July 2026, just after she’ll face off in the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial primary. While online commenters have debated the various aesthetic qualities of the new plate designs, a more substantive debate has emerged now that vehicle owners, especially those who manage large fleets of vehicles, have…

Former Republican Gov. Paul LePage joined The Robinson Report for an interview about his decision to run for Maine’s Second Congressional District. The firebrand conservative talks about how Maine has fared under Gov. Janet Mills (D) and what he makes of the current crop of gubernatorial candidates. Robinson and LePage cover Medicaid expansion, green energy, the former governor’s relationship with President Donald Trump, and incumbent Congressman Jared Golden’s record in Washington, D.C. [RELATED: LePage Leads Golden in CD2 Race According to Congressional Leadership Fund Poll…] To get interviews, investigations, and podcasts from The Robinson Report delivered to your email inbox…

State Auditor Matt Dunlap joined the Robinson Report podcast in Wednesday’s episode to talk about the controversy sparked by his audit of state spending in 2024. Dunlap addresses concerns about no-bid contracts, the associated risks, and suggests ways to improve budget transparency. Dunlap also sheds light on his decision to publicly float challenging fellow Democrat Rep. Jared Golden in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. You can read more about the audit here: Maine Audit Reveals Systemic $2.1 Billion Financial Mismanagement and Corruption Risk. Watch the full episode here.

Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire and prominent Democratic donor, is facing a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former employee of his California winery, Halter Ranch. Through his $2.7 billion Wyss Foundation, his $232 million Berger Action Fund, the Democracy Alliance’s Democracy Fund, and the Arabella Advisors network of dark money groups, Wyss has become a major financial player in progressive politics. In Maine, Wyss is the benefactor for the progressive “Maine Morning Star” blog, and he also reportedly helped finance the National Trust for Local News’ acquisition of the Portland Press Herald and its related media sites. The lawsuit,…

More than 2,100 allegations of abuse, neglect, and exploitation were reported in fiscal year 2024 among adults with intellectual disabilities or autism receiving services under Maine’s Medicaid program, according to a new state report. The stunning level of abuse was published with little public handwringing from Democratic lawmakers in a report submitted to lawmakers last month. The report — bearing the anodyne name “2025-2026 Biennial Plan for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities or Autism” — downplays the significant fact that a massive percentage of adults with intellectual disabilities or autism have reported caretaker neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and exploitation. [RELATED:…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) is set to receive the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, a nod from the group once called the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights. The news was announced Thursday and shared with the Mills-friendly WMTW, prompting confusion and no small amount of laughter. The RFK Human Rights team is recognizing Mills for her administration’s legal showdown over Maine Democrats refusal to abide by federal civil rights law, Title IX in particular. The left-wing nonprofit framed the award around one particular part of that fight — the USDA freezing funding for Maine’s school nutrition…

A new poll reveals a bipartisan majority of Maine voters oppose several progressive education policies supported by Gov. Janet Mills’ administration and the Democratic-controlled Legislature, signaling potential challenges for their agenda as public sentiment leans toward greater parental control and traditional approaches in K-12 schools. The survey, conducted by SPRY Strategies from April 22-25, 2025, polled 500 likely general election voters in Maine using online-to-mobile and interactive voice response (IVR) methods. It carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, with results weighted to reflect the state’s voter demographics. The poll, commissioned by the parental rights…

Former employees of Gateway Community Services, a migrant-run social services agency with offices throughout Maine, have alleged in interviews with The Robinson Report that the company artificially inflated Medicaid billing for at least seven years. The whistleblower allegations surfaced after a report by the Maine Wire on March 21 revealed that Gateway Community Services had previously been audited by the Maine Department of Human Services (DHHS) and received a Notice of Violation stating the company had over-billed MaineCare, Maine’s version of Medicaid, by close to one million dollars from 2015-2017. As of at least 2022, that sum had not been…

The Mills Administration’s spending via state contracts has come under increasing scrutiny in light of Democratic State Auditor Matt Dunlap’s report detailing material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in how the state evaluates and distributes roughly $2.1 billion per year on contracts for goods and services. Now, one company that benefited handsomely from the Mills Administration’s slipshod management of the procurement process is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, casting doubt on whether the company will survive for the duration of the multi-year MaineCare transportation contract it was awarded in 2023. [RELATED: Maine Audit Reveals Systemic $2.1 Billion Financial Mismanagement and…

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (DIFW) moved quickly on Friday to rescind a policy that the Trump Administration flagged as a discriminatory violation of federal civil rights rules, according to emails obtained by the Maine Wire. The Trump administration threatened Thursday to cut off all federal funding to the MDIFW, claiming the agency is violating civil rights law by requiring sex-based quotas in its hiring process. The policy adopted in Jan. 2020 required the department to meet a quota based on sex when assembling hiring panels, a policy nominally aimed at boosting the number of women working…

The Trump Administration has notified the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) that it will suspend all grant funding via the U.S. Department of the Interior until the state agency ends a policy that discriminates against employees based on sex. In a May 8 letter obtained by the Maine Wire, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Paul Souza informed MDIFW Commissioner Judy A. Camuso that all federal grant funding to her agency will cease by May 15 unless the department brings its hiring policies into compliance with federal civil rights law. “The MDIFW’s policy discriminates in the…

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R) on Thursday issued her strongest call yet for President Donald Trump and federal law enforcement agencies to dismantle the vast networks of illegal drug and human smuggling operations that have spread throughout rural Maine since Gov. Janet Mills (D) took office in 2019. https://youtu.be/lJjb5Zqzl4A?t=1324 During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Collins told Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem implored Noem to prioritize a “whole of government” response to shuttering the more than 270 illicit cannabis sites revealed in a leaked 2023 DHS memo. That memo, first reported by immigration reporter Jennie Taer, asserted the that cannabis…

A top Maine Democrat raised red flags in 2024 regarding the Mills Administration’s handling of non-competitive, no-bid contracts more than six months before Maine’s Democratic State Auditor issued a damning report detailing material weaknesses in state spending policies that left more than $2.1 billion vulnerable to cronyism, abuse, and fraud. Former Democratic Rep. Jessica Fay, who represented House District 66 and then 86 from 2016 to 2024, requested that the Government Oversight Committee (GOC), which she co-chaired, consider an Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability (OPEGA) evaluation of the State of Maine’s procurement policies in a June 17, 2024,…

The infamous cannabis grow at 128 Weld Road in Wilton, just behind the former Bass Shoe Factory, is a total loss following a mysterious fire that destroyed the facility. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security had previously flagged it as one of more than 270 such illicit cannabis sites in Maine. [RELATED: Raid on Illegal Chinese Marijuana Operation in Western Maine Seizes Illicit Drugs Worth $1M+…] The fire was first reported early Friday morning, according to a Facebook post from the nearby Farmington Fire Rescue, which said they dispatched fire fighters around 5:15 a.m. The location of the fire was…

Nearly 40 illegal aliens present in Maine without authorization and living in the U.S. illegally were detained in communities across Maine over the past 10 days, federal authorities said Friday. The U.S. Border Patrol (CBP) confirmed that 39 individuals were arrested in a series of targeted enforcement sweeps spanning multiple towns including Houlton, Augusta, Madison, Rangeley, Palmyra, Dresden, Madawaska, Mechanic Falls and Oquossoc. The detainees hail from a wide range of countries — including Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, and China — and now face immigration charges under various sections of the Immigration and…

The attorney who filed a recently dismissed professional misconduct complaint against Kennebec County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney (D) has landed a plush job working for Attorney General Aaron Frey (D). Maloney was hit with the complaint just weeks before she would run against incumbent Attorney General Frey for the Democrat-controlled legislature’s nomination to serve as AG. Attorney Zachary Paakkonen filed the complaint on behalf of the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar just weeks before Maloney and Frey would compete for support among Democratic lawmakers. [RELATED: Maine Bar Dismisses Misconduct Complaint Against Kennebec DA Maeghan Maloney…] The Maine Board…

“Material weaknesses” and “significant deficiencies” are the worst possible items an auditor can find in any financial organization. Yet when State Auditor Matt Dunlap, a longtime Democrat appointed by the Democrat-controlled legislature, appeared before the State and Local Government Committee Monday, the Democrat chair of the committee repeatedly blocked him from answering any questions about the material weaknesses and significant deficiencies in how the Mills Administration spent taxpayer dollars in fiscal year 2024. The purpose of the hearing, Rep. Sue Salisbury (D-Westbrook) said at the outset, was “not for us to go over the findings in the audit report, but…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) approved 40 financial orders on April 24 to adjust state budgets for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, addressing payroll shortfalls and funding operational needs across multiple departments, according to a state document released by the Executive Department. The orders, detailed in a 40-page document, authorize the State Controller to transfer funds, increase allotments, and establish new positions to ensure state agencies meet financial obligations. The primary focus is correcting payroll shortfalls caused by unbudgeted collective bargaining costs and lower-than-expected staff turnover, which have strained budgets in departments such as Administrative and Financial Services,…

Bangor Publishing Company — the company that owns both the Bangor Daily News (BDN) and a lesser-known marketing agency — has received more than $2.4 million from state agencies since Gov. Janet Mills (D) took office in 2019, according to a review of contracts filed with Maine’s procurement office. The payments to Bangor Publishing Company are not regularly disclosed by the company’s newspaper arm but are available publicly via the state’s vendor payment disclosures and its procurement record websites. State financial records show that payments made to either Bangor Publishing Company, Pulse Marketing Agency, or Pulse Marketing LLC began almost…

A Guilford-based business is touting a simple trick to avoid disruptions caused by President Donald Trump’s tariffs and trade negotiations: making all of their products in Maine. Puritan Medical Products, a 500-employee business based in Piscataquis County, is expanding its workforce to meet the anticipated increase in demand for American-made medical supplies, the company announced Wednesday. “There will be no tariff-related disruptions to the supply of Puritan swabs and other products,” said Bob Shultz, Puritan’s president and chief financial officer. “Puritan remains bullish about the future and our ability to meet global demand for our many products,” said Shultz. Central…

Maine’s Democrat-controlled legislature has approved a measure that will create a $12M fund for the benefit of Maine’s abortion clinic operators, and the lead candidates to land the contract for managing the fund happen to be top donors to Maine Democrats. The legislation, titled “An Act to Improve Women’s Health and Economic Security by Funding Family Planning Services,” was introduced by Sen. Teresa Pierce (D-Cumberland) and cosponsored by a coalition of Democratic lawmakers, including Senate President Mattie Daughtry (D-Cumberland) and House Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford). Under the bill, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services would be required to…

The Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar has dismissed a professional misconduct complaint against Kennebec and Somerset County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney, concluding the matter without a hearing and with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled. The complaint stemmed from Maloney’s 2023 contact with a staff member of the Family Violence Project regarding Pamela Boivin, an Oakland woman who alleged she was drugged and sexually assaulted at a Waterville bar. Boivin’s lurid story about being drugged and assaulted at a popular Mexican restaurant in central Maine went viral online, but she declined subsequent interview requests from the Maine Wire.…

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (ME-CD2) is courting Maine’s “No Labels” third-party as speculation builds over when he’ll announce what he plans to do in 2026 — and for which office he will run. The 2026 election cycle in Maine will already include both an open gubernatorial seat and Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins vying for re-election, but the statewide political dynamic will be shaped in no small part by which race Rep. Golden chooses to enter and with which party he chooses to align himself. Golden has yet to announce his plans publicly, but Maine political insiders have been…

Maine’s Racial Equity Commission has emerged among the most frequent abusers of the sloppy no-bid contract system recently scrutinized in State Auditor Matt Dunlap’s 2024 annual report. According to copies of Project Justification Forms (PJFs) related to the no-bid contracts obtained by the Maine Wire, the so-called “Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations” has doled out five- and six-figure sums — often to friendly groups and consultants — despite having produced very little actual work in its five years of existence. The commission was initially aimed at renaming places in Maine that had been deemed…

When the head-turning girlfriend of former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick takes the stage in this year’s Miss Maine USA beauty pageant, she’ll be squaring off against another eyebrow-raiser: Isabelle St. Cyr, a 24-year-old Monson man who now identifies as a woman. According to a report in the Bangor Daily News, St. Cyr is set to compete in the beauty pageant, which crowns Maine’s representative for the national Miss USA contest. The event, a glitzy affair featuring a swimsuit strut, evening gown parade, and a high-stakes interview, has no rule requiring that entrants be women. Per the BDN,…

Bowdoin College, an elite liberal arts college on the coast of Maine, is coming under national scrutiny for its handling of anti-Semitism thanks to an investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce announced March 28. That investigation may inexorably point to questions over Bowdoin’s hiring of Nasser Abourahme, an assistant professor of Middle East and North Africa Studies, who has consistently voiced support and praise for violent anti-Israel militants, describing the October 7 Hamas massacre — the deadliest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust — as part of a “heroic” resistance. “I’m not shy about the…

Note: This story was updated after publication to include comments from a law firm representing Metrc who asked to be described as a Metrc spokesperson. A former executive at Metrc, Inc., a major provider of cannabis tracking systems that is active in Maine, has filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit accusing the company of enabling illegal marijuana diversion and retaliating against him after he raised concerns about the alleged practice internally. The lawsuit could have serious implications for Maine, where Office of Cannabis Policy Executive Director John Hudak is already facing a Government Oversight Committee investigation for his own ties to…

A northern Maine nonprofit has accused the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) of violating state procurement policies when it awarded a MaineCare transportation contract worth more than $100 million to an out-of-state corporation, according to documents obtained by the Maine Wire. Penquis C.A.P., a 501(c)3 nonprofit and longtime provider of non-emergency medical transportation in rural Maine, has alleged that DHHS ran a “lawless” and “arbitrary” bidding process that favored ModivCare—a massive, for-profit, out-of-state transportation company. Penquis’ allegations center on a Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by DHHS on May 15, 2023, in which the state agency sought…

President Donald J. Trump has issued a 31-page manifesto, “National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws,” aiming to save Americans from the “pulpy, soggy mess” of eco-friendly straws. Prepared in March 2025 by the Domestic Policy Council and released Friday, the report is as much a critique of paper straws as it is a policy statement against what Trump calls the “Green New Scam.” With characteristic style, Trump pledges to bring “common sense” back to beverages with plastic straws. While the document takes a lighthearted poke at misguided policies banning plastic straws based on flimsy science, the comic…

The Consensus Economic Forecasting Commission (CEFC) on April 1 revised its economic outlook for Maine, signaling slower growth ahead through 2029 and highlighting elevated risks from fiscal and trade policies. April’s update marks a shift from the Commission’s November 2024 forecast, showing weaker projections for employment, income growth, and inflation trends. The CEFC cited significant uncertainty around “economic policy, government spending, geopolitical tensions, and consumer sentiment.” While the changes are marginal across the board, the overall tone is downbeat. Non-farm employment grew 1.0 percent in 2024, slightly exceeding the November forecast of 0.8 percent. However, the Commission revised its overall…

The most aggressive sheriff in Maine notched another victory in Maine’s ongoing fight against Chinese organized crime Tuesday, executing a search warrant at a residential building on South Road the resulted in two arrests and the seizure of massive quantity of black market marijuana. Law enforcement officials seized more than 1,400 marijuana plants, 100 pounds of processed cannabis and a firearm during a Tuesday raid on a property in Harmony, Somerset County, in what authorities described as a large-scale illegal cultivation operation. The law enforcement operation, which included federal and state agencies, resulted in the arrests of two men described…

Following a Maine Wire investigation into the man Gov. Janet Mills (D) tapped to run her controversial migrant resettlement office, the Director of the “Office of New Americans” (ONA), Tarlan Ahmadov, has had his profile scrubbed from the governor’s website. In February, when Gov. Mills issued a lengthy press release praising Ahmadov and commending him for his work in diversity, equity, and inclusion with migrant populations, his photograph and bio appeared prominently on the web page for the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future (GOPIF), a collection of political insiders led by GOPIF Director Hannah Pingree. Now, however,…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) is shirking her duty to pay property taxes for a Salem Township lot she owns in Franklin County, according to records obtained by the Maine Wire. Franklin County Registry of Deeds records show that Gov. Mills, who backed a litany of tax increases on everything from paychecks and hospitals to cigarettes and entertainment streaming services, has skipped out on paying Unorganized Territory property taxes that help support Maine’s public schools. Even as Mills blasted Republican President Donald Trump for threatening to withhold federal funding from Maine unless the state complies with his efforts to protect…

In a scathing audit of Maine’s 2024 spending, Maine’s Office of the State Auditor has revealed systemic financial mismanagement, cronyism-friendly contracting practices, and multiple material weaknesses across state agencies—leaving taxpayers exposed to legal risks, unnecessary costs, and outright corruption. The audit, published Friday, reveals a shocking lack of practical and ethical guardrails for government spending after the Democrat-controlled legislature just passed an $11.3 billion budget and is prepared to spend another $300M-$600M — all funded by new taxes on tobacco, streaming entertainment, ambulances, and more. At the center of the audit’s most troubling findings is the state’s rampant abuse of…