Author: Steve Robinson

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled against a motion filed by several anonymous men seeking to keep their identities concealed in an alleged sex-trafficking case spanning Greater Boston and the Washington, D.C., area. The decision, which upholds a previous ruling by a Cambridge District Court clerk magistrate, marks the third failed attempt by the defendants—described as high-profile clients of the alleged trafficking operation—to maintain anonymity. The Boston Herald was the first to report on the SJC’s decision Thursday. The ruling affirms that hearings will be open to the public, though records and preliminary documents remain sealed pending further court…

A Maine resident, who asked to remain anonymous, finally received a response to a Feb. 2024 request for public records submitted to Maine’s Secretary of State. The response, which came more than eight months after the request was submitted, included a “good faith” time and cost estimate of $15,075 in order to comply with the request. [RELATED: The Shenna Files: Freedom of Access Under the Democrat Uniparty…] The Secretary of State’s office requested a 50 percent down payment of $7,537.50 in order to begin preparing the public records. Under Maine law, such time and cost estimates are “non-binding.” So nothing…

In December 2023, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows made the unilateral decision to remove Republican President-elect Donald Trump from Maine’s 2024 ballots. The decision came in response to a complaint brought by a hodgepodge of Republican lobbyists and left-wing political operatives, including Sec. Bellows’ longtime friend and former employer, Ethan Strimling. Naturally, there were a lot of questions in Maine and across the country about this controversial decision. As a result, the Maine Wire submitted several Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) requests to the Secretary of State’s (SOS) office seeking records that would shed light on how Bellows arrived…

The Maine Secretary of State’s office responded Wednesday to inquiries from media, party officials, elected representatives, and political professionals about the role overseas votes played in Maine’s 2024 elections and how the office accounts for overseas Absentee Ballot requests in public data. Last week, Maine’s elections saw an unprecedented number of overseas votes cast by U.S. citizens living outside of the United States — 6,589 in the presidential election. The Reagan-era Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) allows military personnel and any U.S. citizens living abroad to cast votes in jurisdictions where they previously lived by fax, email,…

Ranked Choice Voting was sold to Maine voters as a silver bullet that would clean up Maine politics, eliminate spoiler candidates, discourage negative campaigning, and have all kinds of other wonderful benefits. Instead, the reality has been increased confusion, electoral chaos, and diminished trust in the electoral process. As evidence, look no further than the drama currently on display in Maine’s Second Congressional District. The guys at the Maine Policy Institute (of which, full disclosure, the Maine Wire is a project) did a podcast episode today covering the topic that’s worth listening to as well. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4fvranytgqcn6FnHi60i8B?si=6xcHJCcgT3iMeXK2uZm0Cw Yesterday, about two hours…

Editor’s Note: The first version of this story misinterpreted the “blank” vote totals as ballots that had been cast blank across the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd ranking spots — in other words, as ballots that would be tossed out immediately during the first round of Ranked Choice Vote tabulation. However, it appears that the “blank” votes recorded in the Secretary of State data include only ballots where the 1st option was left blank but a 2nd and/or 3rd option was entered. This means that any of the 12,635 ballots categorized as “blank” in the Secretary of State’s initial data release…

Maine’s Second Congressional District race between incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden and Republican State Rep. Austin Theriault is headed into uncertain territory after the final results from the Secretary of State’s office found neither candidate won more than 50 percent of the votes. Under Maine’s recently adopted ranked-choice voting system, congressional candidates must win more than 50 percent of the total vote in order to win the election in the first round. In the late stages of the counting, with more than 95 percent of precincts reporting, Golden had maintained a lead of more than 2,400 votes — less…

Republicans in the State House of Representatives—fresh off yet another disappointing election cycle—are poised to cast votes for leadership positions within the minority caucus for the 132nd Legislature. Although former House Republican Leader Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) easily won his re-election fight on Tuesday, holding onto his leadership post may prove more challenging. State House sources tell the Maine Wire that Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Phillips) and former Assistant Republican House Leader Rep. Amy Arata (R-New Gloucester) are both jockeying for the top leadership position, while Rep. Katrina Smith (R-Palermo), Rep. David Boyer (R-Poland), and former Republican leader Rep.…

Republican State Rep. Austin Theriault will demand a recount of the election results from his race against Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep Jared Golden, the Maine Wire can confirm. Currently, Golden holds a lead over Theriault of less than one percent, 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent, and he has been declared the victor by many media organizations as more than 95 percent of precincts have reported vote totals. https://twitter.com/AustinTheriault/status/1854628088069419134 In terms of raw numbers, Golden earned 192,154 votes while Theriault earned 189,751 votes, meaning more than 2,400 votes will need to be reversed or newly discovered in order to change the…

Former President Donald J. Trump survived coordinated lawfare, two assassination attempts, collusion among major tech companies, and a sustained negative campaign from the Washington, D.C., establishment and Vice President Kamala Harris to become the 47th president of the United States. By 2:00 a.m., most major media outlets had called the election in President-elect Trump’s favor, with major victories in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia. Late Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for Vice President Harris announced to disappointed supporters that Harris would not be issuing a public address on Nov. 6 as the results became increasingly…

In the spirit of transparency, here are the emails exchanged with the Boston Globe reporter who covered the Maine Wire’s investigative report showing that noncitizens are registered to vote in Maine and that votes are being illegally cast in their names. Exclusive: Records Show Votes Cast Under Names of Non-Citizens in Multiple Maine Elections Since 2016 The Blob: Maine Wire Exposes Non-Citizen Voting and Election Vulnerabilities Created by Paroled Illegal Aliens [PODCAST] Top Maine Democrats Decline to Investigate Full Scope of Legal and Illegal Aliens Voting in Maine’s Elections Why the Maine Wire Won’t Turn Over Records Proving Non-Citizens Are…

The Boston Globe on Monday published a front-page story featuring the Maine Wire’s investigative report which found noncitizens are registered to vote in Maine and votes have been cast in their names since 2016. For context, here’s the reporting the Maine Wire has done so far showing that non-citizens are registered to vote in Maine and that votes are being cast in their names: Exclusive: Records Show Votes Cast Under Names of Non-Citizens in Multiple Maine Elections Since 2016 The Blob: Maine Wire Exposes Non-Citizen Voting and Election Vulnerabilities Created by Paroled Illegal Aliens [PODCAST] Top Maine Democrats Decline to…

David M. Rollins, the former Democratic mayor of Augusta and a longtime city councilor, is denying allegations leveled by a lifelong resident of Maine’s capital city that he spied on her through her bathroom window in 2018. “I recall, back a few years ago, in my own home, in the privacy of my own home, getting out of the shower and in my bathroom window I see Dave Rollins looking through my window,” Pamela M. Dumas, 55, said in a video posted to Facebook last week. “I was mortified,” said Dumas. Dumas made the claims about her interaction with Rollins…

John L. Martin, the longtime Democratic politician and master State House strategist, was found unconscious Sunday morning in his driveway and is currently hospitalized in Bangor, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation. No information was available on his current status. Martin, 83, is currently running for re-election to the State House of Representatives for the District 1 seat vacated by State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent), who abdicated the seat to challenge Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden for Maine’s Second Congressional District seat. One of Maine’s most influential and longest-serving politicians, Martin is known by his nom…

Maine’s top Democratic officials are declining to make any new efforts to secure Maine’s elections against non-citizen voting in the wake of an exclusive report from the Maine Wire showing that non-citizens are registered to vote in Maine. The Maine Wire’s Oct. 10 report used leaked data from Medicaid, known in Maine as MaineCare, that showed the alien status of 18 individuals living in southern Maine and compared that data to voter registration information from the Maine Secretary of State’s office. Medicaid documents list the alien status of all patients according to three options: 1-U.S. Citizens, 2-Legal Alien, or 3-Other.…

Maine voters in the Second Congressional District received campaign mailers this week from the Center for Voter Information (CVI), a 501(c)4 nonprofit group that claims to promote nonpartisan voter education. However, a deeper look into CVI’s materials reveals that the mailers are thinly disguised political advocacy for incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Jared Golden with claims that bear little resemblance to the truth. The official-looking mailers, which were sent to Mainers in the middle of a tight race between Golden and Republican State Rep. Austin Theriault, accuse Theriault of wanting to offshore jobs, discourage small business investment, and weaken gun restrictions.…

Could former Republican President Donald Trump win not only the Electoral College but also the popular vote in 2024? It’s a possibility that CNN is preparing its predominantly left-wing audience to face. https://twitter.com/i/status/1849835724243083694 In a segment on Friday, the network brought on polling guru Harry Enten, who cautiously informed viewers that Vice President Kamala Harris is severely underperforming her Democrat predecessors in the aggregate national poll margin. In 2016 and 2020, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then-Vice President Joe Biden entered the final week of October with, respectively, a six point and a nine point lead in the…

Election officials in Lancaster County, Penn., have uncovered approximately 2,500 instances of voter registration fraud, the county’s Board of Elections disclosed in a press release Friday morning. Staff detected the fraudulent applications during routine processing and quickly alerted law enforcement. [RELATED: Exclusive: Records Show Votes Cast Under Names of Non-Citizens in Multiple Maine Elections Since 2016…] The fraudulent forms were submitted to the Board of Elections in two separate batches near the deadline for registration. While the specific nature and scope of the fraud are still under investigation, officials have confirmed that the suspect registrations were flagged during the county’s…

A new report released by the Republican House Oversight Committee warns that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is intensifying its political warfare against the United States, while the Biden-Harris administration lacks a cohesive government-wide strategy to confront the threat. The report, published on October 24, 2024, asserts that federal agencies have largely failed to respond adequately to CCP influence operations that target American institutions, industries, and members of the political elite. Titled “CCP Political Warfare: Federal Agencies Urgently Need a Government-Wide Strategy,” the report accuses the CCP of waging “unrestricted warfare” against the U.S. and highlights failures across 25 federal…

The Franklin County Sheriff’s office made back-to-back traffic stops last Wednesday and Thursday that led to involvement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the deportation of more than a dozen illegal aliens. According to the police log from the Sheriff’s Office, Franklin County officers stopped a van carrying eight occupants who could not speak English in Kingfield on Wednesday. The next day, a deputy stopped a “large van” in New Vineyard carrying six occupants who were determined to be illegal aliens who had entered the U.S. illegally from Ecuador. On both occasions, federal immigration authorities were called in to…

Vice President Kamala Harris’s high-profile CNN town hall with Anderson Cooper quickly turned into a viral social media spectacle Wednesday night. As an example, here’s one of the Democratic presidential candidate’s responses when Cooper asked a question every teenager interviewing for a job at McDonald’s is typically prepared for, Tell me about a mistake you’ve made: COOPER: Is there something you can point to in your life, political life, or in your life in the last four years that you think is a mistake that you have learned from?HARRIS: I mean, I’ve made many mistakes, um, and they range from,…

On Friday, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey sent a second letter to the Maine Wire reiterating Maine Democratic leaders’ request for us to turn over information that would expose a source. The letter came in response to our reporting that non-citizens are illegally registered to vote in Maine and that votes have been cast in their names since 2016. Our report was based on Medicaid records provided to us by a whistleblower. Those records contained descriptions of 18 Maine residents as non-citizens. When cross-referenced with voting data, the results show six of those individuals are registered to vote and five…

The State of Maine welfare office in Portland attempted to help a Venezuelan illegal alien vote on Sept. 23, according to the non-citizen’s Spanish-language interpreter, who works with immigrants in Maine seeking welfare benefits. “She was applying for MaineCare and Food Stamps, and they asked her if she wanted to register to vote,” said the interpreter, Doris Rodriguez, a 72-year-old resident of the greater Portland area. Rodriguez, who intervened to prevent her client from potentially committing a deportable offense, said a Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) employee told her that welfare clerks had been instructed to offer voter…

Whistleblower records obtained by the Maine Wire, along with voter registration records from the Maine Secretary of State’s office, show that multiple votes have been cast in Maine under the names of legal and illegal aliens who should be ineligible to vote in U.S. federal, state, and local Maine elections. The records include state-managed Medicaid billing profiles showing the names, addresses, social security numbers, dates of birth, phone numbers, and immigration statuses of legal aliens and illegal aliens. The records show the legal and illegal aliens billing Medicaid, known in Maine as MaineCare, for hundreds of thousands of dollars in…

The transgender Maine high schooler who assaulted a high school girl on Friday was the subject of previous sexual harassment complaints at a different Maine school just months before video emerged showing him viciously attacking a classmate outside Mount Desert Island High School in Bar Harbor. The video, one of two showing the violent attack, did not capture the entirety of the altercation or the animalistic brutality of the assault on the smaller female student, who spoke to the Maine Wire along with her parents on the condition of anonymity. According to the victim and her parents, the attacker—a biological…

Maine cities and towns — but not all of them — have already begun voting in the 2024 elections, with some municipalities opening elections for in-person absentee ballots as early as August. According to a list from the Maine Secretary of State’s office, as well as emails obtained by the Maine Wire, the process for beginning voting in Maine’s various cities and towns has begun on a rolling, supposedly random basis. Under Maine law, in-person absentee voting begins on Oct. 7, and state law requires that election clerks have ballots in hand for 30 days prior to Election Day. [RELATED:…

Maine Democrats who welcomed Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff to Maine and appeared alongside him at a Portland abortion clinic for a political campaign event have remained silent in the face of credible allegations from three women that Emhoff physically assaulted them. Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, has been a prominent figure in promoting a “new masculinity” and advocating for women’s rights, as he supports his second wife’s campaign for president. According to a report by the Daily Mail, Emhoff allegedly assaulted a former girlfriend during an altercation in Cannes, France, after attending a high-profile gala. Three friends of…

Incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Jared Golden faced off against State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent) last night in the first debate amid their race for Maine’s Second Congressional District. Golden, who first won Maine’s more conservative congressional seat in 2018, is facing is toughest re-election fight yet in a district that former Republican President Donald Trump won in both 2016 and 2020. In the only poll that has been made public to date, Pan Atlantic Research found Theriault holding a slim three-point led over Golden — the first time the Democrat has ever found himself trailing a Republican opponent at…

The National Border Patrol Union endorsed State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent) Thursday in his bid to unseat incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in the race for Maine’s Second Congressional District. “We proudly endorse @AustinTheriault in Maine-02,” the Border Patrol Union tweeted from its official account on Thursday. “Austin will assist in cleaning up the Biden-Harris border mess and help secure our border again!” https://twitter.com/BPUnion/status/1841946846710972870 Under the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the U.S. has experienced extraordinary levels of illegal immigration, primarily over the southern border with Mexico. [RELATED: Golden Voted for Blank Check…

A Democratic State Representative published an op-ed bragging about the 2023-2024, Democrat-led state spending spree just hours before the Mills Administration quietly disclosed that the State of Maine is projecting a nearly one billion dollar funding shortfall for 2026-2027. Without any Republican support or votes, Democrats created, approved, and signed into law the most recent two-year spending package, Rep. Drew Gattine (D-Westbrook) bragged. What Gattine didn’t know when he was writing the post — or what he declined to acknowledge — is that Maine’s top budget officer now says the State must confront a $949.2 million “structural gap” for the…

The State of Maine is projected to face a massive shortfall of nearly $1 billion for fiscal years 2026 and 2027, the first two years after Gov. Janet Mills (D) will leave office, according to Maine’s budget officer. The $949.2 million shortfall includes a $636.7 million projected deficit in the General Fund and a Highway Fund gap of $312.5 million for the 2026-2027 biennium, according to a recent four-year budget forecast report released by the Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS). According to DAFS, these projections are based on current laws and economic trends. Based on those conditions, DAFS’…

Electric Vehicles (EVs) have become a flashpoint in Maine politics over the past year thanks to an effort by the Mills Administration and left-wing outside groups to impose pro-EV mandates on car dealerships in the state. Those mandates, which Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) considered but narrowly rejected, would have led to Maine adopting California-style regulations requiring 82 percent of new vehicles sold in the state to be electric by 2032​. [READ MORE on the proposed EV mandates here…] The mandates, introduced via petition by environmental advocacy groups funded by left-wing billionaires, sparked widespread debate, especially in rural regions…

Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, has been heralded by Democratic politicians and left-wing media as offering America a “new masculinity.” But reports emerged Wednesday that Emhoff once drunkenly assaulted an ex-girlfriend because he thought she was flirting with another man. The Daily Mail reported Wednesday that Emhoff has been accused of slapping a former girlfriend during an altercation in 2012, according to allegations made by friends of the woman involved. The alleged incident occurred in Cannes, France, after the couple attended a star-studded gala, and comes as Emhoff has presented himself as a strong advocate for women’s rights…

The Bollard, a monthly newspaper published in Portland, has dubbed attempted murderer Leo R. Hylton, 34, Maine’s “foremost justice advocate” in an October issue alongside the question, “Who’s Afraid of Leo Hylton?” Hylton (MDOC#70199) is currently housed in Maine State Prison, where he’s slated to remain until July 27, 2050, for robbery, burglary, and attempted murder. Hylton was sentenced in Kennebec County Superior Court in Feb. 2010 after he was found guilty of participating in a brutal home invasion and violent attack targeting former Maine State Rep. William Guerrette and his ten-year-old daughter. [RELATED: Parole Reform Poster Child Tried to…

The Hampden Police Department in Massachusetts busted a large-scale illegal marijuana growing operation on Tuesday. Hampden Police Department along with Massachusetts State Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) found more than 1,000 after executing a search warrant at the property, according to WWLP. The property — located at 41 Thresher Road — was purchased in Aug. 2020 by Lily Zhong, 33, according to Hampden County Property Records. [RELATED: Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ Brother Helped Transfer Nine-Acre Black Market Cannabis Grow to Chinese National “Mother” Living in Guangdong Province…]

The Mills Administration has taken the unusual step of channeling $117,300 in taxpayer dollars to the Maine Trust for Local News, the operator of Maine’s most sympathetic far-left content publishers. These payments were not delivered in an envelope stuffed with cash at a smoky bar but via a no-bid contract, as disclosed on the state’s website. The details were discovered and reported exclusively by the Maine Wire’s Edward Tomic. In exchange for doling out taxpayer money, the Mills Administration receives what can only be described as paid applause for its education policies, a self-congratulatory attempt to convince readers that Maine’s…

Following the Portland City Council’s unanimous vote to divest public funds from companies that do business with Israel, the law office of a Jewish attorney was vandalized — for the second time in a year — and vandals painted a local elementary school with swastikas. So far, there have no official statements about the anti-Israel vandalism from Maine’s top elected officials or the members of the Portland City Council. Maine’s largest city has been a hotbed for anti-Israel and anti-semitic activities following the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks, in which the Palestinian terror group Hamas stormed into Israel and murdered…

The Portland Press Herald, one of Maine’s news websites, published a letter Sunday asking whether former President Donald Trump faked the second attempt on his life in order to raise campaign donations. “Is it possible that he staged the latest event to bamboozle gullible supporters into giving him even more cash?” asked Leonard Freeman of Falmouth. “Could it be true? Just wondering,” Freeman wrote. It’s unclear why the Press Herald, which is owned by the George Soros-funded Maine Trust for Local News, decided to run the letter, which could easily be debunked with some basic journalistic fact-checking. Ryan W. Routh,…

A new poll by Pan Atlantic Research shows the race for Maine’s Second Congressional District is leaning in favor of the Republican challenger. Republican State Rep. Austin Theriault, of Fort Kent, leads Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden 47-44 percent with a slight edge among registered votes. (See full poll below) The survey, conducted from September 5th to 15th, carries a margin of error of 3.5 percent, indicating that the race is very tight. Pan Atlantic Research found just nine percent of likely voters remained undecided in the race. Although Theriault’s lead falls within the margin of error for the poll,…

Asian restaurant owners in Maine have become targets for sophisticated and often lucrative burglaries at the hands of well-organized, highly advanced home invaders. Apart from their nationality and their ownership of small-businesses, the victims in this crime spree also have one other thing in common: police suspect they have ties to the black-market marijuana trafficking operations that have proliferated throughout Maine in the past four years. What’s more, law enforcement believe the perpetrators of these break-ins are members of criminal organizations with insider knowledge of where to find large stockpiles of cash. “We’re asking anyone with knowledge of these burglaries…

Missouri Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley released a report Monday detailing the failures of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) that contributed to the nearly successful July 13 assassination attempt on former Republican President Donald Trump. The failures detailed in the report represent “the most stunning breakdown in presidential security since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy,” according to Hawley’s office. [RELATED: Trump Targeted in Second Assassination Attempt at Florida Golf Club…] In an X post, Hawley said the report detailed “multiple failures of Secret Service & [Department of Homeland Security] – including new allegations & numerous unanswered questions due…

An alleged ABC News employee has stated that the news outlet struck an agreement with Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign to give the Democratic candidate preferable treatment during the Sept. 10 presidential debate, according to social media posts that circulated broadly on Sunday. The social media posts included images of what are purported to be a sworn affidavit from the alleged ABC News whistleblower dated Sept. 9, the day before the debate. Some of the allegations against ABC News, as well as the employees’ personal information, are redacted from the images that spread throughout social media on Sunday. ABC…

Maine’s top newspapers offered short shrift Monday morning to the second apparent assassination attempt on former Republican President Donald Trump, an attempt that was foiled by U.S. Secret Service agents protecting the 2024 Republican nominee at one of his Florida golf courses. [RELATED: Trump Targeted in Second Assassination Attempt at Florida Golf Club…] As of Monday morning, the Bangor Daily News and the Portland Press Herald both featured local stories—including a piece about a dangerous intersection in Bangor and an in-depth investigation into the piping plover—while downplaying the attempt by suspected gunman Ryan W. Routh, 58, to gun down Trump…

The suspected gunman, arrested Sunday in Florida after his assassination attempt on former Republican President Donald Trump was foiled by the U.S. Secret Service, has been identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh. [RELATED: Trump Targeted in Second Assassination Attempt at Florida Golf Club…] Routh, who was apprehended on I-95 after fleeing his sniper post alongside a chain link fence surrounding the Palm Beach golf course, was described by law enforcement as living in Hawaii. Online records suggest Routh most recently maintained a residence on Kamehameha Highway in Kaaawa, HI. Although Routh had previously tweeted about having supported former President Trump…

Former President Donald Trump is safe after what the FBI is calling an apparent second assassination attempt unfolded on Sunday at his Florida golf club in West Palm Beach. Trump’s campaign confirmed the incident shortly after reports surfaced, stating that the former Commander-in-Chief was “safe following gunshots in his vicinity.” Multiple state and federal law enforcement agencies later confirmed that the U.S. Secret Service had opened fire on a gunman who was positioned with a line of sight that would have potentially allowed for an open shot on the former president. At a press conference following the incident, the Sheriff…

After we published a story regarding the University of Maine’s decision renege on a deal to sell the Hutchinson Center in Belfast to Calvary Chapel Belfast, an official from the University of Maine system reached out to complain about our characterization of the move as “caving” to anti-Christian pressure. So enjoy this opinion editorial underscoring precisely why the University of Maine’s decision is not only anti-Christian, but a despicable act of cowardice and a disservice to Mainers. The “chancellors” of the taxpayer-funded university can claim to have discovered some new financial reason why Calvary Chapel Belfast’s purchase offer actually isn’t…

The University of Maine can couch their decision to rescind the sale of the Hutchinson Center to Calvary Chapel Belfast in whatever legalese helps them sleep at night (or avoid a lawsuit), but there’s no mistaking this for what it is: brazen anti-Christian discrimination. More than that, it’s pure cowardice on the part of the University of Maine System (UMS) administrators who went along with this sham. [RELATED: UMaine Rescinds Offer to Sell Hutchinson Center to Belfast Church…] For those who haven’t been following the drama, UMS decided to sell the Hutchinson Center, they accepted multiple bids, and Calvary Chapel…

As legions of you noted in emails to me, Thursday morning’s Maine Wire newsletter malfunctioned. As the political aphorism goes, mistakes were made. By way of explanation, we’re actively working on ways to improve our website and our email newsletter, so there are going to be some bumps in the road. We’re good at exposing corrupt politicians and vast foreign criminal conspiracies, but it turns out email newsletters are more challenging. Bear with us, because I can assure you our goal is to improve and streamline the delivery of our news product. As always, you can direct your complaints, tips,…

An Edgartown man has pleaded guilty to charges related to an armed bank robbery on Martha’s Vineyard, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Miquel Antonio Jones, 33, admitted in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery and one count of armed bank robbery and aiding and abetting. U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young scheduled Jones’ sentencing for Dec. 2. Jones was initially indicted in March 2023, and additional charges were brought in April, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. Prosecutors say Jones, along with co-conspirators Omar Johnson, Tevin Porter, and allegedly…

Four individuals from Massachusetts and New York face charges in connection with a health care fraud scheme that allegedly involved submitting false insurance claims for more than $1 million in medical expenses purportedly incurred during international travel, federal prosecutors said Monday. The phony medical events the individuals claimed to have had while traveling overseas were no run-of-the-mill visits to the doctor’s office. According to the Department of Justice, the suspects fabricated gun shot wounds, hit-and-run accidents, and stabbings as part of a scheme to collect unwarranted payouts from insurers. Henry Ezeonyido, 36, of Brockton, Massachusetts, has been indicted on one…

A 59-year-old man was found dead in an apparent suicide at a state park in Washington County on June 8, according to a report from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. The man, identified as Zhiwei “Jerry” Xiao, was discovered in his vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head. The handgun, a Beretta M92FS, was found in his right hand, and authorities determined the shot was self-inflicted. Washington County Deputy Matthew Carter, who responded to the scene, noted that a single round had been fired from the weapon. A 9mm shell casing was found in the back seat of the…

The city of Portland has ordered a property owner to clean up a hazardous waste site left behind by an intravenous drug user — including recently used hypodermic syringes — or face unclear enforcement actions by the Department of Public Works. According to an email exchange obtained by the Maine Wire, a city official instructed the owner of 257 Oxford Street to clean up the trash behind an apartment building — which included used needles, clothing, food waste, a big screen TV, and empty alcohol containers. [RELATED: Triad Weed: The Movie – Everything You Need to Know…] The property owner…

A 36-year-old New York man is facing multiple charges following a pursuit and altercation with Portland police early Monday morning. Francis O. Olukogbon, of Uniondale, N.Y., was arrested after a vehicle pursuit that ended in a foot-chase on Everett Street. At around 2:36 a.m., a Portland police officer attempted to pull over Olukogbon’s sedan after he allegedly ran several blinking red lights. Despite police lights and sirens, the suspect continued driving until he eventually stopped, according to the police report. When officers approached the vehicle, Olukogbon reportedly became combative and fled on foot. Following a brief chase, officers apprehended him,…

The Mills Administration and the Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA-SEIU Local 1989) have reached an agreement Thursday to resolve a labor complaint that will see state employees receive a one-time $2,000 payment and initiate a classification study aimed at modernizing pay structures. Although state workers will receive what amounts to a consolation prize via the cash payment, the settlement is a clear victory for Gov. Janet Mills (D) and yet another embarrassing defeat for MSEA leadership, including its new president Mark A. Brunton and the union negotiating team. The agreement, announced on Sept. 5, 2024, follows months of strained negotiations…

The U.S. Justice Department is intensifying its efforts against Chinese organized crime networks operating in Maine, following a series of raids targeting illicit marijuana cultivation sites throughout rural communities in the state. On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney of Maine Darcie McElwee’s office filed lawsuits seeking the seizure of two properties raided earlier this year by county sheriffs, one on the Douty Hill Road in Sangerville and another on Upper Main Street in Norridgewock. All told, the Department of Justice is now aiming to confiscate six properties suspected of being part of a sophisticated criminal enterprise operated by Chinese criminal organizations. The…

Two men were arrested on Thursday in Farmington following a significant drug bust that resulted in the seizure of cocaine, fentanyl, firearms, and suspected drug proceeds, according to state police. Jason Robbins Miguel Alvarez Jason Robbins, 42, of Farmington, and Miguel Alvarez, 39, of Webster, Massachusetts, were taken into custody by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) and the Farmington Police Department. Both men face charges of aggravated trafficking in cocaine and fentanyl. The arrests culminated a three-month investigation by the MDEA’s Western District Task Force and the Farmington Police, which involved undercover drug purchases. Investigators determined that Robbins was…

Maine Wire Reporter Seamus Othot contributed to this story. The small family home at 254 Academy Road in Monmouth may appear like any other Chinese-controlled blackmarket drug house in Maine. The windows are obscured, security cameras dot the perimeter, and a dumpster sits near the driveway for disposal of marijuana detritus. The house and attached garage are both hooked up to independent 200-amp power entrances. Multiple mini split heat-pumps – far more than a typical 2,000 square foot home would need — speckle the exterior. Then there’s the odor of marijuana and rotting plant debris, the food and drink rubbish…

Former House Democratic Leader Maureen Terry of Gorham scoffed at then-Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) for proposing a 2021 bill to increase Maine’s Homestead Exemption to $50,000 on the basis that “taxation is theft.” The bill would have increased Maine’s Homestead Exemption from $25,000 to $50,000, thereby lowering the amount of property taxes many Mainers are required to pay. As Faulkingham was introducing his bill, Rep. Terry could be seen in the Zoom recording of the committee hearing sneering, making faces, and laughing, as if the idea of helping reduce the property taxes was too ridiculous for the Taxation…

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. narrowly met the Maine Secretary of State’s deadline to withdraw his name from the Pine Tree State’s presidential ballot on Tuesday evening. The development will likely work to the benefit of former President Donald Trump, as Kennedy’s candidacy was largely regarded as taking votes away from the Republican candidate, whom Kennedy endorsed last Friday. As of 4:30 p.m., Kennedy had not submitted the necessary paperwork to have his name removed from the Nov. 5 ballots. [RELATED: Former Democrat Tulsi Gabbard Joins RFK in Endorsing Trump…] The deadline for submitting the forms was 5:00…

The director of Maine’s Bureau of General Services has resigned his position with the state less then two months after the Maine Wire reported on a state contract he awarded to a landscaping company owned by his brother. William J. Longfellow, a longtime state employee, had served as the director of the Bureau of General Services for several years, a role that tasked him with evaluating and approving vendor contracts. In March, Longfellow signed off on a landscaping contract that was awarded to Longfellow Holdings, LLC, a company that is owned and operated by Longfellow’s brother. [RELATED: Maine Awards State…

The Bangor Daily News, the media arm of marketing firm Bangor Publishing Company, on Tuesday published its latest report into the boogeyman of anti-government extremism in Maine. From Christopher Polhaus, the Biden-backing pro-Ukraine war Wyoming man whose business partner raised $100,000 for a Democratic presidential candidate in 2016, to Tom Kawczynski, a former town manager who posted ridiculous things on social media, the Bangor newspaper has developed a fetish for identifying, publicizing, and “exposing” anyone in Maine who can be vaguely connected with a person or group the Southern Poverty Law Center claims is bad. It’s a strategy that’ll generate…

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of pressuring the company in 2020 to censor accurate reporting about then-Democratic candidate for president Joe Biden. The allegation, which Zuckerberg made in an Aug. 26 letter to the House Judiciary Committee, raises the prospect that America’s top law enforcement agency coerced a private company into censoring truthful information about Biden in order to influence the outcome of a presidential election. In the letter, Zuckerberg addressed the controversy surrounding Meta’s handling of a New York Post story involving corruption allegations against President Biden’s family. [RELATED: CIA Contractors Colluded…

Bill Belichick, the longtime head coach of the New England Patriots foot team, has cited Massachusetts’ income surtax as a significant hurdle in his efforts to recruit top NFL talent. Speaking on the Pat McAfee Show, Belichick said the so-called “Millioniare’s Tax” levied by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts works against the New England Patriots organization when they’re trying to recruit players, even practice squad players. “It’s taxachusetts, yeah,” said Belichick, when asked about the penalty successful people pay for the luxury of living in Democratic Gov. Maura Healey’s state. [RELATED: ICE Arrests Brazilian Illegal Alien Charged in Massachusetts with Attempted Murder,…

Top Republican budget officials have called for a thorough review by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) of a recent proposal from the Biden administration that would provide financial relief to Medicare insurers. While the Biden administration has described the one-time payments to insurers as a “demonstration program,” Republicans have alleged that bailout is an attempt to use taxpayer dollars to protect vulnerable Democrats on Election Day. In a letter sent Monday, House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) demanded and CBO review and highlighted Republicans’ criticism of the Medicare payouts. [RELATED:…

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has said its investigating after Democrats attending the Democratic National Convention in Chicago made a disgusting discovery: there food was infested with maggots. According to a local TV station, the Chicago Police and the FBI are investigating to determine whether someone intentionally slipped the maggots into the Democratic food chain prior to Wednesday morning’s breakfast. https://twitter.com/BenBradleyTV/status/1826322519541878832 It’s unclear whether any DNC attendees ate any of the food that was reportedly contaminated with fly larvae. “Our team acted immediately to clean and sanitize the area, ensuring that the event could continue without further incident,” a spokesperson…

The new leader of the Democratic Party, Vice President Kamala Harris, has unveiled a slate of economic proposals that would do nothing but harm the American economy and make Americans poorer. In case you haven’t been following along, Harris has endorsed price-controls for grocery stores, subsidizing housing demand with $25,000 credits to new home-buyers, raising the corporate income tax to 28 percent, and adopting a 45 percent tax on longterm capital gains. Harris even went so far as propose a 25 percent tax on unrealized capital gains for some high net-worth individuals. If Harris set out to craft a set…

Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, is expected to unveil a slate of economic proposals on Friday in North Carolina, including a plan to offer new homebuyers as much as $25,000 in downpayment assistance. The plan to subsidize housing demand followed an earlier announcement that Harris wanted to impose government-controlled pricing on grocery stores in order to protect American consumers from greedy grocery store operators. Harris’s housing proposal, which may seem enticing to young people in the market for their first homes, led many political observers to ask the obvious question: Won’t every home-seller just increase…

Two days after Christmas 2023, the bodies of Jean C. Robinson, 76, and her daughter, Allison “Joy” Cumming, 53, were found dead at 274 Red School Road in Farmington, the location of Joy’s small business, the Pawsitive Dog Kennel. The Maine State Police (MSP), two weeks later, said the Chief Medical Examiner had ruled that both Robinson and Cumming died as the result of homicide. The MSP said an autopsy for both women had been completed on Dec. 28, but the state police agency gave no further information about the investigation into the killings, including the way the women were…

Vice President Kamala Harris will unveil a plan to use the federal government to control grocery stores prices at Friday campaign event in North Carolina. The plan will include a federal ban on “corporate price-gouging,” according to reporting NBC correspondent Yamiche Alcindor. Harris also wants to grant new authority to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Justice Department attorneys to impose harsh penalties on companies suspected of violating these rules. The price-control scheme is an attempt by Harris, the presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, to rein in the inflation the U.S. economy has experienced under the Biden-Harris administration. Food, energy,…

The White House wants to give an estimated $5 billion in taxpayer money to health insurance companies in order to prevent Medicare premium increases caused, in part, by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. The controversial move is intended to stop private health insurers from raising Medicare Part D prescription drug premiums, but Republican critics argue the timing suggests the potentially illegal move is purely political. Proposed Medicare rate increases are typically submitted during the summer and announced in September. If it moves forward, the White House’s gimmick could prevent seniors from getting alerts about prescription drug cost increases…

A Maine mother says her daughter, Nicole M. Dunham of Orrington, was called up to join the Minnesota National Guard as a convoy support medic in 2005—the same year Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz retired from the Minnesota National Guard in order to skip a deployment to Iraq. “Nicole Marie Dunham went to war in place of the Governor of Minnesota,” said Mary Dunham in a Monday morning interview with WVOM’s George Hale and Ric Tyler Show. “Maybe not his rank, but my daughter from Maine went to war, and he didn’t, he didn’t fulfill his commitment. Nicole’s commitment was over.…

A lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday challenges the constitutionality of Maine’s Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) program, alleging it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of lawyers and their clients. The complaint, filed by Dedham resident E. David Wescott and the limited liability company Russell Johnson Beaupain, contends that the mandatory IOLTA program forces them to support causes they oppose. The plaintiffs are suing several state entities, including the Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the State Court Administrator, the Maine Justice Foundation, and the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar. According to…

Peter Mills, the former executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority, emerged this week as one of the top faces of “Republicans for Harris.” The group mirrored in Maine the sudden emergence of a supposed Republican outpouring of support nationally for far-left Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. But in secretly recorded audio obtained by the Maine Wire from a citizen journalist, Peter Mills revealed that the entire group is astroturf organized by Amy Cookson, a campaign staffer for Vice President Harris’s campaign. In the recorded audio, Mills, who is the brother of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and is himself…

The latest case of fighting racism with racism comes with an added dash of climate change hysteria-induced mental illness, courtesy if the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardners Association (MOFGA). On Aug. 24 from 9:00am to 12:00pm, MOFGA will host “Ecology of Grief: Mourning and Celebrating Changing Forests,” a workshop intended to help people cope with their neuroticism over climate change. The event is free to attend… unless you’re white. For whites, the cost of admission is between $50 to $125; MOFGA members are asked to chip in $75. Leading the grief counseling session are Elizabeth Grey, a professional facilitator with…

Once upon a time, a newspaper editorial was a beacon of thought, a voice that carried weight and commanded respect. It was an instrument of intellect, raising unconventional ideas and stirring action towards noble goals. Nowadays, the Bangor Daily News’ editorials bear an uncanny resemblance to the impassioned rants you might find on your boomer aunt’s Facebook page, especially after she’s indulged in a marathon of MSNBC and a bag of wine. Here’s a suggestion for the publisher: consider replacing the entire editorial team with ChatGPT. Simply feed the OpenAI language model this prompt: “Write an opinion editorial about [insert…

A declassified report by the Canadian National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) revealed earlier this year extensive foreign interference in Canada’s elections and legislative affairs. According to a new report from independent journalist Sam Cooper of The Bureau, the NSICOP report, taken together with non-public intelligence documents obtained exclusively by Cooper, show that Chinese nationals, backed by the Chinese Communist Party, have engaged and are engaging in sophisticated efforts to infiltrate and manipulate all levels of Canada’s economy and government. The Special Report was prepared by NSICOP — the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee –…

A Canadian-born illegal alien with outstanding warrants for grand theft and armed robbery was caught stealing more than $3,000 of food, booze, and lobster from Hannaford in Damariscotta. Cristian Ariza-Padilla, 49, the culinary hand behind Ann’s Book Bistro and Koko’s Sandwich Bar, was nabbed by Damariscotta police on July 17, according to a story broken Aug. 1 by the Lincoln County News, a locally owned weekly newspaper. [READ LCN HERE] According to LCN’s reporting, Ariza-Padilla is allegedly Canadian-born illegal alien, whose illegal presence in the U.S. was only uncovered after his arrest on theft charges. The Damariscotta lugging and subsequent…

Protesters sympathetic to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas descended on Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, at one point torching several American flags in apparent protest of Israeli Prime Minister’s Benjamin Natanyahu’s address to Congress — and address Maine Sen. Angus King and Rep. Chellie Pingree both boycotted. Although Maine-based far left groups attempted to organize bus trips for activists to attend the anti-Israel activities in the nation’s capital, some remained behind to attend low-energy demonstrations in Augusta and Portland. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/1816181954712412641 Outside of the fringe left Democratic circles, Netanyahu’s speech was generally regarded as pro-American and pro-democracy, a rousing call to defend…

The Maine Democrat’s candidate for State Senate District 19 was charged with Operating Under the Influence (OUI) in May, according to records obtained by the Maine Wire. Bruce S. Bryant, 62, of Rumford was summonsed and had his initial court appearance on July 8 in South Paris District Court following an incident involving an officer from the Rumford Police Department just after 11:30 pm on Friday, May 10, according to police records. Democrat Bruce S. Bryant The incident occurred on Route 2. Although Bryant’s campaign registration documents list an PO Box in Dixfield, Oxford County property records show Bryant owns…

President Joe Biden is out of the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination—whether he knows it or not—and already his lean and hungry wolf of a vice president, Kamala D. Harris, is projecting a sense of inevitability around her ascent to the top of the ticket. Notably, former President Barack Obama, commonly viewed as the real marionettist in contemporary Democratic Party politics, hasn’t endorsed Harris; neither has former nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Also on that list of Kamala non-endorsers: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker emeritus and stock trading guru Nancy Pelosi, as well as House Democratic…

President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., the incumbent Democratic presidential nominee for 2024, announced Sunday that he will be dropping out of the presidential race, according to a letter published by his campaign. In the letter—dated July 21, 2024, but bearing no presidential seal—Biden has faced mounting calls from wealthy progressive donors, as well as elected Democrats, to step aside following a debate performance in which his cognitive deficits and ailing health were glaringly obvious. Despite Biden’s very obvious health struggles, Maine’s top Democrats had continued to back him right up until Sunday. This week, Maine Gov. Janet Mills and House…

The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), a 501(c)4 nonprofit that litigates against governments and left-wing activists in defense of American civil rights, responded on Thursday to the news that the Mills Administration flagged one of their social media post to the Maine State Police as a potential security threat. In case you missed it, FPC retweeted a Maine Wire video in which Gov. Mills told one of her liberal allies in corporate television media that she wanted a ban on a popular type of semi-automatic rifle. FPC responded by reposting the video with a simple message directed at Maine’s governor: “Hey…

Documents obtained by the Maine Wire via a Freedom of Access Act show that Gov. Janet Mills’ personnel referred social media posts from the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Maine Wire to the State Police, flagging them for the governor’s Executive Protection Unit. The tweet in question contained a video from an interview in which Gov. Mills told a liberal reporter that she was considering a ban on a popular form of semi-automatic rifle in the wake of the Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston. The Firearms Policy Coalition, a 501(c)4 nonprofit that litigates in defense of American’s civil right…

State Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot) is among vehement critics of former President Donald Trump now sending his prayers to the 2024 Republican presidential nominee following his attempted assassination on Saturday. But a review of Baldacci’s social media posts shows the Bangor area pol has frequently highlighted extreme anti-Trump rhetoric, including a meme calling for “MAGA” to be “Dead and Buried”. Baldacci has also reposted several videos from anti-Trump former Republican Adam Kinzinger, who left Congress for a gig in cable news as a token GOP talking head. Kinzinger has emerged as one of the more extreme anti-Trump voices, regularly calling…

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly A. Cheatle remains at the head of the law enforcement agency tasked with protecting American presidents and presidential candidates despite the catastrophic failures that allowed a would-be assassin to fire several shots at former Republican President Donald Trump. Thomas W. Crooks, the alleged gunman in Saturday’s shooting, managed to outsmart the nation’s premier executive protection team with lethal effect. Despite a joint team of Secret Service agents, snipers, and local law enforcement in Butler County, Penn., Crooks was able to bring a ladder to the backside of one of the only buildings in the area…

As Maine gears up to spend billions of dollars in taxpayer money subsidizing offshore wind turbines, similar projects proposed or in operation off the New England coast are struggling to survive the harsh environment and growing costs. Last year, the parent company of Central Maine Power pulled the plug on an offshore wind power development off the cost of Massachusetts after cost increases render the project non-viable, a move that cost the company $48 million in termination fees. The company judged that the whopper of a fee was a more prudent course than plowing forward with a power purchase agreement…

In the hours following Thomas M. Crooks’ attempted assassination of former Republican President Donald Trump, questions immediately began to swirl over the U.S. Secret Service’s chaotic, slow, and inept security and evacuations protocols before and after the shooting. “I have already contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and am also calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing,” said Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee. Much of the criticism centered on the obvious question: How was a shooter allowed to take a firing position just 150 yards from Trump’s…

Former Republican President Donald J. Trump emerged bloody but in a fighting spirit after several shots were fired towards his podium at an event in Pennsylvania on Saturday, with one of the bullets appearing to wound his ear. “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Trump bellowed just seconds after surviving a hail of gun fire, resisting his security detail raise a fist of defiance. “During Former President Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on the evening of July 13 at approximately 6:15 p.m., a suspected shooter fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue,” the Secret…

State of Maine employees will no longer be in charge of landscaping at the State House after Bureau of General Services Director William J. Longfellow signed off on a contract for the groundskeeping work with Longfellow Holdings, LLC — his brother’s family business. Alden Longfellow’s Landscaping and Excavation, of which Longfellow’s brother, Jonathan Longfellow, is president, will provide lawn and plant maintenance at for the State House grounds, as well as several other properties in Augusta, Hallowell, and Vassalboro. In an email to the Maine Wire, a spokesperson for Longfellow, Sharon Huntley, said that Longfellow “removed himself from the substance…

An economist from the Arabella Advisers-backed Maine Center for Economic Policy (MECEP) has admitted that illegal aliens entering the U.S. under the Biden Administration are more likely than legal immigrants to commit crimes. However, he believes that a “quicker” way to lower crime rates in America is to deport a random sample of U.S. citizens. “I believe unauthorized immigrants are younger and more likely to be men than other immigrants. Which might account for at least some of the difference in crime rates,” James Myall, MECEP’s Economic Policy analyst and “lead on the inclusive economy,” said on X last week.…

Hey Maine Wire Readers, Messages began pouring in last night about some unusual activity around our Facebook page. We can confirm that Facebook was begun censoring Maine Wire stories going back to even December. This includes removing links that elected officials posted to their own pages, blocking traffic to the Maine Wire, and limiting our visibility. Facebook (aka Meta) has always embraced censorship, and even began targeting some of our content on the solar subsidies last week, but their efforts really went into overdrive last night. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that it’s happening right after that splendid debate.…

State and federal officials are remaining tight-lipped over an April 26 multi-car crash that left an Albion woman dead and sent her husband into critical care on a Life Flight to Portland. According to witnesses, the accident was caused by Oguzhan Cildir, 23, an illegal alien who entered the U.S. without authorization in January. More than 62 days after the fatal accident, no charges have been filed against Cildir, and a police source tells the Maine Wire that state police are still waiting for a toxicology report. Gloria J. Cascio, 53, died unexpectedly on April 26, 2024 after a vehicle…

A state committee formed in 2005 to ensure compliance with Maine’s government transparency law — the Freedom of Access Act — has partnered with the Maine Municipal Association (MMA) to collect alleged examples of FOAA becoming too “burdensome” for town employees. The request, emailed this week to Maine town clerks by the MMA’s Rebecca Lambert, aims to bolster the position of government officials and some members of the so-called “Right to Know” advisory committee that Maine’s FOAA is skewed to heavily toward transparency and taxpayer rights. “The Right to Know Advisory Committee, established to oversee Maine’s Freedom of Access Act,…

A top union official appeared to mock conservatives for focusing on “God” and “guns” at a June 8th event headlined by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden. “The radical right knows the social issues divide us and economic issues divide us – they are going to strictly focus on social issues: 3 G’s Gays, God and Guns,” IAM Political and Legislative Director Hasan Solomon, of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said at the June 8 Maine State Council of Machinists Conference in South Portland. Image courtesy of AFL-CIO Communications Director Andy O’Brien Brian Bryant, the international president of…

The school board members and superintendent of a public school in Damariscotta blamed a Newcastle mom and the Maine Wire for threats emailed to the district last year — even as the board member leading the smear campaign admitted in an email thread that he had “no details and no idea if these threats were related” to the mom or the Maine Wire. The Jan. 13, 2023 email, penned by then-board member Jesse Butler, came a few weeks after Amber Lavigne, the mother of two Great Salt Bay Community School students, expressed her frustration at a Dec. 2022 public school…

A dispute over a state contract for courier services has led to the disruption of a popular program used by Maine kids to obtain library books otherwise not available at their local library. The Inter Library Loan (ILL) program is a state-funded service that allows Mainers to request books from 203 public libraries across the state and have them delivered to their local library. It’s a popular resource for young readers, especially within Maine’s homeschooling community. However, following the conclusion of the contract evaluation process, one of the companies that was pursuing the contract has filed an appeal disputing the…

Mainers were evacuating flooded homes, long lines were forming at gas stations, and more than half the state was without power. Yet for several days during some of the worst power outages Maine has experienced since the Ice Storm of 1998, Gov. Janet Mills (D) was nowhere to be found. Now, Gov. Mills and her Department of Public Safety (DPS) are continuing to withhold public records sought in January that would shed light on precisely where she was during those crucial initial days, why her office failed to produce any public comment during that period, and what she might have…

The heavily taxpayer-funded floating offshore wind technology developed by the University of Maine at Orono and touted by the Mills Administration has failed to advance to the third round in a prize contest held by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The so-called “FLOWIN Prize” contest was conceived President Joe Biden’s DOE as a way to identify the most viable technologies to float industrial-scale wind power generating facilities in the deep coastal waters off the U.S. Unfortunately for UMaine and lead project researcher, Dr. Habib Dagher, the university’s VolturnUS design, which was piloted via the Aqua Ventus research project, was…

California’s job market isn’t as rosy as official state and federal employment figures suggested in 2023, according to a bombshell report from the non-partisan California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). According to the latest revised numbers, the Golden State may have actually lost jobs in the last quarter of 2023, despite earlier claims of massive job gains. The LAO, overseen by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the California State Legislature, published its findings in a report titled “Newest Early Jobs Revision Shows No Net Job Growth During 2023.” The report contradicts previous optimistic reports, exposing the harsh reality of California’s…

A federal indictment unsealed on Monday charged Los Angeles-based associates of Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel with collaborating with Chinese underground banking networks to launder over $50 million in proceeds illicit drug trafficking. The superseding indictment, which includes 10 counts, follows a multi-year investigation known as “Operation Fortune Runner.” The indictment, returned on April 4, names 24 defendants who are accused of conspiring to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine, laundering various currencies, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Key defendants, including Edgar Joel Martinez-Reyes, 45, of East Los Angeles, allegedly employed complex and sophisticated methods to disguise the origins of drug…