Author: Steve Robinson

The victims in a shooting that left four dead in Bowdoin have now been identified as the parents of the shooting suspect and two friends they had been staying with, Maine State Police said during a press conference on Wednesday. Yesterday Maine State Police identified the suspect in the murders as 34-year-old Joseph Eaton. They identified the victims Wednesday as Eaton’s parents, David L. Eaton, 66, and Cynthia R. Eaton, 62, and Robert Eger, 72, and Patti Eger, 62. The Egers owned the Augusta Road residence in Bowdoin where the shooting took place. A neighbor who was concerned about the…

Joseph Eaton, the man Maine State Police said Tuesday had been arrested on suspicion of murdering four unidentified people in the town of Bowdoin before shooting three more in Yarmouth, posted a bizarre and dark video to social media less than 12 hours before he was later arrested off of I-295 in Yarmouth. In the video Eaton appears to allude to some domestic conflict and past trauma, claiming that he never talked with those closest to him about his own history of abuse. ‘I’m probably going to get emotional just talking about it. But, my people, a lot of people…

Sen. Brad Farrin (R-Somerset) introduced his bill, LD 986, targeting traffickers of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids to the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. Farrin, who lost his 26-year-old daughter, Haley, to a drug overdose in 2022, said current efforts to curb the drug epidemic in Maine are not working. LD 986 aims to increase penalties for those who traffick carfentanil, sufentanil, fentanyl, and any derivative of fentanyl powder by reclassifying the offense as a Class A crime. [RELATED: Greenbush Resident, Dominican National Arrested in Maine DEA Fentanyl Bust…] “This manufactured poison is killing a generation,”…

The Maine Lobster Festival announced Monday that the annual “Maine Sea Goddess” contest — a 75-year coastal Maine tradition — will not be happening at this year’s festival, which is scheduled for Aug. 2-6. The Sea Goddess pageant will be replaced by the “Sea Delegate” pageant — a contest that will be open to all genders. “The traditional role of Maine Sea Goddess will now be known as Maine Lobster Festival Delegate, and is open to ALL young people who are passionate about advocating for Maine’s lobster industry, regardless of gender,” festival organizers said on their Facebook page. “We also…

A bill that would ban the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok from state-owned devices will have a public hearing on Tuesday. Rep. Nathan Carlow (R-Buxton) has introduced the proposed a ban on the video hosting service. The bill authorizes the Commissioner of Administrative and Financial Services to prohibit any program, application, or electronic service on state-owned computers or electronic devices, specifically targeting TikTok. “TikTok is a national security threat; the White House says so, the Department of Homeland Security says so, and Congress says so,” Carlow said in a written statement. “It’s time to permanently ban its use on state…

A team of researchers investigating anti-white sentiments set out to answer an interesting question: How would people react if we took quotes from Adolf Hitler, changed “Jewish to “white” and asked whether they agreed with the statement. The study was originally presented at the February, 2023 conference of the Society for Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences, according to a post at the Unsafe Science Substack. In the study, Michael Bernstein, an experimental psychologist at Brown University, and April Bleske-Rechek, a differential and evolutionary psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, found higher agreement with anti-White sentiments among participants, regardless of their…

A recent study conducted on 2,066 individuals in Germany has found that overall environmental knowledge and climate-specific knowledge are negatively related to climate change anxiety. The research suggests that enhancing environmental knowledge may help reduce anxiety levels related to climate change. In other words, people who know the least about global climate science are most likely to suffer from so-called “climate change anxiety.” Climate change anxiety — or “eco-anxiety” — is a phenomenon that has received more attention in recent years from academic researchers at American universities as well as U.S. health officials. Left-wing media have also hyped the supposed…

Maine Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) have hired a well-known HR firm to investigate Attorney General Aaron Frey following his disclosure of an ongoing relationship with a subordinate employee. The review will be conducted by Deb Whitworth of the HR Studio Group, according to an email shared with lawmakers. “Whitworth has more than 40 years of experience in human resources and has served on the Maine Human Rights Commission for 11 years,” the email said. “She was first appointed to the Commission by Governor Paul LePage and was later reappointed by Governor Janet…

Maine Rep. Jared Golden has joined Substack, an online publishing service he says he’ll now use to communicate with constituents via a blog called, “Dear Mainer”. With his first blog post, Golden covered the topic of the U.S. national debt, which stands at nearly $32 trillion, and how Congress could potentially reduce the federal deficit in the short-term. Golden proposes a two-year spending freeze, the cancellation of President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, a crack down on COVID-19 program fraud, an increase in the corporate tax rate, an expanded surtax on corporate stock buybacks, and an increase in the…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills has thrown the full weight of her office behind the effort to make Maine’s abortion laws the most radical in the United States. If Mills’ abortion bill becomes law, as now appears certain, advanced registered nurses and physician assistants working at abortion clinics will be able to terminate pregnancies at any time and for any reason — even when a woman is in labor. In addition to being far more radical than any other state’s abortion rules, the push to legalize gruesome full-term abortions has been replete with misleading statements and misrepresentations. Gov. Mills repeatedly said…

The Superintendent of the Hermon public schools, Micah Grant, sends his children to a private religious school — Bangor Christian School (BCS) — and at a recent informational meeting held by the school he demanded that the school hire armed guards. Yet despite leading the Hermon public school system for more than a year, and despite multiple requests from Hermon parents, Grant did not hire an armed School Resource Officer (SRO) for the past school year. Grant made his demand for armed guards at BCS during an informational meeting on March 29. Sources told the Maine Wire that Grant caused…

The migrant crisis overwhelming several southern Maine cities has captured headlines this year. City of Portland officials just this week once again opened the Portland Expo building as a makeshift shelter for newly arrived asylum seekers. Other city leaders have said municipal budgets are strained to the break point. And, in Augusta, policymakers are debating various proposals that aim to alleviate the crisis. On Tuesday, Luc Kuanzambi, a Congolese refugee living in Maine, gave a public presentation as part of an educational series coordinated by the Prince Memorial Library in Cumberland. Kuanzambi is the founder of Xenos Communications Consulting and…

The state of Maine could make it easier to buy, sell, and own precious metals like gold and silver if a series of bills from Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin) can find support from the Democratic majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives. Currently, Maine law makes it difficult and costly to own or transact in precious metals. Anyone who purchases gold or silver in Maine must pay a 5.5 percent premium thanks to the sales tax. Likewise, those who buy the precious metals at a low price and later sell them at a higher price must pay an income…

Democratic lawmakers on Thursday killed a bill from Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) that would have banned former state lawmakers from taking jobs with state agencies or government-funded nonprofits for at least four years after leaving office. The bill, “An Act to Prevent Political Patronage with Regard to State Legislators” (LD 521), would only have taken effect in the next legislature. Its goal was to close the revolving door between government agencies and nonprofits and the very lawmakers who make decisions — including funding decisions — that affect those agencies and nonprofits. Augusta is notoriously incestuous — professionally and politically speaking…

The Daily Caller News Foundation – Erinn Broadus on April 13, 2023 Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is suing the Biden administration over allegedly failing to comply with Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding if taxpayer dollars were used to provide drug addicts crack pipes, according to a press release from Moody’s office. The FOIA request was filed over a year ago, the lawsuit claims, and a federal statute says that all FOIA requests must be responded to within 20 working days. The request was in regard to Biden’s safe smoking kits, according to the release. The Biden administration denied that there…

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced Wednesday that he has filed a civil rights complaint against a Lewiston man accused of threatening to kill a Black woman in a racist voicemail. Charles Barnes, 45, allegedly left a voicemail for a 32-year-old Black woman on August 30, 2022, saying he was parked outside her apartment and waiting for someone to step outside, threatening that the first person to do so would die. Barnes continued, stating, “I don’t care if it’s her kid, or her, or her boyfriend. I don’t care…I’m killing me a [racial epithet].” The victim contacted the Lewiston police,…

Update: After the publication of this story, Maine Public announced it would no longer post stories to Twitter. After Twitter slapped a warning on National Public Radio’s (NPR) account informing users that the media outlet receives taxpayer funding, NPR announced Wednesday it was quitting the social media site. But Maine Public, NPR’s Maine affiliate, will not be joining in the boycott, Maine Public’s President and CEO Rick Schneider said Wednesday. As part of ongoing changes at the social media company since Elon Musk purchased it, NPR’s accounts were initially given a label that said “state-affiliated media” this week. After NPR…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills is rallying the State Legislature to pass an abortion bill that would eliminate almost all restrictions on abortion in Maine, making Maine one of the most pro-abortion jurisdictions in the world. If passed, the proposal Mills has backed would allow full-term abortions — that is, abortions right up to the moment before a baby is born — so long as a physician, physician assistant, or an advanced registered nurse approves. The legislative push is a direct contradiction to her position during the campaign. During the campaign, Mills said multiple times she wanted no changes to Maine’s…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, the most common measure of inflation, increased by 0.1% in March on a seasonally adjusted basis, after rising 0.4% in February. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased by 5.0% before seasonal adjustment. The shelter index was the largest contributor to the monthly increase in all items, more than offsetting a 3.5% decline in the energy index. The food index remained unchanged in March, with the food at home index falling by 0.3%. The index for all items less food…

Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) saw his Allagash select board election loss confirmed Tuesday morning after a recount at the Allagash Town Office. Jackson lost the initial March 24 ballot count, getting 70 votes to winner Karie Kelly’s 78 votes. On Tuesday, election officials counted 71 votes for Jackson and 77 for Kelly. Jackson has issued no statement concerning his election loss and he has not responded to inquiries from the Maine Wire. Prior to the election, Jackson’s son, Chace Jackson, sent several direct messages to Kelly and Allagash Town Clerk Susan McBreairty suggesting that he was working with Maine…

UPDATE: Jackson lost the recount Tuesday morning, 71 to 77.Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) has accused town of Allagash election officials of engaging in a ballot tampering conspiracy to deny him a position on town’s selectboard following a March 24 election he lost to Karie Kelly, 70 votes to 78 votes. After losing the election, Jackson demanded a recount. That recount will take place on April 11, Allagash Town Clerk Susan McBreairty told the Maine Wire. The demand for a recount — and allegations of a voter fraud conspiracy against Jackson — has caused no small controversy in the small…

When Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey disclosed Wednesday morning that he had been carrying on an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate employee, he may have left out a few salient details, according to his longtime girlfriend of 12 years — who was not acknowledged in the statement. “Aaron was still in a relationship with me despite being separated while we attended couples therapy until last week,” Frey’s longtime girlfriend told the Maine Wire. “I am now alone to hold down a home I shared with this man for over 12 years,” she said. The woman spoke on the condition that…

Maine Republicans called on their Democrat counterparts to hold Attorney General Aaron Frey accountable for an eight-month long “error in judgement” Frey confessed to Wednesday after facing questions from reporters about his sexual misconduct. In response to an investigation by Michael Shepherd from the Bangor newspaper, Frey released a terse statement admitting that he had an inappropriate, consensual relationship with a subordinate employee. “Beginning in August, I became involved in a personal relationship with a colleague in my office, whom I formerly supervised,” Frey said in the statement. He said he has reorganized the chain of command in the office…

A Maine mom who discovered in December that public school counselors secretly provided her daughter with a breast binder and began using male pronouns to refer to her is suing the school. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday afternoon, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, New Castle resident Amber Lavigne alleged that the Great Salt Bay Community School violated her constitutional rights when school employees went behind her back to provide gender transition counseling to her 13-year-old daughter. The lawsuit alleges school officials “intentionally concealed” the gender counseling from Lavigne. In doing so, the lawsuit argues that…

Attorney General Aaron Frey admitted Wednesday to having a “personal relationship” with a subordinate employee at the Attorney General’s Office, according to a statement released by his office. In the statement, Frey characterized his handling of the relationship, including not disclosing the relationship for more than seven months, as an “error in judgement.” The statement was released to some news media outlets only after a reporter with the Bangor newspaper made inquiries based on tips. The policy governing relationships between bosses and employees in state government requires disclosure of such relationships. “Supervisors who become personally involved with a subordinate are…

Most Mainers have probably never heard of Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss. The dark money groups influencing Maine politics would probably like to keep it that way. That’s because Wyss is one of the top funders of left-wing advocacy groups across the country, and in Maine — groups that work hand-in-glove with Democratic Party candidates, operatives, and officeholders. Although Wyss cannot contribute directly to candidates or political committees because he is a foreign national, he can donate to nonprofits, and those nonprofits do not have to report donors publicly. Wyss’s contributions to progressive political groups were reported on Tuesday by the…

Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec) has proposed legislation that would create two state programs to encourage young African-Americans born in Maine to get into the business of farming by giving them apprenticeships and free land in the state. LD 1274 — An Act to Increase Land Access for Historically Disadvantaged Populations — is based on similar legislation that has been introduced in Georgia, Illinois, and South Carolina, Hickman told the Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry on Monday. “Because it was a copy-paste, there are some critiques of this legislation,” Hickman said, adding that the committee would work with…

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, with an assist from Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, has continued her streak as the most partisan ideologue to ever inhabit the Blaine House. By orchestrating yet another partisan budget, she has once again shown that, for all her talk of bipartisanship, she’s interested only in getting her way and enforcing a left-wing agenda. Yet the budget maneuver last week came as a genuine surprise to many veteran Republicans who assumed Democrats were negotiating in good faith. Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford), the Republican lead on the Appropriations Committee, said he…

The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee filled two overflow rooms Monday morning as Mainers turned out to voice their opposition to vaccination mandates, in particular mandates that students and healthcare workers receive the experimental COVID-19 shots in order to work or attend school. Before a crowd of more than 100, Assistant Senate Minority Leader Lisa Keim (R-Oxford) and several other Republican lawmakers gathered to voice their support for a series of bills that would restore vaccine exemptions and otherwise limit the State’s power to compel experimental medical treatments. The hearings began less than 24 hours after Democratic Gov. Janet Mills…

Did Gov. Janet Mills and legislative Democrats “nudge” the partisan budget into law last week? That’s how the headline writers at the Bangor Daily News initially spun one of the most overtly partisan power plays in the history of Maine politics. As the Maine Wire detailed last week, Mills and her allies in the legislature cut Republicans out of budget negotiations and pulled an elaborate parliamentary maneuver to force through $9.9 billion in spending over the next two years. [RELATED: Mills Offers Maine GOP “Reset” After Partisan Budget Betrayal…] Typically, biennial budgets are negotiated in a bipartisan fashion and passed…

Gun rights advocates from across the state of Maine gathered Monday at the State House in Augusta to voice their opposition to several gun control proposals submitted this session by liberal Democrats. Laura Parker, President of Gun Owners of Maine, and Justin Davis, State Director of the National Rifle Association, both spoke at a press conference along with Franklin County Sheriff Scott R. Nichols Sr. Afterward, the gun owners attended a hearing in the Judiciary Committee where they spoke out against the potential infringement on their right to bear arms. “We maintain that gun rights are civil rights, gun rights…

As expected, Gov. Janet Mills on Friday signed the $9.9 billion biennial budget Democratic lawmakers approved late Thursday night, saying in a statement that she wants a “reset” in relations between Republicans and Democrats. The partisan budget was passed without Republican votes despite months of bipartisan negotiations, making Mills responsible for more partisan biennial budgets than any Maine governor in the past four decades. Republicans proposed a modest reduction in state income tax rates that would have been paid for with $200 million from an expected increase in forecasted revenue. The tax reduction would not have required any spending cuts…

Russia has now placed itself on a short list of rogue states, a list that includes belligerent nations like North Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran, by taking Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich hostage, according to Helsinki Commission Chief of Staff Kyle Parker. Parker, a Maine native and former University of Maine graduate, has spent 20 years at the front lines — figuratively and literally — of American foreign policy. From his position on the Helsinki Commission, also known as the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Parker has travelled into Ukraine seven times since the…

A Falmouth public school teacher lectured a Falmouth Elementary School (FES) student for failing to use the preferred pronouns of another elementary school student, public records obtained by the Maine Wire reveal. That’s all just part of the job at a Maine public school that’s implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) protocols and teaching Queer Theory to young students. Emails obtained by the Maine Wire show left-wing school administrators imposing progressive political ideas on teachers and students — and sometimes dealing with the fallout. Can the PTO fundraiser catalogue sell Christmas themed gifts? Should teachers use only they/them pronouns just…

AUGUSTA, ME – On Monday, April 3rd, a coalition of gun rights groups and activists will be hosting a rally and press conference at the Maine State Capitol Welcome Center. The event is scheduled ahead of legislative committee hearings taking place that afternoon, and aims to express opposition to certain gun control measures under consideration. [RELATED: Maine Crime Fell Following 2015 Repeal of Gun Control Law…] The rally will feature speakers from prominent gun rights organizations, including Laura Parker, President of Gun Owners of Maine, David Trahan, Executive Director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, and Justin Davis, State Director…

Democratic lawmakers at the State House approved a plan on Thursday to spend $9.9 billion on Maine state government for the next two fiscal years. The plan passed without Republican input or votes, similar to the last biennial budget, making Gov. Janet Mills responsible for more so-called “majority” biennial budgets than any other Maine governor in the past four decades. To put the new budget into perspective, the last two-year budget passed under Gov. Paul LePage was just under $7.1 billion in general fund spending for two years. That means the growth in state spending under Gov. Mills has far…

Maine’s largest network of print and online publications, including the liberal Portland Press Herald and affiliated papers, may soon be up for sale. The Bangor newspaper, which is not a part of newspaperman Reade Brower’s 30-publication empire, broke the news Thursday evening that Brower has apparently told staffers that he’s considering a sale. “The truth is I am beginning the search for what’s next, whether that be a new steward or perhaps partners willing to join me in carrying the torch,” Brower wrote in an email to Bangor Daily News reporters. “We are watching new ownership models emerge across the…

The Daily Caller News Foundation – John Hugh DeMastri on March 29, 2023 Secretary Deb Haaland of the U.S. Department of the Interior repeatedly deflected when asked if she believed it was better for the U.S. to produce its own oil and gas or import it from foreign countries, at a Wednesday hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “Do you think it is better to get oil and gas from federal lands in this country, with our environmental standards, or is it better to get it from Venezuela, Russia, Middle East and other places with vastly inferior environmental standards?” Republican Sen.…

The Daily Caller Foundation – Katelynn Richardson on March 30, 2023 Lawsuits from landowners and fishing groups threaten to undermine the Biden administration’s offshore wind goals, according to E&E News. A major 62-turbine offshore wind project planned for construction in the waters near Martha’s Vineyard is being challenged by four separate lawsuits, which argue that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) did not conduct an adequate environmental review prior to approving the project, E&E News reported. Concerns revolve around the project’s impact on fishermen and threats to whales living in the waters, particularly the endangered North American right whale. The Vineyard…

Maine has the third highest tax burden of all 50 states. That’s according to a new survey of 2023 tax burdens by WalletHub, a personal finance company. Only New York and Hawaii will have higher total tax burdens than Maine. The WalletHub survey includes income taxes, property taxes, and sales taxes. Maine has the highest property tax rates as a percentage of total income out of all the states. The sales tax burden is the 26th highest in the country. The income tax burden is the 14th highest. [RELATED: Maine Jobs Council Finds Maine Near Bottom of Pretty Much All…

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been arrested in Russia on espionage charges, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday. Gershkovich, who graduated from Bowdoin College in 2014, is said to have been detained in Yekaterinburg. He previously worked as a reporter for the Moscow Times. The FSB said Gershkovich was trying to obtain classified information, but the agency — a thinly disguised descendent of the KGB — has been known to make false claims about political prisoners in order to later leverage their potential release. According to the Associated Press, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday:…

Two Maine Republicans have prepared floor amendments for Thursday’s likely budget vote that would replace the phrase “Vacationland” on Maine’s iconic license plates with what they view as a more apt term: “Taxationland”. Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin) and Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn) both submitted similar amendments in their respective houses of the legislature as a symbolic rebuke of the Democrats’ decision to pursue a partisan, one-party budget that contains no tax reductions. This will be only the third time in recent memory that the legislature has passed a so-called “majority budget,” the others being 1997 under Gov. Angus King and…

The top Republican in the House of Representatives is calling on Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin to explain what she meant when she told lawmakers on the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee that “academic learning” is going to take a “back seat” in Maine schools. “It is my understanding that you stated, “Academic learning is definitely going to take a backseat to all of these other pieces.” These “other pieces” you were referencing were Social and Emotional Learning goals and objectives your department has,” House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) said in the letter to Makin. “As the…

Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson joined WVOM’s Ric Tyler on Wednesday morning to cover a host of topics in Maine politics, including two bills related to Maine’s asylum seeker population as well as Democrats’ decision to pursue the third one-party budget in Maine’s history. You can read the Maine Wire’s reporting on LD 1050, a bill to give asylum seekers work authorization permits within their first six months of entering Maine, here. You can read the Maine Wire’s reporting on LD 199, a bill to give MaineCare to adults in Maine regardless of their immigration status, here. And you can…

The high cost of electricity in Maine has claimed another victim, at least in the short term. Nine Dragons Paper Holdings Limited, the Chinese-owned company that restarted the Old Town paper mill in 2019, announced this week it would cease operations in 60-90 days due to the unsustainable cost of energy and wood pulp, as well as market conditions. “We will be taking extended downtime at our Old Town, ME mill due to the rising cost of fiber, along with energy costs and market conditions,” company spokesperson Jay Capron said in a statement. The company’s statement did not indicate when…

A legal challenge filed on behalf of Mainers who lost their jobs as a result of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate could determine whether the Maine Emergency Medical Services (Maine EMS) had the authority to implement such a mandate. Health Choice Maine (HCM), a non-profit group that advocates for medical freedom, is the driving force behind the decision to challenge the mandate. The case has 18 named plaintiffs, as well as classes of John and Jane Does. “The question we posed to the court is whether the agency had the authority to do this,” said Terry Mitrenga, the attorney representing HCM.…

City Councilors in South Portland think banning gasoline-powered lawnmowers could be the ticket to Maine’s environmental salvation. At a council work session Tuesday night, council members heard from Julie Rosenbach, the city’s “Sustainability Director”. The city has proposed some lofty goals to do its part to stop global warming. [RELATED: Maine Solar Power Project Linked to Chinese Forced Labor…] Over the last five years, it has resolved to reduce greenhouse gas emissions citywide by 80% by 2050, transition municipal operations to 100% clean energy by 2040, and rapidly phase out the use of fossil fuels and technologies which rely upon…

A bill that would provide free healthcare to income eligible adults in Maine regardless of immigration status moved through the legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday. The bill — “An Act to Improve the Health of Maine Residents by Removing Exclusions to the MaineCare Program” — is a high priority for Democratic lawmakers. It was introduced by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) and has earned support from a broad array of liberal nonprofits. If it passes, as appears likely, Maine would expand eligibility for Medicaid, known in Maine as MaineCare, to all individuals over the age of…

The Maine Department of Education made an error that has resulted in an extra $3.6 million for the Portland School System, the Portland Finance Committee revealed Tuesday night. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/1640884238441381888 “Literally moments ago before we came into this meeting we got an update from the state pertaining to our funding and essentially the Mil rate across the state dropped due to an error at the state level,” said Interim Co-Superintendent Melea Nalli. “And so, it’s good news. It’s resulting in a $3.6 million shift in terms of what we were previously expected,” Nalli said. Several other school systems in the state have…

Budget negotiations in Augusta deteriorated further on Tuesday with the top Senate Democrat making a series of claims during a morning radio interview that the top Senate Republican says just aren’t true. Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) on WVOM’s George Hale and Ric Tyler radio show accused Republicans of pursuing a tax cut that would allow people making more than $1 million to save $10,000 on their state income taxes. Jackson also said the Republican proposal would have only provided $70 in relief to low-income workers. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/1640855033347547136?s=20 But at a press conference later in the day, Senate Minority Leader Trey…

Nashville Police have released body cam footage less than 24 hours after a 28-year-old ex-student murdered six students and staff at the Covenant School, a small private Christian school in the city Monday morning. The footage shows several law enforcement officers entering the school and engaging in a brief firefight with the shooter. The shooter was armed with three guns, including a rifle and two pistols. https://twitter.com/robbystarbuck/status/1640727877749465095 The shooter, who police identified as Audrey Hale, is said to have left behind a manifesto. After an initial period of confusion about Hale’s gender, it emerged that she was a biological woman…

Maine’s immigration crisis is only getting worse. On Friday, news broke that the city of Portland will once again open the Portland Expo to provide temporary shelter to the hundreds of asylum seekers, refugees, and illegal aliens who have arrived in Maine seeking accommodations. The move suggests there is no end in sight to a migrant wave that began in 2019 — the last time the Portland Red Claws basketball court was repurposed as a migrant shelter. The influx has resulted in thousands of housing insecure migrants who cannot legally work arriving from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti,…

Rep. Lucas Lanigan (R-Sanford) said Monday that there will be a public hearing Tuesday afternoon on his tax relief bill for low and middle-income earners, LD 533 – “An Act to Exempt Overtime Pay from Individual Income Tax.” The proposed legislation would exempt overtime pay from individual state income tax if the employer is legally required to pay the overtime to the employee. Lanigan said the bill will not only provide much-needed tax relief to those who have been affected by the rising prices of everyday items but also create incentives for individuals to work extra hours to get ahead…

Rep. Gary Drinkwater (R-Milford) wants to bring back a provision of Maine law that allows employees at health care facilities and public school students to request an exemption from vaccination mandates. LD 51, “An Act to Restore Religious and Philosophical Exemptions to Immunization Requirements,” will have a committee hearing Monday morning. Turnout is expected to be high. Maine residents were legally allowed to request exemptions until a 2019 law eliminated those provisions in the name of “protecting” children. But the law has led to some students being disenrolled from public schools as the result of their family’s religious or philosophical…

The Nazis burned books. You might have heard those words uttered at a school board meeting recently. Or perhaps they were in a newspaper op-ed or social media post concerning the sexually explicit content parents are finding in government-run schools. The point seems to be as follows: The Nazis burned books; some parents are uncomfortable with schools giving their children books that depict children having sex; ergo those parents are like Nazis. This rhetoric is false and despicable. The people who use it should be dismissed as utterly unserious hysterics, yet on many school committees such phrases pass for thoughtful…

Democratic lawmakers have rejected a Republican proposal to reduce taxes for low-income Mainers, setting the stage for a one-party budget that will spend more than $10.5 billion — the biggest biennial budget ever passed in Augusta. Budget negotiations broke down Friday after Republican lawmakers offered a proposal to reduce taxes from 5.8 percent to 4.5 percent on the first $23,000 of earned income. The proposal would have allowed Mainers to keep $200,000,000 of their own money, but there appears to be no appetite among Maine Democrats for reducing taxes–even when the relief would primarily benefit low- and middle-income Mainers. Sen.…

A Maine State Senator said Thursday lawmakers need to increase taxes on wealthy Mainers. “We need to tax the wealthy more,” said Sen. Mike Tipping (D-Penobscot). “We need to increase taxes on those wealthy individuals and those wealthy and profitable corporations that have rigged the system in their favor,” Tipping said. Sen. James Libby (R-Cumberland) then took the opportunity to ask whether Tipping understood where inflation comes from. Asked whether there’s a connection between an increase in the U.S. money supply and inflation, Tipping blamed “corporate profits,” though he admitted he couldn’t be sure whether an increase in the money…

Union officials and activists were giddy Wednesday at the news that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) would begin remotely counting ballots from a Bates College employee unionization vote that happened more than a year ago. Bates College filed a legal challenge against the planned union in 2022, which led the NLRB to impound the votes that would determine whether Bates employees would unionize under the auspices of the Maine Service Employees Association-Service Employees International Union Local 1989 (MSEA-SEIU 1989). For the last 14 months, members of the Bates Educators and Staff Organization (BESO) have demanded that those votes be…

The Maine Attorney General’s office issued a warning Thursday about an ongoing online scam involving the fraudulent sale of used and antique motor vehicles. Scammers are impersonating Maine businesses and individuals associated with those businesses, using their names to advertise vehicles for sale and trick buyers into wiring thousands of dollars for vehicles they will never receive, the AG’s office said in a press release. These scammers are registering fraudulent website domains using the names of Maine businesses, as well as email addresses associated with those domains. Although not physically based in Maine, they are spoofing phone numbers with 207…

A public hearing will be held Thursday to discuss a bill aimed at providing financial support to the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA), a group that represents Maine’s lobster industry. The bill, proposed by House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor), would provide the MLA with a one-time contribution of $1,000,000 to offset large expenses the organization has incurred in recent years as it fights against burdensome federal regulations. “The Maine lobster industry is under attack,” said Faulkingham, who continues to work his own lobster boat while serving in the legislature. “It is facing crippling regulations and industry collapsing lawsuits,”…

LISBON, Maine – Border Patrol agents in Lisbon have uncovered what federal immigration officials called an “elaborate human smuggling scheme,” leading to the removal of 17 undocumented non-citizens from an alleged stash house. Federal immigration officials said the individuals were living illegally in the U.S. and working illegally for an unidentified company in Massachusetts. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says its agents have encountered more than 100,000 individuals crossing the southern border illegally every month since February 2021. In December alone, CBP reported 251,978 encounters with inadmissible visitors. That’s the most illegal border crossings CBP has ever reported for one…

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York is demanding that politicians and political committees that received donations from disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried — or his employees — hand over the illicit funds to the U.S. Marshals. [RELATED: Top FTX Executive Nishad Singh Gave Maine Democrats $100,000…]The Maine Democratic Party, which received $100,000 from Nishad Singh, the 3rd ranking employee at FTX, has yet to say whether it will comply with the demand. Two representatives of the Party did not respond to an inquiry from the Maine Wire. The U.S. Attorney’s demand letter, first reported by Semafor,…

Maine became the first state to require the state’s employee pension fund to divest from fossil fuel-related stocks — a celebrated victory in environmentalists’ battle against carbon emissions and global warming. But a report from the Maine Public Employee Retirement System (MPERS) suggests Maine’s public pension system will be profiting from fossil fuel stocks long after the 2026 deadline set by lawmakers. That’s because Maine’s Constitution and laws taken together require MPERS to prioritize paying pensioners over left-wing climate goals. MPERS Chief Executive Officer Rebecca M. Wyke said in an email lawmakers were clear in the original bill that the…

Sen. Matt Harrington (R-York) has introduced a bill that would require candidates who receive taxpayer funding for the state election campaigns to honestly represent the source and nature of the funding. Presently, candidates who take taxpayer money to spend on campaign materials refer to themselves as “clean candidates,” a relic of the name of the law that allows politicians to take taxpayer funding to further their political careers. The so-called “Maine Clean Elections Act” (MCEA) has created the unearned perception that taking taxpayer money for a political campaign is in some way ethically superior to self-funding a campaign or relying…

A House of Representatives committee has released a report Tuesday on the Biden Administration’s alleged misuse of federal law enforcement and counterterrorism resources against parents voicing concerns about controversial curricula and education-related policies at local school board meetings. The Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government was formed to investigate the myriad ways government resources have been leveraged to target political dissidents and protect incumbent political power. The committee is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who has been a fierce critic of the misuse of government resources for political ends. Last week, the committee interviewed…

UPDATE: Multiple media outlets reported Wednesday that the grand jury vote that could potentially lead to an indictment for former President Trump was called off. The Daily Mail reported Tuesday that a source has said former President Donald Trump will be indicted on misdemeanor charges Wednesday, but he will not be arraigned until next week. As of Tuesday evening, American outlets had yet to confirm the scoop, but Daily Mail reported the following: “Donald Trump will likely be indicted on Wednesday but won’t appear before a judge in New York until next week, DailyMail.com has learned. “‘There will be no arraignment…

The Judiciary Committee of the Maine State Legislature held a hearing Tuesday on a bill that would clarify that public record requests submitted pursuant to Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) are not “hate speech.” Maine’s FOAA allows anyone to request certain government records that would otherwise be unavailable to the public. But some government employees have bristled in recent months at requests for records related to controversial topics related to Maine’s public schools. “With the comments last week from [Education Commissioner Pender Makin] saying that academics will take a back seat to teaching postmodernism and critical theory, I think…

Rep. Ed Polewarczyk (R-Wiscasset) announced Tuesday that his bill to repeal Maine’s ranked-choice voting law will have a Public Hearing on Wednesday. The controversial law has faced criticism since its implementation in 2016, with proponents claiming it promotes a more democratic election process, while opponents argue that it is confusing and disenfranchises voters. In a statement, Polewarczyk said, “There are increasing complaints from constituents that the ranked-choice experiment has failed to deliver on its promises. It produces false majorities, frequently exhausts thousands of ballots cast on Election Day, is confusing, and disenfranchises voters who are already unlikely to vote. It…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Monday new legislation to protect Florida residents from federally controlled Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). “The Biden administration’s efforts to inject a Centralized Bank Digital Currency is about surveillance and control,” said DeSantis at a Monday press conference. “Today’s announcement will protect Florida consumers and businesses from the reckless adoption of a ‘centralized digital dollar’ which will stifle innovation and promote government-sanctioned surveillance,” he said. “Florida will not side with economic central planners; we will not adopt policies that threaten personal economic freedom and security.” [RELATED: Beware the Digital Dollar and CBDCs…] A key part…

Maine lawmakers will soon decide the fate of a proposal that would require a formal declaration of war from the U.S. Congress before Maine’s national guard can deploy abroad. The bill, introduced by Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin), is part of a broader movement aimed at getting state legislatures to reassert their constitutional authority over national guard units and reduce America’s involvement in “forever wars.” A national group is working with lawmakers in every state to propose similar legislation. If passed, the bill would lead to the recall of Maine guardsmen currently deployed abroad in undeclared wars. “Over these last twenty…

This weekend marked the twentieth anniversary of America’s invasion of Iraq, and for those of us who spent time in the sandbox, it is a poignant moment. When I first came back in 2005, I was having lunch with an old professor in the faculty club of the university I’d attended when Doug Feith, Donald Rumsfeld’s deputy for policy (and one of the notorious neo-cons whom General Tommy Franks had singled out as the dumbest of the lot), walked in. My professor’s face wrinkled as she snarled “nobody asked us before they hired him.” Then her expression softened as she…

A transparency and accountability revolution could be coming to Maine’s public schools if a proposal backed by several lawmakers on the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee wins enough support to become law. L.D. 1129 — “An Act to Enact the Curriculum Transparency Act” — would require the creation of an online transparency portal that would allow parents to access student test data, classroom materials, curriculum content, and even records and details related to third-party contractors hired by the school. The proposal would give parents and policymakers unprecedented insight into how schools operate. For the first time in the history of…

The 19th installment of the Twitter Files courtesy of independent journalist Matt Taibbi came out Friday. The new information expands what the American public knows about the shocking lengths to which the federal government and large tech companies went to censor and deceive the American public. https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1636729190073397252?s=20 The latest story features the “Virality Project,” a creature of Stanford University that was later embraced by nearly every large social media company and the federal government. The goal of the project was to identify people on social media who said things about COVID-19 that the government didn’t want them to say. When…

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was in Congress Thursday to provide information regarding the extraordinary decision to rescue depositors at the now-defunct Silicon Valley Bank. SVB was the favored financial institution of Silicon Valley tech start-ups and global warming-related enterprises. The bank was also a leader in the ESG movement and embraced progressive causes, like Black Lives Matter. In normal capitalism, enterprises that took risks and were irresponsible with investments would fail, and the people who trusted those enterprises with their money — a de facto endorsement of their activities — would lose as a result. But in America, we don’t…

The mainstream media — the same guys who once hyperventilated about President Donald Trump getting two scoops of ice cream while his guests got one — is now going after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over story from the left-wing Daily Beast that he once ate pudding … with his fingers. According to not one but two(!) source, two real sources, DeSantis once ate pudding in 2019 using three fingers during a flight from Tallahassee to Washington, D.C. The story, real or not, now enters two long lists: 1) stories about politicians’ weird eating habits; and 2) thinly sourced stories attacking…

The hatred of Jews that led to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany is similar to the frustrations expressed by parents attending school board meetings in America, Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff said Wednesday at the SXSW conference. “Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews,” said Emhoff. “How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?” “Hate is interconnected. You see it in the discourse…

A Connecticut State Representative has lost her committee assignments Friday after she was arrested for crashing her car in what cops believe was an alcohol-related event. Rep. Robin Comey, a Democrat of Brandford, crashed her car late Thursday night in Hartford. The 55-year-old woman was charged around 6:30 pm with Driving Under the Influence (DUI). For Connecticut politicos, news of the arrest immediately brought to mind an event one year ago in which Comey, on the floor of the House of Representatives, was slurring her words while talking about an early childhood education bill. Comey admitted to drinking some wine…

Several media reports surfaced this week claiming that “researchers” had discovered new evidence that the COVID-19 virus did not, in fact, come from a virology lab in Wuhan, China. Instead, the epidemic that crippled the world’s government and economies for more than a year emerged from raccoon dogs sold at the infamous Wuhan wet market. The Atlantic and the New York Times both carried stories on Thursday and Friday relating the raccoon-related findings. From the New York Times: “An international team of virus experts said on Thursday that they had found genetic data from a market in Wuhan, China, linking…

For the first time in nearly two decades, leaders from Maine’s indigenous tribes came to the Maine State House on Thursday to offer a “State of the Tribes” address. Nearly every Maine state official was there, including Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland). Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, State Archivist Kate McBrien, State Auditor Matt Dunlap, and Attorney General Aaron Frey all showed up. Two Maine Superior Court Justices, Rick E. Lawrence and Andrew M. Read, were in attendance. U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (ME-CD2) was in attendance, and Sen. Angus King, Sen. Susan Collin,…

From 1984 to 2022, Maine’s legislature passed more than 40 resolutions featuring foreign nations. Ireland, Israel, Taiwan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Greece, and Ukraine all make the list. In 2023, we’ve added second one for Ukraine — just in case Vladimir Putin didn’t hear us the first time. Amid the clamor of debate last week on the second symbolic resolution, more than one observer quietly asked: Why are Maine lawmakers giving Ukraine special attention when there is so much evil, oppression, and conflict in the world? It’s not the first time since the start of Russia’s illegal and barbarous invasion of Ukraine…

Deering High School “co-principals” Alyson Dame and Dr. Jake Giessman emailed the Deering High School mailing list Wednesday regarding the “History of Drag and Queer Joy Discussion” taking place tomorrow at te public school. In the email, the administrators claim the event was organized by students. (Original story follows the screenshot.) Deering High School in Portland will host two of Maine’s most famous drag performers, Gigi Gabor and Chartreuse Money, to discuss the “History of Drag and Queer Joy” with students on Friday. Gabor and Money are well-known drag entrepreneurs. Gabor started Curbside Queens in 2020, traveling across the state…

Disgraced actor Jussie Smollett caused an international scandal when he claimed in 2019 to have been assaulted in a vicious hate crime one night in Chicago. Two MAGA thugs, he claimed, attacked him, tried to hang him with a thin noose, and sprayed bleach on him while he was trying to get a Subway sandwich. It was, everyone quickly agreed, a homophobic and racist attack inspired by President Donald Trump and the ugly band of deplorables who supported him. Police released video supposedly showing Smollett with the noose around his neck. Kamala Harris, then a California Senator with her eyes…

Traditional academic learning — like reading, writing, and math — should be a lower priority in Maine schools than social-emotional learning and programming on race and gender, Maine Department of Education Commissioner Pender Makin told lawmakers on Wednesday. “Academic learning is definitely going to take a backseat to all of these other pieces,” Makin told lawmakers on the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. Makin’s comments came amid a legislative hearing on the federal Department of Education’s recent threat to withhold Title 1A administrative funds due to issues with Maine’s student testing. Near the end of the hearing, Republican lawmakers asked…

In a speech Monday concerning the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), President Joe Biden praised the health of the American economy under his leadership. “We’ve made strong economic progress in the past two years. We’ve created more than 12 million new jobs, more jobs than any president has created in a single four year term. Unemployment is below 4 percent for 14 straight months,” Biden said. “Take home pay for workers is going up, especially for lower- and middle- income workers.” Despite high levels of inflation and other signs of economic trouble, the Biden White House have regularly touted…

Several groups representing Maine’s iconic lobster fishing industry announced Wednesday they have filed a defamation lawsuit against an environmentalist non-profit that has called the fishery unsustainable. The Monterey Bay Aquarium, through its non-profit Seafood Watch, said last year that it was placing Maine lobster on it’s so-called Red List, a list of items it says good observant environmentalists should not eat. The activists urge supermarkets and restaurants not to buy or sell items on its list. The London-based Marine Stewardship Council, another group that sells its logo like a “stamp of approval” for seafood, followed suit. [RELATED: Republicans Want to…

Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa continue to arrive in southern Maine, with many of them crossing the southern border as part of a massive surge in illegal immigration over the past three years. Portland City Officials told the Maine Wire the city has received 756 new arrivals since Jan. 1, 2023. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says its agents have encountered more than 100,000 individuals crossing the southern border illegally every month since February 2021. In December alone, CBP reported 251,978 encounters with inadmissible visitors. That’s the most illegal border crossings CBP has ever reported for one month, according to the…

The White House on Tuesday announced new executive measures to regulate the level of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) permissible in drinking water. Biden’s Executive Order places the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in control of establishing and enforcing a national clean water standard. In addition to the new directive, the White House released information about PFAS produced by the White House Office of Science and Technology. PFAS chemicals, sometimes described as “forever chemicals,” are commonly used in various manufacturing processes. The molecules contain a strong carbon-fluorine bond, which makes them useful for things like non-stick pots and pans. But…

President Joe Biden said Tuesday he will sign an Executive Order on Tuesday that mostly calls on government officials to enforce existing gun laws. The first item in the E.O. is a directive to the Attorney General to enforce existing background check rules for businesses that sell firearms. The order tells the Attorney General to “do everything he can” to ensure that firearms sellers who may not be informed on background check rules comply with the law. “Specifically, the President is directing the Attorney General to move the U.S. as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation…

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has asked for $5,000 in fees before it will turn over several years’ worth of disciplinary records related to agency employees to the Maine Wire. In response, the Maine Wire narrowed its Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) request to include only records from the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS), but DHHS returned with a request for $2,950. Dayna Collins, a public access officer at DHHS, attributed the exorbitant cost of the records request to the amount of time DHHS personnel would have to spend reviewing the documents for exempted…

Two Republican lawmakers are looking to bring nuclear power back to Maine. Reps. Mark Walker (R-Baldwin) and Richard Campbell (R-Orrington) both have bills in that could potentially open the door to the generation of electricity using nuclear power in Maine for the first time since 1996. Campbell’s bill would provide subsidies to companies that produce marine nuclear power modules. According to the bill’s summary, those subsidies would be equivalent to the subsidies currently offered to solar and wind power manufacturers. Those modules could then de deployed up and down Maine’s waterfront to provide power to coastal communities. Walker’s proposal would…

Democratic lawmakers are looking to crackdown on Maine’s pro-life pregnancy centers. The push for greater scrutiny on pro-life centers comes as Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and Democratic legislative leaders seek to expand legal abortion in Maine right up to birth. Rep. Lori Gramlich (D-Old Orchard Beach) has submitted a bill that would empower the Attorney General’s office to police the speech of pregnancy centers to ensure that the facility isn’t tricking women into becoming moms rather than getting abortions. “An Act to Prohibit Deceptive Advertising in Limited Pregnancy Services Centers” (LD 1137) would create an online portal for anyone to…

Maine’s unemployment rate dropped to below 3 percent for January, which would be stellar economic news for the state but for the labor force participation rate: 58 percent. The labor force participation rate is an official measure of what percentage of Maine’s working age population is actually employed or actively looking for work. The rate in Maine is currently the lowest labor force participation rate ever measured with the exception of August 2020, when the rate was 57.9 percent. Data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve shows Maine’s labor force participation rate only dipped under 60 percent one other time:…

Newscenter Maine invited a former psychic medium on its talking head program “Political Brew” this weekend to criticize Republican state lawmakers who opposed a symbolic war resolution. Betsy Sweet, a perennial Democratic candidate turned media personality, has scrubbed her old website, SweetSpiritMaine.com, but archived versions of the site show that Sweet believes she can talk to dead people, Spirit Guides, and angels. As recently as 2018, Sweet charged $40 per person for a “Spirit Sounds Reading Gallery” in which she would “bring you intuitive, healing messages from your loved ones.” “I’ve come to the awareness that I can receive messages…

Journalist Matt Taibbi was in front of a congressional committee last week to answer questions about his ongoing reporting on the so-called “Twitter Files.” As part of that reporting, Taibbi revealed that Maine Sen. Angus King gave Twitter and Facebook lists of people who were critical of King on social media during his 2018 re-election campaign, and many of those users were subsequently banned from the platforms. [RELATED: Angus King Doubles Down on “Enemies List” Censorship of Critics] In response to questioning from Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Taibbi said he had only seen records showing that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)…

Young Americans for Liberty, a conservative-libertarian student organization with hundreds of members in Maine, and 45 Republican lawmakers successfully convinced the University of Maine System to abandon its controversial COVID-19 vaccine mandate last week. Chancellor Dannel P. Malloy said the UMaine system will no longer enforce the mandate starting with the beginning of the May 2023 term, a decision that comes weeks after Maine’s community college system dropped a similar mandate. In February, more than forty GOP lawmakers sent a letter to UMaine’s leadership demanding it drop the requirement. However, they were told that the requirement could not be dropped…

Maine was brought to the brink of a man-made environmental disaster this week — a potential catastrophe that threatens to spill thousands of tons of human waste byproduct into Maine’s waterways. At the center of the crisis is Casella Waste Systems, Inc., the company that operates the state-owned Juniper Ridge landfill in Old Town. Casella processes thousands of tons of sludge from municipal waste treatment facilities across the state every month, but it announced last month that it would have to reduce the amount of sludge it accepted by as much as 60 percent. As a result, municipal officials are…

The Maine State Legislature continued Thursday to debate a symbolic resolution supporting continued U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s war with Russia, including increased funding for arms and aide to Ukraine in addition to the more than $100 billion America has already provided or committed. While the resolution will have practically no impact on anything, it became a tool for lawmakers to express their virtue. On Tuesday, it was the House; on Thursday, the Senate. In the face of a bellicose liberal majority that appeared at times willing to embrace World War Three, Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin) unleashed a libertarian anti-war polemic…

Two Maine moms say agents from Maine’s troubled child welfare agency paid them visits just days after they complained about a Damariscotta public school social worker who provided a 13-year-old girl with breast binders without informing her parents. Both women said they believe the visits were retaliation by school officials — retaliation brought upon them because they objected to the school’s gender-related counseling for minors. One of those moms is Amber Lavigne, the mother of the 13-year-old girl. In December, Lavigne discovered personnel at the Great Salt Bay Community School (GSBCS) had provided her daughter two breast binders. Breast binders…

All across Maine, school boards are debating whether sexually explicit books should be available in public school libraries, especially books like “Gender Queer,” which contain cartoon images of minors having sex. Now, Bonny Eagle High School in Maine has decided a controversial book about young girls becoming transgender is inappropriate for inclusion in the high school’s library. The book that has been banned at Bonny Eagle, however, contains no illicit images or narrations of children having sex. Instead, the book is a fact-based investigation by an award-winning journalist of the recent surge in young girls who identify as transgender and…

A resident of Greenbush and a foreign national from the Dominican Republic were arrested by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) Tuesday evening in a bust that seized 50 grams of fentanyl and roughly $30,000 in cash, the Maine State Police said Wednesday. The Maine State Police said in a press release that Cleudy Confesor Carmona Mejia, 34, and Kelcie Curtis, 26, were arrested and are currently incarcerated at the Penobscot County Jail. Bail was set for Mejia, who police said is from the Dominican Republic, at $50,000, while Curtis, who resides in Greenbush, had bail set at $35,000. Greenbush,…