Author: Steve Robinson

A Morton, Illinois man has been indicted on multiple fraud charges for allegedly defrauding health insurance companies and the State of Illinois out of hundreds of thousands of dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Department of Justice. Aaron Rossi, 40, faces six counts of healthcare fraud, one count of mail fraud, and four counts of wire fraud — all part of an elaborate conspiracy to enrich himself by taking advantage of the COVID-19 scare. Rossi, the CEO of Reditus Laboratories in Pekin, Illinois, is accused of establishing policies that financially benefited himself and defrauded healthcare providers from October…

New England’s power grid operator, ISO New England Inc., declared a level 1 emergency alert on Tuesday as a severe heat wave engulfed the northeastern United States. The alert was issued following unexpected outages in power generation, leaving the grid unable to meet demand while maintaining required reserves, according to Matt Kakley, spokesman for ISO New England. The grid operator, which serves 7.5 million homes and businesses across six states, saw electricity prices briefly spike to $1,993 per megawatt-hour, over ten times the day-ahead cost. Despite the warning and the brief spike in cost, ISO New England did not forecast…

Maine’s businesses are about to be hit with massive cost increases — in some cases of more than $50,000 for 2024 — thanks to a scheme devised by state lawmakers to subsidize solar power. According to letters sent to customers by Versant Power, Maine’s second largest electrical utility, the portion of small business’ electrical bills described as “stranded costs” is set to increase from 2023 to 2024 anywhere from 20 percent to as much as 1,644 percent. “A new, fixed monthly stranded cost dee is under review and would capture expenses and incentives to develop Maine’s renewable power generation and…

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Division executed a drug search warrant at a residence in Anson Friday morning, Sheriff Dale Lancaster said in a press release. No individuals were present during the execution of the warrant. According to Somerset real estate records, the 264 Horseback Road property was purchased most recently by Baker Li, of Brooklyn, in Sept. 2021. Photo prior to Yuling Mei’s purchase of the house Photo of the property as it appears now showing sophisticated upgrades, including heat pumps, window coverings, electrical upgrades, and propane tanks. Records show the seller as Yuling Mei, of Brooklyn, NY,…

The United States is in the middle of a genuine open-borders crisis that is leading us, at best, to the collapse of our already unsustainable welfare state. At worst, we’re sleepwalking into an unprecedented crime wave and terrorist attacks on American soil. But for U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, the far left Democrat who has represented Maine’s coastal “from away” population since 2008, the solution is not stronger border security but more migrants and more taxpayer-funded busses to bring them to Maine. In comments this week, Pingree urged her colleagues to prioritize open borders and freebies for non-citizens over national security…

Mexican transnational criminal organizations are increasingly targeting American timeshare owners in sophisticated fraud schemes, according to a new report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). These scams have cost victims more than $300 million, primarily affecting older Americans, whom the agency describes as particularly vulnerable to such crimes. The FBI has observed a rise in these scams, where criminals deceive timeshare owners into parting with large sums of money under false pretenses related to their properties. This type of fraud, often considered a form of elder fraud, has devastating impacts on victims, said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Paul…

Everyone living in Maine understands that we’re in the middle of a housing affordability crisis. Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED) and the Maine Housing Authority reveal that the problem is much more severe than you may think. Put simply, the housing situation in Maine is worse than at anytime in nearly three decades — and the trend line suggests things aren’t going to get better anytime soon. According to MaineHousing’s “Affordability Index,” which measures the ratio between median home price and median income required to buy a home at that price, 79.1 percent of Maine…

A recent audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has revealed significant deficiencies in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) processes for screening and vetting asylum seekers and noncitizens applying for admission into the United States. The report, dated June 7, 2024, highlights technological, procedural, and coordination gaps that could pose serious risks to national security as the U.S. continues to experience record levels of illegal immigration. The audit identified that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have struggled to fully implement effective screening measures. The OIG found that although CBP…

The Bangor Daily News, a once-vital news source for northern Maine that has transmogrified into a left-wing taxpayer-subsidized propaganda rag, has outdone themselves with their latest bizarre editorial on the GOP primary for the Second Congressional District. Beginning with the obviously deceitful premise that the editorial board wanted to interview candidates Mike Soboleski and Austin Theriault with open minds and decide whom to endorse, the writers of the editorial proceed to insult the Republican candidates — and conservatives generally — for several paragraphs. The BDN concludes with an endorsement of Soboleski, but only because he gave them the proper respect…

Sixty-two percent of registered voters in the U.S. — including a third of registered Democrats — support the mass deportation of illegal aliens, according to a CBS / YouGov poll conducted last week. “A nearly six in 10 majority of voters say they would favor, in principle, a new government program to deport all undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. illegally,” CBS wrote. “That isn’t purely partisan, it includes a third of Democrats. It rises to nine in 10 Republicans,” the outlet said. Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-trump-biden-neck-and-neck-06-09-2024/ The support for mass deportations comes as the U.S. has experienced record levels of illegal immigration at…

The Maine State Police executed a search warrant at a property in Parsonfield Friday morning that was suspected of harboring an illegal marijuana cultivation operation. “On Friday, June 7, 2024, at approximately 8: 45 a.m., members of the Maine State Police alongside the Office of Homeland Security Investigations, Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP) executed a search warrant at 424 Maplecrest Road in Parsonsfield,” a state police spokesperson said in an email. [RELATED: Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ Brother Helped Transfer Nine-Acre Black Market Cannabis Grow to Chinese National “Mother” Living in Guangdong Province: Triad Weed…]…

The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday it has concluded an investigation into an alleged assault by a teacher against a student at Gray New Gloucester Middle School. The teacher has been identified as Thomas Morawiec, a 48-year-old speech therapist. Morawiec has been charged with a Class “D” misdemeanor for assault. The investigation found that Morawiec assaulted a twelve-year-old student on March 25, the Sheriff’s Office said. The incident, however, was not reported to authorities until May 28, 2024, when the parents of the victim informed the Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officer assigned to the Gray New Gloucester School District.…

A Congolese illegal alien was arrested last month at the Maine-Canada border and is being held without bail at the Somerset County Jail as the District Attorney’s office pursues an order to have him extradited to the Iowa over active warrants related to a sexual assault conviction. Eric R. Ngirimpa, 36, was delivered into the custody of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) dropped him at the U.S. Customs & Border Protection’s Jackman station on May 29, the Sheriff’s Office said in a press release. The RCMP informed a sheriff’s deputy that Ngirimpa had…

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Department executed on Thursday morning its 19th search warrant of the year as part of an ongoing investigation into the sprawling network of drug trafficking sites run by Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations. According to Sheriff Dale Lancaster, the enforcement action, which occurred at a residence in Solon, resulted in the seizure of a large amount of illegally cultivated cannabis, but no arrests. The Maine Wire has previously visited the property, at 21 North Main St., and observed the tell-tale signs of a marijuana cultivation operation, including the obvious smell of marijuana, blacked-out windows, and recent electrical…

Several readers have forwarded the Bangor newspaper’s Monday story on illicit Chinese-controlled marijuana grow sites in Norridgewock, so I figured it was worth posting some comments. The taxpayer-subsidized newspaper has finally decided to do something on the triad weed beat other than re-write law enforcement press releases or review court filings. Their gumshoe reporters were apparently oblivious to the vast criminal conspiracy that cropped up in their backyards until conservative media shamed them into covering it. However, the story the paper ran Monday is an unsubtle argument that Maine law enforcement should stop cracking down on the Chinese mafia drug…

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R) grilled FBI Director Christopher Wray Tuesday over the ties between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chinese organized crime networks in Maine. “What is the FBI’s theory about why Chinese nationals or Chinese transnational criminal organizations are setting up these illegal marijuana growing operations in states like Maine?” Sen. Collins asked Director Wray. Wray answered that foreign organized crime networks are likely setting up illicit marijuana cultivation and trafficking operations because it’s lucrative and low-risk. “[O]ur assessment is that it’s a combination of the fact that it is activity that can be done relatively cheaply,…

Maine Democrats, a category that includes Sen. Angus King, regardless of what his alleged political pronouns are, have failed a fundamental test. By failing to condemn the radical injustice that played out in New York City this week, they have shown disdain for America’s traditional justice system and the U.S. Constitution. The mask is off, and they are revealed to be shamelessly lustful for partisan power. On Thursday, one of the most ludicrously corrupt show trials in the history of criminal justice reached it’s inevitable, preordained conclusion: a jury of New York City liberals found former President Donald Trump guilty…

In a case that has been widely panned by mainstream legal analysts, former Republican President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has been found guilty by a New York City jury on 34 felony counts related to hush money payments made nearly a decade ago to a sex worker. The case is one of several instances of left-wing prosecutors waging lawfare against the former Republican president using questionable tactics and novel legal theories. As Democratic President Joe Biden seeks a second term, Democrats are hoping the guilty verdicts will tilt the scales in their favor and reverse the…

The Somerset County Sheriffs’ Office on Thursday executed a search warrant at a suspected illicit marijuana grow located at 71 Denbow Road in St. Albans, according to residents in St. Albans who observed the operation. In July 2020, the property was purchased by Yuting Lum of Middle Village, NY; however, Lum sold the house in April 2022 to Kai Hua Zhang of Staten Island, NY. Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster released the following press release Thursday afternoon: On Thursday, May 30, 2024 at approximately 0945 am, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Division executed a drug search warrant at a…

A police department in southern Maine is seeing an “uptick” in the number of driver’s licenses issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) to individuals using the social security number “999-99-9999”. “We’ve seen an uptick in [BMV] using 999-99-9999 for social security numbers,” wrote Darcie L. Valido, the Assistant Director of Operations for Sanford Regional Communications, in a May 23 email to various police departments in southern Maine. In the email, which was obtained via a Freedom of Access Act request, and a phone interview, Valido said she sent the email because the bogus social security number can cause…

A federal report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture has revealed has revealed that Maine has the highest percentage of foreign-owned land of any U.S. state. “The state of Texas has the largest amount of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land with over 5.4 million acres,” the USDA report states. “Maine has the second largest amount of foreign-held agricultural acres, with just under 3.5 million.” By percentage, Maine has more of its privately held agricultural land under foreign control (21.1 percent) than any other state, according to the report. The vast majority of that land is timberland owned by Canadians or Canada-based…

Maine Sen. Angus King is concerned that the Chinese Communist Party, which rules the People’s Republic of China, is coordinating with the Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) that operate hundreds of illegal drug trafficking sites throughout Maine. In comments to WGME, King, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was worried about the intelligence collection that Chinese drug traffickers may be engaging in on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). “In many ways, there’s no such thing as a private business in China,” King told WGME. “Every business has a link to the government, and that’s one of…

Some of the migrants illegally entering the U.S. over the unsecured southern border are trying to “game” the American asylum system, according to comments from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “The reality is that some people do indeed try to game the system,” Mayorkas told CBS in an interview. [RELATED: Chinese Citizen Charged With Felony Drug Trafficking in Maine Invokes “Asylum” Claim to Avoid Deportation…] “That does not speak to everyone whom we encounter, but there is an element of it, and we deal with it accordingly,” he said, without elaborating on how DHS deals with bogus asylum…

The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced a series of public meetings following its Proposed Sale Notice (PSN) for the first offshore wind energy auction in the Gulf of Maine. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is opening a 60-day public comment period that will close on July 1, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The public meetings follow the April 30 announcement from the Biden Administration that it would auction off the rights to build industrial-scale wind turbine arrays in the Gulf of Maine. “In another step by the Biden-Harris administration to support the growing momentum across…

A months-long investigation culminated in a drug raid at a residence on Mercer Road Friday morning, resulting in the arrest of a 55-year-old man, described in a press release as a “Norridgewock man.” [RELATED: Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ Brother Helped Transfer Nine-Acre Black Market Cannabis Grow to Chinese National “Mother” Living in Guangdong Province…] The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Division executed a search warrant at approximately 9:49 a.m, according to the press release. [RELATED: The Triad’s Electrician: Meet the 87-Year-Old “Frontman” for Chinese Marijuana Grows in Maine…] The Sheriff’s Office said the operation, led by Detective Lieutenant Carl Gottardi…

If you’re looking to grow thousands of pounds of black market marijuana out of rural houses in Maine, you’re going to need a licensed Master Electrician to get your commercial-grade electricity approved. That’s exactly what Tong Q. Lu, the owner of China Wok on Broadway in Bangor, found in J. Martin Vachon. Vachon, an 87-year-old master electrician, previously told the Maine Wire that he’s been living at a property Lu owns, lending his expertise to unlicensed Chinese cannabis growers in exchange for room and board. [The Triad’s Electrician: Meet the 87-Year-Old “Frontman” for Chinese Marijuana Grows in Maine…] The Maine…

UPDATE: Shortly after publication of this story, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office announced that it had apprehended Jian Ji Wu, 63, in connection with the search warrant it executed Tuesday in Canaan. Wu will be held on $25,000 cash bail. Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster executed a significant drug search warrant on Tuesday, uncovering an extensive illegal marijuana cultivation operation in Canaan, Maine. The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Division conducted the raid at a residence on Hinckley Road around 9 a.m., following a months-long investigation into suspected illicit activities. “This search warrant is part of a broader investigation, with…

In the town of Dexter, Maine, a seemingly abandoned property on Highland Avenue that once operated as an illicit marijuana cultivation site sits less than a mile from the U.S. Army Reserve Training Center on Prospect Street. In the driveway of that abandoned drug hub sits a BMW containing t-shirts affiliated with the Sijiu Association of NYC — a Chinese national group with ties to the Chinese consulate in New York and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Photographs obtained by the Maine Wire show the t-shirts strapped over the driver and passenger side seats in the BMW. In addition to…

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office on Friday raided yet another illegal cannabis growing operation — this time on South Road in the town of Harmony. “At the time of the search, no individuals were located at the residence,” the Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said in a press release. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] “In all, 1,277 growing marijuana plants, 25 pounds of processed marijuana and drug related documentation and drug related paraphernalia was seized,” Lancaster said. The press release indicated that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and federal Drug Enforcement Agency were…

A large number of Maine law enforcement officers executed a search warrant Monday morning at a location in Freedom, the Maine Wire has learned. The property is thought to be connected to the network of Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (Asian TCOs) that are growing and trafficking black market cannabis in Maine. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] The 555 Belfast Road property raided Monday was purchased in Dec. 2021 by Austin Zhen, 33, of Brooklyn, New York. Zhen used a mortgage from Quontic Bank, a New York-based Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI). In a statement,…

The U.S. Justice Department is taking steps to seize of four properties in Maine linked to extensive illegal marijuana operations, according to recent court filings. The crackdown, revealed in a series of legal filings obtained by the Maine Wire, is the first indication that U.S. Attorney for Maine Darcie McElwee intends to seize properties tied to the sprawling network of illicit drug trafficking sites, a network the Department of Homeland Security has said is being run at the behest of Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations with links to the Chinese Communist Party. [RELATED: The Triad’s Electrician: Meet the 87-Year-Old “Frontman” for…

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) announced today the awarding of $2,500 scholarships to 2,500 high school seniors nationwide, including seven from Maine, as part of the prestigious 2024 National Merit Scholarship Program. These students were chosen from a competitive pool of over 15,000 finalists based on their academic achievements, standardized test scores, leadership experience, essays, and school recommendations. Selections were made by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, ensuring that the winners exemplify the strongest combination of accomplishments and potential for success in challenging college studies. The Maine recipients are Wesley N. Haynes from Brunswick,…

Campobello Holdings, Inc. arrived in Downeast Maine with promises to convert an antique sardine cannery in Eastport into a seafood exporter that would connect local fishermen with markets in New York City and Asia. But according to documents, photographs, videos, audio-recorded phone calls, and witness interviews obtained by the Maine Wire, the venture devolved into a rat-infested unlicensed cannabis grow, and a video-surveilled flophouse for an unknown number of workers. At the helm of the operation was New York seafood dealer Wai Tat “Jimmy” Wong, who in 2014 convinced the LePage Administration and the Washington County Council of Governments to…

Just five American governors are more unpopular than Maine. Gov. Janet Mills (D), according to the Morning Consult analysis released Tuesday. The report, which is only available to subscribers, has tracked the popularity of U.S. governors among registered voters since 2017 using a standardized survey methodology that allows for direct comparisons of job performance among state-level executives. “Our definitive rankings of America’s most and least popular governors provide the exceedingly rare apples-to-apples, cross-country comparison of governors’ relative popularity among their own voter base, including by political affiliation, age, race and educational attainment,” the report summary states. “Each quarter, the U.S.…

Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster’s office took down yet another illegal cannabis cultivation and processing hub on Tuesday located in Harmony, according to sources who watched the law enforcement action take place. The 10 Cooley Road residence was purchased by Dongyan Liang of 72 Melrose Ave., Staten Island, N.Y. in Jan. 2023. Shortly after the purchase, Liang entered into a standard easement agreement with Central Maine Power (CMP), a modification commonly encountered when commercial-grade power is installed at otherwise residential properties to supply electricity to illicit marijuana grows. [RELATED: The Triad’s Electrician: Meet the 87-Year-Old “Frontman” for Chinese Marijuana Grows…

The 87-year-old self-described “frontman” for an elaborate Chinese-run drug trafficking organization active in rural Maine told the Maine Wire that he’s been living with a family of black market marijuana growers for nearly three years and helping them with electrical upgrades at facilities throughout the state. In exchange for his services, the immigrant family feeds him, provides some level of medical care, and takes him almost everywhere they go. That was just one of the stunning details revealed by J. Martin Vachon, a master electrician from Ellsworth, over the course of an hour-long phone interview — details that are confirmed…

The Democrat-controlled Maine State Legislature elected on Patriot’s Day — the holiday that commemorates some of the first battles in America’s Revolutionary War against a tyrannical government — by voting for more restrictions of Mainers’ Second Amendment rights. [Editorial: History Shows Gun Control Inevitably Becomes a Political Weapon…] According to Maine’s State Constitution, Article I, Section 16 further solidifies and clarifies the Second Amendment originally enshrined in the federal bill of rights, stating the following: “Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms and this right shall never be questioned.” That language is contravened by Democratic Gov. Janet…

A Republican bill passed the Maine House of Representatives late Thursday evening that will result in tax increases on high-earners who live in and work in the Pine Tree State after 2025. The bill – LD 1231 – moved through the House amid confusion between Republican lawmakers as to what exactly the motion on the floor was, but the end result was that eight Republicans and every Democrat voted in favor of an earlier House roll call vote before the new tax-hiking scheme was passed with unanimous consent. The bill now tabled in the Senate, but if passed and approved…

Given the Maine Wire’s role as the fastest growing media outlet in Maine and the preeminent investigative reporting team focused of transnational organized crime — specifically Chinese mafia growing ganja in rural Maine — more than a few readers have asked for my thoughts on yesterday’s vote on LD 2204. In particular, readers have asked that I weigh in on the objections raised by the Republicans who voted against this attempt at combatting foreign-controlled drug trafficking and racketeering enterprises in Maine. For a breakdown of the vote and an explanation of what the bill would have done, you can read…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), the key measure of inflation in the U.S. economy, rose by 0.4 percent in March, matching February’s increase. Over the past 12 months, the all-items index has climbed 3.5 percent. Significant price increases in housing and gasoline were major contributors to the March rise, collectively accounting for more than half of the monthly all-items increase. The energy index, which includes these costs, saw a 1.1 percent increase. “Indexes for shelter, motor vehicle insurance, medical care, apparel, and personal care all rose in…

Transnational criminal organizations scored a major victory Tuesday in their ongoing effort to exploit rural Maine through the illicit cultivation and trafficking of vast amounts of illegal cannabis. The only bill that would have led to a more aggressive crackdown on the illegal operations failed to secure support in the Maine House of Representatives voted, with a bipartisan majority voting against a bill that would have made it harder for the criminal organizations to operate with impunity throughout rural Maine. Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris), the author of the bill, introduced the measure in response to a leaked Department of Homeland…

Amid the snow-covered debate on Friday over a bill that would allow the state to seize firearms from Maine residents under certain conditions, an exchange between Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin) and the bill’s sponsor, House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland), flew under the radar. However, the substance of Sen. Brakey’s question deserves fulsome consideration in light of the drastic new powers Speaker Talbot Ross’s bill would grant to government agents when it comes to seizing firearms and abrogating constitutionally protected rights. The bill in question — a so-called “Red Flag” law — would allow anyone to complain about anyone and…

When Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman released their new book, “White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy,” the publication was heralded by the usual suspects as MSNBC and CNN as the definitive and timely magnum opus confirming, once and for all, that redneck Trump voters living in the willywacks are a genuine threat to America, democracy, and pretty much everything. There’s only one problem: the entire book is fraudulent, based on sloppy research, and the authors demonstrated a pattern of ignoring or misconstruing the opinions of the experts they consulted. The shockingly bad attempt at popular sociology was first…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday that total nonfarm payroll employment in March rose by 303,000, with the unemployment rate remaining stable at 3.8 percent. The increase in jobs was led by gains in health care, government, and construction sectors. The unemployment rate has hovered between 3.7 percent and 3.9 percent since August 2023, according to household survey data. The rate for Black workers rose to 6.4 percent, while it decreased for Asians to 2.5 percent and Hispanics to 4.5 percent. Rates for adult men (3.3 percent), adult women (3.6 percent), teenagers (12.6 percent), and Whites (3.4 percent)…

Democratic lawmakers in Augusta are plowing forward Friday with an attempt to impose a so-called “Red Flag” gun control bill, even has hundreds of thousands of Mainers remain without power and unable to participate in the public hearing. The bill — LD 2283 — was sponsored by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross on March 24; however, the public was only made aware that the controversial gun control bill would have a public hearing late Thursday night. [RELATED: Maine Democrats Sneak in Last-Minute Gun Grab Measure…] The announcement came as hundreds of thousands of Mainers remained without electricity following a major…

The state of Maine ranks dead last among all U.S. states for progress made toward “unwinding” the massive pandemic emergency expansion of its Medicaid program, according to a study released last week by the Kaiser Family Foundation. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government initiated a policy of universal eligibility for Medicaid, a medical welfare program known in Maine as MaineCare. The move effectively incentivized states to enroll as many individuals into their Medicaid programs as possible, regardless of their income levels or eligibility under the previous guidelines. With the end of the public health emergency, however, states…

A Chinese citizen charged with felony drug trafficking after his arrest in China, ME, has invoked his status as an “asylum seeker” in a bid to avoid deportation. Changeng Chen, 36, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China, was arrested in January in connection with a five-room illegal cannabis growing operation at 1144 Route 3 in China. Chen and his alleged co-conspirators — Bing Xu, 42, and Aiqin Chen, 44 — were arrested after Kennebec County Sheriff’s Department deputies searched the home pursuant to a complaint alleging that individuals had been kidnapped from China, brought to the home, and…

With less than 75 days to go before Maine Republicans in the Second Congressional District will pick a candidate to face incumbent Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, former President Donald Trump on Wednesday endorsed Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent) over his opponent, Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Philips). Many Maine GOP insiders see the Trump endorsement as a fatal blow to Soboleski’s underdog bid, a stamp of MAGA authenticity that a well-funded Theriault can ride from now until the June 11 primary in a district that has overwhelmingly voted for the former president in recent elections. But if Theriault is pleased with Trump’s…

Maine law enforcement has executed three search warrants in March on suspected illegal marijuana cultivation sites throughout northern Maine, the Somerset Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday. [RELATED: Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ Brother Helped Transfer Nine-Acre Black Market Cannabis Grow to Chinese National “Mother” Living in Guangdong Province: Triad Weed…] The drug raids, which targeted one property two properties in Norridgewock and one in nearby Madison, resulted in the seizure of more than 900 mature marijuana plants and more than 30 pounds of processed cannabis. The sheriff’s office also seized cash $39,000 — the suspected proceeds of black market drug activity –…

A Chinese national living in the Guangdong Province, China, became the proud owner of a “fixer upper” in Penobscot County in February thanks, in part, to title transfer services provided by Paul H. Mills, the eldest brother of Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D). Xiling Ou, 44, of Malden, Mass., was the original owner of the ramshackle house and its three-bay garage, along with nine-acres of land, located at 51 Cider Hill in Corinna. But 13 days after the Penobscot Sheriff’s Department and Homeland Security agents raided an illegal marijuana grow just five miles away, she gifted the property to her…

The proliferation of Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) in America — especially illicit drug trafficking groups operated by Chinese nationals — has gotten so severe even the left-wing ProPublica has taken a notice. Light on original reporting and with only a glancing mention of Maine, the story is largely a rehash of local and national reports concerning a quadruple homicide at a Asian TCO-controlled marijuana grow in Oklahoma. That ProPublica is covering the topic, however, and daring to name the culprit — Chinese mafia — shows a shift in the national media’s willingness to properly assess a problem that is…

Washington, D.C. – Key U.S. intelligence officials have faced a series of probing questions from lawmakers this week, including Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R), concerning pressing national security threats related to foreign terrorism, the use of new and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Sen. Collins, a member of the Select Committee, has grilled top officials from the federal intelligence community, including Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines and FBI Director Christopher Wray, as part of the annual open hearings held by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. [RELATED: Collins Grills FBI Director Wray…

Big Picture: A major bill that would overhaul Maine’s marijuana regulations is moving through the State House, with $100s of millions — if not billions of dollars — on the line The fight pits large businesses against small businesses, adult-use recreational operators against medicinal providers, and multi-state operators against local businesses Changes to age-restrictions around who can work in the industry may cause banks to reconsider working with marijuana businesses, which would cause huge logistical headaches and security vulnerabilities The changes to regulations now in place for adult-use cultivators, processors, and dispensaries could allow illicit Chinese-owned operations to further proliferate…

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department did not make any arrests as they raided a property on the Industry Road in New Sharon, WGME reported Tuesday evening. According to WGME, the property was raided on Friday after the Sheriff’s Office was able to get a search warrant based on the electrical capacity installed at the residence. The property, which was previously known to the Maine Wire as an illicit Chinese-owned marijuana growing operation, had commercial-grade power installed in April 2022. Electrical records tie the property to several other properties in Maine which also show the tell-tale signs of marijuana grows, including…

As the debate over transgender school policies and sex-change procedures for minors has played out nationwide and in Maine, a common refrain from far left advocates of gender ideology has been that the alternative to “gender affirming care” is higher rates of suicide among those experiencing gender dysphoria. However, a new study from the American Urological Association’s Journal of Urology suggests not only that this argument lacks scientific support, but that surgical interventions may in fact increase suicidality among individuals who receive feminization surgeries, i.e. vaginoplasty. In other words, the surgical interventions that transgender activists have pushed as a cure…

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday about what his agency is doing to help local and regional Maine law enforcement do to combat the proliferation of Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (ATCOs) throughout rural Maine. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/1767278192480420242?s=20 “What we’re also seeing in Maine is a new phenomenon that was reported by some enterprising journalists, and that is that Chinese nationals are establishing illegal marijuana growing operations all over the state,” Sen. Collins said. “One public report estimates there are more than 200 of them, primarily in rural Maine. They’re unregulated. They’re illicit. They’re destroying homes because…

An effort by Democratic state lawmakers to establish Maine as a “sanctuary state” for child sex-change procedures and late-term abortions drew strong condemnation Monday from the attorneys general of 15 other U.S. states. In a letter spearheaded by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, the 15 AGs warned that Maine could face lawsuits from other states if it were to adopt the proposed statute, LD 227. “If Maine pursues LD 227’s constitutionally defective approach, we will vigorously avail ourselves of every recourse our Constitution provides,” the AGs wrote. [RELATED: Maine Transgender Activists Launch Offensive Against Conservative States with Unprecedented Legal Scheme…]…

Authorities in Piscataquis County have cracked down two more illegal marijuana operations, executing two search warrants on March 7 that resulted in significant seizures and an arrest. The Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from several law enforcement agencies, targeted properties suspected of housing illicit marijuana grows. The first raid took place on Glass Hill Road in Guilford, while the second occurred on Bates Road in Abbot. In total, officers seized 2,580 marijuana plants, 52 pounds of processed marijuana, $11,280 in cash, and a 2015 Audi SUV. Jing Kang Zhu of New York was arrested in connection with the operations.…

Maine’s legacy and corporate media — including the Bangor Daily News, the major television stations, and the collection of news websites now owned by a George Soros-controlled non-profit — utterly failed to cover the massive reaction to LD 227 on Tuesday. The bill in question would create new legal protections for late-term abortions as well as sex-change treatments, including sex-change drugs and surgeries for minors. In addition, the bill would create protections for adults who traffick children across state lines into Maine in order to receive these treatments — even adults who are not related to those children. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/1765088122960806146?s=20 Hundreds…

HEARING – Tuesday @ 1:00 pm – Cross Building Room 220 Maine lawmakers will consider Tuesday a proposal to drastically expand legal protections for medical professionals and other individuals who conspire to mutilate children in the name of so-called “gender affirming” medical care. The unprecedented proposal, which also encompasses providers of late-term abortions, will also break new legal ground in attempting to impose Maine-based policy preferences on jurisdictions where laws regarding sex-change services for minors and abortions are different. Although the scientific consensus around surgical and drug-based interventions for individuals suffering gender dysphoria has shifted in recent years in favor…

Three more New Yorkers have been arrested in Somerset County for illegally growing and trafficking vast amounts of marijuana at a Skowhegan property connected to Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations. The Somerset County Sheriff’s Department said in a press release Friday that it executed a search warrant on a Waterville Road property in Skowhegan that resulted in the arrests of three individuals from Brooklyn, New York. Yao Bin Cheng, age 61, of Brooklyn, New York was arrested and charged with Trafficking in Scheduled Drugs (Class B) and Cultivation of Marijuana (Class B). Ying Xia Liao, age 59, of Brooklyn, New York…

The District Attorney of Maine’s most populous county will no longer charge individuals, including illegal aliens, who are caught driving without a license, driving with a suspended registration, or driving an unregistered motor vehicle. The new policy change, which will take effect on March 1, was announced in a memo distributed this week by Cumberland County District Attorney Jacqueline A. Sartoris. Although the new non-charging policy will apply to all drivers in Cumberland County, the traffic violations in question are commonly associated with individuals who are present in the U.S. illegally and therefore cannot obtain Driver’s Licenses or vehicle registrations.…

The U.K.’s Daily Mail, the largest newspaper in the western world, scorched the policies of Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) and Democratic lawmakers in a Thursday article exposing how far left policies have left Maine taxpayers, including military veterans, stranded in the cold, while recently arrived migrants receive lux digs at taxpayers’ expense. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/1760271674253918286?s=20 From the DailyMail.com: Residents and GOP politicians are slamming Maine officials for lavishing millions of dollars on ‘Taj Mahal’ homes for asylum seekers while the state’s veterans and US-born homeless are struggling. Republicans say the Democrat-run state has spent $34 million on shelters, hotels, and ‘luxury apartments’ for migrants, even as Maine…

Three unidentified Chinese nationals were intercepted attempting to enter the U.S. illegally from Canada into Maine early Wednesday morning, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A fourth Chinese national operating a motor vehicle was also arrested on suspicion of attempting to assist with the three other Chinese nationals’ illegal entry into the U.S. CBP posted the following information to social media: “After noticing suspicious activity along the border, vigilant Fort Fairfield Border Patrol agents arrested three Chinese nationals attempting to use the cover of darkness to illegally enter the United States. A driver from New York, also a Chinese…

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has yet to drop out of the GOP presidential race, shared with Maine’s George Soros-funded media outlets Tuesday the impressive lineup of politicos backing her campaign. In a post to the websites controlled by the National Trust for Local News, Haley’s remaining campaign staff listed tens of endorsements from Maine residents. The list included former Republican State Sen. Mary Small, who last held office in 2002, former State Rep. Jayne Giles, who hasn’t won an election since 2008, and a former school board chairman. Also among Haley’s supporters was former House Republican Chief…

Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster put yet another illegal Chinese-run marijuana growing operation out of commission Monday morning on the Foss Road in Madison, his office said in a press release. “During the search, 449 live mature marijuana plants, 52 pounds of processed marijuana, harvested marijuana plants, and illicit drug related articles were located and seized,” Sheriff Lancaster said in a press release. “A dog at the residence was turned over to the Madison Animal Welfare Officials, as the dog was not properly cared for,” Lancaster said. A source in Madison confirmed that the property that was raided was at…

In a significant crackdown on international money laundering and drug trafficking, Qinliang Chen of Rosemead, Calif., admitted guilt to conspiracy charges Monday. The 34-year-old was implicated in a vast operation, allegedly spearheaded by Jin Hua Zhang, which spanned across the United States and several countries. Zhang pleaded guilty in Sept. to operating a $25 million money laundering ring that also distributed narcotics. Chen’s guilty plea to conspiracy to commit money laundering was accepted by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley, who has set the sentencing for July 9, 2024. This development follows the May 2023 charges against Chen and 11 others,…

The first presidential polling published out of the Pine Tree State delivered some surprising news, showing former Republican President Donald J. Trump leading incumbent Democratic President Joseph R. Biden by six points. Although former President Trump won Maine’s more conservative Second Congressional District in both 2016 and 2020, he lost statewide in both elections. In 2020, President Biden beat Trump 53 percent (435,072 votes) to 44 percent (360,737 votes). The poll results suggest nearly a massive swing in Maine voters’ preferences between the two candidates as the head into a rematch this fall. Although 38 percent of respondents said they…

Maine’s public institutions, especially the government-run schools, have been consumed in recent years with crafting policies on the basis of left-wing gender ideology. Specifically, this ideology clings with religious fervor to the idea that biological sex is meaningless, that gender is purely a social construct, and that a man should be free to invade spaces previously protected for girls and women if he decides, at any given moment, to identify as something other than a man. The gender ideologues have found no better partner in this perversion of science, law, and reality than the Portland-based law firm Drummond Woodsum. That…

Nearly 1,500 illegally grown cannabis plants were seized Thursday after the the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at a property on the East Madison Road in Madison. “The search warrant was obtained by the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Division, as it was believed that illegal marijuana plant cultivation activities were taking place at the residence,” Somerset Sheriff Dale Lancaster said in a press release. A source in Madison confirmed that the property in question is located at 1034 East Madison Road. (According to Google Maps, the property is about 4.7 miles down the road from the Somerset County…

Update: Several hours after the Maine Wire broke this story, the Penobscot Sheriff’s Department posted new information on their Facebook page. Three Chinese males were arrested at the site. Law enforcement also seized 40 pounds of marijuana, methamphetamine, and $4,700 cash. The full Facebook post is appended at the bottom of this article. The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department conducted yet another enforcement action against an illicit Chinese-controlled marijuana trafficking hub operating out of remote northern Maine on Thursday morning. According to multiple sources in Passadumkeag, a town of less than 400 people, Sheriff’s Deputies executed a search warrant on a…

Maine Wire Reporter Seamus Othot contributed to this report. A Maine Republican is looking to crackdown on the foreign organized crime networks that have spread throughout rural Maine since 2020, using the proceeds of illegal marijuana cultivation and trafficking to build a lucrative blackmarket drug empire in the state. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] According to a leaked Department of Homeland Security memo, Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (ATCOs) control more than 270 properties throughout Maine, properties that are used to grow and trafficking marijuana illegally. But Mainers don’t need federal law enforcement’s confirmation to…

A high school in Maine has opted to ditch a plan to using biometric fingerprint scanners to help staff keep attendance following a Maine Wire report on the school district’s plans. As the Maine Wire reported exclusively on Feb. 2: Caribou High School in Aroostook County (RSU 39) has contracted with IdentiMetrics to implement a system that scans students’ fingerprints, stores the data, and creates a tracking system so that administrators can have an easier time keeping track of the roughly 460 students. According to a letter from school Principal Jamie Selfridge, the new biometric surveillance technology will be deployed…

Maine’s Second Congressional District is big — 27,326 square miles, encompassing what passes in Maine for cities, Lewiston-Auburn and Bangor, as well as the vast North Maine Woods, the mountainous riverlands of western Maine, and the rambling downeast coast. But even all that space is not enough for the ambitions and sharp elbows of the two first-term Republican state lawmakers now locked in a bitter primary fight over who will get a chance to knock off the incumbent Democrat, U.S. Rep. Jared Golden. Former Republican President Donald Trump carried the rural district by ten points against Hillary Clinton in 2016…

A New York man was arrested Wednesday morning in Norridgewock following a raid on a Betterment Road property that uncovered a large 1,310-plant marijuana growing operation, according to Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster. Zunjie Wu (Source: Somerset County Sheriff) Zunjie Wu, 26, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was arrested and charged with Cultivation of Marijuana (Class B, over 500 plants) and Trafficking Scheduled Drugs (Class B), Sheriff Lancaster said in a press release. Wu remains incarcerated in the Somerset County Jail. The search warrant for the raid was executed by Sheriff’s Office Detectives and Deputies, with the assistance of Waterville Police Department…

A Saturday night shooting near the University of Maine at Augusta’s Bangor campus stemmed from a dispute between residents of the needle-strewn, drug-infested homeless encampment that has festered for more than two years at the campus’s southeastern edge. The shooting occured Saturday night and resulted in one individual being hospitalized with gunshot wounds, according to the Bangor Police Department. No arrests have been made. The shooting was the culmination of an altercation between two individuals living at the homeless camp, the Bangor Police said. The camp, which has taken over much of what used to be a park between Cleveland…

Renowned conservative columnist Mark Steyn has been ordered by a Washington, D.C. jury to pay controversial global warming activist Michael Mann a whopping $1M to settle the Al Gore acolyte’s claim that he was defamed in one of Steyn’s National Review columns. Mann, the progenitor of the infamous “hockey stick” graph invoked to sell various climate change policies, sued Steyn referring to his climate change research as “fraudulent.” Competitive Enterprise Institute science writer Rand Simberg, whose blog post Steyn linked to, took the criticism a step further, comparing Mann’s approach to scholarly research to the way former Penn State University…

Multiple properties throughout northern Maine suspected of being part of the network of illegal Chinese marijuana growing operations were raided Friday morning by multiple Maine law enforcement agencies, including the Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Somerset County Sheriff’s Offices. The Maine Wire has learned of police responses at suspected blackmarket marijuana sites in Corinna, Sangerville, Mercer, and Guilford. A massive police response occurred Friday morning at 9 St. Albans Road in Corinna. We can also confirm that raids occurred in Guilford on Route 15 (Water Street), at 8 Manhanock Pond Rd in Sangerville, and at 204 Rome Road in Mercer. The U.S.…

U.S. President Joe Biden held a surprise press conference Thursday night to respond to allegations contained in a Special Counsel memorandum that the Commander-in-Chief is senile. President Biden, who has recently claimed to have conversed with two long-dead European leaders, denied Robert K. Hur’s assessment that Biden is forgetful elderly man who struggles to remember significant dates, like when he became Vice President. According to Hur, Biden’s mental incapacity, and his presentation as a genial old man, was the primary reason the Special Counsel avoided bringing charges against him for mishandling classified information. “We have also considered that, at trial,…

Maine law enforcement busted a massive illegal marijuana growing operation Thursday morning at 9 Riverside Drive in Norridgewock. Although no arrests were made, law enforcement seized more than 2,000 cannabis plants and 10 lbs of processed marijuana, according to Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster. Read more of the Maine Wire’s “Triad Weed” How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine Triad Weed: One NYC Bank Financed More Than 50 Illicit Chinese Marijuana Grow Houses in Rural Maine… State Law Enforcement, Feds Struggle to Clamp Down on Illegal Chinese Drug Operations in Maine Maine Legislature Will Consider Proposal to Fight Chinese-owned…

Five Chinese nationals were arrested this week in California after border agents discovered thousands of gift cards, merchandise, and 23 fake Pennsylvania IDs, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said Thursday. Of the five, three had pending hearings for claims of asylum. CBP did not release any other details about the individuals. https://twitter.com/USBPChiefELC/status/1755679807382466913?s=20

Allagash Brewing Company has become the leading “Visionary Sponsor” for a Portland-based non-profit that is among Maine’s leading advocates for late-term abortion and increasing minors’ access to sex-change surgeries and drugs. Equality Maine, a nonprofit originally formed to advocate for legalizing same-sex marriage, updated their list of sponsors last year to include Allagash Brewing as their top financial supporter. Also listed as “champion sponsors” are Bangor Savings Bank and Hannaford. Equality Maine’s legislative priorities, as indicated by materials available on their website, include many of the more extreme left-wing proposals introduced in the State Legislature last year. Here are some…

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two more individuals in relation to a series of raids it carried out last month targeting several of the more than 270 illegal, Chinese-owned marijuana trafficking sites in Maine. Hongxia Kuang Xiangming Ye Xaingming Ye, a 62-year-old Asian male with previous addresses in Brooklyn, and Hongxia Kuang, a 51-year-old Asian female with a previous address in Brooklyn, were arrested, respectively, on Feb. 1 and Feb. 2. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] Both have been charged with Class B felonies for unlawfully cultivating marijuana. Ye was on the…

President Joe Biden, who four years ago attack former President Donald Trump for sabre-rattling with the Islamic Republic of Iran, on Friday ordered more than 85 military strikes against Iranian targets throughout the Middle East. The strikes against Iranian assets follow an Iranian drone strike in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. Friday’s strikes targeted Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, according to reports from the Associated Press and NBC News. The operation, marking the first systemic retaliatory strikes by the U.S., targeted over 85 sites linked to these militias, according to the Department of Defense. https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/1753535280923967851?s=20 The U.S. Central…

A public high school in Maine is among the first in the state to adopt biometric scanning technology to track student attendance. Caribou High School in Aroostook County (RSU 39) has contracted with IdentiMetrics to implement a system that scans students’ fingerprints, stores the data, and creates a tracking system so that administrators can have an easier time keeping track of the roughly 460 students. According to a letter from school Principal Jamie Selfridge, the new biometric surveillance technology will be deployed for students this year. “Starting next trimester, we will be introducing Identimetrics to assist with attendance and tardies…

From Oklahoma to Maine, a little known program operated by the U.S. Department of Treasury has been leveraged by foreign criminal organizations to acquire properties throughout rural America and transform them into drug manufacturing and trafficking hubs. The so-called Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) program, originally created by Congress in 1994, may have started as a way to help low-income immigrants access financing to purchase homes. However, since 2019, thanks in part to COVID-19 Era funding enhancements, the program has become a way for foreign criminal organizations to obtain taxpayer-funded benefits as they scoop up American land and American houses…

The Maine Office of Cannabis Policy is investigating a property in Turner after firefighters responding to a call at the residence came to believe that it was an illegal marijuana cultivation site. The farmhouse – located at 2509 Auburn Road – is one of the more than 200 sites the Maine Wire had previously identified as Chinese-owned illicit marijuana grows. The Lewiston newspaper reported Wednesday evening that firefighters responding to a call discovered that it wasn’t smoke coming from the building but steam. A subsequent investigation led them to suspect that the property was growing marijuana illegally. According to records…

The number of Chinese foreign nationals encountered attempting to illegally enter the United States reached an all-time high in December, according to recently released Department of Homeland Security (DHS) figures. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents reported encountering 8,622 Chinese foreign nationals in December, a shocking increase from the 1,882 Chinese foreign nationals they encountered in Dec. 2021. In October, November, and December, a combined 23,027 Chinese foreign nationals were encountered attempting to illegally enter the U.S. — almost as many as were encountered in all of FY 2021. The unprecedented wave of illegal immigration from the People’s Republic of…

Maine authorities have intensified their crackdown on illegal marijuana operations, conducting multiple raids across central Maine in January, including raids on Kennebec County and Lincoln County properties that resulted in six arrests Tuesday. According to a leaked Department of Homeland Security memo, there are more than 270 illicit marijuana cultivation sites operating throughout rural Maine at the behest of Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (ATCOs). In the latest action, police targeted three operations throughout Kennebec County and Lincoln County on Tuesday, bringing the total number of raids to seven over the past month. Wan Ting Xiao Ding Zhan Liao Zhen Chen…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills delivered her 2024 State of the State address Tuesday evening, offering few policy proposals that resonated with far left Democrats in control of the State Legislature. Mills’ communications team signaled last week that the address would ignore the typical structure of the annual address to instead focus on gun control and climate change. [RELATED: Maine After Five Years of Janet Mills, By the Numbers…] On both fronts, Mills seemed to signal that she would not support some of the more radical proposals from Democratic lawmakers, though she vigorously confirmed her seemingly-sincere belief that Maine can alter…

A federal jury in Oklahoma City has convicted two Chinese nationals, Jeff Weng and Tong Lin, of a major drug trafficking conspiracy involving black-market marijuana. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma announced the convictions on January 19, 2024, following a decisive two-day trial. Jeff Weng, 46, a resident of both China and Brooklyn, New York, and Tong Lin, 28, of China, were found guilty of conspiring to possess and distribute large quantities of marijuana. The duo’s operation involved trafficking nearly 28 tons of black-market marijuana from an Oklahoma grow facility, licensed by the Oklahoma Medical…

The Maine State Police caused an uproar on social media on Monday after video and images emerged showing law enforcement apparently disregarding disturbing evidence obtained by civilian sleuths — a.k.a. Predator Poachers — that appeared to show a Maine man soliciting sex from what he believed was a 13-year-old. According to Alex Rosen, the investigator and social media personality behind Predator Poachers, he provided evidence to Maine law enforcement that the Maine resident had also confessed to sexually abusing minors. Rosen’s Rumble show is a modern version of Chris Hansen’s “To Catch a Predator,” the popular primetime investigative drama that…

Gov. Janet Mills (D) is set to deliver her annual State of the State address Tuesday evening. The speech, her communications team advised the media beforehand, will focus on climate change and gun control. But here’s a look at a few numbers and trends that actually reveal the State of the State. Housing After five years, Maine’s housing situation is dire. A combination of legal and illegal immigration, both exacerbated by the government lockdowns, supercharged demand for residences in Maine. At the same time, the supply of new housing remained choked. LD 2003, the major bipartisan law that aimed to…

Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) has told Democratic activists that he will support gun control legislation he has previously voted against, a flip that comes only after the Maine Gun Safety Coalition hired his son and his former chief of staff to lobby for Second Amendment restrictions. The payments from Maine Gun Safety Coalition to the Resurgam Group were first reported this weekend by Billy Kobin of the Bangor Daily News. The Resurgam Group, a Portland-based lobbyist firm, was founded by Jackson’s former Chief of Staff B.J. McCollister, and Jackson’s son Chace is listed as a partner with the firm.…

The Boston Globe, a newspaper that belongs to yacht-lover and Red Sox owner John Henry, helped a woman kill herself on Jan. 4 in Vermont, according to an editor’s note appended to a column from serial fabulist Kevin Cullen. The column chronicled the government-assisted suicide of Lynda Bluestein, a Connecticut woman who travelled to Vermont to take part in the state’s “Medical Assistance in Dying” program. According to the Editor’s Note on the column, Cullen took the wild step of becoming one of two signed witnesses who affirmed that Bluestein was mentally competent enough to make the decision to kill…

Gov. Janet Mills (D) will not be reappointing Justice Joseph M. Jabar, a longtime Maine jurist who has served in the Maine judiciary under Govs. Angus King (I), John Baldacci (D), and Paul LePage (R), according to three sources familiar with the matter. Jabar has until Feb. 1 to be confirmed, but Mills has indicated that he will not get the chance to serve another term, creating a vacancy for Mills to appoint a more left-leaning ally with the State Legislature solidly under Democratic control. The sources, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak publicly…

Maine sportsmen had better fall in line with the Democratic Party’s upcoming push for gun control if they want to continue to enjoy sport shooting and hunting in Maine. That’s the message Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Allagash) shared with Democratic Party activists at a private event on Saturday hosted by Food and Medicine, according to an audio recording of his remarks obtained by the Maine Wire. “We need to do more, make sure that people like Robert Card doesn’t get, uh, you know, guns,” Jackson said at a meeting hosted by Food and Medicine, the dark money nonprofit that is…

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) endorsed a proposed amendment to Maine’s State Constitution on Monday that would enshrine the “right to abortion”, stating that the amendment would apply to “persons who have uteruses” because not all abortion patients are women. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/1749469249939055091?s=20 “The ability to carry a child belongs to that person who has a womb. I understand that there are others who believe they know better than the person who has the womb as to how they should use it,” AG Frey told members of the Judiciary Committee, pointedly avoiding the terms like “woman” and “mother.” [RELATED: Maine OB/GYN…

Argentinian President Javier Milei, who was elected last month after promising a radical departure from the socialist policies that have dominated his country’s politics for decades, delivered a resounding defense of freedom and free market capitalism on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Here’s an English language translation produced by an X user: Milei's 2024 Davos talk, directly translated to English by AI (by heygen), in his own accent. Better than the dubbed version imo. pic.twitter.com/8OAGELuqxl— Aaron Slodov (@aphysicist) January 18, 2024 Here’s the official English language transcript: Good afternoon. Thank you very much. Today I’m…

Hancock County Jail Administrator Timothy Richardson announced Thursday that Eliot Cutler, the former Maine gubernatorial candidate who was arrested for possessing a vast collection of child pornography, has been released from incarceration early due to “good behavior.” Cutler began his sentence at Hancock County Jail on June 1, 2023 after pleading guilty to four counts involving the possession of child pornography. Judge Robert Murray gave Cutler a sentence of four years with only nine to be served. During his court proceedings, prosecutors said Cutler was in possession of more than 80,000 images showing children being sexually assaulted. Cutler is required…