Author: Steve Robinson

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,…

The Maine Wire has obtained a new letter Maine Sen. Angus King is sending to constituents to explain why he conspired with social media companies to censor his political critics in 2018. Although King claims that his collaboration with Facebook and Twitter were aimed at fighting “misinformation,” the letter is itself misleading. Further, CNN footage unearthed by the Maine Wire shows King making the exact claim that he now says was “misinformation” spread by his 2018 opponent, State Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin). King’s censorship push came to light last month when Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi revealed records that showed…

Rep. Marc Malon, II (D-Biddeford) wasn’t happy with his Republican colleagues who expressed skepticism of the symbolic resolution the House of Representatives debated Tuesday. The resolution, which will have no practical impact on anything, consumed more than an hour of lawmakers time, as citizen legislators gave overwrought speeches about history, democracy, and the moral imperative that the U.S. continue to fund a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Several Republicans expressed frustration that a state legislature would occupy its time with a meaningless gesture. Others warned of the risks of escalating conflict with a nuclear power. Still others wondered where…

The Maine Legislature spent much of Tuesday morning debating a symbolic resolution of support for Ukraine in the country’s ongoing war against Russia. https://twitter.com/BigSteve207/status/1633176782953218049?s=20 The resolution states, in part: RESOLVED: That We, the Members of the One Hundred and Thirty-first Legislature now assembled in the First Regular Session, pause in our deliberations to condemn the egregious, unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine and voice our support for peace, diplomacy and an immediate end to the invasion; and be it further RESOLVED: That we support the United States Government’s continued security, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and imposition of consequences on…

The Maine State Employees Association announced Friday that it had filed a prohibited practices labor complaint against Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ administration. The complaint alleges that Mills’ negotiator, Bureau of Human Resources Director Breena Bissell, is not negotiating in good faith. You can read the full complaint here. Democratic officials have so far remained quiet about the complaint. Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook), who is known for his work with and on behalf of unions, has not responded to inquiries from the Maine Wire. But House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) published an op-ed today addressing the Mills…

A man from Maine was arrested on March 5 and charged with domestic terrorism following his participation in coordinated violent attacks on construction equipment and police officers at the proposed site of a police training facility outside Atlanta. Colin Dorsey (Source: Atlanta Police) Colin Dorsey, 42, was arrested and charged along with 22 other people. Atlanta Police did not identify where in Maine Dorsey resides. The attack on law enforcement took place at the proposed site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. Activists affiliated with “Antifa” have staged protests at the site for several months now. “[A] group of…

If you miss the payments on your Ford F-150, Ford may soon be able to deactivate your ride with the click of a button. The automaker applied for a patent on Feb. 23 related to technology that would enable them to remotely disable various features of their vehicles, The Drive reported last week. According to the abstract of the application, the system they’ve created “pertains to systems and methods to repossess a vehicle.” “In an example method, a first computer sends to a second computer, a message pertaining to a notice of delinquency of a vehicle-related payment. The message includes…

A Maine Wire / Co/Efficient poll conducted this week shows that most Maine voters want schools to get back to teaching the basics — like math, reading, science, and writing — while a small minority of self-identified liberals want a greater focus on diversity and equity programming. [RELATED: MAINE WIRE POLL: Most Maine Voters Say Schools Should Get “Back to Basics,” Ditch DEI and Gender Programming…] Most liberals in the survey also opposed greater transparency in public schools, like the posting of curriculum materials online for parents to review. A majority of liberals surveyed also said they didn’t want parents…

The question of whether school employees should inform parents and legal guardians when a student requests to transition gender or pronouns has roiled several Maine school systems over the past year. This conversation has only added to the broader debate over parents’ rights to know what’s happening in Maine schools. Some parents have opposed so-called “gender identity” policies that allow or require school officials to conceal from parents information about a student’s mental health, including potential signs of gender dysphoria or gender confusion. On the other hand, school officials and liberal activists have said protecting the safety of students means…

The MSEA-SEIU Local 1989, Maine’s second largest labor union, announced Friday that it has filed a prohibited practices labor complaint with the Maine Labor Relations Board against the administration of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills. “Today we filed charges of labor law violations over management’s continued refusal to come to the table and bargain,” said MSEA-SEIU Local 1989’s President Dean Staffieri, in an email to unionized state workers. The complaint alleges that the Mills Administration, which is represented by Breena Bissell, Director of the Bureau of Human Resources, has engaged in bad-faith bargaining and used unlawful tactics. MSEA-SEIU Local 1989 represents…

The Maine CDC has quietly discontinued the public presentation of breakthrough data — that is, information which shows how often vaccinated Mainers are nonetheless contracting COVID-19, becoming hospitalized, and/or dying. Maine CDC defines breakthrough cases as follows: “COVID-19 cases among individuals who have been fully vaccinated are referred to as vaccine breakthrough cases. Hospitalizations and deaths among these cases are referred to as vaccine breakthrough hospitalizations and deaths. ” On February 14, the Maine CDC stopped updating the breakthrough data and appended a brief disclaimer to the data portal. “Maine CDC no longer shows the table of cumulative breakthrough data as…

A majority of Maine voters think public schools should have safeguards in place that prevent minor students from accessing books and other materials that are inappropriate for their age, a Maine Wire / Co/Efficient public opinion survey found this week. By an even larger margin, Maine voters believe schools should allow parents to determine whether their children can access x-rated books and materials. The results come from an exclusive Maine Wire / co/efficient poll conducted this week on the topic of parental rights in education. 62 percent of likely voters said schools should have safeguards in place to ensure students…

A large majority — 80 percent — of Maine voters wants public schools to post all curriculum content on public websites so parents can see what’s going on in their children’s classrooms, a Maine Wire / Co/Efficient public opinion survey found this week. Asked, “Should public schools be required to post education curriculum and materials online, so that parents and legal guardians can see what their children are being taught,” 80 percent of respondents said yes. 92 percent of self-identified conservatives, 78 percent of moderates, and 53 percent of liberals said the content should be placed online. 15 percent of…

The majority of likely voters in Maine want Maine’s public schools to focus more on math, reading, and writing than on gender, sexuality, and race. That’s the topline takeaway of a Maine Wire public opinion survey conducted this week of nearly 2,000 Maine likely general election voters in partnership with Co/Efficient, a leading research and analytics firm. 77 percent of Maine voters said schools should be focused on the basics, like math, reading, and writing, rather than spending time on how gender, sexuality, and race impact the lives of everyday Americans. Just 16 percent of respondents said students should spend…

At a raucous school board meeting Wednesday night, nearly 100 parents expressed their frustration and anger over how the Windham Raymond School System is handling parental concerns about sexually explicit books, intrusive student surveys, and gender identity programming. At issue were several books that contain written and/or illustrated depictions of children engaged in various sexually acts, as well as surveys — from both the school and student-led groups — that ask children as young as 6th grade personal questions about their sex lives. Multiple parents said the school’s recent focus on gender and sexuality had come amid a downward trend…

The chaos surrounding the Mt. Ararat Schools (MSAD 75) continues this week following the revelation that School Board Chair Frank Wright penned a letter to the rest of the school board informing him that he planned to resign on March 9. “In my efforts to bring us together as a working team, I have seemingly divided, I will be stepping down as chair, as of our next regular meeting,” he wrote in Feb. 21 email obtained via Freedom of Access Act request. However, local radio host Jim Bleikamp, during his Wednesday morning WCME show, said Wright was having second thoughts…

State lawmakers will soon consider a proposal to bring back parole for Maine’s incarcerated population, along with a handful of other recommendations from the Commission to Examine Reestablishing Parole. Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec), a chair of that commission, has introduced a bill (LD 720) that would turn some of that commission’s recommendations into law, chief among them the restoration of parole – i.e. early release for prisoners – which has not existed in Maine for more than four decades. The Commission, formed in the previous legislature, found what it called “staggering” racial disparities in Maine’s incarcerated population, and it recommended…

The federal Department of Education (DOE) is threatening to withhold money from Maine’s Department of Education (MDE) due to the state’s failure to meet student testing and data reporting requirements for reading, language arts, and mathematics. In a strongly worded letter to Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin, a senior official with the DOE said Maine did not meet federal Title I requirements for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 schools years. Those requirements include the adoption by state departments of “criterion-referenced academic achievement standards.” Such standards allow parents to see when students are exceeding, meeting, or below state and federal standards. Without…

A bill before the Judiciary Committee would change the definition of “money” to exclude digital assets, like Bitcoin, and pave the way for the adoption of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Rep. Stephen Moriarty (D-Cumberland)’s bill, LD 91, is a concept draft, so the specifics of the proposal won’t be available to voters until he introduces it to committee. The concept draft process is increasingly being used by lawmakers. As a result, the such concept bills don’t go through the standard transparency that attends legislation submitted normally. But the bill description suggests that LD 91, if it passes, would adopt…

A taxpayer-funded website operated by the State’s Bureau of Human Resources is a virtual Church of Wokeness. The site offers state employees an education in all aspects of progressive dogma, from understanding hetero- and cis-privilege to challenging microaggressions and using neopronouns in the workplace. “Are you a racist? ‘No’ Isn’t a Good Enough Answer,” is the title of one two-minute video on the site. Another link points state workers to the work of Ibram X. Kendi, one of the most popular and commercially successful advocates for Critical Race Theory. Kendi is best known for advocating for discrimination against white people…

The Maine Wire has obtained 2022 salary data for the University of Maine System. Professor of Civil Engineering Habib J. Dagher took down the highest total with 2022 earnings of $594,172. Assistant Professor of English Robert A. Brinkley bagged a whopping $552,131 from UMaine. Forty three UMaine professors earned more than $200,000 last year. Chancellor Dannel Malloy earned $447,365, while President Glenn Cummings took home $337,457. The total compensation numbers here do not include benefits, as the UMaine system claimed that such information is exempt from Freedom of Access Act requests. The amounts include base salary, overtime, and “additional amounts,”…

The number of Mainers on MaineCare will exceed 400,000 for the very first time this spring, a milestone that comes as Maine is required to begin “unwinding” the COVID-19 Era expansion of the program. A series of state and federal policies expanded Medicaid, known in Maine as MaineCare, in connection with the Public Health Emergency beginning in the spring of 2020. This included the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which offered states a 6.2 percent increase in Medicaid matching funding. Every single state took the funding increase, but it came with a catch: so long as a state accepted…

The outcry over Maine Sen. Angus King’s scheme to censor anyone on social media who is critical of him is just a bunch of useless clamor, according to Portland Press Herald Editorial Page Editor Siobhan Brett. Brett published her own commentary in the paper over the weekend. “Five years ago, King’s campaign sent an email to Twitter, at Twitter’s invitation, that had attached a sizable file of Twitter posts the campaign found fishy, for one reason or another, wished to flag as ‘suspicious’,” Brett wrote. “And that’s about the extent of what happened.” The obvious attempt to downplay what is arguably the…

The Maine Jobs Council commissioned a study of national state rankings based on economics, and that study found Maine ranked in the bottom fifth of nearly every ranking, according to a memo obtained by the Maine Wire. “[O]ver the 22 criteria, Maine is in the bottom 10 in 19 of them. We are also 40th in job growth and cost of living, 39th in reliance on federal funding, and 38th (our “best” score) in the cost of energy,” the memo states. “Compared to New England states, states below $100 billion GDP, and states with less than 2 million population, West…

Alex Cornell du Houx, a former Democratic state lawmaker from Brunswick, took to the pages of the Sun Journal this weekend to advocate for a revolutionary idea: a green energy “Marshall Plan” for Ukraine. Seriously. Invoking the post-World War II effort to rebuild Europe at America’s expense, Cornell du Houx wants to put Electric Vehicle charging stations, solar panels, and perhaps some windmills in war torn Ukraine. “Now we need a Clean Energy Marshall Plan to help Ukraine rebuild with the security of knowing that they won’t be vulnerable to oil and gas fluctuations, and the dangers of being dependent…

Maine and federal law enforcement officials were either unable or were unwilling to reveal the identities and current whereabouts this week of seven men arrested at a Rockland Home Depot on Saturday, Feb. 18. “The Asset Protect Office of Home Depot was watching [the seven men] via remote camera and management from Home Depot wanted the people trespassed from the store,” a the Rockland Police Department said in a Feb. 18 press release. “Rockland Police have received information in the past regarding a particular group or groups of individuals, often using white vans, that have allegedly stolen tens of thousands…

A Winslow High School guidance counselor may have violated the school’s policies when she broadcast news of a students gender transition to an “all staff” email list while at the same time urging her colleagues to keep the news a secret from the student’s parents. Leeann Marin, a counselor at Winslow High School, said in an email to an unknown number of her colleagues that a student, whose name has been redacted from the records, told her that same morning they wanted to go by a different name and be referred to with he/they pronouns. “They wish this to only…

The U.S. military improperly released service records of Republican candidates for Congress to Democratic operatives, according to letters from the Air Force to those GOP candidates. Abraham Payton of Due Diligence Group, a consulting firm hired by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), made multiple requests for the military personnel records of Sam Peters and Kevin Dellicker, two Air Force veterans who lost campaigns last cycle. And those records were improperly turned over, the Air Force has admitted. Both Peters and Dellicker received Feb. 8 letters from the Air Force alerting them to the improper requests by Democratic political operatives…

Matt Taibbi, the independent journalist who first reported on Sen. Angus King’s use of a secret “enemies list” to censor critics on social media, responded to King’s statement on the scandal this morning. “[S]ending a list of ‘suspicious accounts’ to Twitter and Facebook is the opposite of having a vigorous debate,” Taibbi tweeted. “If you think what people tweet or post is misleading, argue that publicly. Attempting to deplatform critics isn’t debate, it’s an abuse of influence.” https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1628436877240946688?s=20 Follow the Maine Wire’s other coverage of King’s “enemies list” below: READ: Angus King Doubles Down on “Enemies List” Censorship of Critics…

News broke this week that U.S. Sen. Angus King, a left-wing independent, conspired with Twitter and Facebook to censor people who were critical of him on social media during his 2018 campaign against State Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin). The Lewiston Sun Journal, one of the last daily newspapers in the state of Maine to cover the story, for some reason edited all mention of Brakey out of the print edition. Brakey and many of his supporters were the victims of King’s tech censorship tactics, with many of them getting banned permanently from the social media platforms, but for some bizarre…

In his first statement addressing the growing scandal over his 2018 campaign’s use of a secret “enemies list” to censor critics on Facebook and Twitter, Sen. Angus King has doubled down. King did not apologize or plead ignorance of the enemies list or its use to censor critics, but he instead appeared to approve of and endorse actions that resulted in many Mainers being banned permanently from the social media platform. “If somebody’s gonna come after me with a misleading- uh, with misinformation, I’m gonna respond,” King told Newscenter Maine Wednesday morning. [RELATED: Angus King’s “Enemies List” Targeted Journalists, Ordinary…

U.S. Sen. Angus King’s office responded Monday to the online leaking of an “enemies list” the King campaign provided to social media companies in 2018. Many of King’s political critics and supporters of State Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin), including former Republican candidates for office, media writers, and accounts controlled by the Maine GOP, were suspended from Twitter after King’s team shared the list. A spokesman for King issued a statement to the Bangor Daily News attempting to downplay the list, which was first reported by independent journalist Matt Taibbi as part of the “Twitter Files” disclosures. But the response from…

The Bangor Daily News, as part of its intrepid coverage of the enemies list Sen. Angus King provided to large social media companies, made a surprising claim. Twitter, it claimed, is biased against liberals and disproportionately amplifies the messages of conservatives. The source for that odd claim? Why, Twitter itself! Or at least, an academic study Twitter commissioned several years ago, was involved with, and has touted in the past. Here’s the relevant quote from the BDN: “The communications were made public on Saturday as part of an ongoing release of certain internal documents known as the “Twitter Files” overseen…

Puffin, an imprint of the book publisher Penguin Books, has begun rewriting classic literature in order to bring the works into line with contemporary progressive sensibilities. The woke revisions to Roald Dahl’s body of work were first spotted by the British outlet The Telegraph, and before-and-after images circulated widely on Twitter. The revisions show that Puffin’s “sensitivity readers” have eliminated descriptions of characters as “fat” or “crazy,” and they have turned Willy Wonka’s Oompa Loompa’s gender neutral. Augustus Gloop, the fat little boy in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory who falls into a river of chocolate, is no longer described…

A right-wing activist who caused controversy across southern Maine by holding up a sign that says “It’s Okay to Be White” was assaulted on Monday in front of Portland City Hall while demonstrating with his sign. The attack comes just days after members of the Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) called for the use of violence against him during an online video forum. The activist, Richard Ward, formerly ran for city council in Portland, and his sign has set off a firestorm of counter protests, complaints to the City Council, and now violent retaliation. “I was…

The University of Connecticut’s School of Law will host a symposium on March 24 around the question: Are parental rights always in the best interest of children? “This symposium will explore the complex issues surrounding the role of parental rights in advancing progressive goals while at the same time examine (sic) how parental rights are being used to undermine racial, gender, and LGBTQ equality,” a flier for the event states. “These conflicts have come to a head recently in the areas of education, gender-affirming care, and family regulation,” it says. “The discussion will also include how children’s interests can and…

Sen. Angus King’s office claimed Monday, in a statement to the Bangor Daily News, that Twitter employees in 2018 invited the King campaign to share a list of critical social media accounts with Twitter after having an initial conversation about a video the King campaign did not like. In the video, which was publicized by the campaign of then-candidate Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin), King likens alleged Russian hacking activity to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It’s unclear how exactly King’s office thinks this changes or contextualizes the fact that Maine’s junior senator was keeping an enemies list — a list that…

Maine Republicans are expressing concern about controversial sex-change procedures for minors following a bombshell testimony from gender clinic whistleblower Jamie Reed. In a report published by The Free Press, Reed described shocking levels of negligence and harmful behavior by doctors at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, the gender clinic where she used to work. Reed’s testimony, which was supported with documents and records obtained during her employment, comes as states across the country are seeking to prohibit sex-change treatments and sex-change surgeries for minors. Her report has already triggered a criminal investigation in Missouri. Reed,…

The Maine Republican Party is accusing U.S. Sen. Angus King of violating the First Amendment free speech rights of Maine voters following the revelation that King’s 2018 campaign kept an “enemies list” which it used to have dozens of Mainer’s censored on social media. King’s enemies list, which was first exposed by independent journalist Matt Taibbi, includes hundreds of Facebook users and Twitter users. [RELATED: Angus King’s “Enemies List” Targeted Journalists, Ordinary Mainers for Facebook, Twitter Censorship…] Many of those users had their accounts deleted or permanently suspended after King’s campaign flagged them to Facebook and Twitter employees. Most of…

U.S. Sen. Angus King’s 2018 campaign targeted journalists and ordinary Mainers for censorship if their posts showed they were critical of the Senator or supported his opponents, Republican State Sen. Eric Brakey and socialist candidate Zak Ringelstein. King’s office hasn’t commented so far on the revelations, which were first reported Saturday by independent journalist Matt Taibbi. Taibbi, who is one of a handful of journalists given access to Twitter’s archives following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company, reported on an Oct. 1, 2018 email in which Twitter employee Kevin Kane mentions a conversation with King’s campaign director. “I spoke with…

Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) wants to close the lawmaker-to-lobbyist pipeline that keeps much of Maine’s political class employed and on the take. LD 521, “An Act to Prevent Political Patronage with Regard to State Legislators,” would place new restrictions on the kinds of jobs ex-lawmakers can take once they leave the legislature. The law wouldn’t take effect until the next legislature, but under the bill that class of lawmakers would be prohibited from taking a job at a state agency for fours years after their elected position ended. The bill would also apply to any non-profit that relies on government…

Maine high school students identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender at far higher rates than similarly aged students outside of Maine, and the number of students who identify as LGB or T has increased sharply since 2017, according to data from Maine Department of Education (MDOE). It’s one of the most significant trends to emerge from the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey (MIYHS), a biennial survey of Maine public school students MDOE conducts in partnership with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. But very few Maine school officials or policy makers are asking why the trend exists,…

Democrats on Maine’s legislative council on Thursday killed a resolution from Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin) that called on the U.S. Congress to commission an official investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two reports last year — one from Senate Republicans and the other from the non-partisan journalism outfit Pro Publica — both concluded that the virus most likely originated in Wuhan, a major city in Hubei Province, China. But the U.S. government and the Congress have yet to conduct a bipartisan or nonpartisan public investigation of their own into the virus’s origins. Further, there is reportedly some disagreement…

The fate of President Joe Biden’s nominee to serve on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s could rest in the hands of Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King. Gigi Sohn, the progressive activist and telecom lawyer Biden has thrice picked for the FCC, needs the Senate to confirm her nomination, but Sohn’s radical track record and ethically dubious record could be a problem for Collins and King. Sohn walked into her Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday morning claiming to be “baffled” as to why national law enforcement groups are vocally opposing her nomination. By the time the hearing ended three hours…

An Auburn manufacturer has won a major victory in its fight against Chinese competitors following a federal determination that will crack down on unfair trading practices by Chinese state-backed manufacturers. Following an investigation requested by Auburn Manufacturing, Inc. (AMI), the U.S. Commerce Department issued a Feb. 3 report that said Chinese businesses were circumventing anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders. “It’s one more victory, but whether it takes you to the finish line or not is another question,” said Kathie Leonard, president and CEO of AMI. “We’re not winning the war here. It’s a battle,” she said. AMI is a Maine-based…

The Mt. Ararat Schools (MSAD 75) are once again leaderless following the resignation of Superintendent Steven B. Connolly, which will take effect at the end of the school year, but there appears to be some confusion as to why he’s resigned. Connolly, 64, took the job last July and lives in Gorham. He becomes the sixth superintendent to resign the job in the past six years. In his resignation letter, Connolly said political and ideological divisions within the community prevented him from doing his job effectively. “I find I have not been effective at managing the implicit divisions that exist…

The Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday reported that Anthony McRae, the gunman in a mass shooting at Michigan State Monday night, would have been prohibited from purchasing or owning a firearm but for the decision of a progressive prosecutor to dismiss previous charges against him. McRae, who police say killed three people and wounded five others in a violent spree that ended when he took his own life, was charged in June 2019 with illegally carrying a concealed weapon, according to the Free Beacon. The Ingham County District Attorney at the time, Carol Siemon let McRae plead to a lesser…

A University of Southern Maine professor has filed a lawsuit against the UMaine system alleging that she was wrongfully fired after she criticized the system’s COVID-19 mask mandate. Dr. Patricia Griffin’s civil case against the University of Maine — Griffin v. University of Maine System, University of Southern Maine, Glenn Cummings — is still in its early stages, but the outcome will have major implications for the freedom of UMaine employees to criticize the system’s policies. While the university said they fired Griffin because she refused to obey the mandate that she wear a mask, Griffin says the allegation is…

A coalition of left-wing groups is lobbying lawmakers to kill LD 123, a bill that would repeal a provision of Maine law that allows pornographic materials to be given to minors so long as it happens in a school setting. Maine has had a law banning the provision of obscene materials to minors since the 1970s, but the law includes exemptions for certain educational situations, like museums and public schools. The exemptions were intended to protect legitimate educational materials, like great works of art that may include nudity. But in recent years, public school officials and teachers have taken advantage…

Amber Lavigne joined Fox & Friends this morning to talk about her discovery in December that the Great Salt Bay Community School in Damariscotta had secretly provided her daughter with a breast binder. You can read more of the Maine Wire’s exclusive reporting on Lavigne’s story here and watch the segment below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxkIxJz3ogI

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has added the controversial mRNA COVID-19 shots to the list of vaccines it recommends for children, a step which could bring Maine closer to mandating the treatment for children who attend public schools. The CDC now recommends the COVID-19 shots for children between the ages of 6 months and 6 years of age as part of the full schedule of vaccinations. In October, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted unanimously in favor of adding the shots to the adult immunization schedule. Former Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah is a…

You’re fed up. Maybe the local school is trying to brainwash your kids into little left-wing foot soldiers. Or the school board is full of purple-haired Gender and Women’s Studies Majors who don’t really care about education but are singularly dedicated to some ideological crusade they learned about at Simmons. Perhaps Little Johnny comes home from school crying about his white privilege and says his teacher spends more time talking about pansexualism than algebra. Whatever the case, you’ve decided it’s time to assert your constitutional right to control your child’s education. Well, good news. Because the Maine Wire is always…

New Hampshire residents overwhelmingly believe that parents — not school administrators — should have the final say when it comes to health and educational choices that affect their children, according to a poll released by NHjournal.com. 82 percent of respondents said parents ought to have the right to review curriculum, while 59 percent said parents should have the “final say” in the classroom — not teachers. The poll was conducted by Co/efficient in partnership with NH Journal using mobile and landline telephones. The sample included 1,058 general election voters and equal numbers of Republicans, Democrats, and unregistered voters. Self-identified liberals…

UPDATE: The IRS now claims it will not be taxing the $450 checks. The Internal Revenue Service, recently invigorated with 87,000 new employees, has announced a new program that will help employers monitor whether restaurant workers are paying taxes on tips. The IRS also announced, in a separate release last week, that it was undecided on whether Gov. Janet Mills’ latest round of stimulus checks created a federal tax obligation for Mainers. In guidance posted by the IRS, the agency is advertising a new system whereby restaurant owners and workers can facilitate more effective compliance with tax laws. Many restaurant…

A self-described queer former counselor from St. Louis is blowing the whistle on the gender clinic she worked at for nearly four years in a bombshell report from the Free Press published Thursday. In the Free Press report, 42-year-old Jamie Reed, a one-time Bernie Sanders supporter, pulls back the curtain on the controversial gender clinics — medical providers that facilitate so-called “gender affirming care.” Gender clinics, Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital gender clinic, are the primary way minors access treatments like irreversible cross-sex hormones and procedures like double mastectomies. [RELATED: Sex-change Surgeries, Paid for by Taxpayers, Rising Sharply in Maine…] According…

The state of Maine is extending a sole-source no bid contract with Ethos Marketing of Westbrook to promote COVID-19 mRNA injections to people over the age of 55 and children between the ages of 6 months and 17 years. “The purpose of this agreement is to develop and execute creative concepts and execute an expanded media buy to encourage parents/guardians of 6 mo. – 17-year-olds to get their children vaccinated against COVID-19,” according to notice posted by the Division of Procurement Services. The contract was originally supposed to end on Dec. 31, but for some reason the Maine CDC wants…

On Wednesday morning, tens of students briefly left school to protest the Maine Wire’s journalism. The real story here is that 97 percent of Falmouth High School students decided to skip the walkout and declined to join in baseless smears against a journalist. We applaud the vast majority of Falmouth students who decided to stage a sit in of their own rather than succumbing to peer pressure from left-wing activists. It seems the protest has been driven at least in part by a few adults, and it’s unfortunate that adults feel the need to use kids like political props. One…

Eighty year old President Joe Biden delivered his first State of the Union Address Tuesday evening — the first time someone that old has ever delivered the presidential address. The speech presented a challenge for the aging Biden as his first two years in office have been characterized by verbal gaffes, teleprompter flubs, and criticisms about his poor communication and lack of availability to media. The speech also comes at a challenging moment in his presidency, as Republicans have now taken control of the House of Representatives. The Commander-in-Chief kicked off the evening with a bizarre joke about needing a…

When the Pines Church wanted to rent the Hermon High School for their Sunday services last November, Hermon School Board member Chris McLaughlin asked questions about the church’s beliefs that reeked of anti-Christian discrimination. As the church and the school district were negotiating a potential rental agreement, McLaughlin sent a Nov. 8 email to Hermon Superintendent Micah Grant in which he said he wanted to get a better sense of the how the Bangor-area Evangelical church approaches issues of “diversity, equity and inclusion.” McLaughlin included in the email a series of questions which he wanted Grant to pose on his…

Republican lawmakers held a press conference Tuesday to tout several welfare reform proposals, including the restoration of welfare work requirements and changes to Maine’s unemployment benefits. Maine’s unemployment rate, like the unemployment rate nationally, has remained low since the COVID-era government restrictions lifted. But the state’s workforce participation rate, which is a measure of how many people who could be working are working, is 57.9 percent — lower than at any point since 1975. Republicans say that low workforce participation rate tells a fuller story about Maine’s economy than just looking at the unemployment figures, and they believe the state’s…

Oklahoma lawmakers are considering several proposals that would protect parent’s rights in education and ban controversial sex-change procedures for minors. On Monday, several hundred left-wing protesters inundated the capitol building to demonstrate against the bills. But despite the large protest, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and lawmakers weren’t cowed. “We must protect our most vulnerable, our children. After all, minors can’t vote, can’t purchase alcohol, can’t purchase cigarettes,” said Stitt. “We shouldn’t allow a minor to get a permanent gender altering surgery in Oklahoma,” he said. “That’s why I’m calling for the Legislature to send me a bill that bans all…

Maine’s prospects for adopting a voter identification law don’t look great for the current legislature. LD 34, “An Act to Require a Person to Show Photographic Identification for the Purpose of Voting,” drew opposition Monday from a host of left-wing organizations in the state, including Planned Parenthood of New England, the ACLU of Maine, and the Maine Education Association. Also weighing in against the bill were Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey, and without the governor’s support the bill is almost certainly going nowhere. “The bill, if enacted would disproportionately impact our senior citizens, working people, and those…

A Maine mom is calling on the school board of the Great Salt Bay Community School in Damariscotta to investigate the school’s social worker for encouraging her 13-year-old daughter to transition into a boy — a gender transition the social worker asked the girl to keep secret from her parents. “This is unacceptable: a school employee secretly encouraged my daughter to change her gender and hide it from me,” said Amber Lavigne, the girl’s mother. “The school never stopped trying to keep me in the dark at every turn, repeatedly stonewalling me when I tried to find out what was…

Gov. Janet Mills is looking to hire a consultant who will study potential ways Maine can “decarbonize.” For the uninitiated, “decarbonization” is a term environmentalists use to refer to the radical goal of limiting carbon emissions to zero, a feat believers say is necessary to avoid a global climate apocalypse. According to a Request for Proposal (RFP) available at Maine.gov, the Governor’s Energy Office is looking for someone who will design, complete, and publicize an assessment on the various ways Maine can achieve not just decarbonization, but “deep decarbonization.” [RELATED: Maine Solar Power Project Linked to Chinese Forced Labor…] Mills…

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency arrested two Lawrence, Mass., women Thursday night for trafficking and attempting to distribute a massive amount of fentanyl, the potent synthetic opioid that public health and law enforcement officials believe is fueling Maine’s opioid addiction and overdose crisis. Krismely Guzman, 24, and Eri Geilys Polanco Caceres, 22, both of Lawrence, are being held on $100,000 cash bail following a traffic stop that led to their arrests. The stop was the product of a year-long investigation into an organized criminal organization which the MDEA believes is headquartered in Massachusetts, the Maine State Police said. Bangor Police…

Have you heard how cold outside it is? Well, if you haven’t, it’s wicked cold. The National Weather Service out of Caribou posted an infographic showing its station at Mt. Katahdin measured a low of -90°F when considering windchill. https://twitter.com/NWSCaribou/status/1621196835720425472 It’s so cold outside television news reporters are holding wet pants and ice cube trays for their live shots. https://twitter.com/AdrianaWMTW/status/1621474767017484288 https://twitter.com/RobWayTV/status/1621468255113154560 Thankfully, Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah has sent out multiple reminders to wear warm clothes. https://twitter.com/nirav_mainecdc/status/1620837331468193794 https://twitter.com/nirav_mainecdc/status/1621236059240792064

The Judiciary Committee rejected a bill Thursday that would have allowed victims of malicious vandalism by minors to collect up to $6,000 in damages from the child’s parents. Under current Maine law, the parents or legal guardians of a minor between the ages of 7 and 18 may only face civil liability up to $800, a limit that was established in 1995. Rep. Shelley Rudnicki (R-Fairfield) proposed increasing the limit in response to repeated complaints from residents in her district about a gang of roaming youths committing numerous acts of vandalism. Democrats on the committee weren’t persuaded that parents ought…

The U.S. Treasury Department has released an insane chart projecting U.S. debt-GDP ratio out to 2090. https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact/status/1620447620987785216 The chart shows an almost linear increase projected ratio with debt-GDP reaching almost 700 percent by 2090. The chart was flagged on Twitter by economic analyst Lyn Alden. Alden didn’t link to the original publication, and we couldn’t find it, but we thought the chart was worth sharing with Maine Wire readers. Why does that matter? The debt-GDP ratio is a measure used by political scientists and economists to evaluate the severity of a country’s public debt and its economic health. The size…

Portland Press Herald music journalist Aimsel Ponti was so triggered by a sign she saw in Portland that she couldn’t help but share it with the world Wednesday. “It’s ok to be white,” reads the sign, to which Ponti appended the comment: “And then there are the racists who stand out in a public spot in the middle of the day broadcasting their message in downtown Portland, Maine.” https://twitter.com/Aimsel/status/1620861002442227714?s=20&t=7n2k_33opr6y2HhJFdUkLA Another Herald scribe, who has not one or two but three Ukrainian flags in her username, jokes: “Are you sure it’s not just that one guy? I only ask bc he…

Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson joined WGAN’s Matt Gagnon Thursday morning to talk about the Maine Wire’s exclusive reporting on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion meeting held by the Falmouth Schools. You can read the report and listen to the undercover audio here. Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/newsradio-wgan/school-meeting-erupts-into-bullying

Maine’s top news outlets have been ignoring bombshell revelations from the so-called “Twitter Files.” For anyone familiar with Maine’s newspaper and TV reporters, that selective coverage won’t come as a surprise. The “Twitter Files” show how government operatives and corporate media companies conspired to scam the American people into believing an elaborate, made-up conspiracy about President Donald Trump for the purpose of undermining his presidency and preventing his re-election. [RELATED: Twitter Files: Musk Releases Internal Documents on Censorship of NY Post’s Hunter Scoop…] But the conspiracy against Trump isn’t the only Twitter Files story of which Maine media outlets are…

The Maine Department of Education makes certain data available through an online portal per the terms of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). All of the items below apply to the 2020-2021 school year, which is the most recent year for which data is available. Here are a few points of recent data related to Maine schools, teachers, and students: Maine spends $18,020 per 170,145 students, and Seventy percent of that cost is on personnel, and Maine has 12,672 teachers. Of those teachers, 41 percent have only a Bachelor’s Degree, while 34.3 percent have a Masters Degree. Maine has 6,339…

Maine’s top newspaper editors joined Maine Public Broadcasting’s Jennifer Rooks for a “month in review” segment last Friday in which they discussed Democratic Gov. Janet Mills’ decision to end Maine’s 30-year ban on late-term abortions. Mills’ push to allow abortionists to terminate pregnancies well after the viability of the baby comes after she vowed multiple times during the campaign to leave Maine’s abortion laws untouched. After the Maine Wire drew attention to the slanted coverage of her flip flop in Maine’s top media outlets, the two major newspapers did address the abrupt change in her policy more fulsomely. Yet Maine’s…

Former Republican President Donald Trump, currently the top announced candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, released a video this week declaring a series of policies he would implement if he re-enters office to limit the impact of far-left gender theories on public policy and the American medical system. The far-ranging proposals include a limit on taxpayer funding for sex-change surgeries and cross sex hormones, state-based laws to prevent sex-change surgeries from happening on minors, punishments for healthcare providers who perform such procedures on children, and providing victims of botched sex-change procedures the right to sue medical providers and pharmaceutical…

If you haven’t been following the Dead Whale Beat out of New Jersey and New York, then you might not have noticed that on Monday the 8th dead whale since December washed ashore, a humpback. Whales, of course, played a pivotal role in the drama that unfolded last year between federal regulators and Maine’s lobstering community. Federal regulators wanted to regulate lobstering into oblivion because they believed that lobster trap lines are whale-killers. Lobstermen responded by pointing to the scientific evidence that showed the scientists with the federal government are wrong. The affray ended in a stalemate of sorts when…

Have a tip for the Maine Wire? Drop us an email! A Falmouth parent was bullied and accused of being a racist after a Jan. 18 meeting organized by Falmouth school officials. The purpose of the meeting was to assuage parents’ concerns over the district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, but rather than bringing the community together, the meeting seems to have further divided parents on a host of controversial issues. The chaos began near the end of the hours-long meeting when one attendee expressed concern that the school was teaching her children to believe that America is a racist…

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows is expected to testify at the State House on Feb. 6 when the State Legislature considers a proposal from Sen. Matt Pouliot (R-Kennebec) to implement a photo identification requirement for voting in Maine’s elections. A total of 35 states have some form of voter identification law, though most don’t require a photo ID, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. If Pouliot’s bill passed, Maine would join states like Indiana, Tennessee, and Georgia, where a photo ID is required for all voters. In 2021, Bellows opposed similar legislation, telling the Veterans and Legal…

Federal employees in some ways got the easiest side of the pandemic: None of them missed a paycheck, they all kept their health insurance, and many federal offices were some of the last to return to normal work routines. But with all that spare time, some federal workers decided to get in on side hustle that was very common over the last two years: scamming taxpayers. The congressional Pandemic Response Accountability Committee has identified billions of dollars in fraudulently obtained pandemic dollars, and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is calling attention to the more than ten thousand pandemic fraudsters who happen…

The number of people attempting to enter the U.S. illegally through Maine spiked in 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, but those increased numbers are still far lower than a surge in crossings seen at Vermont and New Hampshire’s borders with Canada. In fiscal years 2020 and 2021, a combined 143 single adults attempted to cross the Maine-Canada border illegally and were apprehended by federal officials. In fiscal year 2022, that number rose to 247. CBP encounters, Houlton Sector In the current fiscal year, 47 single adults have been apprehended seeking to cross the border by the…

The newest “Twitter Files” revelations show that a group of left-wing political operatives calling themselves “Hamilton 68” scammed millions of Americans into believing a secret network of Russian “bots” were manipulating Americans on social media and supporting right-wing messages. Even worse, high-level Twitter employees saw the scam unfolding in real time and said nothing publicly. And in every instance, Hamilton 68’s claims about its pseudoscientific system for tracking Russian bots impugned conservatives and promoted Democratic Party interests. The startling truth about Hamilton 68 was exposed this weekend thanks to reporting by independent journalist Matt Taibbi, who is one of a…

City of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Thursday announced a special recognition for former Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory. January 26 will now be known in Boston as Brian McGrory Day, according to a tweet from Globe writer Lissandra Villa de Petrzelka. https://twitter.com/LissandraVilla/status/1618760044950204416 Whether the Tweet was a joke or not is up in the air — there has been no official comment from the Mayor’s office, nor has there been an official proclamation from the city. https://twitter.com/jessbidgood/status/1618743918379819008 But if Wu really did attempt to memorialize McGrory’s tenure at the Boston Globe with such a high honor, the news would…

A top official at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) admitted in a presentation Thursday that the CDC is aware of some individuals suffering “debilitating illnesses” following receipt of the mRNA shots sometimes described as COVID-19 vaccinations. “We are aware of these reports of people experiencing long-lasting health problems following COVID vaccination,” CDC Deputy Director Tom Shimabukuro said during a live meeting with various federal health officials. Federal health officials have previously downplayed the potential adverse reactions people may have to COVID-19 vaccinations as part of the effort to get as many people as possible to take…

Maine Wire Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson joined WVOM’s George Hale and Ric Tyler to talk about the latest reporting on the scandal at Portland’s King Middle School. You can read the story here and listen to the segment below.

Images posted to Facebook by an art teacher at Brunswick Junior High show middle school students learning about 15 different genders and sexualities thanks to a “Sexualities & Gender Identities” quiz game posted in the cafeteria. “This display is in our cafeteria and was designed and hung by students in our Queer + Allies Club,” said the art teacher. The display includes flags representing such diverse genders as genderqueer, meaning a person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but still identifies as neither, both, or a combination of male and female. Students in the middle school club also…

Democratic politicians and activists appear to have coordinated a nationwide campaign to mislead taxpayers about a proposal from Republican lawmakers that would transition the federal government to relying on sales tax rather than a host of other taxes. The so-called Fair Tax is an idea that has circulated for years in conservative communities, and the proposal is more wonkish than controversial. The idea is to eliminate federal income taxes, payroll taxes, estate and gift taxes, and replace all of them with a national sales tax. The plan also creates a credit system so that no one ends up paying taxes…

Undercover video released by Project Veritas on Wednesday showed a high-level employee at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer spilling company secrets. Now, a second video shows how that employee reacted when Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe confronted him about the content of the secret recording. In the video, Jordon Trishton Walker, Pfizer Director of Research and Development, Strategic Operations, freaking out on O’Keefe. You can almost see him fly through the stages of grief in the span on 10 minutes. He immediately claims that he was just lying to impress a date when he talked about Pfizer engaging in controversial, potentially illegal, virological…

Low-income Maine residents have begun receiving letters informing them that their Food Stamp benefits will be slashed in March. In April of 2020, the federal government allowed states to increase Food Stamp benefits distributed under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in response to the COVID-19 government lockdowns. But that emergency benefit increase is about to be taken away by the federal government and the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, according to a copy of a letter obtained by the Maine Wire. Starting in March, Food Stamp beneficiaries can expect the monthly credit on their Electronic Benefit Transfer…

Undercover video released by Project Veritas on Wednesday shows a high-level employee at pharmaceutical giant Pfizer spilling company secrets about the company’s controversial — and potentially illegal — virological research, as well as other ethically questionable business practices. In the video, Jordon Trishton Walker, Pfizer Director of Research and Development, Strategic Operations, talks candidly about Pfizer’s work on COVID-19 and vaccines. Walker appears to believe he’s on a date, but the man he’s talking to is one of Project Veritas’s undercover journalists. At one point in the video, Walker describes research the company is conducting that seems to resemble the…

News Center Maine, the Portland-based NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc., cribbed the Maine Wire’s exclusive reporting on the abrupt dismissal of a King Middle School substitute teacher, but for some reason WCSH 6’s news website added an unsubstantiated headline and changed the story to remove salient details. In the story, the Maine Wire revealed King Middle School officials banned a substitute teacher from working at the school after parents complained that middle school students had been exposed to inappropriate content on the substitute teacher’s social media. One student said the substitute teacher wrote the TikTok handle on the classroom…

A woman with dual citizenship in Canada and France pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump with ricin. ascale Cecile Veronique Ferrier, 55, admitted to mailing a letter containing white powder to the White House in September 2020. The powder tested positive for ricin, and investigators learned she made the poison in her Quebec home. She sent eight other letters to Texas law enforcement officials, the Department of Justice said. The letter to Trump ordered him to abandon his 2020 reelection effort. Far-left Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron have not apologized.

An explosive report from a government watchdog found several problems with a grant program that provided American taxpayer dollars to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), the lab where COVID-19 may have originated. Over the last decade, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided $8 million to EcoHealth, a public health NGO, and EcoHealth passed at least $1.8 million of that funding along to WIV. Those grants “lacked proper oversight,” according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. “We conclude that NIH missed opportunities to more effectively monitor research,” the OIG said in a…

The South Portland City Council met Tuesday night to work on rules that might resolve the ongoing refugee and homelessness crisis the city is experiencing. “Our current zoning and license ordinances really are insufficient, or don’t deal with the issue of shelters, in particular homeless shelters,” said City Manager Scott Morelli. Morelli and the City Council have been debating since December a draft ordinance that would allow the city to effectively accommodate a large population of unhoused who have flocked to the city. Since early 2020, South Portland has operated as a de facto refugee camp thanks to a confluence…

Maine Sen. Susan Collins is backing legislation that would prevent the White House from selling further Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to the People’s Republic of China, but the U.S. Energy Secretary has said President Biden would veto a similar proposal from the House. “The purpose of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is to limit supply disruptions and insulate our economy from energy shortages,” Collins said in a statement. “Given the significant price increases that U.S. consumers have endured over the past two years for gasoline and home heating oil, it is inexcusable that our emergency stockpile of crude oil is being…

State lawmakers heard Tuesday from a staffer on a new state commission who advised them to oppose “race neutral” policies if they want to make Maine fairer and more just, a position commonly supported by advocates of Critical Race Theory (CRT). “Structural racism floods institutions in Maine and across our country. It’s the driving force behind many of the disparities we see all around us,” said Morgan P. Urqhart, acting policy and communications director for the Permanent Commission on Racial, Indigenous, and Tribal Populations (PCRITP). “Policies that are race neutral will ultimately maintain existing disparities,” she said. “Disparate impacts require…

A substitute teacher at the King Middle School in Portland was removed from the classroom last week and banned from teaching at the school after parents discovered the sub had shared inappropriate sexualized TikTok videos with students. “On Thursday I was made aware of concerns that students were accessing videos late Wednesday on TikTok,” King Middle School Principal Caitlin LeClair said in an email to parents Friday. “As a result of our investigation the employee will not return to King,” said LeClair. [RELATED: Public School Worker Who Began Secret Gender Transition on 13-Year-Old Maine Girl Has Conditional License…] The teacher…

A Democratic State Representative and a former Republican candidate were both indicted in December for fraud related to Maine’s so-called “clean elections” program. State Rep. Clinton Collamore (D-Waldoboro) was indicted on Dec. 15, on charges that he fraudulently obtained taxpayer funding for his campaign by forging petition signatures. Republican candidate Matthew Toth was indicted on Dec. 5, though his efforts to fraudulently obtain taxpayer funding were unsuccessful. The news broke Tuesday thanks to a public memo filed by Jonathan Wayne, longtime executive director of the non-partisan Commission of Governmental Ethics and Election Practices. “The [Office of Attorney General] sought and…

Boston City Councilor Julia Mejia filed a lawsuit Thursday in Massachusetts’ Suffolk Superior Court claiming journalist Aidan Kearney has libeled and defamed her during her tenure on the city council. Mejia alleges Kearney, who goes by the nom de guerre Turtleboy, published on Feb. 15, 2021, statements to his blog, TBDailyNews.com, that were malicious and defamatory. The lawsuit also claims statements and questions Kearney published on social media more recently were libelous. Mejia has been an at-large city councilor in Boston since 2019, and Kearney has reported on her frequently. The suit claims Kearney’s reporting on Mejia “held [Mejia] up…

Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) posted a video to social media on Saturday complaining about Citizens United v. FEC, a landmark Supreme Court decision regarding campaign finance and free speech. Critics of the decision, like Jackson, claim the decision has increased the amount of money flowing into political campaigns — money that is used to manipulate and control politicians. In Jackson’s most recent election, for example, outside groups poured more than $750,000 into his State Senate district to support his election over Republican Sue Bernard. Jackson obtained taxpayer funding to finance his campaign, a move that prevented him from fundraising…

The child of Democratic Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark was arrested Saturday night after allegedly assaulting a police officer and defacing a public monument. Jared “Riley” Dowell, 23, was detained by Boston police officers after they spotted them spray painting graffiti, including “ACAB” (All Cops Are Bastards), on Parkman Bandstand Monument in the Boston Common. Dowell – who identifies as “non-binary – goes by Riley but was identified by Boston Police as Jared. As police officers were attempting to detain Dowell, several of his fellow Antifa brothers surrounded the cops, with one striking a police officer. “An officer was hit…

Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether the propane industry has been secretly paying television personalities to promote the use of propane-based appliances. For Pingree, pro-propane content on channels like HGTV could convince Mainers to avoid transitioning to electric appliances, which could in turn pose a grave threat to the planet. Pingree’s dire concern over propane propaganda comes despite her own personal investment exposure to fossil fuel-based energy companies. In a letter to Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Pingree said last week a recent New York Times story had revealed “possible…