Author: Steve Robinson

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…

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (ME-02) called on President Joe Biden to “enforce the immigration laws” after voting Wednesday in favor of a GOP resolution that accused the White House of “systematically” dismantling border enforcement and releasing criminal illegal aliens into the country. “Most of us understand that nations need borders, those borders should be secured, and we should enforce the immigration laws on the books,” Golden said. “Most of us also understand that those seeking entry to our country deserve an orderly and predictable immigration process. Right now we have problems on both fronts,” he said. The resolution, introduced by…

An adjunct professor at the University of Maine School of Law flubbed an elementary question about constitutional law and the U.S. Bill of Rights during a Wednesday hearing over a proposed gun control law. Margaret Groban, a retired federal prosecutor and law professor who specializes in gun control policies, was asked during a hearing of the Judiciary Committee whether the Bill of Rights limits the federal government or U.S. citizens. She couldn’t answer. “The bill of rights is a restriction upon government, not the people. That’s correct, right?” asked Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris). “That’s a soft ball,” Andrews said, after…

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Department led a raid on a property in Cornville on Wednesday that led to the discovery of an illegal marijuana growing facility operated two Asian males and an Asian female who spoke little or no English. Seventy-five-year-old Huansheng Mai, 63-year-old Yuling Mei, and 68-year-old Yiming Hu were arrested and charged with drug trafficking and cultivation of marijuana, according to the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office. The raid resulted in the seizure of 750 plants from several cultivation rooms with plants at different stages of maturity, along with more than 90 pounds of processed marijuana. “We, on a…

The Maine Judiciary Committee faced intense scrutiny today as it postponed a Work Session on a controversial bill that would block cops from reuniting children from out-of-state with their parents if they had been brought to Maine to receive sex change drugs or surgeries. LD 1735, titled “An Act to Safeguard Gender-affirming Health Care,” was introduced by Rep. Laurie Osher (D-Orono). Osher told the Maine Wire last year she was inspired to introduce the bill after talking with transgender activists who had gotten a similar measure passed in California. [RELATED: N.H. Residents Fear Maine “Trans Sanctuary” Bill Will Harm Granite…

Following the drowning deaths of three migrants, including two minors, Sun Journal writer Steve Majerus-Collins falsely reported on X that the deaths were caused by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent deployment of the Texas National Guard to gain control of the U.S.-Mexico border. “My X feed is full of MAGA folks defending a Texas policy that let a mother and two young children drown at the US border,” Majerus-Collins said in a Sunday post. “Even the children, they say, were lawbreakers who had it coming,” Majerus-Collins claimed. Majerus-Collins did not provide any examples of “MAGA folks” posting that the migrant…

Five months after telling its staff and readers that it planned to disclose “the funders” behind the purchase of five Maine daily newspapers, the nonprofit trust now controlling several of Maine’s oldest news brands hasn’t kept the promise. The sale of the Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal, and other Maine news brands to the “National Trust for Local News” was completed last summer. The National Trust said on Aug. 1, following the takeover, that it “looks forward to sharing more about the funders who support this acquisition when we constitute our local board in September,” according to…

Rental car giant Hertz is looking to offload 20,000 Electric Vehicles (EVs) and reinvest the proceeds of those sales into gas-powered vehicles, according to a report Thursday morning from Bloomberg. From Bloomberg: The decision to ditch EVs follows reports from major auto producers last year that demand for the electric vehicles has not lived up to the hype. General Motors, Honda, and Ford both paused development of EV production facilities last year, citing lackluster demand for the expensive, range-limited vehicles. Even Tesla, by far the most popular EV maker, warned of a slowdown in sales, while big battery makers expected…

Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) called on U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to be more forthcoming about the details of a secretive hospitalization on Tuesday, more than a week after the Pentagon chief was incapacitated without the White House’s knowledge. “Secretary of Defense Austin apparently has been hospitalized since January 1.  I am concerned about his health and shocked that the Pentagon and White House have not been more forthcoming about his condition or why he remains hospitalized,” Sen. Collins said in a written statement. “It appears that even the President, his national security advisor, and the Deputy Secretary of…

It’s a familiar phrase to any Mainer who followed the New England Patriots’ dynasty years under Tom Brady and Bill Belichick: “Do your job!” But it rubbed Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Allagash) the wrong way when an Aroostook County business owner sent him those words in a Facebook message. “I got nothing to do with your Trump god,” Jackson barked back. “Also, it isn’t in the Constitution that you decide who you want to vote for, it is that is your right to vote,” he explained. “Don’t bother me with your foolishness. I don’t even know you,” he said. The…

Town officials in northern Penobscot County suspect that out-of-state criminal organizations are illegally growing and trafficking marijuana in their towns, but they’re struggling to determine what exactly they are allowed to do under state laws and local ordinances. It’s also not entirely clear which law enforcement agency is responsible for cracking down on the illicit cannabis grows, as many small Maine towns don’t even have their own police forces. Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton acknowledged the “high degree” of the criminal activity operating in northern Maine when the Daily Caller first reported on the illicit cannabis cultivation network in August.…

When the Machias Police executed a search warrant at 414 East Kennebec Road in December, they suspected they find an illegal marijuana cultivation site operated by out-of-state criminals. But the scale — and sophistication — of the operation they uncovered left them gobsmacked. “We found three Asian males in the barn that were actively tending the grow. Three buildings and the main house… all contained pretty substantial grows inside,” said Machias Police Chief Keith Mercier. Ming Li, 52 Peng You Phang, 61 Dong Yang Li, 60 [RELATED: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] The Machias police confiscated 2,607…

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has found herself at the center of a national media firestorm following her decision last week to remove former President Donald Trump from the 2024 Maine GOP primary Ballot. But less than a decade ago, she found herself in a far more subdued role: Interim Executive Director for Learning Works, a non-profit founded by socialist activist Ethan Strimling. Strimling, the former mayor of Portland, was the ringleader behind the ballot eligibility challenge filed with the Secretary of State’s office that provided a pretext for Bellows’ ruling. Ethan Strimling Shenna Bellows, Democracy Defender The professional…

The Maine State Police announced on Tuesday that they had busted up two illegal cannabis growing operations in Belgrade. The investigations led to the arrest of two men, 44-year-old Yuequan Chen of Mass. and 66-year-old Lin Min Chan of Florida. Both were charged with Class B felonies. More than 2,300 live marijuana plants were seized. More Triad Weed Busts: Maine Law Enforcement Raids Machias Marijuana Grow, Arrests Three Suspected Non-Citizens Illegal Marijuana Grow in China, Maine Busted, 970 Plants Seized, Three Arrested Raid on Illegal Chinese Marijuana Operation in Western Maine Seizes Illicit Drugs Worth $1M+ Two Weeks After $1M…

The Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office arrested three Chinese adult males and seized 970 marijuana plants from an illegal commercial-scale cannabis operation Saturday morning following a report of a “person being held against their will.” An investigation by KCSO deputies uncovered the unlicensed drug cultivation operation and arrested in the arrest of Changgeng Chen, a 36-year-old male, Bing Xu, a 41-year-old male, and Aiqin Chen, a 43-year-old female. Changgeng Chen Bing Xu Aiqin Chen The KCSO did not say whether Chen, Xu, and Chen were lawful Maine residents or U.S. citizens. None of the arrested individuals were listed on the Kennebec…

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is not a victim and she is not oppressed, cry as she may on MSNBC, CNN, or whatever national TV show is the next stop on the Bellows 2026 media tour. Bellows is the oppressor and the aggressor in a conflict designed by progressive activists — and their billionaire financiers — to target not only former President Donald Trump’s constitutional rights, but also the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of Mainers. Reading from her talking points during her national press tour, Bellows has robotically repeated the laughable claim that she’s merely “doing her…

A New York judge is poised to release nearly 200 names linked to the vast child sex trafficking ring run by pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein and his long-time fixer Ghislaine Maxwell. The release of new court documents, which may come as early as Tuesday, follows the passing of a deadline for filing objections at midnight Monday. The documents will reportedly reveal new details about high-profile political leaders and celebrities’ dealings with the enigmatic pervert. The reveal steams from a 2015 defamation lawsuit filed by Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre against Maxwell. Speculation began mounting in December about who might be named…

The Daily Mail, one of the biggest newspapers in western civilization, roasted Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) on Thursday for making false claims about warnings provided to her administration by the National Weather Service in advance of a devastating Dec. 18 wind storm. [RELATED: Bangor News Outlet Removes “False Criticism” from Headline to Make Storm Story Janet-Friendly…] “Maine’s Democrat Governor Janet Mills is branded a LIAR by the National Weather Service after she claimed they didn’t warn her historic storm would bring up to six inches of rain,” screamed the Mail’s headline. “Maine’s Democrat Governor Janet Mills has been branded a liar…

Republican lawmakers in Maine are preparing impeachment orders against Secretary of State Shenna Bellows following her decision to remove former President Donald J. Trump from the Maine GOP presidential primary ballot. “I wish to impeach her on the grounds that she is barring an American citizen and 45th President of the United States, who is convicted of no crime or impeachment, their right to appear on a Maine Republican Party ballot in March,” Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) said in a statement. “This is raw partisanship and has no place in the office of our state’s Constitutional Officers,” Andrews said. Bellows,…

Households led by illegal immigrants with U.S.-born children, often referred to as “anchor babies,” are more likely to utilize welfare programs compared to households headed by U.S.-born individuals, according to a recent study by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). The report, dated Dec. 19, indicates that approximately 59.4 percent of these illegal immigrant-led households are on one or more welfare programs, in contrast to 39 percent of those led by native-born Americans. [RELATED: Jaw-Dropping Videos Show Illegal Aliens Streaming Over Unsecure U.S. Border By the Tens of Thousands…] “Our best estimate is that 59 percent of households headed by…

Former Republican President Donald Trump has called for Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to disqualify herself from rendering a decision on whether he should be allowed to stand as a candidate in Maine’s GOP primary election. “President Trump requests that the Secretary disqualify herself from this matter because she has already concluded that President Trump engaged in insurrection — a determination that she made well before the submission of evidence or argument in this current matter,” attorneys for Trump stated in a letter. Trump’s letter links to social media posts made by Bellows, a former left-wing legal activist and…

The media arm of the Bangor Publishing Company edited the headline of a story on Wednesday to make it less critical of Maine Gov. Janet Mills. “Janet Mills’ false criticism of wind storm forecast ‘surprised’ forecasters,” read the headline of reporter Michael Shepherd’s story in the outlet’s email newsletter. (emphasis added) [RELATED: National Weather Service Strongly Suggests Janet Mills Lied About Storm Warnings…] The story centered on Gov. Mills claim that the National Weather Service (NWS) failed to give her administration forewarning of the seriousness of the Dec. 18 storm. However, at some point after the email blast went out,…

The National Weather Service (NWS) on Friday released a stinging rebuke of Gov. Janet Mills claim that the service failed to warn her Administration about the devastating storm that wiped out power for nearly half the state. “The national weather service did not predict 5 or 6 inches of rain in any community in Maine,” Gov. Mills said at a press conference on Wednesday, her first public appearance after more than 36 hours of widespread power outages. “The National Weather Service did not predict 68, 70 mile per hour winds in any area of Maine,” said Mills. Mills’ attempt to…

Illegal immigration at the southern U.S. border, already on track in 2023 to break all previous annual records, has surged throughout the month of the December—and President Joe Biden appears unwilling, or unable, to do much about it. [RELATED: Catholic Charities Maine Touts Taxpayer-Funded Migrant Resettlement Plans…] According to the U.S. Department of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), American border guards encountered 3.2 million illegal aliens attempting to cross into the U.S. from Oct. 2022 to Sept. 2023. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] That’s up from 2.8 million in 2022 and 1.9 million in…

Employees of the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), a left-wing nonprofit active in Maine politics, are seeking to unionize because of how the environmentalist organization’s new boss is running the operation. Last week, four NRCM employees joined a conference call with the Maine Service Employees Association – Service Employees International Association 1989 (MSEA-SEIU), the union that represents most of Maine’s state government employees. During the meeting, MSEA-SEIU Director of Organizing Angela MacWhinnie introduced the NRCM of employees to the meeting, stating that the staffers had reached out to the union seeking to join. Outreach Director Emmie Theberge, IT Manager…

Just two weeks after the Wilton Police Department and Maine’s Office of Cannabis Policy confiscated more than $1,000,000 in illegally cultivated marijuana plants at a commercial-scale grow near the old Bass Shoe building, the site remains abuzz with activity — and not of the law enforcement variety. Individuals observed returning to the scene of the crime over the past 14 days wouldn’t have had to travel very far, either, considering how many other similar sites are operating in the vicinity. According to a leaked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo — first obtained by the Daily Caller — the Asian…

Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief joined Steven K. Bannon’s The War Room Thursday night to discuss the latest breaking news in Maine’s ongoing fight against Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations that are operating illegal marijuana farms throughout rural Maine. WATCH: In case you missed it: Thursday morning, the Machias Police Department, following a month-long investigation into a Washington County property at 414 E. Kennebec Road, obtained a warrant to search the premises of that property. [RELATED: Triad Weed: One NYC Bank Financed More Than 50 Illicit Chinese Marijuana Grow Houses in Rural Maine…] The search turned up more than 2,600 live marijuana plants…

Maine law enforcement raided an illegal marijuana grow at 414 Kennebec Road in Machias Thursday, confiscating more than 2,600 live marijuana plants and more than 100 pounds of processed cannabis. “At 9:30 monday morning, the Machias Police Department executed a search warrant at 414 Kennebec Road in Machias. This was as the result of a very lengthy investigation we’ve been conducting for the last month or so into an illegal commercial marijuana grow operation located at that address,” said Machias Police Chief Keith Mercier. Mercier said that three individuals, all of Asian descent, were arrested in the course of the…

One of Maine’s largest healthcare providers threatened to terminate the employment of as many as 500 employees who had not received an influenza vaccination as of Wednesday. “We have approximately 500 team members who have yet to receive their vaccine,” Steven G. Littleson, President and CEO of Central Maine Healthcare (CMHC), wrote in an email. “Ouch,” wrote Littleson. “Tomorrow morning at 8am, badge and computer access will be disabled for anyone not in compliance,” he said. Littleson, who began with CMHC in July of 2021, earned more than $750,000 for that half a year of work, according to the non-profit…

Law enforcement raided an illegal, industrial-scale marijuana grow operation Tuesday morning in Wilton, ME at 128 Weld Road, the former location of the Bass Shoe Factory building. Multiple sources, including the owner of the property, confirmed police activity at the 10,000 square foot warehouse behind the old shoe factory main building, a site the Maine Wire visited in mid-November. The marijuana grow was operating in the brown detached building at the back of the facility. At the time, a man who identified himself as the general manager of the property confirmed that the site was a marijuana grow that paid…

Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage and former First Lady Ann LePage will host a Celebration of Life fundraising event for the families of the victims of the Mainers who were killed or wounded in the Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston. LePage, who spent part of his childhood growing up in Lewiston on Lincoln Street, less than a half mile from Schemengees Bar and Grill, said he wants to get money to the 31 families before Christmas Day. “We’re doing this just for families, and we want to get the money into their hands before Christmas, so the kids that…

Asian transnational criminal organizations operate more than 270 illegal marijuana cultivation sites in Maine, according to a leaked U.S. Department of Homeland Security memo. An investigation by the Maine Wire has identified more than 100 of those sites, as previously reported here. Of those properties — almost all purchased within the last three years by single Chinese adults from New York or Massachusetts — 69 of the property transactions involved mortgages originated by Quontic Bank, according to a review of real estate records. TRIAD WEED How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine State Law Enforcement, Feds Struggle to Clamp…

Democratic leaders on the Legislative Council opted Thursday to kill a bill that would have prohibited the sale of fetal remains. Rep. Katrina Smith (R-Palermo) submitted the bill, which now will not be considered next year by the State Legislature. “By not allowing my bill into the second session the Democrats have once again proven that their only goal is to keep Planned Parenthood happy and profitable,” Smith told the Maine Wire. [RELATED: Maine Senate Blocks Ban on Trafficking in Aborted Baby Remains…] This is the second time this year that Maine Democrats have blocked legislation that would prohibit the…

The Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP) has no authority to police or regulate illegal marijuana grows — whether operated by Mainers or Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (ATCOs) — according to OCP Director John Hudak. Hudak spoke in October at a “listening session” in Skowhegan alongside OCP Deputy Director of Operations Vern Malloch, and the Maine Wire was there to ask some questions. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] “It is clear in statute. It has been made clear to us by members of the committee that oversees us that they never want us to be…

The Maine Legislature will consider a bill next year that aims to address the proliferation of illegal Chinese-owned marijuana growing operations across rural Maine. The Legislative Council, which is comprised to top ranking state lawmakers, voted by a slim margin to allow a bill from Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) to be considered when the legislature reconvenes in January. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] Rep. Andrew’s bill — An Act to Combat Racketeering by Foreign Organizations in Maine Cannabis Markets — is intended to provide local, county, and state law enforcement agencies with the authority…

Members of Maine’s congressional delegation are renewing their call for a federal investigation into illegal Chinese-owned marijuana growing operations following a Maine Wire investigation that identified more than 100 foreign-owned drug houses in rural Maine. [READ: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] “This reporting reaffirms the severity of the potential harm these illegal Chinese marijuana growing operations pose to communities throughout Maine,” U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a statement to the Maine Wire. “To help address the public health and national security risks, I, along with the entire Maine Delegation, called on the U.S.…

The number of Chinese nationals entering the U.S. illegally across the southern border has exploded this year, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In September, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered 7,271 individuals from the People’s Republic of China attempting to enter the country illegally. That’s more than any previous month going back to January 2020. In all of 2020, less than 19,000 Chinese foreign nationals were caught entering the U.S. illegally. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] Those arriving illegally in the U.S. from China are almost all single adults. While…

State and federal law enforcement agencies have known about the existence of a sprawling network of Chinese-owned marijuana grows in Maine for at least two years. Yet the sites have continued to operate, for the most part, with apparent impunity. According to a leaked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memo, there are nearly 800 Chinese-owned illegal marijuana growing operations in the U.S., and almost 300 of them are located in rural Maine. [RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…] In September, DHS sent an unclassified memo to Maine law enforcement agencies asking for their help in collecting…

Illegal Chinese marijuana grows have taken over much of rural Maine. The government is either incapable — or unwilling — to do anything about it. The Maine Wire has identified more than 100 properties that are part of a sprawling network of Chinese-owned sites operating as unlicensed, illicit cannabis growing operations in rural Maine. According to an unclassified memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) obtained by the Maine Wire, the illicit grows are operated by Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). The properties cover Somerset County, Penobscot County, Kennebec County, Franklin County, Androscoggin County, and Oxford County. The…

A new statewide organization has formed in Maine to support parents who choose to educate their children at home rather than send them to government-run schools. The Maine Home Education Alliance (MHEA) was founded in July of this year by homeschool parents throughout the state to support other parents and defend and preserve the legal right to homeschool.  “The right of parents to direct their children’s education is fundamental and has been confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court on several occasions. This is true whether they attend a government-run school or not,” said Becky Grant-Widen, MHEA President.. Grant is the…

The U.S. dollar has lost more than one-fifth of its purchasing power since 2019, according to an email sent Monday to Maine state employees concerning ongoing collective bargaining over contract negotiations. “Since 2019, these state employees have seen a 20.5% increase in wages; inflation through that same time frame has been 22.0%,” said Kirsten Figueroa, Commissioner for the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. [RELATED: Buyer’s Remorse: MSEA-SEIU Local 1989, Maine’s 2nd Largest Union, Files Complaint After Mills Blows Off Talks…] Figueroa told state employees that the Mills Administration’s goal is to “increase wages to the greatest extent possible within…

Five members of the Maine Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America were arrested Friday for criminal trespassing after they staged a pro-Palestine protest at the Portland office of Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). Socialists Leo Hilton, 26, Elinor Hilton, 23, Christopher Cushing, 26, Jamie Clark, 22, and Ella D. Tabasky, 42, were lugged just after 4pm Friday at Rep. Pingree’s office on the Portland Fishing Pier, according to the Portland Police Department’s arrest logs. In a video posted on X, Hilton said the protesters wanted to speak with Pingree’s staff about a resolution to halt aid to Israel until the…

An Auburn law firm took out a full-page ad in the Lewiston Sun Journal last week advertising a roundtable discussion to explore whether the victims of the Oct. 25 mass shooting can obtain a financial settlement through a civil lawsuit. “As these tragic events become commonplace and elected officials fail to make significant policy reform in their wake, legal recourse has become one strategy in the fight for justice,” a press release from Gideon Asen LLC states. The event is free of charge and everyone is welcome to attend or watch by Zoom. According to the press release, the discussion…

A marijuana dispensary in Portland that is owned by an Israeli immigrant was targeted last week with “Free Palestine” posters, the second instance of a Jewish-owned business in Portland getting vandalized in recent weeks. “I guess it’s somebody that knows that I’m Israeli,” said East Coast Gold owner Avi Ruimy. “We did not put up any Israeli flag or anything like that. I’ve been living in the United States for 22 years,” said Ruimy. “I’m an American citizen for 15 years.” A search of the area was not able to discover any other businesses with similar signs plastered next to…

The Maine Democratic Party was the recipient of $100,000 in donations stemming from notorious fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried’s corrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, and they have no plans to give it back. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which on Thursday won seven guilty verdicts against Bankman-Fried, has called on political committees that received donations from FTX to return that money. Maine Democrats have refused. “Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of the biggest frauds in American history, a multibillion-dollar scheme designed to make him the king of crypto,” Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York,…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday said she would be forming an independent commission to examine the failures and oversights that led up to Robert R. Card Jr.’s Oct. 25 murder spree. “It is important to recognize that, from what we know thus far, on multiple occasions over the last ten months, concerns about Mr. Card’s mental health and his behavior were brought to the attention of his Army National Reserve Unit, as well as law enforcement agencies here in Maine and in New York,” Mills said in a statement. “This raises crucial questions about actions taken and what more…

The systemic failures that led to Robert R. Card Jr.’s mass murder spree on Oct. 25 in Lewiston demand multiple investigations at multiple levels of government. Based on public records reported by the Maine Wire and other media outlets, it appears clear that Maine law enforcement knew for months that Card was a ticking time bomb. We’re not just talking about a random tip to an FBI hotline; we’re talking about up to a dozen Maine law enforcement officers at multiple agencies who had detailed knowledge of Card’s deteriorating mental health and the specific threats he had made, including against…

An international wind power company is pulling the plug on a major offshore wind development favored by the Biden Administration, the most recent in a series of offshore wind deals that have soured off the Atlantic Coast. Ørsted, the world’s largest offshore wind power developer, announced the following this week: “US offshore wind projects have experienced further negative developments from adverse impacts relating to supply chains, increased interest rates, and the lack of an OREC (Offshore Renewable Energy Certificate) adjustment on Sunrise Wind…” That combination of headwinds means the Danish energy company will be forced to scrap development on two…

The Army Reserve unit that mass murderer Robert R. Card Jr. served in since 2002 also contains several members of Maine law enforcement. All of them were aware of Card’s deteriorating mental health and threats of violence several weeks before he went to murder 18 people in Maine’s worst mass shooting. Card was a member of the Army Reserve’s Bravo Company 3-304th Infantry Regiment stationed in Saco, a unit that includes the Sheriff of Oxford County, an Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Deputy, and an Ellsworth Police Officer. According to documents provided to media by the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO), Card…

A Jewish lawyer who has been practicing law in southern Maine since 1979 had his Portland office targeted this weekend with pro-Palestine graffiti. “We have the American flag and then in the other window we have the Israeli flag hanging there, which we put up immediately following October 7, because we are a Jewish family and we wanted to show our alignment with Israel,” said Roberta Cope, the wife of attorney Steven Cope. Cope, a bankruptcy attorney, has lived in Maine for his entire life. On October 7, Islamic terrorists, operating under the banner of Gaza-based Hamas, launched a flurry…

The Army Reservist who brutally murdered 18 Mainers in Lewiston on Wednesday evening has been found dead, multiple Maine officials have confirmed. The late Robert R. Card Jr., the primary suspect in an act of domestic terrorism that targeted a popular bowling alley and a bar in Maine’s largest city, was found dead shortly before 9:00 pm in Lisbon. Initial reports suggest Card was found dead in the area near the recycling and waste management facilities of Lisbon, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Hours earlier at a press conference, the names of his victims had finally…

The Army Reservist who brutally murdered 18 Mainers in Lewiston on Wednesday evening has been found dead, multiple Maine officials have confirmed. The late Robert R. Card Jr., the primary suspect in an act of domestic terrorism that targeted a popular bowling alley and a bar in Maine’s largest city, was found dead shortly before 9:00 pm in Lisbon. Initial reports suggest Card was found dead in the area near the recycling and waste management facilities of Lisbon, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Hours earlier at a press conference, the names of his victims had finally…

The invisible shield that has always protected the people of Maine from the insanity of modern American life has been pierced by the semi-automatic gunfire of a schizophrenic, military-trained monster. One of our own, a man who for two decades was a protector in the U.S. Army Reserves, has visited incomprehensible and inhuman violence upon places known for joy, and people known for love. For years, Mainers have looked aghast at acts of domestic terrorism elsewhere and comforted ourselves with the thought that Maine is different, safer, that kind of thing doesn’t happen here. But now, sadly, our eighteen murdered…

Correction: This article originally misstated the boat launch where police found Robert Card’s abandoned vehicle. It has been edited for accuracy. More than 40 hours after shots rang out at two popular nightlife locations in Lewiston Wednesday night, Maine’s largest manhunt continues to scour the state in search of a Bowdoin man accused of murdering 18 in cold blood. The ongoing search for Robert R. Card Jr., which initially involved searching the area around his abandoned white Subaru in Lisbon, has grown to include aerial surveillance of a site in Monmouth, ground searches in Orono, Belgrade, and other towns, and…

A city councilor from Maine’s largest city has blamed the single largest shooting of white people in Maine’s modern history on “white nationalism.” “As the statements begin to roll out,” City Councilor Victoria Pelletier said in a Friday Instagram post, “make sure you peep which one of your representatives actually calls this what it is: an act of violent, white nationalism and domestic terrorism.” As of Friday morning, every publicly known victim of Robert R. Card’s Wednesday night shooting spree has been white. Law enforcement has refrained from commenting on Card’s motivations, but they have revealed that Card was sectioned…

The alleged shooter in Wednesday’s attack in Lewiston that left 18 dead and 13 injured was evaluated by police and an Army hospital after military officials flagged concerns about his erratic behavior. The Maine Information & Analysis Center, an intelligence arm of the Maine State Police, released information Wednesday night showing that Robert R. Card II was previously investigated for erratic and potentially violent behavior. “According to local law enforcement, Card recently reported mental health issues to include hearing voices and threats to shoot up a National Guard base in Saco, ME,” the MIAC memo said. Maine Commissioner for the…

As hundreds of law enforcement officers scour Maine in search of alleged Lewiston shooter Robert R. Card II, 40, of Bowdoin, President Joe Biden called for new federal gun control laws. Card is facing 8 counts of murder and will face 10 more when all of the victims are identified. Another 13 were injured. The two chosen sites of violence, Schemengees Bar and Grille and the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, are just four miles apart. In response to the shocking mass shooting, the worst in Maine’s history, President Joe Biden called on Congress to ban “assault weapons and high-capacity magazines”.…

Mills:"I have spoken twice with President Biden, I've spoken with VP Harris, secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, and Secretary of HHS Becerra… All have expressed the Biden administration's full and unwavering support." pic.twitter.com/mWdQQVvBXB— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) October 26, 2023 Maine State Police Colonel William Ross:"Approximately 8 people (the deceased) at this point have been identified, 10 of these victims still need to be identified." pic.twitter.com/GWqPxjst8d— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) October 26, 2023 "Currently, there is an arrest warrant for 8 counts of murder for Mr. Card… Those counts will probably go to a total of 18." https://t.co/K42LqDlEKV— The Maine…

The leader of a Democratic Socialists of America rally in Maine that called Hamas’s terror attacks in Israel a “morally and legally legitimate response” is a social studies teacher at the Maine Virtual Academy (MEVA), an Augusta-based public charter school. Zachary Campbell, 29, of Waterville, joined MEVA in 2019 to teach civics, modern world history, Maine history, and U.S. history, according to a profile that appeared in a MEVA newsletter. The public high school teacher was among the most vocal of Maine DSA members who took to Monument Square last week to denounce Israel and advocate Hamas just days after…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills committed an apparent social media blunder on Monday evening, posting images of Portland, Maine’s notorious Marginal Way homeless encampment along side images of Maine lakes and mountains. “Some local travel these last few weeks,” she wrote from her personal Facebook account, adding a challenge for her followers to identify where those locations were in Maine. Screen captures of the images circulated quickly among Maine politicos, with many wondering if the images of bedraggled tents on public land wound up in the post accidentally. But Mills appeared to confirm that she had posted the images on purpose…

Sam Patten had to survive getting nearly stabbed to death, twice, in order to live long enough to write the memoir he will publish on Oct. 3. Fans of Maine politics and international political intrigue should be glad he did, because “Dangerous Company: The Misadventures of a ‘Foreign Agent'” is a captivating tale of Patten’s path from Maine Republican hand to globe-trotting political operative. Patten’s story reads a bit like Forrest Gump, only with more sex, booze, and sketchy Russians, with Patten often at the center of some of the biggest triumphs and most embarrassing scandals in American foreign policy.…

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has encountered more Chinese foreign nationals attempting to enter the country illegally in fiscal year 2023 then in the previous three years, with nearly 40,000 single adults crossing since October. In fiscal years 2022 and 2021, CBP reported encountering, respectively, 26,447 and 23,172 illegal border crossers who were determined to have come from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In July, 5,133 Chinese foreign nationals attempted to enter the U.S. illegally, the highest number for a single month in all of CBP’s publicly available data. https://x.com/BenBergquam/status/1703820305825951918?s=20 The surge in illegal immigration from the PRC comes…

A school teacher at private school in Maine was fired after he vocally criticized so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programming that the school adopted after a Spanish teacher alleged the school was rife with racism. Jonathan McBrine, 51, of Machiasport, was placed on leave from Washington Academy, a private school in eastern Maine, in 2021 and eventually fired. The firing derailed the longtime teacher’s career in education. He’s now written, but has yet to publish, a book chronicling his ouster from the school. At the time, the country was in an uproar over the May 25, 2020 killing of George…

Democratic lawmakers from southern Maine are crying foul over public meetings concerning the proposed Pickett Mountain mining project. The Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) is discriminating against Democrats from southern Maine, the Democrats claimed in a letter last week, by holding the meetings in Millinocket, about a hour’s drive south of the proposed mining operation. In a letter last week to the LUPC’s Tim Carr, almost every Democrat with a district south of Orono bemoaned the location of the two meetings, which will help determine whether Wolfden Mt. Chase, LLC gets to mine private land it already owns. “[The commissions]…

The senior House Republican on the legislative committee that oversees insurance in Maine joined WVOM’s George Hale and Ric Tyler Friday morning to discuss a letter he sent to Maine’s insurance regulator calling on him to investigate whether Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Allagash) supplied false information to an insurance company. “I think that the the superintendent of insurance ought to have some interest in some of the actions that Troy Jackson may have made,” said Rep. Josh Morris (R-Turner). Morris said Jackson is suing the couple that sold him an Augusta home in 2019 over damage present in the house…

A Fairfield father says that a federally funded health clinic operating within Lawrence High School provided his minor daughter with a baggy of prescription anti-depressants without his knowledge or consent. When the girl’s father, Eric Sack, discovered the baggy of pills over the weekend, his daughter told him that it was provided to her by the Bulldog Health Center, a School Based Health Center (SBHC) at Lawrence High School. Sack saw the the pills as an infringement on his parental rights, but he was also concerned that the school’s clinic sent unlabeled drugs with no child-resistant container into his home,…

Mainers learned this week that left-wing mega donor Johann Georg Wyss, known as Hansjörg Wyss, bankrolled a national nonprofit’s purchase of five daily news papers in Maine, including the Portland Press Herald. At the same time, a Wyss-funded nonprofit, States Newsroom, has launched a new online outlet in Maine, the Maine Morning Star. Wyss is hardly a newcomer to influencing Maine politics — even if he is, as a Swiss foreign national, prohibited under federal law from voting in America or donating to American political campaigns. [RELATED: Major Progressive Donors, Including Swiss Foreign National Hansjörg Wyss, Funded Press Herald Purchase…

The majority of daily news outlets in Maine are now bankrolled by some of the country’s largest donors to the Democratic Party and left-wing interest groups. Mega donors George Soros and Swiss foreign national Hansjörg Wyss are among the uber wealthy progressives that are bankrolling a new “non-partisan” news outlet in Maine, the Maine Morning Star, through the left-wing nonprofit States Newsroom. That news comes as a national news website reported Sunday that Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Wyss Foundation reportedly made large financial contributions to the National Trust for Local News, the nonprofit that recently acquired five of Maine’s…

The sole study purporting to show that a massive $4.9 billion Aroostook County wind power project will benefit Maine ratepayers was paid for by the developers of that project and conducted by the former employer of Maine Public Utilities Commissioner Carolyn “Carrie” Gilbert. In June, Daymark Energy Advisors, a Worcester, Mass.-based consulting firm, released a 22-page document claiming that the 1,000 megawatt King Pine Wind project and the Aroostook Corridor transmission line would, together, reduce electricity costs in Maine over the projects’ 25-30 year lifespans. Boston-based Longroad Energy, the wind tower developer, and New York-based LS Power, the developer of…

The city of Portland has finally discovered who is responsible for the thousands of homeless migrants that have inundated the city since 2019 and caused an ongoing humanitarian crisis: God. In response to a civil lawsuit brought by a local healthcare executive and former Democratic candidate for State Senate, the city’s attorneys have argued that the arrival of the migrants and the resulting need for emergency was not their fault. Instead, the migrant influx was an unforeseeable “Act of God” for which no human is responsible. Also known as force majeure, the “God clause” is commonly included in contracts as…

When the 170-turbine 1,000 megawatt King Pine Wind Farm in Aroostook County becomes operational near the end of the decade, the majority of the profits from the sale of electricity to New England ratepayers will head to the other side of the planet. That’s because Longroad Energy, the Boston-based developer that will manage the wind farm, is 92 percent owned by large foreign investment funds, including one controlled by a foreign government, according to financial records reviewed by the Maine Wire. The NZ Super Fund – a.k.a. the New Zealand Superannuation Fund — reported owning 40 percent of Longroad Energy…

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) unveiled the names of over 16,000 semifinalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program this week, including 56 students from Maine. NMSC semifinalists come from all over the state of Maine, but Cape Elizabeth High School boasts the largest number, with seven seniors competing for the prestigious scholarship. Tied for second with five semifinalists are the Maine School of Science and Mathematics and Camden Hills Regional High School. These top-tier high school seniors, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, are now eligible to vie for around 7,140 scholarships, worth…

The State Legislature’s payments for travel and lodging to Maine Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Allagash) surged drastically after he and his longtime girlfriend purchased a home in Augusta — 283 miles closer to the State House. The State Legislature paid Senate President Jackson reimbursements and allowances in 2019 worth just $17,128.11. In 2020, after he purchased a home in Augusta using a Federal House Authority (FHA)-backed mortgage, those payments nearly doubled to $33,876.78. In 2021, when Jackson was obligated by the FHA loan to make Augusta his principal residence, the top Democrat again received a far higher level of reimbursement…

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree’s personal wealth has swelled over her decade in a half as a Member of Congress, according to her latest financial disclosure. In 2008, Pingree reported a total networth of between $316,000 and $568,000. Most of her assets were real estate, against which she owed significant liabilities. In 2022, however, Pingree reported annual income on her investments and business partnerships of between $113,505 and $1,035,000 — that’s in addition to her annual House salary of $174,000, which she has collected for nearly 15 years. On the asset side, Pingree reported owning stocks, real estate, and business shares…

Despite some economists’ predictions that inflation in the U.S. economy had been tamed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced Wednesday that inflation continued to rise in August. At the same time, BLS reported that real average hourly earnings for American workers fell last month. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) continued its upward trajectory in August, reporting an increase of 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This surge comes on the heels of a 0.2 percent rise in July that gave some cause…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that every American older than six months should go get another round of the COVID-19 shots produced by pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna. “Updated COVID-19 vaccines are recommended for everyone 6 months and older and will be available by the end of this week at most places you would normally go to get your vaccines,” the CDC said in a statement. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday approved the new round of shots, stating that it was confident in the safety and effectiveness of the “updated” “booster”…

The Daily Caller News Foundation – Lillian Tweten on September 11, 2023 A sheriff said in a press conference Monday he will not enforce Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s emergency order to suspend open and concealed gun carry for 30 days in Bernalillo County and Albuquerque. Grisham issued the order Friday through the New Mexico Department of Health after several shootings occurred in the state this year, including one which killed an 11-year-old boy on Sept. 6. John Allen, the sheriff for the county, argued that the order violates the second amendment and would be dangerous to enforce because of potential “political violence,” according to…

The Second Baptist Church in Palermo was vandalized Saturday night with pro-abortion slogans and red paint. The vandals painted “abortion is a human right” on the rear of the church and defaced the church’s Christmas nativity scene with the phrase “queer love 4 eva”. Pastor Joshua Barnes addressed the crime Sunday morning during his service, but he wasn’t optimistic that law enforcement would be able to hold the culprit accountable. [RELATED: Maine OB/GYN Backing Janet Mills’ Abortion Plan Was Deposed in $1.26M Wrongful Death Suit After Late-Term Abortion Patient Died…] “They parked out of camera range and walked in in…

In an interview with Maine’s taxpayer-funded radio network Thursday, Gov. Janet Mills denied a suggestion from a listener that her administration has walked away from negotiations with the state workers’ union. “We are at the table. We’ve been at the table for a couple of months now negotiating over a new state employee contract with several different unions and we intend to stay at the table. We’ve never left the table,” Gov. Mills told Maine Calling host Jennifer Rooks. The Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA), the 2nd largest labor union in Maine, begs to differ. On Wednesday, the MSEA sent…

The Falmouth-based mortgage broker accused of abetting an apparent mortgage fraud by Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) denied any wrongdoing on Thursday in a phone interview with the Maine Wire. In a story published Thursday morning by the Portland Press Herald, Jackson appeared to blame his mortgage broker for allowing him to sign a 2019 Federal Housing Authority (FHA)-insured mortgage agreement which he now admits to violating. “I paid him a lot of money,” Jackson said of his broker. “He filled out the forms and me and my wife signed them.” “This is unfortunate, but I never really read the forms,” he…

Gov. Janet Mills commented briefly Thursday on the growing scandal that has surrounded Senate President Troy Jackson after an investigative report from the Maine Wire raised questions about the number two Democrat’s residency and whether he has violated federal law. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/1699815519510012220?s=20 “I’ve only read the news story today about it,” said Gov. Mills, during an radio interview with Maine Calling host Jennifer Rooks. “And I understand there is an ethics complaint pending by one of the Republican leaders against Senate President Jackson, and that’s in the Ethics Commission,” Mills said, referring to the complaint filed by Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris).…

Liberty Safe, a company that markets itself to conservative Americans as the patriotic way to safely store firearms, admitted Wednesday that it voluntarily handed over a customer’s safe combination to the FBI. In a statement posted to X/Twitter, Liberty Safe said they provided the combination to the safe after the FBI produced a warrant. “First and foremost, Liberty Safe is committed to preserving our customers’ rights, and we will remain unwavering in those values,” the company said. Rather than wait for a court order to compel them to turn over the access codes, the company reviewed the warrant and voluntarily…

Maine Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Allagash) claimed Thursday morning that he never read the Federal Housing Authority (FHA)-backed loan agreement he signed that required him to make a second house in Augusta his primary residence — a requirement the top Democratic lawmaker now says he never satisfied. “This is unfortunate, but I never really read the forms,” Jackson told the liberal Portland Press Herald. Jackson said that he paid his mortgage broker “a lot of money” and then trusted that the broker was properly advising him on the legality of using an FHA loan to purchase the North Belfast Avenue…