Author: Ted Cohen

Now that Graham Platner is out as the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate following a former girlfriend’s rape allegation, the odds makers are taking bets on the chances he gets indicted. Platner has denied his ex’s claim but it was good enough, apparently, to persuade him to drop out of the race July 8. “Apparently” because Platner never explained why he decided to quit, just that he was all done. Polymarket is gauging whether bettors think Platner will ever face criminal charges for sexual assault. The odds have gone from 25 percent the day he suspended his campaign to 6…

A federal judge has cleared the way for Hershey’s to revive its chocolate pumpkins this Halloween. A consumer lawsuit against the chocolate giant had alleged the packaging for Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkins was misleading. The plaintiffs alleged that packaging showed chocolates with detailed designs that were not present on the actual candy, USA Today reported. Nathan Vidal of Florida said he bought three bags of Reese’s chocolate pumpkins because he believed they would feature the eyes and mouth shown on the package. The lawsuit said the actual chocolates were blank.Hershey argued that reasonable consumers would understand the images as suggestions…

A growing number of coastal Maine ocean aficionados are holding scientists responsible for the unusually large numbers of killer sharks along the beaches. But the researchers deny their work is attracting an abnormally high number of great whites to the shores of York and Cumberland counties. The debate over shark sightings is becoming more pronounced as increasing numbers of the world’s largest predatory fish made famous by the 1975 movie “JAWS” are scaring swimmers. A great white last week even grabbed hold of a Scarborough lifeguard’s rescue buoy while the guard was swimming on shark patrol 50 yards off the…

National Basketball Association phenom Cooper Flagg’s coveted one-of-one numbered rookie debut patch autograph card has been found. Members of RhodyBreakers, a division of the Baseball Cards of Rhode Island retail shop that opens boxes of trading cards on a live stream for clients, were on a stream when they pulled the much-sought-after card earlier this week. The card features a patch worn on the Newport, Maine rookie of the year’s jersey during his NBA regular-season debut. The patch was then removed and used to create a one-of-one trading card meant to represent the ultimate rookie card for each player who…

The state’s top hunter and fisherman, saying he’s perplexed by U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson’s curious evolution to the left, is missing the good old days – when Jackson was pro-gun. “What has happened to the Troy I once knew?” Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine’s executive director David Trahan asks in a new Facebook post. Trahan and Jackson were both state legislators, the former a Republican, the latter having served as Democrat president of the state Senate. Jackson, an ex-Republican, had been in lock step with the hunting lobby even later as a Democrat until he veered left following the 2023…

A man who has talked about living on the streets of Portland has been formally charged with actor Rob Reiner’s brutal murder. Nick Reiner, the actor’s son, pleaded not guilty Wednesday after the indictment was handed down. The indictment effectively bypasses the need for a preliminary hearing to determine whether police had enough evidence to bring murder charges. Reiner allegedly stabbed to death both his father and his mother, Michele, just over six months ago. Rob Reiner, 78, who made his name playing Meathead in the popular TV sitcom, and his longtime photographer wife, 70, were found stabbed to death…

“Okay listen, forget Jaws… this has turned into Hubba Hubba,” says i95rocks.com’s Lizzy Snyder. 71-year-old Maine lifeguard survives a terrifying encounter with a great white shark… and somehow the internet’s biggest takeaway is, “Can I have his number?” Snyder laughs. “Greg Wilfert has been a lifeguard for 55 years. He’s got the long beach-blond hair, the rugged beard, total Dog the Bounty Hunter energy, and after his TV interviews. “Social media has absolutely fallen in love!” Snyder reports. https://twitter.com/GMA/status/2087166130326843733?s=20 “People are calling him a silver fox, saying he’s the definition of ‘aging like fine wine,’ and honestly… the comments are…

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree’s decision to exclude GOP lawmakers from a congressional hearing into the recent killing by ICE agents of a southern Maine immigrant is drawing a rebuke from the top elected city official. The Democrat congresswoman’s partisan approach is angering Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain, who said he had hoped the hearing would be non-political. “I expressed my hope that members from both parties would be invited to participate because this is an issue that deserves serious attention and oversight from across the political spectrum,” LaFountain said in a statement. Pingree said she planned a hearing Monday in Biddeford…

Democrats in Maine thinking they can go after Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins for alleged duplicity on abortion better do their diligence. National Public Radio says the Democrat nominee, Troy Jackson, has as much if not more to explain on abortion after switching from being pro-life to pro-death. By all accounts a Democrat by acclamation should be touting freedom of choice, the default position for a candidate from the left. But Jackson was against abortion before he was for it. The 2026 election will be the first time Collins is back on the ballot since Roe v. Wade was overturned.…

The Canadian government has announced a new voluntary program to buy out oyster harvesters on the country’s Atlantic coast suffering major financial losses due to the spread of disease. The commercial sector in the Canadian provinces of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, just northeast of Maine, has been devastated by the spread of an oyster-killing infection. “Oysters have been harvested in Atlantic Canada for generations, and the diseases moving through these populations are a serious threat to that,” Canada Minister of Fisheries Joanne Thompson said, as quoted by SeafoodSource.com. “I know this is a hard moment for…

If the reporters assigned to cover the New England Patriots are actually being paid to do so, they should be furloughed, judging from Tuesday’s media circus. During a so-called news conference, the beat writers let Mike Vrabel play them for absolute fools. A reporter asked Vrabel what he learned from his recent “counseling” sessions. Specifically the question went as follows: “You said this offseason that you were seeking counseling. I wanted to follow up on that and see what you learned from that counseling, and how did you balance that personal commitment with getting ready for this season?” Seriously, that…

‘Rules for thee but not for me.’ – Troy Jackson Chace Jackson, the son of then-Maine Senate president Troy Jackson, now the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate, successfully fought environmental regulations while his father was in charge of counting votes. That according to the Washington Free Beacon, which reports that Maine Senate Dems apparently helped Troy lobby for an oil company under fire for supposedly violating emissions rules at its oil-storage depots. Young Jackson the lobbyist was working on behalf of Global Partners, state records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show. He was up against a pair of bills…

A popular upscale Boston bar is out of sorts after losing its license for two days following a bizarre social ritual and underage serving. Liquor enforcement agents say they pulled Barcelona Wine Bar’s license temporarily. In one incident, they observed a barkeep stand on the bar and pour wine in a patron’s mouth from a porrón. A porrón is a traditional Spanish glass vessel designed for communal drinking without touching the spout. As part of an agreement to keep its license, the bar will use juice and soda for the communal pouring tradition. The restaurant will also refrain from serving…

His tousled hair is still blonde and he looks like a younger version of himself. He’s a professional beach boy, no matter his age. Greg Wilfert is 71 years old and has been lifeguarding over half a century, watching out for swimmer safety since he was 17 years old. Wilfert is the Scarborough Beach lifeguard who was attacked by a great white shark over the weekend while swimming on shark patrol. “It was frightening,” he later told WGME-TV’s Brad Rogers. “I’m not gonna deny that.” Wilfert is in his 54th consecutive year guarding the same stretch of beach he first…

This Maine shark thing is starting to get, like, serious. A shark here or there, OK. But now marine patrol is saying the number of great whites seen off Scarborough in the past week is up to maybe a dozen. A dozen. At first a fisherman in a kayak spotted two, on Tuesday. In the video he shot you could hear the terror in his voice. But within 48 hours Scarborough Police say they received reports of seven and maybe even a dozen. https://twitter.com/foxweather/status/2086392047141875801?s=20 The sharks were estimated to be as long as 12 feet, CBS News reports. They were…

The Dallas Mavericks are offering a major package to the fan who finds Cooper Flagg’s 1-of-1 debut patch autograph card, which was released in Topps packs Thursday. The offer includes two premium lower-level season tickets for 32 years, a signed and game-worn Flagg rookie jersey, and a postgame photo with the Mavericks star from Newport, Maine. The package also includes a trip to see the Mavericks play the Boston Celtics, a private photo shoot with the Rookie of the Year and Larry O’Brien trophies, and a VIP tour of Dallas’ practice facility with a team meet-and-greet, according to i95rocks.com’s Jordan…

As the UMaine Black Bears get ready to kick off their fall football season, they’ve got a leg up on the competition. When it comes to mascots, that is. The Maine college football team shares with Cornell University the black bear mascot. Cornell hasn’t yet adopted the black bear as an official mascot, but its administrators aren’t taking any chances. The school administration has now banned bear carcasses from the dorms at the New York school. Last September, two Cornell students plopped a bear carcass on a table in a communal dorm kitchen and began carving it up. They planned…

Adam Vinatieri holds the record for most career points in the National Football League – and now he’s got a stand-up routine to match. The ex-New England Patriot “may have a new career in comedy after his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement speech Saturday,” ESPN reported. During his acceptance speech over the weekend, Vinatieri made a joke about his former coach, Bill Belichick, under whom he won three Super Bowls. Belichick, now the coach at North Carolina, was not in attendance Saturday. “I thought it was because training camp had already started,” Vinatieri said about Belichick’s absence, “but in…

The Navy has given a ceremonial send-off to the USS San Juan, decommissioning the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine that spent three years in Maine. The sub, put in retirement at Naval Base Kitsap in Washington after four decades of service, was first docked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for an overhaul 15 years ago. The Kittery, Maine, shipyard hosted the San Juan for a major engineering overhaul from 2010 to 2012, as seen in a 2011 Navy photo. The work at Kittery included extensive system modernizations, structural repairs and reactor checks designed to extend the ship’s service life. The submarine…

The website Thrillist.com clearly has a sense of self, judging by its latest culture survey of U.S. towns with the greatest hippie attributes. The Maine town meeting the definition is a place in coastal Waldo County called Unity, according to the widely followed media and entertainment website. “With a name like Unity, you’ve set the hippie bar pretty high,” Thrillist’s Matt Meltzer says. “But this town lives up to it…” Unity earns its hippie reputation thanks in part to the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association and the popular Common Ground Country Fair. It’s also home to Unity Environmental University…

The top editor of Maine’s largest paper Sunday blasted “fake news,” as she launched a fund drive to help her “figure things out.” In a Maine Sunday Telegram column, Carolyn Fox complained that “bad actors seem to be popping up every week, many stealing our photos and reporting as their own.” Stealing her photos? Where did that come from? Desperation, that’s where. Fox has seen the Facebook numbers and here is what they show: Maine Wire followers: 214,000 Portland Press Herald followers: 94,000 The Press Herald has been stuck at 94,000 for months, while The Maine Wire has been growing…

The two leading U.S. betting markets show the Democrat U.S. Senate candidate in Maine shellacking the veteran Republican incumbent. Polymarket is giving Democrat Troy Jackson 69-33 odds over Susan Collins, while Kalshi has it at 64-36. Effectively, bettors are predicting roughly a 2:1 chance of a Jackson victory. The markets measure odds as opposed to the actual margin of victory or loss. The market predictions come amid a left-wing PAC survey showing Jackson with a low-single-digit lead. The betting markets are reflecting what they portrayed as similar odds for Graham Platner before he withdrew as the Democrat nominee following serious…

Biddeford Mayor Liam LaFountain is calling on a regional land-use board to determine if it mistakenly granted University of New England a building permit. Specifically, LaFountain has asked the Saco River Corridor Commission why it overruled a predecessor panel’s ruling limiting construction near the river. The commission two years ago gave the university permission to build a road to its planned pier despite a panel decision 25:years ago seemingly forbidding incursion into a 250-foot shoreline “buffer zone.” LaFountain wants the commission to explain how the building permit complies with the original development prohibition and whether the panel intended to grant…

Maggie Haberman of The New York Times has been the self-appointed Trump conscience since he first emerged on the nation’s political scene. Now, in an interview on The Media Confidential podcast, Haberman is claiming that the two-term Republican is stacking the White House press room with nothing but sycophants, according to AlterNet.org. “It used to be that when it was groups of reporters covering the president, they would be able to have each other’s back,” Haberman said during the appearance. ”If somebody asked a tough question, you would know that the person next to you is going to follow it…

A group of paddleboarders will meet in Tenants Harbor today (Friday) to honor the memory of Sunshine Stewart. “Sunny,” killed adjacent to a Union campground a year ago, would have been 50 years old Sunday. Stewart was murdered last summer while paddleboarding near Mic Mac Cove Campground, at Crawford Pond. A group of her friends will meet at 3:30 p.m. at Tenants Harbor public landing and then paddle out together to High Island. Stewart, who lived and worked in Tenants Harbor, just east of inland Union, will also be celebrated Sunday at Mic Mac, with a 3 p.m. “paddle out”…

A number of Bush weddings have been held in the past century at St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Kennebunkport, Maine so the tiny sanctuary has a rich history with the family that produced two presidents, two governors and a U.S. senator. The 134-year-old stone church, located near the Bush family compound at Walker’s Point, this week begins selling artwork created by the second President Bush. The sale of George W. Bush’s paintings, on display at University of New England in neighboring Biddeford, will help finance repairs to the historic seaside church, damaged nearly three years ago in a coastal storm.…

Two so-far unidentified culprits stole a lobsterwoman’s catch, prompting anger among downeast locals. Lindsay McDaniels lost hundreds of dollars in catch when two men took lobsters from her crate in Northeast Harbor, fueling an online backlash among islanders, according to The Bar Harbor Story. The news outlet’s Sabrina Martin said McDaniels, who hauls traps off Mount Desert Island, reported 30 lobsters missing from her stash at a Northeast Harbor dock. The marina’s surveillance footage showed two men walking off with her lobsters. McDaniels, known within the fishing community as “Lobsta Lindsay,” had planned to sell the catch for up to…

A leading-emergency room physician took to twitter Tuesday sharing horror pitbull attack stories after an actor told a New York radio show the dogs are the victim of racism. “One of the most common calls I get from the ER are for dog attacks – 99% pit bulls,” Eithan Haim MD, who is no stranger to unmasking fraud, posted on X. “Mostly these are family pits who all the sudden just snap,” Haim wrote.”I’ve seen kids with chewed out eyeballs and scalped faces.” Haim posted in response to @LeadingReport, which tweeted the claims of actor Jon Bernthal that pitbulls are…

Iconic fashion icon Martha Stewart is putting on her tease act again, posing at age 85 in a bathing suit. Stewart, whose playful, multi-million dollar getaway is in Seal Harbor, Maine, is once again trying to put on the sultry look to shave years off her body. In the latest photo shoot, which was featured in the New York Post, Stewart is posing in much the same way she did months ago, pursing her lips and trying to play the sexy look with just her head and shoulder straps above the water in her hot tub. The New York Post…

The chief city councilor in the Maine city where a federal immigration agent fatally shot an immigrant says it’s time to dismantle a makeshift public memorial. “For me, the bottom line is that the time for the temporary memorial has come to an end,” Biddeford City Council President Roger Beaupre said in a statement Tuesday night. Mechanics Park, where the makeshift memorial to Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero sprouted up, “is a shared community space and not for standard or even permanent unauthorized or ad hoc memorials,” Beaupre told fellow councilors. https://twitter.com/TheMaineWire/status/2084706075463278978?s=20 Beaupre, a former longtime Biddeford Police chief, offered his…

Former Pats head coach Bill Belichick’s 25-year-old Maine girlfriend apparently is having quite an influence on her catch beyond the gridiron. Bill, 74, just got a nipple piercing, according to FootballCrave on X, posting a pic of what appears, yes, to be the thing under his polo shirt. “Ewe” is the reaction of most of the Crave’s 24,000 followers. “SHOCKING: Bill Belichick appears to have received a nipple piercing after vacationing in Europe with 25-year-old girlfriend Jordon Hudson,” Football Crave headlined its post. Hudson, a fisherman’s daughter from Ellsworth, Maine, and then swimsuit model, really shouldn’t be blamed for her…

The bishop of Maine says the Catholic diocese has arrived at “financial resolutions” with a number of clergy sexual-abuse victims.“ Even though pending cases that were decades old no longer had legal standing based on the ruling, the diocese recognizes that the harm caused by sexual abuse is not erased with time and still desired to respond with compassion,” Bishop James Ruggieri said in a statement. Ruggieri said the payments are *intended to acknowledge, in a tangible way, consistent with our resources and obligations, the seriousness of what has been reported and the lasting impact of abuse.” Paul Kendrick of…

“Kids nowadays think they’re animals. Furburgers.” That’s the opening line to humorist Bob Marley’s new bit. (Audience laughing here at his malaprops.) “Oh, what are they called?” Marley asks his audience, pretending he doesn’t know what they’re really called. “Furries!* prompts a member of the audience. “Look,” he says. “People can be whatever they want to be. I’ve got my own problems as you can obviously tell.” Then he plays the role of a kid showing up at school telling his teacher he’s a beaver. “Oh, that’s very good Parker,” he says, playing the role of the boy’s teacher addressing…

The former veteran Bangor Daily News top editor and longtime conservative conscience of Maine has been booted from the lineup at northern Maine’s WVOM, to be replaced with canned programming. V. Paul Reynolds, a Maine Wire contributor, hosted without compensation “The Maine Outdoors” with Catherine Gordon, a member of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife advisory council. The station cut the live format as part of a system revamp, reportedly declining a request for a final farewell broadcast. The Voice of Maine (WVOM-FM) Blueberry Broadcasting dropped the program to reformat weekend airtime toward news and weekday repeats rather…

No sooner did an infamous former congresswoman stop in Portland for a lobster than the food critics pounced. Ex-U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, who is on her honeymoon, included a visit to Luke’s Lobster in the state’s largest city. But poor Marj, driven out of her congressional seat by President Trump, can’t catch a break. Marj headlined a Facebook post about her Maine lobster dinner highlighting the fact she seasoned her steamed bug with truffle butter. A cardinal sin. “Just so you know, Maine residents eat their lobsters dipped in hot butter or if on a roll with a…

Biddeford Police are denying they’ll arrest protestors writing anti-ICE messages on public buildings with chalk, contrary to a Democrat state rep’s claim. Maine State Rep. Rafael Macias, D-Topsham, who traveled to Biddeford for an anti-ICE rally Saturday, told an assembled crowd through a bullhorn, “They said they will arrest people for chalk but they won’t arrest anyone for murder.” The chalk-arrest claim from Macias came in the wake of people scribbling messages on city buildings in recent days bashing the fatal shooting of a Biddeford resident by an ICE agent. Biddeford Buzz, which covered the rally, reports that police officials…

Linda Blair’s real claim to fame is as a bedridden mental patient spewing green vomit on a priest trying to exorcise her demons. But it’s Blair’s possibly-illegal rescue kennel that’s her latest headline. Cops raided her Los Angeles property, home to 100 “rescue” dogs over concerns for the animals, according to People.com. Blair, 67, downplayed the police search, saying it was much ado about nothing. The film star claimed the visit was over “paperwork” that needed to be done for her reported kennel operation. Humane authorities said their goal was “to inspect buildings and structures associated with a kennel operation…

The founder of a popular liberal Maine news outlet is wondering whether the New York Times is living under a rock. Or, more aptly, beneath a tree stump. “One day, national reporters will start treating Maine as if it’s something more than a cute story out of a children’s book,” says Naomi Schalit. “Today is at least the 2nd time in one week that a NYTimes writer has called Troy Jackson a “’lumberjack.’” Schalit, who co-founded The Maine Monitor, says she is shocked that the country’s alleged paper of record is so behind the times, no pun intended. “Paul Bunyan…

Maine’s default Democrat nominee Troy Jackson is launching his first general-election ad, highlighting his own background as a labor organizer and going after five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins. The 30-second spot, narrated by Jackson, is backed by a seven-figure buy slated to begin airing statewide next week, his campaign told NBC News. “I’m a fifth-generation logger and the son of a public school teacher” Jackson boasts. “My dad would work 16-hour days, and that still wasn’t enough. “So when they tried to replace us with foreign labor, I led a blockade of the border,” Jackson says in the ad. https://twitter.com/TroyJackson207/status/2083620504108142665?s=20…

Pit bulls just get no respect. But they’ve got a prominent new lobbyist – actor Jon Bernthal, who claims their reputation as vicious animals is “dog racism.” Bernthal thinks they actually make killer pets, so to speak. “My pitbulls are great,” Bernthal tells New York shock jock Howard Stern. “So the myth of the pit bull,” an obedient Stern replies. “Pit bulls don’t attack?” “No,” Bernthal replies, waving his arms. “It’s just racism, it’s just dog racism.” “To be afraid of a breed of dog is completely ridiculous,” he adds. “It’s like being afraid of someone for their race or…

The organization formerly known as Boy Scouts of America is facing backlash for abolishing gay-friendly activities at its yearly convention. BSA, recently renamed Scouting America, did away with “gay spaces” at this year’s National Jamboree, being held this week in West Virginia. The organization’s downplaying gender confusion comes amid pressure from the Trump administration to pull back its focus on “diversity.” Jamboree organizers eliminated dedicated spaces for gay youth, women and scouts of color. The changes at the jamboree reflect shifts made by scout leaders since they became a target of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over what he calls “woke”…

Poor Troy Jackson. He can’t buy a serious ticket to a U.S. Senate seat without first enduring a ribald ribbing on social media. X users were having more fun laughing over Troy’s marital partnership with his second cousin than attendees at an American Legion bean supper in Allagash, Maine pop. 240. After Maine Wire chief editor Steve Robinson reported that the former state senate president is attached to his second cousin, with whom he has two kids, all bets were off for X users. “His favorite dating app is 23AndMe,” PoliMath joked on X. https://twitter.com/politicalmath/status/2083192589608435987?s=20 “Sydney Sweeney eat your heart…

Boston Police have identified the woman killed in a rental linked by family to U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-MA. Yoseliani Ann Marte Ocasio, 18, of Boston, is the young woman found shot dead on July 18 inside the Mattapan property owned by Pressley’s husband Conan Harris, cops said Thursday. Homicide detectives are now leading the investigation, reports MassDailyNews.com. The seven-bedroom Malta Street home in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood is owned by Conan Harris, who married Pressley in 2014. “It was a life that was lost and our community is in mourning,” Harris told WCVB-TV. “And the more that we make it…

A social-media influencer who wondered the best way to entertain a girlfriend in northern Maine, went to the source. Who better to dish on romance than Troy Jackson who, The Maine Wire chief editor Steve Robinson reports, ‘married’ in to his own family in Allagash, pop. 240. “Just caught up with Troy Jackson in DC – asked him for some dating advice since he apparently knew the right places to take his cousin,” Matthew Foldi posted on X. “What is a good date night spot in that part of the state?” Foldi asks Jackson, explain that his friend is taking…

Quisisana Resort in Lovell, Maine and The Norumbega in Camden, Maine, have been named among the top 100 hotels across the globe. The two Maine properties and three in Massachusetts are among just 14 U.S. hotels that made the worldwide list, according to Boston.com’s Kristin Palma. Quisisana was also named the No. 1 resort in New England and No. 5 on the list of best resorts in the continental U.S. “We are honored to be part of a tradition that brings rest, music, connection, and joy to so many, year after year,” Quisisana said. The Norumbega also ranked No. 2…

A salmonella outbreak in backyard poultry is being reported across several states including Maine, officials said. The salmonella infections stem from chickens being raised in small batches in people’s backyards, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported. “Backyard poultry, like chickens and ducks, can carry salmonella  germs even if they look healthy and clean,” the agency said. “These germs can easily spread to anything in the areas where the poultry live and roam.” A quarter of the sick people in these outbreaks are children under 5 years old, the national CDC said. Stephen Combes of the state Center for Disease Control…

A Maine woman who went to California to see her transitioning son ended up dead in his home from a vicious attack, police say. Angela Caprioli, 61, was allegedly beaten to death with a hammer last week while visiting her son in Laguna Beach. Safford James Wolfson, 36, shown in New York Post photos as partly resembling a female, entered no plea during his first court appearance. Wolfson was hospitalized with self-inflicted injuries after allegedly murdering his mother and slicing his own neck. Police say Wolfson ‘s grandmother called 911 after coming upon a gruesome bloody scene in his house.…

A mass of uninvited overland campers has landed at an unlikely “campsite” – a public library in a small southern coastal town in Maine. York Library Director Michelle Sampson said when she got to work the parking lot was filled with pickup truck “overland” campers. “They were traveling as a group and one of them said they found it online on IOverlander,” Sampson told WGME-TV’s Brad Rogers. “Overlander never reached out to confirm with us whether we were a campsite,” Sampson added. An online camping website, IOverlander, “had told people what a great place it is to camp,” Rogers said.…

EBay has agreed to pay nearly $56 million in a settlement with a Massachusetts couple who were the target of a bizarre harassment and stalking scheme, according to CNBC. The couple, Ina and David Steiner, had been subjected to a “terror campaign” in 2019 that was “designed to stop their reporting,” attorneys for the Steiners said. The Steiners run EcommerceBytes, a website closely followed by online sellers.EBay executives didn’t like its tone and content, reports CNBC’s Annie Palmer. Federal prosecutors said senior eBay executives exchanged messages about Ina Steiner, including one where former CEO Devin Wenig said to “take her…

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has sent a letter to the Rockland seafood festival asking that it be renamed “The Red Death Festival.” The animal-rights group’s efforts to spare the lives of thousands of lobsters comes a year after it filed an unsuccessful lawsuit to stop the festival, which claims “The World’s Largest Lobster Cooker.” The five-day festival begins Wednesday, when PETA says it will stage a woman body-painted as a lobster lying across a giant dish, next to a lemon wedge and butter, reading, “Try to Relate to Who’s on Your Plate.” https://twitter.com/KeltieKnight/status/462339427776217088?s=20 “The display will urge…

Vermont’s senior U.S. senator is refusing to apologize for supporting a U.S. Senate candidate from Maine who dropped out of the race after he was accused of rape. Bernie Sanders appeared Sunday on CBS-TV’S Face the Nation defending his backing of fellow Democrat socialist Graham Platner. “You were an early supporter and man of Graham Platner,” program host Margaret Brennan said to Sanders. “You helped him rise. Do you regret not acting earlier to call on him to drop out, given the warning signs?” “No I don’t think so,” Sanders, appearing on a video feed, replied. “When we heard the…

The Democrat-friendly Portland Press Herald political columnist is arguing that Republican Susan Collins didn’t really win her 2020 election by nine points. But then he closes the column by admitting she did. Can’t make it up folks. Unless you are the Portland Press Herald. Columnist Steve Collins wrote a piece arguing that his namesake didn’t really win her last election by nine points. Since 7 percent of voters cast ballots for two no-name candidates, Collins said, the incumbent actually won by only two points over Democrat Sara Gideon. Factor in a “ranked choice” option, Collins claims, and there’s even a…

After University of North Carolina football announced Monday it was suspending its GM, a Redditor quipped, “Welcome General Manager Jordon Hudson.” Stranger things have happened… UNC said it’s put Michael Lombardi on administrative leave, declining to specify why, according to AL.com. But on social media UNC football followers were joking the new GM could be head coach Bill Belichick’s girlfriend. Hudson has made herself a common distraction to her former-Patriots-coach boyfriend’s college coaching career, hanging with the team on the sidelines whenever she sees a good camera angle. “Congratulations are in order for Jordon Hudson,” Andrew Holleran of The Spun…

Pats head coach aka the team’s chief of “public affairs” Mike Vrabel is getting real good at changing the subject. Vrabel walked up to the lectern at the start of Patriot summer training camp last week holding a puppy. “Welcome everybody, good to see you guys,” the famous canoodler told a room filled with reporters. Or alleged reporters. Vrabel brought an orphaned pup to the news conference in what he said is his annual appeal in behalf of rescues needing homes. But as he promoted what’s known as the Pawtriots Pet Adoption program in behalf of Dana Blumberg, wife of…

The last time WABC-770AM’s Sid Rosenberg criticized New York City’s first Muslim mayor Rosenberg called him a human cockroach. In his latest blast against the Bowdoin College grad socialist Rosenberg left out the cockroach reference but everything else was fair game. After calling Mamdani a cockroach in March, Rosenberg apologized for comparing the New York city mayor to an insect. . Rosenberg appeared on Fox News Saturday blasting the Bowdoin racist for hating Jews and Americans but this time he left out the cockroach. And this time he’s not apologizing but in fact underscoring that he’s not taking back one…

President Obama rewrote the woke liberal playbook Friday, offering heartfelt words of encouragement to embattled white basketball star Caitlin Clark during WNBA’s All-Star practice. Clark has been the center of a national firestorm for allegedly fomenting white-on-black violence via her complaints of being unfairly fouled during ballgames. “Hey how are you – really nice to meet you, you are great,” the nation’s first black president told Clark as he approached her with a hearty warm handshake at his presidential library in Chicago. “Don’t let all this nonsense get you down,” he added. “Don’t lose that joy. You’re a hooper!” Obama,…

When star Boston radio journalist Kirk Minihane tweeted the other day he was “pretty sure no one has ever been featured on @DatelineNBC and a then contestant on @FamilyFeudABC” he was only half right. There was one other guy besides him who has been on both Dateline and Family Feud. That guy was Timothy Bliefnick, who went viral for a dark-humor joke he made to Family Feud host Steve Harvey on the show in 2020. Harvey had asked him “what’s the biggest mistake you made at your wedding?” and he replied “saying I do.” The clip resurfaced widely across media…

Randolph Mantooth, who played TV’s “Emergency!” paramedic firefighter John Gage and marshaled Ellsworth’s fire parade a half-century ago, has died. Mantooth, 80, who passed away earlier this month in California, teamed up with costar Kevin Tighe, who played TV’s paramedic firefighter Roy DeSoto, as the celebrity grand marshals for the 1975 Ellsworth Fireman’s Parade. Their appearance that summer was a hugely popular event in Hancock County, drawing thousands of spectators and over 150 fire units from all over New England and Canada. The festivities, archived by Northeast Historic Film, concluded with a traditional fireman’s muster, featuring ladder climbs, hose hookups…

USA Today is doing damage control over a controversial column by Nancy Armour on Wednesday about Caitlin Clark that invoked murdered Emmett Till and linked some of Clark’s fan base to “white nationalists.” After Armour’s column about the Indiana Fever star sparked a firestorm Thursday, Front Office Sports says it asked USA Today’s editors whether they stood by her article. “Nancy is a columnist and her column is clearly labeled opinion,” USA Today spokes Lark-Marie Anton told FOS. “Please note that the column has been updated for clarity, and Nancy has addressed the matter. We will not be commenting further.”…

The owner of The Cookie Jar of Maine says she has been nabbed for failure to account for a state sales tax. Laura Pomerleau said she was shocked when an armed state revenue agent drove into her parking lot. He handed her a document stating “Notice to cease retails sales.” “The guy was very, very nice ,” Pomerleau posted on Facebook. “He said ‘go in and call this number.’” Pomerleau said she agreed to start including the tax. The homespun cookie chef said she has been pilloried on Facebook for not knowing she had to itemize the tax. “What I…

Stephen Kerrigan, chair of the Massachusetts Democrat Party, is on probation after being arrested last month on drunk driving charges, according to documents obtained by NewsCenter 5. An officer of the Southborough Police Department was monitoring traffic on Turnpike Road at 12 a.m. June 13 when Kerrigan’s BMW SUV was seen driving in the middle of both lanes, according to WCVB. The officer stopped the SUV and described speaking with Kerrigan, who was alone in the vehicle. “He stated he was going home from a restaurant,” the officer wrote. “As I was speaking with Stephen, his eyes appeared to be…

A Newport, Maine native may now be a star player for the National Basketball League’s Dallas Mavericks. But when it comes to Family Feud, Cooper Flagg is being accused of cheating by Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports. Portnoy’s team competed against Flagg’s family Thursday night on the widely-popular ABC-TV show. Called Celebrity Family Feud, the teams were competing to raise money for charity. In Round 4 of the game, Flagg’s mother Kelly played against Portnoy team member Kirk Minihane, a Boston media celebrity. The question from host Steve Harvey was “what’s the one thing that makes New York Pizza so…

A former State Department official who led Jewish outreach for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign has publicly broken with his former boss, accusing the Vermont independent of promoting candidates such as Maine’s Graham Platner whose rhetoric and positions fuel antisemitism. In an interview with Jewish Insider at the Aspen Security Forum, Joel Rubin didn’t mince words, claiming that the senior Jewish Vermont U.S. senator and his movement are harming American Jews by boosting “anti-Israel, antisemitic candidates.” Rubin specifically criticized Sanders and progressive strategists for the promotion of candidates such as Platner, whose scandals included his famous Nazi tattoo. Democrat…

Just weeks after retiring as the legendary bubbly Fox News weather gal, Janice Dean is settling a bitter score. Dean reveals on X that her bosses gagged her after she continually criticized New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo. While at Fox, the widely popular forecaster spent a lot of air time blasting Cuomo for his disastrous management of the COVID pandemic. When she wasn’t talking about the weather forecast, she was accusing Cuomo of killing thousands of seniors – including her in-laws. “Someday I’ll tell you all the story of how I was banned from talking about Andrew Cuomo after…

“We continued to ask Graham for the billionth time in this race if there was any information he had not shared,” says one adviser. “He continued to say no.” Graham Platner fought angrily to the bitter end to stay in the U.S. Senate race as advisers tried to persuade him he was finished, according to a new report. “Headlines had been bad enough already, and his campaign aides spent much of their time dealing with lurid rumors,” says the Vanity Fair’s Aidan McLaughlin, “that there was a sex tape on the verge of leaking. That notes from his therapist were…

A $3 million sailboat built in mid-coast Maine a half-century ago competed over the weekend in one of Michigan’s most iconic summer traditions – the 102nd Bayview Mackinac Race. Nearly 1,700 sailors and 200 boats competed in the world’s longest freshwater yacht race this weekend – a 259-nautical-mile course. The stunning wooden-hulled 105-foot Whitehawk – complete with its own fireplace – and built by O. Lie-Nielsen Boat Yard along Rockland’s shoreline, was among the 200 yachts in the grueling race. The Cove Island Course of the Bayview Mackinac Race takes the contestants about 18 hours. Hosted in Lake Huron, the…

Cooper Flagg will lead his family against David Portnoy and Barstool Sports members on Celebrity Family Feud. The show is scheduled for 8 p.m.Thursday, July 23rd at 8 p.m. on ABC, according to Chris Pooper of i95rocks.com. Flagg, the NBA rookie of the year and member of the Dallas Mavericks who is from Newport, Maine, will be joined by his twin brother Ace who plays basketball for the University of Maine. He will also be joined by his mother and father, Kelly and Ralph Flagg, and his grandfather David Bowman. The Flagg family will be playing for the Ronald McDonald…

Womanizing Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel’s job is apparently safe. The team’s owner, appearing on First Take Friday, spoke for the first time on the scandalous affair the married Vrabel had with an NFL reporter. “We’re privileged to have Mike as our head coach,” Robert Kraft said, according to NBC Sports. “You know, no one is infallible.” Kraft’s option of course was to deny that Mike had a tryst with the also-married Dianna Russini, despite steamy photos of the two published earlier this year in the New York Post. But Kraft is apparently standing by his man, who only half-heartedly…

Bob Marley, arguably Maine’s funniest export, was forced to dive into the lake by his camp when his sweatpants caught on fire while making s’mores. Marley posted a Facebook video explaining the comedy of errors that suddenly weren’t so comedic. He says he was making the candy treats on his campfire with his uncle Jimmy when Jimmy’s s’more got overcooked. While helping rescue his 79-year-old uncle’s s’more from the fire, the blaze jumped from the embers into the leg of his sweatpants. “Bobby your leg is on fire,” Jimmy reportedly shouted. “I know Jimmy,” Marley replied as he sprinted toward…

The days of Maine’s Democrat congresswoman’s secretly trading stock could be coming closer to an end. Chellie Pingree, who last year was caught hiding her market trades, may soon have to count her money in full view of her constituents. Elaine Luria, a former House Democrat mounting a comeback bid for a battleground Virginia district, is campaigning in favor of a congressional stock-trading ban. “It’s incumbent on members of congress to set an example,” Luria said, according to the Washington Post. Luria formerly opposed the ban – until she lost her seat to a Republican, Jen Kiggans. The defeat apparently…

The Sports Hub is cleaning WEEI’s clock in the latest Boston radio war ratings. The Toucher and Hardy morning show set the standard in the spring Nielsen Audio Ratings. 98.5 The Sports Hub finished first overall and in all day segments in sports radio’s primary demographic, says Boston.com’s Chad Finn. Overall, the Sports Hub earned a 12.4 overall share among men 25-54 in the period from April 2-June 24. Fellow sports station WEEI was seventh with a 4.2, according to Finn. Toucher and Hardy had a 16.1 share in the period, the best among any radio show in the market…

A woman was flown by LifeFlight to a Bangor hospital after her family, including two young children, were hit by a vehicle on a Lincoln sidewalk. Lincoln Police arrested Carl Hartley, 57, of Mattawamkeag on Saturday and charged him with operating under the influence and possession of drugs, according to i95rocks.com’s Cindy Campbell. Officials say he was allegedly in possession of methamphetamine. The incident happened at approximately 3:20 pm at the intersection of Main Street and West Broadway in Lincoln. Police responded to a report of a motor vehicle crash involving multiple pedestrians, including one that was trapped underneath the…

For the first time in more than 30 years, scallopers will now have access to northern New England’s scallop fishery, thanks to President Trump. Trump announced he is pulling down the restrictions after hearing from frustrated scallopers. The desire to ease restrictions on scallop fishing came out of an Oval Office meeting between Trump and scallop fishermen, who complained they were not allowed to fish in parts of Georges Bank, White House counselor Peter Navarro said. The move follows an executive order from Trump aimed at increasing domestic seafood production by directing the Commerce Department to loosen regulations and by…

The U.S. Navy’s expensive effort to install hypersonic missiles on three Zumwalt-class destroyers is two years behind schedule, according to government auditors. In addition to problems stemming from both the destroyers and the missiles, the Navy and Army are reportedly not coordinating the project, being done at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Missile flight testing scheduled for 2025 has now been pushed back to next year – two years late. The Government Accountability Office cites rising costs, schedule delay and reliability issues with the Maine-built destroyers, according to Michael Peck of NavyTimes.com. The Zumwalts suffer from unreliable power systems…

The president’s efforts to require voters to document their citizenship is apparently dead thanks to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Murkowski, who claims to be a Republican, said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed she won’t support the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, confirming she can’t be swayed. “While I support the bill’s core tenets – ensuring that only American citizens vote and requiring identification when voting – I remain opposed to it,” Murkowski wrote after President Trump pleaded with the Senate to pass it. The SAVE America Act would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, limited forms…

Northern Maine woodsman Troy Jackson looked ready for prime time at Thursday night’s Democrat U.S. Senate debate, while Secretary of State Shenna Bellows came off as halting and nervous. Judging from online comments, YouTube viewers watching the WCSH-moderated debate thought Jackson won the night hands down. Former Center for Disease Control director Nirav Shaw and Jordan Wood kept awkwardly looking down at their notes during opening statements, clearly unprepared. Wood looked about as unsure of himself as his on-again, off-again on-again candidacy, in one day, out the next, then back in. The dress-wearing Ashley Webb, a trans female, was notable…

If you want to rub elbows with a bunch of blue bloods and their toys, the place to be this weekend is Boothbay Harbor. The Classic Yacht Owners Association will be racing dozens of expensive boats around the harbor. The race is part of what’s known as the Classic Yacht Challenge Series. To qualify for the series, boats must compete in at least five races in a minimum of three regattas, including one event outside their home district. The competition July 18 and 19 is called the Boothbay Harbor Yacht Club Regatta and Shipyard Cup Classics Challenge, where dozens of…

Retired NHL great Claude Lemieux allegedly admitted to relapsing after 12 years of sobriety the night he died by suicide, according to TMZ Sports. Lemieux’s family had noticed a change in his behavior over the past year, leaving his wife of 30 years, Deborah, to confront him. After he allegedly acknowledged that he had relapsed, Deborah told him to leave the house, according to the outlet. Lemieux then was found hanging in the family’s furniture store May 28, roughly five hours later by his son, Brendan. Deborah had called Brendan after confronting her husband, and Brendan went to the home…

Kevin Cullen, the columnist who’s previously been disciplined by the Boston Globe for lying, is back up to his old tricks, according to a leading broadcaster. Kirk Minihane, a veteran radio guy in Boston, turned Cullen in eight years ago after Minihane suspected a column he wrote about the Boston Marathon bombing was all a fabrication. Now Minihane says that one of Cullen’s latest columns in which he claims he’s not a gambler – written from a Boston casino – is riddled with untruths. “Just so you know the Globe has an opinion writer who just makes s*** up,” Minihane…

A newly released census report gives Maine an honored distinction – the high percentage of old people. The Pine Tree State ranks No.1 in the nation with seniors. Twenty-four percent of Maine residents are over 65, placing it tops nationally. Vermont is No. 2 with 23 percent. The common consensus has been that Florida is where old people congregate but the Sunshine State gets a bad rap – it ranks No. 4 nationwide with 22 percent of old people. No. 3 is West Virginia, which beats Florida by 0.1 of a percent when it comes to geezers. Maine has 330,000…

Joey Chestnut has finally proved he’s mortal, failing to take a top competitive eating trophy in a New Hampshire wings contest. But New England can still claim to be the land of gluttony – a thirsty guy named Eric Booker downed seven cans of Moxie in two minutes. First the bad news – Chestnut went down in defeat trying to win a wings-eating contest in neighboring New Hampshire. Chestnut finished second in the inaugural Wings Eating Competition at The Brook casino in Seabrook on Saturday, according to Jordan Verge of i95rocks.com. James Webb won the competition after eating 7.77 pounds…

The limp rag doll known as the Portland Press Herald pretended Monday to be nonpartisan. But true to form the joke of a daily newspaper then showed its true illiteracy. To wit, political columnist (so-called) Steve Collins was so proud of himself calling for “an impartial investigation” of an ICE-involved shooting Monday in Biddeford. So far so good Steve. Then he added, “not one led by Trump’s hired hands.” And…then… “Nothing ICE is doing is worth the bloodshed and trauma it is causing. Today’s killing in Biddeford just emphasizes that reality.” Says the “impartial” Steve Collins. So within the blink…

If the meek David Costello ever wants to be taken seriously as a statewide candidate, he needs to, well, get serious. The Democrat from Brunswick was defeated June 9 in the party’s U.S. Senate primary, receiving 17,560 votes. Now that primary victor Graham Platner has withdrawn from the race amid a rape accusation, Costello could, should and rightly claim the mantle as Platner’s ballot replacement. As it stands now, he’s among eight announced contenders wanting to be chosen by the state party as its default choice to compete against five-term GOP Sen. Susan Collins. That means he needs to gather…

“Graham has great sperm. Can I say that?” – Amy Gertner, January 12, 2026 The wife of the Democrat from Maine driven out of a U.S. Senate race by an alleged rape victim hasn’t said Word One defending her husband. In fact, the New York Post is running shots of Amy Gertner heading to the beach. “Graham Platner’s wife takes a beach trip one day after her accused rapist husband suspends Maine Senate campaign,” the tabloid headlined Thursday. “Amy Gertner, the wife of disgraced Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, appeared beach-bound less than 24 hours after her husband announced he…

The gay community is publicizing Jordan Wood as a logical alternative to Graham Platner, touting his sexual preference as an asset. “I am told that a gay man can’t win,” Wood said as he announced his candidacy. “Cynics are wrong.” He was quoted by the website LGBTQ Nation, which headlined his being gay could help him “become Maine’s next U.S. senator.” Wood announced for the Senate last year but instead opted to run for the U.S. House after Jared Golden said he wasn’t running for re-election. After losing that race Wood decided to re-enter the Senate race once Graham Platner…

‘Psycho’ Platner recruiter Dan Moraff may be a Valley Girl in drag. The strange-talking socialist political operative under fire for failing to properly vet Graham Platner was himself once blocked from a congressional campaign for alleged sexual harassment. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-PA, barred Dan Moraff from her 2022 congressional campaign after receiving at least three complaints of sexual misconduct against him, according to a story Friday in Payday Report. “Now, Moraff, who recruited Graham Platner to run for Senate in Maine, is at the center of a massive controversy after he admitted that he spent only a few days…

A leading voice among Democrats of Maine blasted the party’s top manager for producing a video targeting Graham Platner for their political mess. Valli Geiger, a state rep from Rockland, is also denying that the party’s voter choice for U.S. Senate who withdrew from the nomination Wednesday after being accused of rape handpicked her as his replacement. “Let me first say that many members of the press are reporting that I am Graham Platner’s preferred candidate,” Geiger posted on her Facebook page. “This is not true. I am one of several people who have supported Graham’s platform, that Graham is…

In a 1988 SNL skit featuring Jon Lovitz playing Mike Dukakis debating George H.W. Bush, Lovitz said “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.” The line, which became iconic, must be what Maine’s two-term 78-year-old governor was saying leading up to the Democrat primary for U.S. Senate. After the votes were counted on what became that fateful June 9th, Mills had indeed lost to “this guy” – by a staggering 50 points. “This guy” was a man named Graham Platner, a 41-year-old Blue Hill, Maine native, son of parents who divorced when he was just 6 years old but…

Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau has been hired to run a city housing agency, prompting taxpayers to call out insider greasing. “So the Speaker of the House lands the executive director job at Biddeford Housing Authority, and we’re supposed to believe there’s no conflict of interest?” asked SF O’Leary on Facebook. “Give me a break. This is exactly why so many people think Maine politics is one big insiders’ club. The people making the rules shouldn’t be the same people walking into the jobs that benefit from them.”The housing agency issued a press release earlier this week announcing Fecteau’s hiring.…

The mayor of the largest city in Maine’s southernmost county was recently allowed by a Biddeford news outlet to extol all his “successes.” Then just days later a competing outlet, the Biddeford Buzz, published a piece of reality – that the mill city is by all appearances a drug-infested cesspool. The Buzz ran a story about a downtown business that is finding used hypodermic needles in its mailbox. So is Democrat Mayor Liam LaFountain selling a fraudulent alternate reality? From all appearances the answer is a resounding yes. While the mayor was telling everyone what a great job he was…

The Rockland state rep recruited Wednesday by a former U.S. Senate Democrat candidate has been all talk no action helping the poor. Maine State Rep. Valli Geiger, who Wednesday told WMTW-TV that Graham Platner wants her to replace him as the nominee, has an embarrassing housing-advocacy incident in her past, despite selling herself as the progressive friend of the downtrodden. Geiger told the TV station that Platner, who resigned later in the day from the race after facing a rape allegation, called her and said, “’Valli you are a fighter, you have been with this movement since the beginning,’” and…

The Victory Chimes, an historic schooner built in 1900 with a deep history of chartering in Maine, has sunk in Brooklyn during Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s America 250th maritime celebration. The vessel, which was to be converted into a floating restaurant, sank over the July 4th holiday in the Henry Street Basin during a squall, according to Midcoast Villager. Brad Vogel, who covers maritime happenings in Brooklyn, was quoted as saying the boat had been in disrepair, showing signs of rot. The boat was towed out of Rockland Harbor three years ago with the plan being to convert it into a…

The Broncos thought about hiring former Patriots coach Bill Belichick just so he could get a shot at breaking Don Shula’s 347 wins, a new ESPN report says. Belichick is 14 wins shy of Shula’s all-time record leading NFL teams to victory, reports Jordy McElroy of PatriotsWire. Under a plan hatched last season by then-Broncos coach Sean Payton, Denver would hire Belichick as a temporary replacement until he won 15 games. Payton, a friend of Belichick’s, considered taking his plan to Denver’s management, but “in the end it was too complicated,” according to ESPN’s Seth Wickersham. The idea was that…

No wonder it took Vermont socialist U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders so long to finally urge Graham Platner to quit his senate bid. Sanders has his own rape-related skeleton, which surfaced when he was running in 2016 for president. During Sanders’ first run for the presidency an article he once wrote on his “rape fantasy” came to light, throwing his campaign into a virtual talespin. Screenshot So it’s not surprising that Bernie was so tepid in his advice Tuesday to Platner, who a former girlfriend accused of rape Monday in a Politico article. Vermont’s senior U.S. senator was effectively the last…

The betting markets are proving to be a good friend of former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson as a possible Democrat replacement for Graham Platner. Polymarket is showing Jackson beating No. 2 Nirav Shah by 55 points and No. 3 Shenna Bellows by 59 points as the default candidate in case Platner drops out of the U.S. Senate race. Kalshi is nearly as generous to Jackson, showing him beating Bellows, the current secretary of state, 52 to 21, its bettors showing her as No. 2. “He’s a favorite of the Platneristas,” Steve Robinson, editor-in-chief of The Maine Wire, said after…

Democrat candidate for governor Hannah Pingree split from her protege Sunday, proposing a moratorium on AI data centers, her first major policy split with Gov. Janet Mills. Mills, the two-term-limited governor who was previously Pingree’s boss in the state policy office, recently vetoed an AI center ban. Pingree, who Mills late in the primary campaign endorsed for the Democrat nomination to succeed her, apparently decided over the weekend fighting AI data centers has widespread popular voter appeal going in to November’s general election. Staking out an “environmental” platform is likely to attract not only Democrats but unenrolled independents, a third…

Dirty little secret – the flames that are arguably ending Graham Platner’s U.S. Senate candidacy were fanned by Democrats, not Republicans. It was the Democrat establishment that spent months planting stories about Platner’s sordid past, not Republicans. Republicans actually prefer to run their candidate Susan Collins against Platner, who they think comes across as two radical for the average Mainer. Mills is a much harder candidate for five-term Collins to beat. Sure, Graham Platner is a new face, half Janet Mills’ age, energetic, youthful, filled with ideas designed to help the working class and – the best part – take…

A conservative Washington news outlet is reporting Graham Platner, accused of rape Monday, will be withdrawing from Maine’s Senate race. “A well-placed source told the Washington Reporter that Platner is poised to drop out,” the outlet said in what it’s calling an “exclusive.” In a related development, California congressman and key Platner supporter Ro Khanna called on Platner to quit. Platner, plagued by scandal after scandal, denied claims by a woman who told Politico he sexually assaulted her. But for the first time in facing allegations of criminal behavior, Platner publicly admitted he is “taking the time to reflect” and…

Vermont’s senior senator, a key supporter of Maine Democrat U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner, Sunday rejected the alleged hypocrisy of flying charters while blasting oil-executive salaries. “Independent” Bernie Sanders’ use of private jets for his political campaigns and tours has drawn scrutiny from critics who argue it contradicts his advocacy against corporate wealth and environmental issues. In an interview on Fox News, Sanders pushed back on the apparent contradiction. “You campaign and you do three or four or five rallies a week,” he told Fox News anchor Bret Baier. “The only way, the only way, you can get around to…

The owner of a midcoast campground where paddleboarder Sunshine Stewart was bludgeoned to death last year is urging campers to “put a light/candle out on your dock” in Stewart’s memory. Katharine Lunt, who runs Mic Mac Campground in Union, posted the memorial on the Crawford Lake Association’s homepage on Facebook. Stewart, 48, died from a homicide by strangulation and blunt force trauma on a small island in the lake on July 3, 2025, police said. After a weeks-long investigation, cops arrested ex-mental patient Deven Young of Frankfort in connection with her murder. Young, 17, was staying at the campground with…