Author: Ted Cohen

The Marine veteran-turned-oyster-farmer — a rising Democratic Senate candidate in Maine — once called himself a “communist,” dismissed “all” police as “bastards,” and said rural white Americans “actually are” racist and stupid. Senate wannabee Graham Platner’s archived social-media history was unearthed by CNN, no conservative outlet that. Most of the posts were made five years ago under Platner’s then-Reddit handle P-Hustle. They were deleted ahead of his campaign launch in August. The posts in some ways underscore Platner’s reputation as an anti-establishment outsider with unapologetically left-wing views. But the labels and tone used in his writings could also prove costly…

Fifty years after being dubbed the “Muhammad Ali Of Sardine Packers,” Maine’s greatest has hooked another title. Rita Willey, 87, of Rockland was named the celebrity of choice for the state’s first Sardine Festival. The Penobscot Marine Museum Searsport featured Willey as the drawing card for “Sardine Fest 2025.” The museum held its opening Oct. 4, introducing Willey to younger generations born after the state’s sardine fishery heyday. In the 1970s and early ’80s, Willey’s deft fingers got her on “Johnny Carson Tonight” and “What’s My Line?” She had gained a reputation at the Rockland Seafood Festival’s marquee event, the…

Maine horror novelist Stephen King, who put his foot in it last month when he falsely criticized conservative Charlie Kirk, is calling it quits, at least temporarily. King told USA Today in an “exclusive” interview he’s afraid of “becoming a bore,” although one leading critic recently suggested that’s already occurred. “I’m trying to clear my desk as much as I can,” King said. “At my age, you’re off the warranty. You can’t take anything for granted.” King wants to take some time off “while I’m still healthy,” he told the paper. “You can’t guarantee anything once you get past the…

An experimental electric-plane manufacturer that chose a midcoast Maine airport to debut cutting-edge technology is falling on hard times both financially and mechanically. BETA Technologies, based at the Burlington, Vermont International Airport, two years ago selected the Knox County Airport as the first in the state with battery chargers in anticipation of ramping up use of electric planes to service the nearby islands. The airport envisioned electric planes as positioning the facility to become a “green energy” hub along Maine’s midcoast. “The installation of these chargers is going to change dramatically the relationship between the airport and our surrounding communities,”…

President Donald Trump’s widely-celebrated deal to end the Mideast war was built in part on the foundations of defensive work by a Bath-built destroyer, the Navy says. The USS Carney, launched by Bath Iron Works in 1994, left its home port of Mayport, Florida on Monday for its next mission, just its latest job keeping peace in international waters. The ship helped neutralize the Houthis in the aftermath of Hamas’ murderous rampage on Israel two years ago. “On Oct. 19, 2023 USS Carney (DDG 64) was involved in the most intense combat engagement by a U.S. Navy warship since World…

A UMaine fraternity is coming to the defense of the school’s hockey mascot’s panned debut performance. Bananas T. Bear, aka the mascot, skated to center ice for a recent game, but critics say that calling what he did skating is a stretch. Bananas not only had trouble skating but he fell down on the ice during his performance. “It’s time to wrestle control of Bananas away from fraternity Alpha Delta,” one Facebook critic wrote. “They are poor stewards of the brand and mascot.” The frat for has been supplying the personnel who don the mascot’s garb and work up the…

A fishing boat built in Boothbay that went missing without a trace nearly 100 years ago has finally been located. The ST Seiner set sail Jan. 29, 1929 from New London, Connecticut. But the steam-powered fishing trawler’s owner, The Portland Trawling Co., never heard from the boat again. Now, 97 years later, shipwreck hunters say they have discovered the long-lost vessel off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The Atlantic Wreck Salvage, a New Jersey-based company that searches for lost vessels, says it has located the ship on the eastern edge of Georges Bank, roughly 125 miles off the coast. The…

If Maine’s embattled crustaceans are crawling to Canada, the prevailing reason was always thought to be greenhouse-gas oceanic acidification south of the international border. But a new study turns that theory on its head, blaming alleged lobster movement on warm water allegedly caused by “climate change.” “As the ocean warms, lobsters are packing their bags and heading north, a slow-motion migration that spells a profound and uncertain future for the industry and the communities that depend on it,” according to William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “The problem isn’t that lobsters will disappear or bizarrely evolve into the…

The ouster of the Dancing With The Stars hostess from Maine has been selected as one of the popular show’s anniversary top meltdown moments. People magazine just picked the ouster of Erin Andrews as one of the Top Ten Most Shocking Moments of the show’s 20-year history. And Andrews wasn’t just any hostess getting the boot – besides being born in the Pine Tree State, she’s the daughter of a former Maine radio and TV anchor. Steve Andrews began his broadcast career in 1973 in Lewiston radio, while also working as a part-time TV reporter. Andrews then moved on to…

The Rockland Democrat lawmaker whose “affordable housing” reputation quickly went south earlier this year is notably absent from Knox county candidates seeking a promotion to the state senate. Political bettors were pretty certain Rep. Valli Geiger (D-Rockland) would run for the District 12 seat being mysteriously, voluntarily vacated by Anne Beebe-Center. But then again no one expected her fellow Democrat, Beebe-Center, to drop out of a potential bid for a third term – until she did. Who gives up a gravy term in the upper chamber? Maybe someone who’d have to explain to American patriots why she had a problem…

A drone operator searching for lost dogs in northern Maine has been fired at twice – one of which struck his aircraft – in the last month. Robert Russell, who runs an aerial-search business, had first sent his drone up over Corinth a few weeks ago to look for two beagles. While the drone was flying, it was suddenly hit by something, which Russell quickly determined was a bullet. Russell’s drone was also shot at over Orrington earlier this week – and though that shot missed Russell got a picture of the alleged shooter from the drone. “The guy was…

A midcoast Maine police officer is being branded a hero – for reviving his unconscious boss. Wiscasset Police Chief Larry Hesseltine was working alongside the officer, Jonathan Barnes, during a traffic stop when the incident unfolded. Hesseltine was on patrol when he pulled over a car on Route 1 in Edgecomb that had been reported to dispatch for alleged erratic operation. Barnes joined the chief shortly after the stop. The driver was identified as Joshua A. Watters, 45, of Augusta, who had a passenger, George C. Bronn, 46, of Whitefield. While both cops were searching the occupants for drugs, they…

Ten years after the container ship El Faro sank in 40-foot seas, Rockland will be memorializing crew members who perished in the tragedy. A day of remembrance of El Faro will begin at noon Sept. 27 at 44 Atlantic Street, the site of The Lost at Sea Memorial, “El Faro Salute.” The steel memorial was designed by artist Jay Sawyer, a Maine Maritime Academy graduate. The statue, dedicated three years ago, features two maritime officer uniforms in salute position to signify honor to the maritime community. Included in the 33 lives lost were two Rockland crew members, second mate Danielle…

The NBC cable network’s canned political analyst who mocked Charlie Kirk’s murder says it’s more worried about ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel’s ouster than his. “Not one MSNBC person has said anything about me!” Matthew Dowd cried to podcaster Katie Couric. “They’ve all gone out of their way to say, ‘Isn’t this horrible what happened to Jimmy Kimmel?’” Dowd got fired for suggesting that Kirk had invited his own assassination, allegedly for preaching hateful conservative rhetoric. Kimmel’s late-night show was yanked off the air for similar reasons – when he intimated that Trump supporters were responsible for the murder. But Dowd grabbed…

Maine officials have approved an emergency rule aimed at removing predatory fish from a Washington County lake currently at risk of losing native habitat forever. The rule, which goes into effect Sept. 21, removes bag and size limits on bass throughout the county. Maine fisheries officials proposed the rule in a focused attempt to eliminate bass from West Musquash Lake. Largemouth bass is believed to have been illegally introduced to the 1,600-acre lake by person or persons still being sought. The state has offered a $6,000 reward for information leading to information about whoever dumped the invasive fish into the…

A New Hampshire man is in custody after police say he threatened to kill Gov. Kelly Ayotte. Tristan Anderson, 22, of Hooksett, is charged with criminal threatening and harm or threats to certain government officials. The criminal complaint against Anderson released Thursday alleges that he “did knowingly threaten to commit the crime of homicide and/or assault against Gov. Kelly Ayotte for the purpose of influencing such official’s action or in retaliation for action taken as part of such official’s government duties.” Anderson was allegedly messaging with a woman on Snapchat and said “I’m going to target the NH Mayor Kelly…

Former Vice President Kamala Harris must explain her decision to conceal then-President Joe Biden’s failing health and obvious infirmity in the run up to the 2024 presidential election. That’s the view of the Pennsylvania Democrat governor who is now blaming Harris for hiding former President Biden’s health problems. “She’s going to have to answer to how she was in the room and yet never said anything publicly,” Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a new interview. Shapiro also happens to be a guy who failed to win muster with Kamala as her running mate in favor of the inimitable Gov. Tim…

Twenty-three years ago Angela Walker beat a man to death in an Old Orchard Beach confrontation stemming from an insult the victim had hurled at her. Walker is now looking – and hoping – for forgiveness as she embarks on a municipal political career. She’s among nine candidates seeking a seat on the Bangor city council. Walker was convicted and later imprisoned in the brutal killing of Derek Rogers, a Canadian tourist who had allegedly called her a racist name. Cops found that Rogers had been severely beaten and then suffocated to death with sand forced down his throat. “That’s…

An octogenarian claiming to be the oldest woman to “thru-hike” the Appalachian Trail sorta kinda didn’t. Like, nothing against being old and fit as a fiddle. No arguments there. But the nationwide legacy-media hype over Betty Kellenberger’s 2,200 mile walk is a little over the “top.” For one thing, 80-year-old Betty took three years to “complete” the trail, a feat traditionally called a “thru-hike.” But the customary measure of a thru-hike is doing it in one year, not three. A thru-hiker on the Appalachian Trail is someone who hikes the entire 2,200-mile length of the trail in a single, continuous…

The field of U.S. Senate wannabes is growing by leaps and pounds – evidence the latest candidate worried you’re putting on excessive weight. Air Force veteran Daira Smith Rodriguez, a Make America Healthy Again acolyte, has her eyes set on the seat held by five-term Republican Susan Collins. “Millions of Americans are surrounded by food they can’t eat,” Democrat Rodriguez says. Her campaign staff includes a digital fundraiser for socialist Zohran Mamdani’s NYC mayoral bid and longtime Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who worked for former President Joe Biden’s campaign. But if Rodriguez is hoping to bring the Mamdani brand of…

The state’s shrimp industry, traditionally known almost as much for its sweet delicacy as Maine lobster, is praying for relief come the end of the year. Shrimp regulators will meet in December to determine whether to extend the current ban, Chelsea Tuohy, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission spokeswoman, told the Associated Press. 12 years ago the commission imposed a moratorium on shrimping due to the nearly decimated catch that was being blamed on warming water due to so-called climate change. The “continued poor condition of the northern shrimp stock has resulted in uncertainties in the future status” of the…

Houlton residents are up in arms over a new council policy limiting free speech by banning critical comments during town meetings. Under the new rule, taxpayers who make comments at council sessions cannot criticize town officials or staff. Besides restricting the content of the public comments, the new guidelines will also limit each speaker to two minutes. Previously there were no limits on how long someone could talk or who they could choose to criticize. The clampdown on public speech comes in the wake of residents complaining about town-owned spy cams that were installed throughout the community. What made them…

“Environmentalist” and gay-rights actor Robert Redford predictably found friendly audiences when he spoke at Colby and Bowdoin. Redford, who died Tuesday, was known more for his good looks than his leftist agenda. But he used both to equal advantage. Ten years ago Democrat Redford warned of – what else? – “division in America” in a commencement address at Colby College. The liberal Colby audience, of course, loved the juice, and the Waterville school gave him an honorary degree for singing its tune. Redford’s graduating grandson was in the audience when gramps spoke of “the face of challenges like climate change…

The arguably most entitled racist graduate ever to come out of Maine’s finest school is pledging to jail Israel’s prime minister if he is elected New York City mayor. Socialist Zohran Mamdani, a 2014 Bowdoin graduate who’s the Democrat mayoral nominee, said that if elected, he will order the New York Police Department to arrest Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu if he sets foot in the city, per The New York Times. Mamdani, who polls show is now a virtual shoo-in for mayor, told the Times on Sept. 11 that Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide in Gaza. If the…

A Bangor woman who posed as an heiress to a fictional Irish royal family has been convicted in Northern Ireland of defrauding people out of more than $100,000. Known as the “Queen of the Con,” Marianne ‘Mair’ Smyth stole the six-figure sum from friends and customers while working as a mortgage adviser between 2008 and 2010, police said. Smyth also allegedly hired herself out for sex to a dozen men a month on a “sugar daddy” website before blackmailing her callers with threats to tell their wives. She has posed as a Satanist occultist and an alternative healer called Lucia…

A Washington-based Associated Press story is advancing the increasing likelihood that Maine’s term-limited governor is all in for a U.S. Senate candidacy. “Mills has made calls to prospective campaign managers, according to two sources with direct knowledge of her efforts,” the AP reported late Tuesday. “They spoke on condition of anonymity because Mills has not formally announced her candidacy.” The AP story’s credibility is notable for two reasons. First of all, it builds upon, and supports the premise of, a recent piece from Punchbowl quoting sources saying Mills has begun interviewing potential staff members for a Senate campaign. Second, the…

A leading political analyst is blasting – and trying to figure out – Stephen King for his ill-thought-out false claim about Charlie Kirk. In UK-based magazine The Spectator, Alexander Larman is suggesting that the 77-year-old King is – to coin a phrase – beyond his prime. Put more bluntly, may be losing his mind, not that there’s anything wrong with that. King can blame his second newspaper of choice, the Portland Press Herald, which Sept. 16 called Kirk “a racist who plugged an anti-gay, anti-women agenda” during a recent trip to Old Orchard Beach. “King feels too much and thinks…

Maine State Police are investigating a crash involving a horse-drawn wagon and a vehicle in the northern part of the state, the third recent similar incident. Troopers said the accident happened shortly before 8 a.m. Sept. 12 on Benedicta Road in Sherman. A 2003 Toyota pickup attempted to pass the wagon but did not have enough room and struck it. The wagon operator was ejected and landed on the road. He was taken to Houlton Regional Hospital with injuries police said were not life-threatening. But the wagon was destroyed, and the horse suffered a cut to its leg and foot.…

(Unidentified mushroom thief, courtesy of Old Orchard Beach Police Department)

As the UMaine Black Bears kick off their fall football season they’ve got a new form of mascot competition. A couple of Cornell students dragged a black bear they’d killed while hunting this week back to their dorm room to skin it. Though Cornell’s intercollegiate sports teams have no official mascot, fans have long embraced images of a bear, and a person wearing a bear suit decked out in Cornell gear is a regular sight prowling sidelines at Big Red football and basketball games. A growling bear plays a star role in Cornell’s athletic imagery, and bears are all over…

The Portland Press Herald has been outed in a sitcom – emphasis on ‘com’ – about a failing newspaper. “We’re not a bunch of novices like in the new ‘Office’ spinoff, but there are some undeniable similarities between our workplaces.” That, folks, is straight from the keyboard of Connecticut-born Leslie Bridgers, the Press Herald’s “we’re-not-novices” actress columnist in residence. “Despite the glaring differences between ‘The Paper’s’ Toledo Truth Teller, propped up by a handful of volunteer reporters and its paper-product parent company, and the nonprofit-owned Portland Press Herald with two dozen staff writers, a look inside both newsrooms reveals some…

(from Josh Dunlap’s LinkedIn page)

A pair of lovebirds may be the culprits suspected of vandalizing the sign at Katahdin ‘s uppermost reach. Baxter State Park officials reported the “act of vandalism” in a social media post Thursday. The letters “H.M.” and “J.M” were carved into the middle of the Baxter Peak sign on Katahdin, which marks the 5,268-foot summit of Baxter Peak. If that’s not a Mile High Club antic what is? The sign denotes the summit as officially the “Northern Terminus Of The Appalachian Trail.” And unofficially the Peak de Résistance (aka the highest point in Maine). “Did you witness the act?” park…

The handler of a Maine state “comfort dog” who died in a hot car earlier this year is facing charges connected to the lab’s death. Brodie Hinckley has now been charged with a civil violation of animal cruelty, according to the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office. Hinckley has been placed on paid administrative leave, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety said. The announcement comes more than three months after Baxter’s death. The 3-year-old chocolate lab, who served as Maine’s first comfort dog, was found dead inside a state vehicle at the Bangor Regional Communications Center in late…

A bitter internacine family food fight is fraying the nerves of drama-weary shoppers wondering whether their favorite supermarket is going to survive. The latest boardroom crisis at Market Basket triggers the question: “will I have to move my ‘basket’ over to, say, Hannaford, or Walmart, or Shaw’s?” But the Demoulas family, which owns Market Basket and offers the lowest grocery prices in Maine, is hoping that shoppers’ habits die hard. Judging from a statement put out this week by company officials, it’s apparent they’re afraid that the seemingly never-ending boardroom fight may finally be getting near the point where their…

Democrat Gov. Janet Mills is interviewing staff for a potential U.S. Senate bid, according to a new report. Politico is crediting Punchbowl with the Mills scoop. The report did not indicate whether Gov. Mills is interviewing actual Mainers or swampy DC types, but given the origin of the news, the latter is likely. The staffing interviews come as Mills is “seriously considering” a run against longtime GOP Sen. Susan Collins. Mills has said she would decide by November. Maine is a top offensive target for Senate Democrats this cycle, the only one in a state that former Vice President Kamala…

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk, fatally shot Wednesday at an event at Utah Valley University, came to Maine last month to urge residents to ‘take back’ their state. Kirk was the featured guest for a political group’s inaugural event Aug. 2 in Old Orchard Beach. Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, keynoted a Maine Civic Action event at Dunegrass Golf Club The nonprofit organization is dedicated to identifying and training citizens to become active leaders in their communities. Kirk during his visit expressed concern over the direction the Pine Tree State is headed in…

The small Cessna that crashed last month while trying to land at Bangor International Airport came close to slamming into an FAA employee near the impact, according to a government analysis. The preliminary report on the Aug. 22 crash quotes the unnamed FAA employee as saying he was driving south along the airport’s perimeter road, west of the runway, when he saw the plane dipping towards the ground – and he reflexively ducked thinking it was going to hit him. “While the plane was landing, I noticed his left wing getting very close to the pavement. He seemed to have…

A Winter Harbor fifth-generation lobsterman has been defeated in a humorous, international competition that centers on provoking a voracious, razor-toothed monkfish. Jacob Knowles is not just any Maine fisherman, mind you. He has become a social-media star by documenting his work – for over six million followers. But despite his popularity teaching the world about the real grind of a Maine fisherman’s life, Knowles also makes sure work isn’t all work. As it turns out, he and a fellow angler from the country of Norway both posted Facebook videos at the same time showing them each teasing a grisly, ugly,…

The class-baiter who may have gotten into Maine’s finest school falsely claiming oppressed-minority status is now all but a shoo-in as mayor of the Big Apple. That’s the upshot of a new poll showing Zohran Mamdani all but clearing the field with 46 percent of the vote over two other liberals and the lone Republican. Mamdani, a 2014 Bowdoin College grad who complained during his years there alleging white supremacy, has apparently found an electorate that hates cops and loves government-run grocery stores. [RELATED: Did Socialist And Fake ‘Black’ NYC Mayoral Candidate Mamdani Also ‘Lie’ On His Bowdoin College Application?]…

Camden cops are hoping someone drops a dime on the pink-stained political activist who damaged $175,000 worth of spanking-new parking kiosks. Online grime stoppers are suggesting that an angry woke Karen was behind the colorful-yet-costly vandalism spree. The culprit used pink spray paint to deface the meters – a unique and hard-to-miss color choice. The unhappy camper also injected spray foam insulation into the meters’ credit-card slots, preventing card payments. Meanwhile, alert Redditors may be onto something by speculating that a left-wing actor who goes by the name “The Raven” on social media might be involved. “Far-left activists have openly…

A native and resident of Lubec, Maine was the oldest to die in the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed 2,983 souls just a year short of a quarter-century ago. Robert Grant Norton, 85, was flying with his wife Jacqueline on their way to California for a wedding. The World War II Navy veteran from Lubec, Maine, the small fishing community on the eastern tip of Washington County that borders Canada, never made it to 86. Norton and his second wife were passengers on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles. They had first flown from Bangor to Boston…

(Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, before the ‘Karen’ haircut)

Bob Marley gets a good laugh at just about anything he can but apparently Budweiser suits don’t appreciate a good frothy ribald chuckle. Marley, who tours the country telling jokes about the Maine way of life, made a quick side trip Sept. 8 to St. Louis to visit his daughter along the way to one of his shows. With some time to kill, he stopped at the Budweiser plant to – among other things – laugh at a Clydesdale’s endowment… Of course! He’s Bob Marley, whose humor always includes sophomoric jokes about the human anatomy. (And this time, naturally, he…

An Augusta perp who allegedly blew a Cushing man’s head off with a shotgun wants to exclude from his trial things he later said to cops. A lawyer for Jason Hewett, 40, is arguing that police failed to read Hewett his Miranda rights during a standoff before his arrest. Hewett allegedly shot and killed Kyle MacDougal, 45, at a Cushing home just over a year ago before leading police on a high-speed chase. After the killing, Maine State Police pursued Hewett in his car, finally cornering him in Augusta, where he eventually emerged from his vehicle after four hours of…

The invasive European green crabs taking a toll on New England lobster breeding grounds pose a double-edged threat to Maine’s favorite crustacean. While marine biologists are doing their best to kill off the crabs, turns out the body oils from the grabby creatures are a way to disguise monkfish as lobster. Judging from resourceful New England chefs, cooks can make monkfish take like lobster by poaching it in green-crab oil. The troublesome crabs are far better dead than alive according to fisheries experts who consider those crabs a harmful invasive species. The weird thing about invasive species, whether they be…

A new $2.2 billion Bath Iron Works contract for another Arleigh Burke destroyer is giving Russian Navy commanders heart palpitations. The new passive sonar radar systems being installed on the BIW-built destroyers put to rest any Russian hopes that their are subs will go undetected. Defense experts said in a newly released analysis that Russian subs can no longer think they have the stealth they once enjoyed. “This breakthrough could reshape global naval strategy,” according to a newly published defense analysis by iStudiez Pro. “Enemy submarines, once secure in deep ocean ‘safe zones,’ may now find themselves constantly at risk.…

So much for Democrat Gov. Janet Mills’ warning that this summer’s tourism numbers would be a bust due to Trump. For the second time in two months Karen’s dire tourism predictions have proven wrong. Acadia National Park just reported it had more visitors in August than any month since 1989 – nearly 40 years. The national park on Mount Desert Island saw a record-breaking 842,827 visitors last month, according to data from the National Park Service. Despite the warnings from Mills about a drop in tourism numbers, Acadia also set a visitation record in July, beating the previous record set…

Maine troopers are marking a century since they lost the second of the state’s police officers to die in the organization’s line of duty. Inspector Fred Foster of Lisbon had only been a member of the state highway patrol for a year. Foster, 27, died 100 years ago when his Harley Davidson struck a horse hauling a load of hay. The Route 3 accident occurred in Belfast on August 30, 1925. He had joined the state highway patrol in 1924. Foster was then only the second Maine state policeman to die while on duty. He was also the second in…

Half a century for kids. That’s the remarkable run so far for a group of otherwise-tough, leather-vested, tattooed guys – and gals – who, let’s face it, are secretly kids at heart. Since 1975, United Bikers of Maine has been thinking of needy kids so they’ll have plenty of cool stuff under the Christmas tree. It’s never too early for the bikers to start thinking of ways to bring Santa to the tots of the Pine Tree State. So in keeping with the early-bird theme, the bikers’ Kennebec County Chapter will be hosting a “pre-event gathering” to the annual Toy…

A Polish executive innocently dragged into a viral internet scandal says he now feels the pain of the innocent Kennebunk woman whose millionaire husband’s famous romantic embrace of his mistress in a global ‘jumbotron’ moment caught her cold-footed. Roman Szkaradek, who owns a Polish paving company, is being confused with Piotr Szczerek, who also owns a Polish paving company but in a different town. It was Szczerek, not Szkaradek, who went viral at the U.S. Open tennis match last week allegedly grabbing a souvenir hat from a little boy in the bleachers. Szczerek has been roundly criticized around the world…

Tore it down to go skinny dipping with Snoop Dog

A Cumberland suds guru is the latest Democrat to announce plans to take on Maine’s senior senator, though the jury’s still out on whether beer goggles are to blame for choice. Dan Kleban, who three months ago said he was considering a run at Republican Susan Collins, has now put a head on it. Kleban, a former attorney who owns a Freeport beer company, says he is in the Democrat primary race – along with two others who have raised over $1 million each (Graham Platner and Jordan Wood) as well as a handful of less viable candidates – hoping…

Two Bangor air-traffic controllers are being recognized for saving a pilot – and innocent civilians on the ground – from what could well have been a crash. Joshua Costello and Bryan Loquet work the tower at the Bangor International Airport, part of the FAA’s New England region. Costello and Loquet will be among 20 sky bosses from FAA regions across the country to be honored at the National Air Traffic Controllers Association annual safety-award conference Sept. 17 in Las Vegas. They will be receiving the Archie League Medal of Safety, created in 2004 and named for the first air traffic…

UK cops cuffed and stuffed Irish comedy writer – and Maine trans critic -Graham Linehan earlier this week for posting anti-trans tweets on X. Linehan, 57, said he was arrested Monday at Heathrow Airport after arriving from Arizona. The Metropolitan Police didn’t name Linehan but said it had arrested a man at the airport on suspicion of inciting violence in posts on X. Linehan, a controversial figure known for his anti-transgender activism that has led to him being jailed and banned from social-media platforms, has enjoyed many a poke at the expense of Maine’s pro-transgender activists. In a March post…

If your body is resting in the anatomical morgue at Maine’s only medical school, you’re in for a honorarium, albeit a low-key affair. Or at least your relatives are. The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine will be holding its annual body-donation memorial service in Portland on Sept. 14. The event “is an annual, community-centered gathering to acknowledge the priceless contribution of the people who have donated their bodies to the university,” school officials said. A non-denominational service will include short speeches by the college’s dean, medical and health-science students involved directly with the anatomical donors, and members…

A Massachusetts man has been arrested on a murder charge in the violent death of a popular Portland chef who was found dead last month. Christopher Caron, 42, of Scituate turned himself in to police Aug. 30 in connection with Declan Perry’s killing, the Plymouth District Attorney’s Office said. Caron is to be arraigned on a murder charge in Hingham District Court on Sept. 2. Perry, 27, head chef at The Grill Room & Bar in Portland, was found Aug. 23 in a bloody car with Maine plates parked near South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts. New details leading up…

Two New York women died Saturday after a pontoon boat in Eustis flipped over, dumping seven passengers into the water, authorities said. The victims were identified as Farhana Nasir, 53, of Selden, and Kiran Akbar, 23, of Lake Grove. The tragic accident, which happened on Flagstaff Lake, is under investigation. Seven people were boating on the lake in an 18-foot Sea-Doo Switch Pontoon boat, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife. As the year-old boat approached the beach area of Cathedral Pines Campground, its bow started to dip underwater, authorities said. The driver, John Morris, 50 of…

Labor Day weekend 1975, four-year-old Kurt Newton was riding his red tricycle at a northern Maine campground. The blue-eyed, blond-haired little boy was never seen again. It’s now been 50 years since Kurt went missing from a campsite where he and his big sister Kimberly, 6, and their parents had been staying. Kurt’s father Ron said he’d gone off collecting firewood, while his wife Jill was with some other mothers at a bathhouse cleaning mud off their children’s shoes. The family was with three other families from Manchester, Maine spending the holiday weekend at Natanis Point Campground, small and remote,…

An enraged motorist brutally attacked a longtime tractor-trailer operator who was on his way home from work on August 27, police say. The attacker allegedly beat Ronnie Bushway II in a bloody assault, gouging his victim’s eyes. Doctors say the 46-year-old Bushway may never recover his sight. Bushway was heading home from his commercial-driving job at Saia LTL Freight, a company with terminals in Scarborough, Maine; Conway, New Hampshire and Colchester, Vermont. Bushway told cops he was driving in his car from Colchester when a motorist began tailgating him. As Bushway slowed to let the other driver pass him, the…

Bill Diamond, a centrist Democrat Maine statesman and statehouse fixture who fought to protect vulnerable children, has died. The former longtime member of the Maine House and Senate, as well as an ex-secretary of state, died Sunday at the age of 80. Not long before his passing, Diamond did several interviews blasting his own party – and specifically its governor – for failing to protect Maine’s underprivileged kids. The conservative Democrat from Windham, who served as a constitutional officer under a Republican governor, said that two-term Gov. Janet Mills needed to take a stronger stance to initiate real change protecting…

A suspect in the killing of a Maine chef allegedly asked neighbors to help him move a mannequin just before cops found the victim’s body wrapped in duct tape. Declan Perry, 27, was found dead Saturday in a bloody car with Maine plates parked outside a Massachusetts hospital. Condo residents in Scituate called police after seeing TV footage of the investigation saying they’d seen their neighbor moving a large item into a black sedan. The suspect allegedly asked a neighbor to help him and another woman move a large object wrapped in a rug into a car. Pursuant to a…

A Maine man has died while swimming after a boat that was drifting away on a Belgrade pond, the second such case in just three months. Robert Gary was trying to retrieve his 12-foot aluminum motorboat on Ellis Pond after it began floating away from the Spaulding Point boat launch on Wednesday. Gary, 66, of Oakland, went under and did not resurface, a witness told police, according to NewsCenterMaine. Gary’s body was found approximately 35 yards from shore in about four feet of water. The tragic drowning case is reminiscent of a similar drowning in June in Nobleboro’s Damariscotta Lake.…

The New Hampshire woman who killed her husband and two children before taking her own life embezzled over $600,000 from the company she worked for, her employer now claims. Emily Long, 34, her husband Ryan Long, and two of their children, son Parker, 8, and daughter Ryan, 6, were found dead Aug. 18 with gunshot wounds in their Madbury, NH home. Long was the director of operations of Wing-Itz, a chicken wing restaurant company with several locations in New Hampshire. The owner of the chain’s Hampton location, Derek Fisher, is alleging that she stole $660,000 from the company over two…

Boston radio talker Howie Carr landed the first interview with acquitted media star Karen Read – but Read’s No. 1 champion wasn’t allowed on the show. Read was expected to do her first public interview on Thursday, following her second murder trial that ended about two months ago. Carr posted an announcement on social media boasting that both Read and her attorney, Alan Jackson, would be on his radio show, which is syndicated across two dozen stations in New England. Yet Carr conspicuously made no mention of the guy who carried water for Read during her entire battle to clear…

When Maine’s House minority leader isn’t catching Democrats trying to pull a fast one, he’s out in the boat. “It’s the biggest lobster I’ve ever caught,” Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham said of his recent catch, an 18-pounder. “It’s probably 100 years old, as big as a child.” Faulkingham on his Facebook page then picked up a 12-pounder he’d also just caught. “Small by comparison,” he said. Faulkingham threw both of them back, but not before giving them a “snack” to take with them. The House leader certainly needs big bugs to distract from the latest political catch – the Democrat…

A Portland restaurant is mourning its head chef who was suspiciously found dead in a hospital parking lot. Declan Perry, 27, ran the kitchen at the The Grill Room & Bar in the Old Port section of Maine’s largest city. Perry’s body was discovered wrapped in blankets and bound with duct tape in the back seat of a parked car outside the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts, on Saturday afternoon. Police said the car, a black 2019 Honda Civic, had Maine plates – and a bullet hole in the windshield along with blood on the steering wheel. Cops say…

The heir to the Angus King name and fortune is so generous he’s sharing his tips on wealth with Joe Sixpack. The Maine gubernatorial hopeful announced he’s “joining local business and community leaders for a roundtable discussion about growing the economy in Ellsworth.” Angus King III’s out-of-state staff said the Aug. 27 stop was part of a tour of businesses in the area, including MDI Biological Laboratories, Jackson Laboratory and Kids Corner in Bar Harbor. Young Angus is not to be confused with the elder, who has done just fine financially in the private sector aside from his years as…

Things are looking up in a small northern Maine town – and residents are outraged. Looking up in two senses. Surveillance cameras in Houlton, some posted high up on poles, are allegedly being used by municipal workers to look up information about local folks. Creepy is as creepy was. Municipal employees are supposedly using the cameras, which were installed last year, to research details about people and vehicles, according to data obtained by the Bangor Daily News through a Freedom of Access Act request. The paper says it determined that staffers from various town departments – including police, public works,…

Photo from Luigi Accusani’s Facebook page

Photo courtesy of the Town of Berlin

Funny how those empty campaign promises that come back to bite you are made all the more painful when your own party goes south on your false claims. Just ask Janet Mills, who when running against her Republican predecessor complained he wasn’t doing enough for Native Americans. The governor has left unfilled four seats on the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission. The board, which is supposed to report to the Legislature on state-tribal affairs and provide feedback on issues that concern the Wabanaki Nations, is also charged with regulating fishing in certain waters and approving additions to reservations. Mills, who controls…

A four-foot lizard is on the run in central Maine, sending chills down the spines of Bangor-area residents. The lizard was spotted in the area of Hillside Ave in Old Town but cops said “its current whereabouts are unknown.” “Yo wtf imagine walking outside and this mf drags you into the bushes,” said Jairin Soni of Orono. Police first said they believed it was a Monitor lizard but now think it’s a Tegu. “Tegus have sharp teeth and claws, and strong jaws,” cops said on their Facebook page. “While not inherently aggressive, they can lash out if they feel threatened.…

The Maine man discovered dead in a bloody car parked near South Shore Hospital in Massachusetts has been identified. Declan Perry, 27, of Portland, was found wrapped in several blankets secured with duct tape in the backseat of a black 2019 Honda Civic shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday. The Civic – with a bullet hole in the windshield – had been apparently abandoned adjacent to the Weymouth hospital’s emergency room entrance when Perry’s body was found by passers-by. Perry was declared dead just minutes after his body was discovered in the car, which had Maine plates. TV news video from…

The most celebrated jockey in the annals of horseracing lived in Canada — but kept a post-office box in Van Buren, Maine. Hall of Famer Ron Turcotte, who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973, died Friday in Drummond, New Brunswick, his hometown just across the Maine border. The 5’1” self-effacing jockey spent a lot of time in Aroostook County, which was like a second home to him. Turcotte had so many friends and roots in Van Buren he ended up getting his mail there. Imagine, the world’s greatest jockey crossing the international border – just to pick up…

Squirrels covered in pus-filled, wart-like tumors, skulking through backyards. You’re thinking, “that’s just nuts.” But it’s not as squirrelly as you might think. The grotesque-looking gray squirrels, photographed in states like Maine and across parts of Canada, have appeared in recent months with oozing sores and hairless patches on their heads and limbs, the Daily Mail reported, citing a flurry of social media users spotting the critters on Reddit and X. Photos and reports of afflicted squirrels date back to mid-2023, but sightings have surged again this summer. Maybe it’s the return of Ratatoskr, the squirrel in Norse mythology who…

The landscape is littered with self-described political wannabes thinking they can take on the party elites to win the big, important races. U.S. Senate, governor – those are the two big prizes everyone and his brother – or sister – wants. Few seem to care about the lower-rung offices, such as U.S. Congress. (Sorry Chellie. Though former Governor Paul LePage is leading U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in Second Congressional District polls.) Honestly, the challengers who want the Senate seat held by longtimer Susan Collins really don’t have much of a prayer. The only thing any of them can hope for…

Is the Maine Trust for Local News staff, threatening to expand its union, preparing for a ‘strike’ if it doesn’t get what it wants from the suits? Apparently, judging from what the state’s largest paper is promoting as its “strike team.” “The three-person quick-strike reporting team is tasked with identifying strong investigative and narrative stories and getting them to readers quickly,” according to Executive Editor Carolyn Fox. “Follow along as they report on the looming trade war, cannabis regulation and other important statewide topics.” There’s only one small problem – the paramilitary, helmeted team just missed its most-recent chance to,…

A bullet-riddled car with Maine plates was found abandoned over the weekend in a Massachusetts hospital parking lot, police said. Inside the four-door black sedan was a man’s body in the back seat. The vehicle had a bullet hole in the windshield, along with blood spattered near the steering wheel. Cops got a 911 call about the car, parked near South Shore Hospital’s emergency-room entrance, just after 2 p.m. Saturday. Weymouth Police and Massachusetts State Police were calling the case an “unattended death.” For hours, cops blocked off the entrance to the emergency room while they investigated. The car was…

A 9-year-old Vassalboro videographer became an overnight worldwide internet sensation with spectacular footage he took of a fatal Bangor plane crash. Jaxon Cook, an aspiring pilot who his mother said loves planes, was shooting video Friday of a single-engine Cessna at Bangor International Airport. Within seconds of the start of the video viewers can see that it becomes clear to Jaxon that the cartwheeling plane is about to crash land. “Oh no, oh shoot, it crashed, oh shoot, oh no,” Jaxon can be heard exclaiming on the 48-second harrowing video. The plane can be seen taxiing on the runway, then…

The public has now been shut out – literally – from updates on the status of a teenaged suspected campground killer. Deven Young, 17, of Frankfort, was to appear Friday before a Knox County judge to argue why he shouldn’t be tried as an adult. But Judge Eric Walker actually taped the courtroom door shut so no one from the public could witness the proceeding. Outside Friday’s sealed courtroom, two dozen longtime friends of murder victim Sunshine Stewart were wearing yellow and carrying signs saying “#JusticeForSunny.” “We want to make sure that the judge knows that the community wants him…

If you’re still worried that your Maine lobster will feel pain when you toss it into boiling water, relax. Now you can buy an electric appliance that will stun the lobster or, basically, kill it almost instantly. CrustaStun, now available at your favorite online appliance dealer. And for only $4,595.73! Who knew? News that you can stun your bug to death, sparing it the indignity of a possibly painful boiling, comes amid the ongoing debate: Do lobsters feel pain? Yahoo News has revived the controversy, reporting that yes, they do. “Lobsters do feel pain, and being boiled alive is painful…

When the mayor of Maine’s largest city insisted a federal airport-improvement grant doesn’t mean ICE is involved he never mentioned how ‘bushmeat’ is shipped by air. Mark Dion took great pains during a news conference he called to say there’s no strings attached to the $18 million federal cash payout. Unfortunately no legacy reporter was enough on the ball to ask Dion whether monkey meat such as that found at Detroit airport is subject to search at Portland International Jetport’’s baggage carousel. Apparently monkey meat in airports is a thing, whether or not it’s shipped packed in ICE. U.S. Customs…

Twelve years ago — after jurors convicted him of gruesomely murdering his girlfriend — Ted Jaime told them, “I am not responsible for this murder. We will proceed with an appeal or whatever.” “Whatever” came this week when the now-frail Presque Isle monster died at Maine State Prison. Jurors in 2014 decided that the pawn shop owner stabbed and beat his live-in girlfriend to death in a drunken rage. Starlette Vining, a young mother and supermarket bagger, was 38 when she was last seen alive in October 1998. Jaime walked the streets of Aroostook County free for the next 14…

The FBI raided Trump critic John Bolton’s home at dawn Friday, reportedly in search of secret government documents that the former top presidential advisor may allegedly be hiding. Bolton, who served as national security adviser during President Trump’s first term in office, has been very critical of his ex-boss’ handling of foreign policy. About the same time the agents began searching Bolton’s home in Bethesda, FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X, “NO ONE is above the law… FBI agents on mission.” And Dan Bongino, deputy FBI director, shared Patel’s post with the comment, “Public corruption will not be tolerated.”…

A Camden attorney is facing a felony charge for possessing sexually-explicit material, officials said on Thursday. Thomas Karod, 56, was nabbed on a judicially approved arrest warrant “in reference to an ongoing investigation,” Maine State Police announced. Under Maine law, sexually-explicit material is images of children under the age of 16 year. The investigation is being conducted by the Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit. Karod was taken into custody without incident with the assistance of the Damariscotta and Camden Police Departments, authorities said. His bail was set at $500 cash with conditions not to use the internet or have…

An online petition has been launched urging prosecutors to charge a teen murder suspect as an adult. The petition sponsored by Facebook investigative journalist Phillip Brunelle comes amid reports the files on Deven Young have now been sealed from public access. Young, 17, was scheduled for a hearing Aug. 22 in Knox County Court in Rockland to determine whether a judge would bind him over as an adult. A court spokesperson would only say the case is now no longer public, suggesting he may be treated as a juvenile defendant. If Young’s case is prosecuted in juvenile court he would…

Famed “Hot Mics” host Billy Bush has announced a new iteration of his podcast – “Morning Mics” – coming live from Maine. Bush is going live at 10 a.m. Monday through Thursday from what he calls “an island in Maine.” Though Bush didn’t name the island, one may safely presume he’s referring to North Haven in Penobscot Bay. The Bush family – known more for its Kennebunkport summer hideout than anywhere in Maine – also owns property on North Haven. Billy – whose cousin Jonathan Bush of Cape Elizabeth is a putative Maine GOP gubernatorial hopeful – is the nephew…

The owners of Maine’s largest financially-challenged paper have a new headache on their hands – an expansionist union. The staffers at the smaller weeklies owned by the Maine Trust for Local News (MTLN) want in on bigger wages. Though the weeklies are considered the training grounds, the staffers think they should be paid the same as their big brothers and sisters at the Portland Press Herald. In fact, the staffers at the smaller papers have been lobbying for more than 15 years to try to get the Press Herald union to recognize them. When Maine Today Media bought the newspaper…

Jeff Bezos wants a piece of rural Gorham – but the natives aren’t buying it. Amazon got the council’s green light Tuesday to buy 94 acres along Main Street for $4 million, despite no detailed plans for the property. The residents of the Portland bedroom community are demanding answers, saying it’s unclear what Amazon will do the property. “They hit you between the eyes without any notice at all,” George Gilman told WGME. “No advertising.” Carol Molchior wishes the town council would have provided residents with more notice, and an opportunity to speak their minds. “I don’t think giving notice…

Edward S. Pocock III may be the first optimistic, “post-apocalyptic” town manager ever hired in Maine. Or anywhere for that matter. The former cop, trained sniper, and author of a series of dystopian novels is the new municipal boss in Limestone, Maine. Limestone is perhaps best known as the home of a former Air Force base – and ground zero for America’s post-World War II, easternmost-U.S. A-bomb bunkers. A cold-war-era base structure located in the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge in Limestone, is known as the Limestone Vampire House. The leftover structure is a relic from the time when nuclear weapons…

A Glenburn man told cops his demons told him to “just do it, kill her, put her out of her misery.” Ethan Herbert, 19, was arrested after allegedly trying Sunday to kill his grandmother with a hatchet and a knife. Herbert faces charges of attempted murder, domestic violence elevated aggravated assault, and domestic violence aggravated assault. The grandmother was taken to the hospital, where part of her skull was removed. She had been trying to keep her grandson from fighting with his grandfather when she was allegedly attacked. The grandparents had banned him from their house before the fight. Cops…

A highly educated military attorney from a small New Hampshire town told a jury he “loved being outdoors” growing up. “I still love being outdoors.” Unfortunately for Nicholas Kassotis, born in Peterborough, New Hampshire and raised in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, his enjoyment of hiking and running will be forever no more. The advanced-law grad from Georgetown University who grew up in the “Live Free Or Die” state will never live free again. The only “outdoors” he will ever see is a prison exercise yard surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers. Kassotis, 43, was sentenced to life without parole -…

Veterans needing a friend and pups wanting hugs can be matches made in heaven. “With a goal of ending veteran suicide, Maine Paws for Veterans has created a unique training program that pairs rescued dogs with veterans suffering from PTSD, bringing two troubled lives together to create a bond of love, healing and newfound hope.” Veterans in crisis who end up with smiles. Dogs needing TLC that end up with tails wagging. The only question is which one benefits more – a vet or soldier in needing his face licked by an excited, slobbering puppy or the four-legged creature looking…

A veteran Sebago hunter who gave chase to a suspected killer Friday in Windham – and nearly took him down – is winning high praise from law enforcement. “I was the one in the U-Haul who chased him down and smashed into him,” Matt York, a registered Maine Guide told The Maine Wire in an exclusive interview. York, 38, was giving chase to a man suspected in Windham on Friday of randomly killing a motorcyclist, later identified as Erin Hayne, 33, of Casco, in cold blood along Route 302. York was in traffic, having just pulled out of a nearby…

(Photo courtesy of Volusia County, FLA jail)

A Republican state senator’s unprompted proposal for western Canadian provinces to join the U.S. is drawing sharp rebukes from liberals far and wide. Joe Martin, (R-Oxford), wrote a letter to Canadian government officials laying out how British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba could seek admission “as full American states” if their citizens consent to it. Sen. Martin also criticized aspects of Canadian governance in making his case. His letter – which focused on the parts of Canada farthest from Maine – gained little attention until a British Columbia lawmaker posted online last week a critical reply. The Maine senator’s idea…

It’s scarier even than a great white shark because there’s not even a hint of a warning. You never see a shark fin, you never even see Jaws. It’s flesh-eating bacteria. Just the name brings chills (which are actually one of the symptoms of the killer bug). The bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, commonly associated with the “flesh-eating” moniker thanks to its ability to cause infections that damage or “eat away” at skin and tissue, has killed eight people along the Gulf Coast this summer. The bacteria is creeping northward farther than usual because of the warming of the water, scientists say.…

A couple who has been trying to buy an historic Camden storefront says they’re caught in the middle of a bureaucratic logjam. “My husband and I have been met with obstructions at every level,” said Amy LaCouture. The LaCoutures earlier bought 39 Main Street, registered in The Great Camden Fire District on the National Register. The building sits over the spillway overlooking Camden Harbor in between the Smiling Cow and Camden Deli. Amid the pending purchase, the structure’s owners had been given a notice of violation due to rotting piers beneath it. But the LaCoutures are now caught in a…

Imagine the gossip at Roger Goodell’s oceanside Prout’s Neck palace’s summer cocktail parties. Is the NFL commissioner sitting in a corner by himself, stewing over speculation he’s an overly-paranoid big baby looking to take over network coverage that he can’t stand? That might be the case, judging from the criticism he’s getting for allegedly trying to strong-arm ESPN’s gridiron coverage. But since we haven’t been invited (yet) to eavesdrop at his $12.8 million Scarborough mansion, we can only imagine. “Pending regulatory approval (which seems to be hardly a given), the NFL eventually will own 10 percent of ESPN,” NBC Sports…