Author: Ted Cohen

Bangor hooligans were out in force to whine about the cost of preserving freedom on the eve U.S. remembering its devastating Pearl Harbor losses this past weekend. The “anti-war demonstration” was held in downtown Bangor’s Pierce Park on Saturday night, December 6. December 7 just happens to be Pearl Harbor Day, observed annually by grateful Americans to remember and honor the 2,403 Americans killed in the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The attack led to the United States declaring war on Japan the next day and thus entering World War II. The Bangor…

A man is facing kidnapping charges after a high-speed chase through New Hampshire. State troopers attempted a traffic stop Saturday night in Strafford for a driver wanted in an ongoing investigation. They say the driver did not stop, and cops began chasing the vehicle, according to WGME-TV. Troopers say during the chase, a passenger, who was a minor, was let out. The uninjured child was brought to family by police. The car was stopped using tire deflation, but troopers say the driver refused to get out. The suspect, Scott Newcomb, 55, of Belmont, New Hampshire, eventually got out and was…

A Westbrook man who allegedly murdered his neighbor is denying the charge. James Fowler, 48, pleaded not guilty Monday in the death of Robert Seger. Seger, 57, and the suspect lived in separate Westbrook apartments in the same complex. Seger died at a hospital in November after being found unresponsive in his apartment the prior evening. Cops allege that Seger suffered several injuries, including blunt-force trauma. “The death of Mr. Seger didn’t happen in a vacuum,” Assistant Attorney General Suzanne Russell said Monday. “It was not an isolated incident.” Russell said Seger was somewhat dependent on Fowler for care. Fowler’s…

An Androscoggin County man has been charged in connection with shooting and killing a cat, police said. Jake Cyr, 34, of Greene allegedly shot the cat five times. The animal was discovered by Animal Control Officer Rich Burton not far from Cyr’s residence. Neighbors led cops to Cyr. Burton said he had been sent to the area for a report of an injured cat. When he began questioning neighbors, he said he was told that Cyr had the cat and planned to shoot it. Cyr has disputed Burton’s account, claiming the cat had been struck by a car and was…

The only Maine daily other than those owned by you know who says it has decided to ignore any news events covered by competitors. In a new job posting designed to fill its “senior political-reporter” position, the Bangor Daily News tells applicants: “If you see other reporters at an event, we want you to leave. Go report somewhere else.” So apparently it’ll work like this: if, say, Angus King calls a news conference to announce he’s becoming a Republican, Bangor won’t cover it. But apparently even if the Press Herald weren’t at the Angus press gaggle, Bangor’s editors still wouldn’t…

Kyle Lloyd, photo courtesy of the Skowhegan Police Department

Just three weeks after receiving one of France’s highest military honors, a decorated WWII veteran from Maine has died. Shay, 101, died at his home near Caen in France’s Normandy region, his family said. Born on June 27, 1924, on the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation in Maine, Shay was among some 500 Native Americans who took part in the June 6, 1944 landings. Shay was formally inducted into the Order of Military Medical Merit during a bedside ceremony in Bayeux, France on November 20. As a U.S. Army medic, he ran across the beach dozens of times, dragging men out…

The East-Central Maine version of liberal Portland, besieged like its southern big-sister city with rag-tag “homeless” encampments, is going high tech. To wit, Bangor officials are actually considering creating a government-sponsored tent city. “We can’t keep doing insanity, repeating the same thing over and over and over again,” Bangor City Councilor Joseph Leonard told WVII-TV. “A sanctioned encampment site that allows the city to regulate, establish laws, get citizens there to actually produce rules and order to maintain the community that’s there – that makes it much easier for social services, for EMS, for police to be able to get…

A liberal political lobby announced Wednesday it’s going after Maine’s Angus King for going soft on President Trump. But in reality King set up this Trojan Horse to distance himself from the ongoing ribbing he takes for being a Democrat in “independent” garb. Nothing King does isn’t calculated. For instance, he recently boasted that his vote to confirm an anti-abortion federal judge was “a mistake.” But was it really? King likely knew exactly what he was doing. He’s actually pretty good at this game. The words “I made a mistake” are so endearing! That’s exactly why Angus actually said “I…

If it seems Senate hopeful Janet Mills is stepping up her social-media campaign, there may be a reason. The Hermon GOP Committee says the term-limited governor’s own polling is showing a serious problem for her. Mills “got some very bad news about her run for the United States Senate,” the committee is reporting on its website. “Polling from her own camp has her losing in the primary to an oyster fisherman nobody has ever heard of,” the committee said. “But it gets worse – if she does pull off that primary win, she’s trailing incumbent Senator Susan Collins by more…

The Florida boat that flipped killing a Maine couple and their friend was going as fast as 80 mph at the time, witnesses told a Cape Coral TV station. The accident happened Saturday evening on a river in Cape Coral, just south of Fort Myers near the Cape Coral Yacht Club in the Caloosahatchee River. The sole survivor of the four passengers on what was described as an MTI 390 speedboat was discharged Wednesday from Gulf Coast Hospital. Neal Kirby, 45, of Cape Coral, the only survivor, suffered multiple injuries, including six broken ribs, possibly from a bystander giving him…

A Facebook group whose 21,000 members are focused on “car spotting” are suddenly obsessed with a Christmas tree on the roof of a fancy sports car. Josh Cottone, a member of the group known as “Car Spotting In Maine,” posted: “Followed him from Maine to NH over the bridge on 95.” He attached a picture he took through his windshield of a Porsche in front of him with a Christmas tree tied to its roof. Cottone lit a fire under fellow members wondering what his issue is – or whether he’s OCD. Sports-car dreamers said the point of Cottone’s post…

Former Portland cop and Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion fancies himself as Maine’s next governor. After all, the law-school grad and former state senator tried once to reach for the stars that shone so promisingly over the Blaine House. Just because Dion, 70, now mayor of Maine’s largest city, lost big-time doesn’t mean he’s given up on the dream. Of course he hasn’t. Like a longtime congressman and failed 1976 presidential contender from Arizona – Democrat Morris Udall – famously said, once the urge for the highest political office “gets into your bloodstream it can be removed only by one…

The owner of a York driving academy is facing assault and disorderly-conduct charges, police said. Stephen Graziano, a driving instructor and owner of York Driving School LLC, is due for his first court appearance March 4. The charges stem from a complaint that grew out of an “incident involving a student driver” and Graziano last spring, police said late Tuesday. Police said they conducted a thorough investigation after receiving a report of the alleged crimes and found sufficient evidence to arrest Graziano. The driving school, located in Meadowbrook Plaza, caters primarily to local York High School teenagers. Graziano, 63, was…

The Zumwalt class of stealth destroyers, built at Bath Iron Works, are under fire from Congress for failed systems, according to a new national security analysis. The Zumwalt fleet, the first member of which was launched from Bath in 2013, is now slated for weapons modernizations. The $22 billion program with its reported problems is prompting Congress to wonder whether the ship’s concept was such a good idea in the first place. The USS Zumwalt was the largest and most costly destroyer ever built in the U.S. Before it even started to build the first of three Zumwalts, Bath Iron…

The family and friends of an avid Portland runner are insisting she didn’t cross the street against the light before she was struck and killed by a motor vehicle. But Portland Police say she did. Diane Bell, 75, died on November 20 when she was hit by a car at the intersection of Marginal Way and Franklin Arterial. At a vigil Monday night, her supporters said she took every precaution to be safe. They say they believe she pushed the walk button before running through the intersection. “We shouldn’t be here,” Bell’s daughter, Jaime Bell Fairfield, told the crowd. “We…

A national, 127-year-old outdoors-life publication says a Jackman woodsman “might be the most patient and persistent hunter on the planet.” Stephen White Sr. didn’t only spend 36 long years, one year at a time, praying he’d get a deer – and finally killing one. In fact, a group of his friends threw him an unexpected party last month at Lake Parlin Lodge in the North Woods to honor the culmination of his decades-long dream. “It was like a surprise birthday party,” White told OutdoorLife.com. “Everybody was pulling for me.” White, 61, has been chasing one big buck or another since…

Paying homage to that stubborn, all-American, in-your-face spirit, an iconic southern-Maine business is refusing to compromise its red-meat principles. “Turkey burgers will not be served for the 72nd year in a row,” Rapid Ray’s owners posted on Facebook to widespread applause. “Not all heroes wear capes,” Travis Herring of Saco said, praising Ray’s no-woke-burger policy. To any Karens doubting that Ray Camire’s family-owned burger joint in Saco can stick to its guns, let them eat cake. “We’re not budging,” the Camire clan told anyone who would actually relish a turkey burger over hamburger. The late Ray Camire, a meat-cutter by…

It’s taken nearly three decades but the missing historic Curtis Island Lighthouse fog bell has been found – 70 miles away on Deer Isle. The Camden Harbor bell warned mariners from 1896 until 1970. Three years later the town took ownership from the Coast Guard of Curtis Island Light. But the bell was missing. Nearly 30 years later, Coast Guard officials presented the town with the bell, dedicated on Memorial Day weekend 2000 to honor the men and women who had served on the Curtis Island Light Station. But there was only one problem – it wasn’t the original bell.…

William F. Buckley was once seated at a conference table taking questions from an audience when a man asked him, “why is it when I see you on TV you’re always sitting down? Can’t you think standing up?” The room fell silent. Buckley looked angry, serious, ponderous. He took a few moments to gather his thoughts. “It’s very hard standing up… carrying the weight of what I know,” Buckley replied with his magnetic, trademark arrogance. That was the same Bill Buckley who once talked lightheartedly about the best way to put peanut butter on a piece of toast. “First you…

Hard to believe a tiny nut-gathering beast can still disrupt life in the 21st century, even to the point of endangering U.S. national security, but citizens of the Queen City of come to know just how disruptive the little rodents can be. All it took was one squirrel to put thousands of Bangor, Maine residents – and a critically important airport – in the dark over the busy Thanksgiving weekend. The power outage besetting Maine’s third-largest city on Sunday was caused by “animal contact on the line,” said Versant power spokesperson Emily Tadlock. An estimated 3,251 Versant customers lost power,…

Just as residents were getting ready to carve the Thanksgiving turkey west of Maine’s largest city, a pair of earthquakes shook the ground. The first one, a magnitude of 1.4 on the richter scale, shook the ground southwest of Naples about 12:36 a.m. on November 27. That was followed two minutes later by a tremor with a magnitude of 1.3 that hit, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. New Hampshire was also struck by a 1.8 quake two days before the holiday, at 10:13 a.m. on November 25 near Kingston, a town just southwest of Maine’s southernmost town of Kittery. Earlier…

Rockland-area island hoppers are questioning the state’s decision to give away their oldest – and nostalgic – means of getting from there to here. The Everett Libby, one of the original vessels of the Maine State Ferry Service, began carrying islanders to and from the mainland in 1960. But after the Libby was recently replaced with a new boat, state transportation officials solicited bids to get rid of it. The original bidder, a New York company called Prudence Sea Horse, offered $250,000. After company personnel inspected the old girl they said “thanks but we’ll take a pass.” The sale fell…

A full-blown legal fight has broken out between Nova Scotia’s entrenched lobstermen and indigenous fishermen with close relatives in Maine. If this internecine battle doesn’t heat up the depths of cold Canadian waters where many Gulf of Maine lobsters are allegedly migrating to as they search for a more-hospitable habitat, nothing will. Indigenous fishermen along the coast just northeast of Maine argue an old treaty gives them every right to set and haul traps. But Nova Scotia’s politically-established lobstering industry has gone to court to stop them, claiming they have no right to Canada’s commercial fish trade. The tribe being…

A tick-borne virus that, if not caught early and treated, can be deadly may be spreading to New England, officials say. The illness, known as alpha-gal syndrome, victimizes people who eat meat. A recent case killed a JetBlue pilot from New Jersey after he ate a steak and, at a later meal, a hamburger. “Maine clinicians may see cases of alpha gal syndrome as climate change facilitates range expansion of the Lone Star Tick further north along the coast,” according to research published by a medical doctor in the Journal of Maine Medical Center. “Clinicians should be alert to new…

In a salute to the recent election of Bowdoin College’s most famous socialist alum as mayor of America’s largest city, a group of the storied school’s students has formed a new political organization. The group – called Bowdoin College Socialists – says it agrees with Democrat Socialists of America’s characterization of Zohran Mamdani’s NYC’s mayoral election as “the biggest electoral victory for the socialist movement in the last century.” Bowdoin College Socialists said they see his victory as a way to help them to promote a “pathway for thoughtful engagement.” Mamdani, who graduated from the school in 2014, used his…

A suspect nabbed Thursday in a fatal hit-and-run may have been hopped up on drugs, according to state police. Cops grabbed Tyler Hewitt, 31, of Presque Isle after authorities received reports of a “suspicious person” walking on Hill Road in Clinton. Hewitt was allegedly behind the wheel of a Uhaul van that veered off the road and slammed into a tree Tuesday. Clinton police found Hewitt coming out of the woods near I-95 two days after the accident. Hewitt was driving on a suspended license, cops say, in the crash that killed John Perkins, 38, of Hampden. Hewitt reportedly ran…

A Calais city worker says he has no plans to resign from the city council despite voters deciding he should. Peter Foster, who works for the school department, took his council seat a year ago after the November 2024 election. Fellow councilors debated then whether he could legally serve, deciding – in violation of the city charter – that he could as long as he “abstained” from any votes involving school spending. A charter provision forbidding city employees from serving on the council includes school workers. As if that weren’t clear enough already, voters earlier this month amended the prohibition…

A 78-year-old woman breathed a well-deserved sigh of relief after summiting Mount Katahdin in Maine on November 21. Or, maybe, sigh of exhaustion. Susan Juronics of Hightstown, N.J., walked 2,190 miles from Georgia to Maine in the last year in what Appalachian Trail gurus call a “thru-hike.” Juronics hiked the grueling distance with her daughter, Gretchen Stokes, who posted video of their trek on her Facebook page. Not for nothing, Stokes is glad to point out that another, older woman who recently completed the same distance took more than a year to do it. Betty Kellenberger, 80, completed the trail…

A former director of the state forestry division who also served on two Maine city councils is being remembered for his many years of public service. The Maine Forest Products Council said John Cashwell III was a board member as well as having served as a top state employee, directing the Maine Forest Service. “It is with great sadness that we share news of the passing of John Cashwell,” the council said, announcing his death on Facebook. John Cashwell III, from Facebook “John was an influential member of our organization and longtime friend to the industry,” the council said. “He…

The state’s largest media conglomerate has announced it is partnering in a new project with “Google News Initiative” – which by design aims to do away with print newspapers. The Maine Trust for Local News, an arm of a Colorado-based “nonprofit,” the National Trust for Local News, already stopped printing its weeklies earlier this year. Now it says it is expecting a project-funding award from the initiative whose mission favors digital over print. Though the amount of the cash layout is so far a secret, InfluenceWatch.org, a public-policy watchdog, says the initiative has two clear major goals: 1. Phasing out…

The Maine Trust for Local News has notified a slew of its western Maine freelance writers they are off the grid. “Unfortunately, we will no longer be accepting freelance writing support from most of our contributors,” Marla Hoffman, lead editor of the trust’s western Maine group of papers, wrote to the freelancers. Hoffman said the papers, recently acquired by the 501(c)3 National Trust for Local News, are “navigating an increasingly difficult economy and a changing industry.” [RELATED: Maine Trust For Local News Announces 49 Layoffs, Reduction of Print Publications…] The notices emailed Nov. 21 to the freelancers in western Maine…

The CEO of the Maine Celtics just wrote a real estate check for nearly $60 million. Wycliffe Grousbeck, who heads the Boston Celtics, which own the Maine basketball affiliate, got a real deal on his new oceanfront home. After being built last year, it was originally on the market for $80 million. The builder got no offers so he chopped the price by $10 million. Still no takers so he lopped off another $12 million. That’s when Grousbeck pounced. The home sits on 1.24 acres, with 125 feet on the ocean. The Maine Celtics, a pro basketball team in the…

A focused, multi-pronged search for a missing Massachusetts journalism professor off the coast of Maine has been suspended, officials said. The Maine Marine Patrol and the Maine Warden Service said they have found no evidence of Wiley Davi. Davi, 57, English and media studies professor at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, was last seen November 15 on Peak’s Island. Authorities said they didn’t know why Davi would have been hanging out on Peaks. But the New York Post is reporting that Davi owns property there. At the height of the search nearly 50 law enforcement officers were looking for the…

Maine’s top summer visitor once told a federal official that a interplanetary alien made contact with humans at a secretive New Mexico air base in 1964, according to testimony in an explosive new documentary. President George H.W. Bush, who was CIA director before being elected the nation’s chief executive, often hosted fellow former spooks at his family’s Kennebunkport summer compound. What were they really talking about on the presidential deck overlooking the Atlantic at Walker’s Point aka the Bush Summer White House? Eric Davis, an astrophysicist who was a scientific advisor on the since-disbanded Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, created…

The state’s leading lobster lobby is pushing back against claims that government intervention is an obvious fix for the dwindling fishery. The Maine Lobstermen’s Association on Monday acknowledged severe drops in the lobster landings. “That isn’t surprising to anyone on the water,” Kevin Kelley, association spokesman, told The Maine Wire. “The ecosystem is changing, and no one expected the boom to last forever.” The association says the answer isn’t necessarily more regulation, despite any claims to the contrary. The lobstermen are speaking out in the wake of a report last month from regulator Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission saying that…

The former top executive who walked out of the Portland Press Herald shortly after the Maine Trust for Local News took over the bulk of the state’s newspapers has found a new gig policing content for the state’s pliable mainstream media. Lisa DeSisto is now running a shadow government – an outfit otherwise known as Press Forward, a project of the left-leaning Maine Community Foundation. As “senior advisor,” DeSisto’s role will be to “build a broad-based advisory panel to identify and prioritize the best ways to reimagine and expand access to local reporting,” according to the foundation. DeSisto joined what…

A headline-grabbing, conservative congresswoman surprised the nation on Friday by calling it quits after a high-profile tiff with President Donald Trump. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, announced November 21 she would be ending her short congressional career mid-term rather than continuing a tit-for-tat argument with the guy whose policies she’s historically supported. Greene and President Trump at one point were more or less fully aligned ideologically, sharing the view that liberals have turned the U.S. into a dangerous, crime-filled, woke snake-pit where illegals trump natives in personal liberties. But recently the woman best known by her initials, MTG, began…

In one of the first cases of its kind, a Maine man has been charged with two weapons violations involving two different wildlife species – after advertising his own crimes. It’s a virtual criminal trifecta. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said the strange case began with a tip their wardens received. The tipster told Game Warden Emerson Duplissie-Cyr a guy had posted selfies online of himself sitting with a scoped rifle next to a deer carcass in a Gorham field. “Warden Duplissie-Cyr noted there was no open firearms season on deer at that time and based on…

Photo from GoFundMe account linked in article

A new story in the Portland Press Herald blaming insurance companies for requiring patients to get permission before a procedure would almost seem logical. Prior authorizations are, after all, unpopular and burdensome on patients. But the “story” is produced by KFF Health, a lobbying group that according to media watchdogs, supports universal health insurance (a Democrat-driven policy), and Democrat candidates in 95 out of 100 elections. Suddenly the piece seems less like news, and more like advocacy. The article in question, published Nov. 20, bears a byline of “KFF Health News.” KFF Health News is part of the Kaiser Family…

A Bentley University professor who was last seen on an island off the Maine coast has been missing for nearly a week, according to the Maine Warden Service. Wiley Davi, 57, English and media studies professor at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, was last seen November 15 on Peak’s Island, the warden service said in a statement. The search continues for Davi, the university said in a statement, describing the prof as a “longtime and respected professor and a friend to students.” “Our hearts and minds are with Wiley and their loved ones and we are hoping and praying for…

The nation’s pre-eminent veterans cemetery has created a new memorial for the first Navy ship named after the state of Maine. The USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, contributing to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War two months later. The phrase, “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!” became a rallying cry for action. The 324-foot battleship was christened and launched by Alice Tracey Wilmerding, granddaughter of Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy, at the New York Naval Shipyard on November 18, 1890. In 1895, after delays of its being outfitted for service,…

A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from the lobster industry challenging the mandated use of electronic-tracking devices on fishing boats to collect data. The ruling denied industry claims that the monitoring amounts to unreasonable search and seizure, according to The Associated Press. Fishing regulators two years ago began requiring lobstermen to install tracking devices transmitting location data. The information allegedly helps track the lobster population, ostensibly to allow even stricter future fishing restrictions. The devices, which transmit fishermen’s locations using a global positioning system, must be turned on whenever a boat is in the water, even when it’s…

A so-called “van conversion” expert who defrauded Maine customers has been convicted of federal wire fraud. Matthew Strong, 44, who owned and operated East Coast Van Builds in Bradford, Vermont was ordered to pay restitution of $500,000 for his thievery. Strong signed a plea agreement in U.S. District Court admitting he was involved in wire fraud by transferring ill-gotten money across state lines. He’s facing a year in federal prison. Strong used excessive payments from customers in Maine and five other northeast states to help finance a music festival he promoted, prosecutors said. The money was supposed to have been…

A widely-followed Bangor cab driver who has been publicly obsessing about buying a particular abandoned log cabin has lost his dream getaway. Fredrick Laverdiere, who moderates the Forgotten Maine site on Facebook and Abandoned Maine on YouTube, has been posting for two weeks about a certain log cabin he ran across in the woods and is pining for- in a town he won’t identify. Laverdiere has intrigued so many people that nearly 1,000 Facebookers are now glued to – and commenting on – the continually unfolding saga. He first told the followers of the Forgotten Maine page on November 7…

A Democrat congresswoman from Maine is among a host of Washington lawmakers trading stocks and bonds amid an effort by her fellow members to put a stop to it once and for all. “Let’s see if we have the guts to ban members of Congress from trading stocks,” a seething U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-TN, told reporters. Burchett is a member of a bipartisan group trying yet again to get a bill passed that would prevent members of Congress from buying and selling stocks. He said the reality is the bill will likely go nowhere. “I will be ticked off…

Lorna Brackett and Vincent White were last seen drinking together 34 years ago at the USA Lounge in Fairfield. Eight hours later – on November 18, 1991 – police found their bodies in a Waterville house that had exploded in the middle of the night. A neighbor had called Waterville Police around 3 a.m. that morning complaining of loud voices and fireworks at 7 Reservoir Street. Cops who reported to the scene didn’t see any evidence of the neighbor’s claims and left. Police later responded again at dawn after neighbors reported an explosion and fire at the house in question.…

Art historians had predicted that a portrait previously owned by a Maine billionaire would sell for $150 million. They were only $80 million off the mark. The piece owned by the estate of Leonard Lauder fetched $236.4 million at auction amid “gasps and applause,” CNN reported. Gustav Klimt painted the portrait of Austrian Elizabeth Lederer over a three-year period, 1914-1916. Lauder, who died earlier this year, was married to Judy Glickman, his second wife. Glickman had previously been married to Al Glickman of Cape Elizabeth, where Lauder also later lived part-time. Widow Glickman and widower Lauder, who along with their…

A former two-time Maine gubernatorial candidate, previously convicted of possessing child porn, is now being charged with violating probation by looking for an escort online. A probation officer overseeing former gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler has filed a motion to revoke Cutler’s probation, according to the Ellsworth American. Cutler, 79, formerly of Cape Elizabeth and now living in Brooklin, allegedly violated the terms of his probation this fall by accessing sexually explicit content online and by possessing unmonitored devices, the paper reports, quoting documents filed in Hancock County Superior Court. Cutler two years ago pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing…

A woman ordered by a lower-court judge not to expose her daughter to religion has appealed to the Maine Supreme Court. The case is being watched closely by the Christian Broadcasting Network, which reported on it November 18. “The state’s high court heard oral arguments last week in the case – a battle between judicial authority and parental rights,” CBN reports. “Liberty Counsel, a faith-based non-profit legal group, is representing Emily Bickford.” Bickford is challenging a lower-court custody order issued a year ago prohibiting her from bringing her daughter to Calvary Chapel in Portland. Bickford, who never married the father…

If the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) truly rules, then Maine GOP gubernatorial candidate Bobby Charles can already start his general-election campaign for the Blaine House. On the Democrat side, Shenna Bellows can start plating her general campaign, according to X. First, the Republicans: On the basis of followers showing on X’s platform, Charles is way ahead of the pack, with 4,101 followers. Robert Wessels comes in second, with 3,524 fans. David Jones claims 433 followers while Owen McCarthy is showing 398. Jonathan Bush is way back with 133, while Jim Libby is second-to-last with 76. Ben…

Trees may be nice at a cemetery, but Southwest Harbor burial bosses are putting their foot down. Their view is, enough is enough. Seems that descendants of “property owners” in Mount Height Cemetery have neglected upkeep at their plots. As a result, trees and bushes they’ve planted over the years in the non-profit cemetery have grown out of control. In fact, the 123-year-old cemetery, one of five burial grounds in the small Hancock County town, has a deed restriction that forbids big trees. So trustees of the popular burying ground have notified “land owners:” trim your bushes or we’re going…

A penny for your thought? How about a gift-card for a penny? Grocery chains across the northeast, including in Maine, have put out a desperate plea for something that’s been around since 1792 – pennies. “No pennies at cash self-checkout kiosks” one major retailer, Hannaford, posted in one of its outlets. Shoppers at Price Chopper and Market 32 stores, which can be found in several New England states, are actually being asked to bring in pennies, which will be exchanged for a gift card worth double the value of their change. The penny shortage stems from the U.S. Mint ending…

Acadia hikers who feel they can’t get high enough without cannabis – despite Cadillac Mountain being the highest point on the Atlantic coast – better curb their habit. U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi says tokers caught in Acadia and other federal lands will once again face “rigorous” prosecution as DOJ rescinds its policy of ignoring low-level offenses. The new get-tough-on-weed policy represents an about-face from a years-long government policy of not prosecuting for simple possession. “Marijuana possession remains a federal crime in the United States, irrespective of varying state laws,” a DOJ spokesman said. “The detrimental effects of drugs on our…

A man fell from the roof of a bus onto the Maine Turnpike on Friday after hoisting himself aloft to ‘get some air.’ Derrick McDuffy 35, of New York, a passenger on the bus, at one point decided he was feeling “overheated,” Maine State Police reported. McDuffy “opened the bus’s emergency roof access hatch before climbing onto the roof while the bus was in motion,” police said. Upon realizing what was happening, the driver began slowing the bus and attempting to pull over when McDuffy fell from the roof to the road, landing on the shoulder of the turnpike’s southbound…

Old Thom, a North Atlantic orca known for being the only killer whale regularly sighted in the Gulf of Maine, wants a lawyer. Thom is refusing to answer questions relating to what he can spill about a growing incidence of orcas in the Northeast Atlantic ramming fishermen’s boats. Some fishermen have a theory as to what may be behind the recent spate of orcas attacking their vessels. As outlandish as it may sound, the thinking is that orcas are being taught by animal-rights activists to ram fishermen’s boats. In the absence of any real plausible scientific or biological explanation, why…

Three years after getting fried in a devastating fire, Penobscot McCrum, which has harvested and processed Maine potatoes since 1886, is selling to McCain Foods. McCrum, which has been producing potatoes since the late Nineteenth Century when it was founded in Mars Hill, will now be McCain Foods. McCain certainly doesn’t have the ring to it that McCrum does, but all things must come to an end. McCrum at least will remain a Maine force, as its farming operation will remain independently owned. McCrum will enter a long-term potato supply agreement with McCain. The sale includes McCrum’s potato processing facility…

Mexico tops the list when it comes to burglary – Mexico, Maine that is, according to a new crime survey of the state’s 450 communities. Breaking and entering may be a nonviolent crime, but it’s still pretty unnerving for those victimized by it. Having your house broken into can make you feel violated. Moreover, to have it happen in a small, rural town is disproportionately unsettling for the victims of it. “When you think ‘most burglarized’, your brain immediately goes to bigger cities with larger populations,” reports 94.3, WCYY, which reviewed the statistics. “However, in a state as big as…

The dynastic trials seem to be rearing their ugly heads as a Maine prince-in-waiting delicately shadows The King. When Democrat gubernatorial hopeful Angus King III was forced to pin his father’s donkey to the wall by a D.C.-based news outlet, it was a case of “now WTF do I do?” Angus III, in a dog-eat-dog primary for the 2026 election, went the route of equivocation. Yeah, he said, he’s kinda sorta glad his Daddy helped end the Democrat-created shutdown of the federal government. “I understand why people are profoundly frustrated with politicians in Washington,” he wrote on Instagram. “I know…

Let’s see … Maine needs an economic boost, it’s on the Atlantic coast, it already has a major Coast Guard presence. What a great place for a military training center! Are you listening Limestone (former Air Force Base)? Are you listening Brunswick (former naval air station)? Are you listening Janet (governor who allegedly cares about creating real jobs)? The Coast Guard just published its request for proposals for a new training center and is waiting for serious responses. Agency officials announced they’re looking for a recruiting base with room to accommodate lodging for 1,200 recruits, a dining hall big enough…

The state that supplies 90 percent of the U.S. lobster supply is trying to navigate the waters of an international food fight. China, the world’s largest consumer and importer of the succulent crustacean, is shunning Maine for alternate sources. Lobstermen and women from The Pine Tree State “are now missing out on Chinese sales amid a trade war, and they may struggle to claw back their former position as China increasingly turns to suppliers in the Asia-Pacific region,” according to the South China Morning Post. U.S. lobster shipments to China temporarily ground to a halt earlier this year, after Beijing…

A dizzingly-expensive art collection that belonged to a cosmetics heir and his Maine widow is expected to fetch a half-billion dollars. The artwork, to be auctioned November 18th, belongs to the estate of cosmetics heir Leonard Lauder and widow Judy Glickman Lauder of Cape Elizabeth. Glickman, widow of Al Glickman of Cape Elizabeth, married Lauder in 2015 after her husband died. Lauder, her second husband, died five months ago at age 92, leaving the art collection now being sold off. He was estimated to be worth some $10 billion at the time of his death, and had one of America’s…

The self-avowed Bowdoin College Palestinian-rights cheerleader grad – now the mayor-elect of America’s biggest city – is getting an attaboy from a former ranking faculty member from the storied Brunswick school. Peter Coviello claims The New York Times already had its formula down – criticize Bowdoin and 2014 grad Zohran Mamdani at all costs – long before it published an alleged pre-election hit piece blaming Bowdoin for producing Mamdani and his socialist creed – and vice versa. Coviello says in a LitHub.com column, just published, that, as Africana Studies chair while Mamdani was at Bowdoin majoring in that discipline, he…

A months-long legal campaign by a Canadian ostrich farm to “save” 300 of its birds from government culling has gone up in feathers. Food inspectors from British Columbia killed the birds with gunshots last week over protests from the farm’s owners and so-called bird protectionists. But despite the farm as having been constantly portrayed in the legacy media as being one where ostriches have been allowed to grow old and gray enjoying their grassy surroundings, it’s actually long been something else entirely. In fact, the farm where the poor, dearly embattled ostriches lived originally raised the birds for slaughter, only…

A Portland mother is aghast that officials in Maine’s largest immigrant city are now accusing concerned parents of overreacting to an attack last week on a young child. “Strange” was Avery Yale Kamila’s reaction to a “press release” the city issued downplaying a King Middle School student’s getting grabbed by a stranger while walking to school on Thursday. The so-called press release was issued after The Maine Wire published a story citing Avery’s concern about the incident. “City Hall does not want a community conversation about the safety of children, which is what I’m trying to get going,” Kamila said.…

(U.S. Department of Defense)

A King Middle School student on the way to school in Portland was attacked Thursday by a stranger, the second time this year threats to students at the school have required police involvement. Principal Amy Marx told parents in a statement that a student was grabbed by the wrist by an unknown individual walking to school along Park Avenue. “Once at school the student was supported by social workers/counselors,” Marx added “and police took a full report.” Avery Yale Kamila, whose son and friends walked this same route, told The Maine Wire they have been “repeatedly harassed, threatened, solicited for…

The headlines back then were: Mississippi became the 20th state, the Erie Canal’s construction began, and James Monroe was sworn in as the fifth U.S. president. That all happened way back in 1817 – when Maine was still part of Massachusetts – the year before The Pine Tree State woke up to its first Farmer’s Almanac’s wisdom on everything from weather to crop rotation. But “shifting reader habits and economic realities” have now spelled the end to Maine’s favorite eclectic Bible. “A Fond Farewell,” the almanac staff wrote on its website. “The season we hoped would never come is here.”…

Woodland Pulp of Baileyville has announced it is going dark temporarily due to lack of business and in the face of continuing challenges facing the industry. The company “will pause manufacturing at its Baileyville pulp mill and wood chip plant from late November to mid-December,” a spokesman said. Woodland is Washington County’s largest employer, and the layoffs will apply to about a third of the mill workforce. Spokesman Scott Beal attributed the “extended downtime” to declining prices in the global pulp market. Woodland is one of six mills in the northeast U.S. and Quebec recently pausing or decreasing wood deliveries.…

Fur better or fur worse, the Democrat state rep and congressional hopeful looking to skin incumbent Chellie Pingree alive was featured out of the gate in a photo wearing a pelt. A fur pelt. Or at the very least a parka with authentic – or even faux – fur trimming around the hood. State Rep. Tiffany Roberts’ mugshot in The Maine Wire announcing her 2026 bid to challenge the progressive First District eight-term congresswoman showed her flashing what is clearly designed to look like a fur accessory. Fur shur. It could be her third rail for liberal PETA Democrats. They…

Bangor voters have elected Angela Walker, who was convicted of manslaughter nearly a quarter century ago, as a new city councilor. Walker joins Susan Faloon and Daniel Carson, among the three councilors-elect to emerge from the nine-way race in Tuesday’s election. Walker received the fewest votes – 2,231 – of the three. Faloon, a life coach, led the pack with 3,951 votes, and Carson, a labor and community organizer, earned 2,512. Walker is the “peer services coordinator” for the Bangor Area Recovery Network. She’s reportedly in recovery herself from addiction. Walker was imprisoned after being convicted of manslaughter in 2003…

Maine’s only top liberal arts college can now claim to have spawned the first communist, Muslim, Jew-hating mayor of America’s largest city. Zohran Mamdani, 34, Bowdoin College class of 2014, kicked humiliated former NY Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo, 67, to the moon and back in Tuesday’s election. Voters had a choice between a young Democratic socialist who hates Jews and cops, and an old washed-up liberal who allegedly groped so many women that he had to resign as governor. Mamdani’s chances improved drastically as soon as the polls opened and voters discovered that not only was the Muslim millennial listed…

Saddleback ski area, which underwent a period of tough sledding, has grabbed the No. 1 best place to ski in the region, SKI Magazine says. The mag’s poll also treated Maine to the No. 2 most-popular ski area selected by its readers – nearby Sugarloaf. Poor Vermont, which boasts the best moguls in these parts, didn’t show up in the top-20 survey until No. 6 with Killington. SKI magazine shows Whiteface Mountain in New York as No. 3. The first time New Hampshire shows up in the poll is No. 5, Bretton Woods. Maine’s Sunday River claimed No. 10. Saddleback’s…

A longtime, fourth-generation Friendship lobsterman is facing multiple charges following his arrest Sunday, police said. Sam Lash, 39, was taken into custody after Newburyport police discovered drugs and weapons during a vehicle search. Officer Schyler Reilly initiated the investigation at a gas station, leading to a motor-vehicle stop where drugs and drug paraphernalia were found in plain sight, according to Boston 25 News. The search revealed 931.5 grams of cocaine, 13.5 grams of crack cocaine, 7.1 grams of marijuana, and four units of Ecstasy, along with scales and cutting utensils. A .357 caliber revolver, ammunition, and metallic knuckles were also…

“Captain Steeeve,” a Maine-trained Navy pilot and social-media sensation for his plain-spoken explanations about flying, has hung up his wings. After four decades, first in the right seat and then in the left seat, the popular commercial pilot whose full name is Steve Scheibner has been forced into retirement by federal regulations with 65 as the pilot age limit. Scheibner began flying as a young aviator at Brunswick Naval Air Station. He flew his way up the ranks at the Maine air station, eventually piloting the base’s P-3 Orions, popularly known as submarine hunters. Following his naval career, Captain Steeeve…

Presidential cousin Billy Bush is supporting controversial media darling Karen Read in her campaign to get cleared in a recent cop killing. “Hi my love,” Bush, former Access Hollywood host, gushed with excitement Wednesday on his Maine-based podcast as he greeted the Massachusetts woman being sued by the family of dead Boston cop John O’Keefe. Then Bush, the Colby College grad brother of Jonathan Bush who’s running for Maine governor, poured it on even thicker, saying, “you look really well-rested.” Read replied in kind, “Oh, it’s just my makeup,” adding “You’ve got a nice tan.” Bush cooed back, “I’ve been…

The sudden shutdown of Catalina Yachts has hundreds of Cat owners across Maine dumbfounded – and worried. The sailboat manufacturer – once considered the largest such business in the world – announced last week it was closing “temporarily” amid a boardroom battle. Florida Catalina President Patrick Turner announced the main factory was going dark til further notice. The shutdown comes amid a company reorganization following its purchase by renowned yacht dealer Michael Reardon, who allegedly has reneged on the sale. Reardon had also promised to buy Catalina’s sister company, True North Powerboats, known for their Downeast-style vessels – favorites of…

The head of Maine’s leading news TV network apparently felt forced to distance himself from a controversial ex-employee who for Halloween dressed up as a bloodied Charlie Kirk. “We are aware of a social post created by Christopher Fritz,” NewsCenter Maine president and general manager Micah Malloy said in a statement issued by his company. “Fritz has not been employed by our station for more than three years.” A picture of Fritz, a self-described comedian and former NewsCenter Maine director, with fake blood spattered on his face and wearing a bloodied “Turning Point” t-shirt for his Halloween costume had been…

A senior U.S. senator is calling for an investigation into a wedding planning conglomerate used by many young Maine couples. The Knot is a go-to marriage planner offering nearly 100 wedding venues across Maine. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, says The Knot is deceiving people across the U.S. who use it to help plan their special day. The Iowa Republican claims the committee has received hundreds of whistleblower reports. Grassley says small businesses accuse the site of misleading advertising and failing to provide discounts promised to customers. In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, Grassley…

On Halloween night 1940, a quiet Rockland neighborhood became the scene of one of Maine’s most disturbing crimes. Eighty-five years later, the story still chills anyone who hears it. The Rockland Historical Society, always with a sense of humor, is retelling on its Facebook page the tale of midcoast Maine’s memorable “Headless Halloween.” The air was cold, the streets quiet. But inside a house at 28 Crescent Street, something far darker than the October wind was stirring. Sixteen-year-old Pauline Young had argued with her stepfather, John Phelps, on Halloween night, 1940. What followed would haunt Rockland for generations. “She cursed…

Brownfield-Denmark Elementary School was terrorized Thursday by a bomb threat, later determined to be a prank. The Facebook website Western Maine Breaking News was the first to report the incident, saying a student apparently called in the threat from a school bus. The local fire department was on the scene and police evacuated the Denmark school. Cops shut down the road in front of the building. A school secretary “believed that the call came from someone on a school bus,” the Facebook report said. The suspect allegedly said that he was going to “blow the place up.” Superintendent Jay Robinson…

The popular longtime TV face of a favorite Maine department store has moved on to her next act. Karmo Sanders, an actress and playwright known by many in Maine as “The Marden’s Lady,” has died at the age of 74. “You Should Have Bought It – When You Saw It – At Marden’s!” An obituary posted by Hobbs Funeral Home states Sanders passed away peacefully Saturday at her Scarborough home. The Marden’s Lady was on TV screens all over Maine for years until the salvage store chain ended the ad campaign in 2013. Back then, she told CBS13 she was…

Maine has the ninth-highest rate of fatal drug overdoses in the U.S. – and is the only New England state in the top-ten worst, a new analysis shows. The state showed an average of 42.56 deaths per 100,000 people in 2023, the latest year on record – 35 percent higher than the national average of 31.51 per 100,000. Over the 12 months, the state saw 514 deaths from opioid abuse alone. Though Maine is seeing some decrease in fatal drug overdoses since the last full year on record, numbers remain historically high, according to the National Survey on Drug Use.…

The Democrat Socialist poised to become the next boss of America’s largest blue city came out of a Maine college primed to spread his anti-Israeli underpinnings. That’s the conclusion of a new profile of Bowdoin College grad Zohran Mamdani unveiled Tuesday in The New York Times – on the eve of the New York City mayoral election. “His studies complemented his commitment to political activism,” the Times says. “At Bowdoin, he formed a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, before the group became a polarizing national force, and unsuccessfully tried to persuade Bowdoin to join an academic boycott of…

The government of Nova Scotia has just cleared the way for North America’s first seaside whale sanctuary. Maine’s friendly neighbor – just 120 miles to the east of Bar Harbor – is giving new meaning to the expression ‘Free Willy.’ The good news is that not only will caged aquarium whales get to see the open ocean – some for the first time. But the bean counters at SeaWorld – a whale’s worst nightmare – will be having conniptions. After all, their stock and trade has always been based on one premise: a performing imprisoned whale is good for the…

At least it gets them off the streets, right? (The needles, that is.) Bangor, Maine is now establishing a needle drop-off and the Facebook reactions to the state of affairs reflect a dark humor veiling grim dissatisfaction. “They should take SNAP!” commented Deplorablegurl. “Awesome,” wrote Randy Stone. “Put one in every council member’s neighborhood that voted YES.” The council majority did, in fact, just vote “yes” (6-2) to approve Needlepoint Sanctuary Syringe Service to open up its doors for business. “Gross,” Jonathan Francis commented in his Facebook analysis of the Queen City’s growing drug problem. The organization plans to offer…

Two Maine towns are telling residents to exercise caution after confirmed cases of rabies were reported in raccoons. The Maine Centers for Disease Control notified the town of Howland last week that a confirmed case of rabies in a raccoon has been identified. Deer Isle officials also say they have confirmed a case of a rabid raccoon along with several unconfirmed cases of potentially rabid raccoons. Deer Isle says these reports are widespread, according to WABI-TV. Rabies is a deadly virus that attacks the brain and spinal cord, mostly in wildlife, rarely in humans. The virus spreads when a rabid…

It’s easy to see why President Trump wants to ban illegals from driving tractor-trailer trucks. If you can’t speak English you can’t read signs. And you can’t communicate with others on the road. It’s that simple. “Heck,” you say, “what’s the big deal not reading a sign or not speaking English?” If a guy driving a 3,000-pound, 10-foot-long car can’t read signs, he’s a potential danger. [RELATED: Illegal Alien Driving on Maine Permit Hits, Kills Pedestrian in Lewiston] If a guy driving a 50,000-pound, 70-foot-long truck can’t read signs, he’s a potential killer. Having personally driven the latter for 20…

A Dover-Foxcroft hospice group celebrating its 40th anniversary has awarded a special “Commitment to Mission” award to Stacy Shaffer. But the Sebec woman’s commitment to mission extends beyond just the human condition at Pine Tree Hospice. Helping the downtrodden comes naturally for her. For years, Shaffer, a retired home-health coordinator at Penquis Community Action Program, has been simultaneously advocating tirelessly for our oppressed canine friends – the rescues that are abused or at best neglected. They are also the creatures of God without a voice to express their love for those lobbying in their behalf – the thankless calling that…

The infamous attempted mutiny by a Soviet naval commander came to an abrupt end a half-century ago in the Penobscot River along Maine’s midcoast. Known to film buffs worldwide, “The Hunt For Red October” portrayed a real-life Soviet sailor who, on Nov. 8, 1975, tried to take over a Russian attack ship. The movie version of the mutiny, based on a Tom Clancy novel, climaxes in Maine when the commander of a U.S. nuclear attack sub escorts the crippled enemy Soviet ship to the Penobscot. The 109-mile river is among the longest in Maine so it’s fitting that it closed…

The brash Maine military veteran whose U.S. Senate dream has been rocked by myriad scandals is revamping his campaign staff despite two new polls giving him a huge lead. As part of his reset Graham Platner has named longtime friend Kevin Brown as his manager in the wake of his former director’s resignation. Brown’s past campaign work includes the presidential bids of Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama, according to Politico. The campaign has also brought on an in-house attorney, as well as compliance firm Spruce Street Consulting, which has ties to a number of “progressives” including Bowdoin College grad and…

A future destroyer to be built by Bath Iron Works will be named for a former Navy secretary and WWII veteran who died last week. The Navy recently held a ceremony celebrating the keel-plate unveiling for the warship J. William Middendorf. Middendorf, 101, who died Friday in Fall River, Massachusetts, was secretary of the Navy under presidents Nixon and Ford from 1974-77. In fact, when BIW launched the USS Oliver Hazard Perry in 1976, then-Secretary Middendorf came to Bath to speak at the ceremony. The USS J. William Middendorf, named in 2022 in the former secretary’s honor, is the planned…

A potentially deadly canine virus recently reported spreading in northern Maine has now prompted alerts to dog owners in the western part of the state. The town of Mexico is now reporting a case of parvovirus – the same disease reported last month in the Bangor area. Parvo is a serious illness that is highly contagious and can be fatal to dogs if left untreated, or if treated too late. The virus attacks white blood cells and the gastrointestinal tract of dogs and even coyotes, wolves, and foxes. In puppies, the virus can also damage the heart muscle, according to…

A new analysis by the North Atlantic right whale protectionists actually shows the species thriving, not declining. But as predictable as the tides, a leading environmental lobby says that’s now a good reason to increase – not relax – the government regulations that have been tying Maine fishermen up in knots. Seriously. The 2024 population estimate for the North Atlantic right whale, allegedly “critically endangered,” reached 384, a 2.1% increase from the previous year, according to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. In fact, the consortium has reported “slow growth” of the whale population over the past four years. The…

Former Bears linebacker Dick Butkus, arguably the most notorious animal in NFL history, once described his “goal” when he went out on the field: “I’m not out to just hurt a man, I’m out to kill him.” That was the 1960s, when football was fun to watch, as opposing players tried to kill each other. Fast forward to today’s NFL, whose Prout’s Neck boss fines players for the slightest of infractions, lest they be seen as too rough. Evidence all-star Eagles running back Saquon Barkley, who Mr. Prout’s Neck fined $46,371 in Week 2 of the season for head-butting a…

Chicken magnate Frank Perdue’s marketing genius killed Belfast, Maine as the Chicken Capital of the World – but his magic apparently didn’t rub off on his wife. So Mitzi Perdue, his widow, has dropped the asking price of the family’s New Hampshire mansion by $5 million. Just goes to show – marketing genius isn’t transferrable. Perdue was so good at selling chickens that the Maine site of the former annual Belfast Broiler Festival is no longer processing poultry. The Wall Street Journal reports that Mrs. Purdue first put the family homestead on the market for $15 million. But now she’s…

With Zohran Mamdani now solidifying his double-digit lead in NYC’s mayor race, his pro-terrorist rap singing is getting new attention. News reports in June first uncovered a rap by the 2014 Bowdoin grad singing his praises for the Holy Land Five, a group of operatives convicted for fundraising on behalf of Hamas. But a widely followed X poster is bringing it up again, aghast no one made an issue out of Mamdani’s dangerous racism. “My love to the Holy Land Five / You better look ’em up,” was the Mamdani rap. “The media was busy with breathless coverage of Mamdani’s…

The state official responsible for caring for Maine’s first official comfort dog who died in a hot car has resigned, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety. Brodie Hinckley, the former director of the Maine Bureau of Emergency Communications, was accused of leaving a 3-year-old chocolate Labrador named Baxter inside a Department of Public Safety vehicle for hours on a hot day in May. Hinckley was charged with a civil violation of animal cruelty in September and was placed on paid administrative leave. The Maine Department of Public Safety said he resigned from the Department of Public Safety on…

Cabot Cove, Maine was actually in California but, as Hollywood producers might say, what’s a few thousand miles among friends? Broadway is marking what would have been Angela Lansbury’s 100th birthday with a special edition of Playbill magazine. Lansbury, the famous actress who’d appeared on Broadway, owed her real fame to “Murder, She Wrote,” a TV drama based in Cabot Cove. In reality, Cabot Cove was a fictional Maine town but plenty of tourists certainly came to Maine looking for directions to it. But as we sarcastically tell lost tourists in Maine, “you can’t get there from here.” That’s because…