Author: Edward Tomic

Residents of Portland’s largest homeless encampment at the Marginal Way Park and Ride lot now have less than a month to leave, after the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) set a Nov. 1 date to sweep the encampment on Wednesday. [RELATED: “We’re in the midst of an unprecedented crisis”: Portland Mayor Focuses on Housing, Homelessness in State of the City Address…] In August, the MaineDOT separated half of the Park and Ride with a concrete barrier to temporarily designate half of the lot exclusively for the rapidly growing homeless encampment. The Park and Ride encampment has almost doubled in size…

Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to three felony firearm possession charges during his arraignment in a Delaware federal court on Tuesday, according to NBC news. [RELATED: Susan Collins Rips Hunter Biden Plea Deal, Questions President Biden’s Involvement in Suspect Foreign Business Deals…] The counts accuse the president’s son of lying on a federal form about his use of illegal drugs when he purchased a Colt Cobra revolver in Delaware in October of 2018, and of possessing a firearm while using narcotics. Biden’s not guilty plea comes after a pretrial diversion deal related to the gun charges that could have kept…

Portland Mayor Kate Snyder delivered her final State of the City Address as mayor Monday afternoon, focusing primarily on the city’s housing and homelessness crises. [RELATED: ‘Enough is Enough’: Portland Business Owners Speak Out About Crime and Violence in City’s Homeless Encampments…] Mayor Snyder began her address by describing the perilous state of the economy since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic — which began shortly after she assumed her office. “As we all know so well, there is no status quo,” Snyder said. “A new normal is consistently redefined, and our favorable economy from several years ago has been…

The Maine State Law Enforcement Association (MSLEA) ratified a two-year contract with the State of Maine over the weekend, granting several pay increases, increases to paid parental leave, and other bonuses. The MSLEA is the state’s third largest union, representing approximately 375 positions. [RELATED: Mills Admin Seeks Mediation to Move Forward Contract Negotiations with Maine State Employee Union… The contract, formally ratified by a vote of the union’s members on Sept. 29, provides a six percent pay increase for the pay period closest to Oct. 1, 2024, with an additional three percent increase effective July 1, 2024. It also establishes…

Cumberland County District Attorney Jackie Sartoris joined Matt Gagnon on Newsradio WGAN Monday morning to discuss Portland’s encampment crisis and the issues her office faces due to a backlog of cases and lack of staffing at the Cumberland County Jail. Sartoris told Gagnon that the homeless encampments in Portland are “definitely getting worse.” [RELATED: Maine ACLU Demands Portland Stop ‘Criminalizing Homelessness’, Calls Encampment Sweeps ‘Inherently Racist’…] “The encampments issue for me has been rising in terms of my concerns for a while,” Sartoris said, describing a system of “lawless power structure within the encampments” that put the people that live…

Parents across Maine have been left confused in recent days by their children receiving Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards in the mail from the state. Maine schoolchildren are receiving the cards as part of the final round of a Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) food assistance program meant to help support families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. EBT cards are traditionally distributed not to minors but to adults who apply for welfare benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). [RELATED: EBT Cards for Kids? It’s Happening in Maine…] Earlier…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Friday the latest round of grants awarded through the state’s Community Resilience Partnership, which since its inception in December 2021 has awarded nearly $6.1 million in grants to companies , local governments and nonprofits under the banner of climate change. This round of grants awards $2.4 million to 53 communities across Maine, including the Penobscot Nation, Long Island, Camden, and Fryeburg. “Maine’s work to address climate change is reducing costs for Maine people, creating new jobs and career opportunities, strengthening our communities, and protecting our precious environment,” Gov. Mills said in a Friday press release. Mills’…

The impending federal government shutdown was averted late Saturday after President Joe Biden signed a temporary funding bill that passed with bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate. [RELATED: Low Approval Ratings for Congress and Biden Persist as Government Shutdown Looms: Gallup Poll…] The bill, H.R. 5860, is a continuing resolution that will fund the government until Nov. 17. Notably, the spending bill excludes additional aid to Ukraine — a measure which President Biden decried in a statement Saturday after the bill passed, despite calling the bill “good news for the American people.” “While the Speaker and the overwhelming majority…

The Sanford Police Department announced Friday that two men were arrested in connection to the non-fatal stabbing of homeless man that occurred early Thursday morning. [RELATED: Sanford Man Stabbed Multiple Times After Having His Bike Stolen Near City’s Homeless Hot Spot…] Derrick Roberts-Poulin, 21, of Sanford, and Jordan Roberge, also 21 and of Sanford were arrested late Thursday afternoon. Both men face charges of Robbery and Elevated Aggravated Assault in the stabbing of 38-year-old William Southworth. The stabbing occurred near one of the city’s homeless hot spots, at the intersection of Emery Street and Heritage Crossing. The two men allegedly…

Maine Sen. Angus King and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.) earlier this week introduced a bipartisan resolution to designate September as “National Recovery Month” amid a nationwide uptick in overdose fatalities. [RELATED: Mills Touts Opioid Policies as Overdoses in Maine Total Almost 6,000 This Year…] Maine saw a record 716 lives lost in 2022 due to overdoses, and a total of 10,110 documented overdoses that year alone, according to a report from the Attorney General’s Office. More than 80 percent of the fatal overdoses were caused by fentanyl — often in combination with other illegal drugs, such as cocaine,…

Portland business owners and retail workers joined the organization “Enough is Enough” to release a video Thursday drawing attention to the growing crime and violence in the city’s homeless encampments. [RELATED: Maine ACLU Demands Portland Stop ‘Criminalizing Homelessness’, Calls Encampment Sweeps ‘Inherently Racist’…] “Enough is Enough” is a Portland-based Ballot Question Committee that launched in 2022 in opposition to several citizen initiatives led by the Maine Democratic Socialists of America (MDSA). “Untold stories of assaults, harassment, hard drug use, human waste, and discarded needles plague the area while the city council ignores pleas for assistance,” Enough is Enough wrote in…

Job approval ratings for Congress and President Joe Biden remain low ahead of an impending government shutdown, according to polling data released Tuesday by Gallup. As infighting among House Republican over an appropriations bill continues, Congress has less than three days to find the funds to keep the government running before the 12:01 a.m. deadline Sunday. Just 17 percent of Americans, according the Gallup poll, approve of the way Congress is handling its job — a level consistent with the 16 to 23 percent ratings the lawmakers have received since October 2021. Although there is a split among Republicans and…

A Sanford man is in stable condition after being stabbed multiple times early Thursday morning by two men who stole his bike near one of the city’s homeless hot spots, according to the Sanford Police. [RELATED: Sanford Suspends Syringe Exchange Program, Cleans Homeless Encampment…] At about 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Sanford Police were called to the intersection of Emery Street and Heritage Crossing due to a report of a stabbing and gunshots. Police said witnesses told them two males approached William Southworth, 38, and stole his bicycle, leading to a physical confrontation in which one of the men fired three to…

The ACLU of Maine joined the Communist Party for Socialism and Liberation and other advocacy groups Tuesday to urge the Portland City Council to end its policy of encampment sweeps and to testify against their proposed expansion of the city’s Homeless Services Center (HSC). The Maine ACLU joined protesters outside Portland City Hall before a scheduled workshop on the City Council’s proposal to use an emergency declaration to relax city building ordinances in order to add 150 bunk beds to the HSC, at a cost of over $130,000. Tuesday’s protest came within two weeks of another “Stop the Sweeps” protest…

A South Portland Police K-9 team successfully located a burglary suspect Wednesday who had fled the scene and hidden himself in a dumpster. On Wednesday, Sept. 27, at around 6 a.m., the South Portland Police received an urgent call regarding an ongoing burglary at a business in the west end of the city. After patrol officers arrived on the scene, they confirmed the burglary and found that the suspect had fled the scene. South Portland Police K-9 Sauer and his handler, Officer Ezekiel Collins, were dispatched to the scene, where they began tracking the suspect from his last known location.…

A flyer advertising a sex therapist’s “Raising Sexually Healthy Children” workshop hosted by the Greely Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) was given out to some 1st and 3rd grade students in Maine School Administrative District #51 (MSAD #51). The issue of the flyer, which came as part of MSAD #51 Superintendent Jeff Porter’s Sept. 22 District Newsletter, was raised at Tuesday night’s Cumberland Town Council Meeting by Cumberland parent Scott Jordan, who asked the Councilors if they felt the flyer was appropriate to be seen by 1st and 3rd grade students. [RELATED: “Put that right down! That is inappropriate material!”: Maine…

The Maine State Police announced Wednesday that they have made three arrests in relation to an arson, robbery, and homicide case that dates back to October 2017. On the morning of Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017, authorities responded to a structure fire in Whitneyville, Maine. After the fire was under control, authorities discovered the body of the homeowner, 48-year-old fisherman Wayne Foss. The autopsy report confirmed that the manner of Foss’ death was homicide, according to a press release from the Maine Department of Public Safety. Foss’ daughter told the Bangor Daily News in May that her father was involved in…

Information released this month by Portland officials revealed that the city’s effort to place roughly 100 homeless individuals in shelters or affordable housing cost taxpayers $65,000 and resulted in just 18 people accepting the offer. Nonprofit groups, in partnership with the city, staged a table outside of the Fore River Parkway encampment for several weeks before it was swept and cleared on Sept. 6. City officials never revealed exactly how much the efforts to provide taxpayer-funded services to those homeless individuals cost. But buried in a draft of an emergency declaration related to Portland’s encampment crisis considered by the City Council…

A Cumberland, Maine, Town Council meeting became heated Tuesday evening when a parent confronted the Councilors with sexually explicit images from the book “Gender Queer” which is in the town’s school libraries. The parent, Scott Jordan of Cumberland, previously brought the blown-up images of the book’s minor characters performing oral sex with a strap-on dildo to a Maine School Administrative District #51 (MSAD #51) Board meeting last week. Several other parents attended and spoke at the Sept. 18 School Board meeting, most of whom spoke out against the book — while two other parents supported the book being in the…

The Democratic Mayor of San Francisco announced a plan Tuesday morning to address the city’s drug and homelessness crises that would require residents to undergo substance abuse screening and treatment to be eligible to receive welfare funds. “We need to make a significant change,” Mayor London Breed said at a Tuesday morning news conference. “No more ‘anything goes’ without accountability, no more handouts without accountability.” “San Francisco is a city of compassion, but also a city that demands accountability,” Breed said. “We fund a wide range of services, and we want to help people get the care they need but…

A Portland Police response to report of an attempted burglary ended in a man’s suicide early Tuesday morning, according to a Portland PD press release. After responding to a report of a man trying to break into a Hampshire St. home at 4:21 a.m. on Tuesday, a Portland Police officer approached a man sitting on the sidewalk who matched the description of the report. The man then stood up and started to walk away from the officer before beginning to stab himself, the police stated. Officers tried to administer first aid after the man collapsed onto the ground, but the…

House Republicans announced Tuesday that they have launched an investigation into President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm over her taxpayer-funded electric vehicle (EV) summer 2023 road trip. Granholm’s 770-mile multi-state road trip through the southeast U.S., which was “intended to draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars,” was documented in a September NPR article entitled “Electric cars have a road trip problem, even for the secretary of energy.” NPR’s Camila Domonoske, who travelled alongside Granholm, told the story of the numerous challenges of attempting a road trip…

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced Monday that Maine taxpayers affected by Hurricane Lee will now have until Feb. 15, 2024, to file various individual and business tax returns and to make tax payments. The extension follows the Sept. 15 disaster declaration issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and approved by President Joe Biden in response to the hurricane. [RELATED: Mills Declares State of Emergency in Anticipation of Hurricane Lee, Requests Disaster Declaration from Biden…] Under the declaration, residents or business owners in Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo, Washington,…

The Portland City Council will host a second public workshop Tuesday on possible policy solutions to the city’s homeless encampment crisis. Tuesday afternoon’s workshop will be a follow-up to a previous Sept. 14 workshop, in which Mayor Kate Snyder and the Council discussed a proposal to temporarily increase the emergency shelter capacity at Portland’s Homeless Services Center (HSC). [RELATED: Portland Mayoral Candidates Explain How They Would Tackle the City’s Homelessness Crisis…] The HSC currently has 208 beds, each of which has been occupied every night since its opening on March 27, 2023. City leadership hopes that a new $4.59 million…

The new Director of the Maine Center for Disease Control (CDC) Dr. Puthiery Va joined the taxpayer-funded Maine Calling radio program Monday, urging listeners to take the latest COVID-19 vaccine and to wear masks. [RELATED: CDC, FDA Say Everyone Should Get the Latest Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 Shots…] Dr. Va, a University of New England graduate, became the head of the Maine CDC in August, after previously serving as the Director of Public Health for a population center of the Navajo Nation in Arizona. Va was born in a Thai refugee camp after her parents fled the Communist Khmer Rouge…

Canadian Speaker of the House of Commons Anthony Rota issued an apology Sunday for recognizing a 98-year-old Nazi Waffen-SS veteran for a standing ovation during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the Canadian Parliament last week. https://twitter.com/UnityNewsNet/status/1705841969845403788?s=20 Following President Zelensky’s remarks Friday, Rota recognized elderly 3rd Reich veteran Yaroslav Hunka as a “Ukrainian hero” — a decision which he said Sunday was entirely his own. Hunka served as a member of the 13th Waffen Grenadier Division of the Nazi SS, a division which — as noted by the community note below the X post above — is accused of having…

The field for the Republican primary race in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District grew Monday when former NASCAR driver and State Rep. Austin Theriault (R-Fort Kent) announced his candidacy, hoping to be the one to take on Democrat Rep. Jared Golden in 2024. Theriault, 29, is currently serving in his first term in Augusta representing Maine House District 1, after defeating Democrat Dana Marie Appleby by a landslide in 2022. He is the third Republican to officially enter the race, after State Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Phillips) and former Maine Senate candidate Rob Cross. [RELATED: State Rep Mike Soboleski Officially Announces Campaign…

The Portland Police Department issued a warning Monday regarding an extortion scheme scammers are using to take people’s money using Bitcoin ATM machines. The scam, according to Portland Police, begins with the fraudsters sending their victims “urgent, fear-evoking messages with pop-up windows on PCs, emails and texts” that falsely inform the victim their personal information has been compromised. The scammers then tell their victims that there is a billing or payment issue with a common third party the victim may have dealing with, such as PayPal or Amazon, the police explained. “Something to do with child pornography on their computer,”…

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, and his wife were indicted Friday on federal bribery charges for allegedly using the senator’s influence to enrich three New Jersey businessmen and benefit the Egyptian government in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars, gold bars, and a luxury convertible. https://twitter.com/SDNYnews/status/1705258251669905864?s=20 The grand jury indictment, made public Friday morning, alleges that Menendez and his wife Nadine participated in a years-long bribery scheme beginning in 2018 with New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes, according to a Friday press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern…

Auburn Police received a call Wednesday reporting that a man in the area of 21 Center Street was displaying a firearm in his waist band. [RELATED: “Zombie Slasher” Machete and Loaded Shotgun Horrify Store Owners Across from Portland Homeless Encampment…] The caller provided police with a detailed description of the male suspect and the firearm. Upon arrival, Auburn Police officers searched the area and found a homeless encampment, where they located a man who matched the caller’s description. Police identified the suspect as Gabriel Sanchez, 40, with a last known address in Lewiston. Gabriel Sanchez | Source: Auburn Police Department…

In a Tuesday evening debate hosted by CBS 13, Fox 23 and the Bangor Daily News, Portland’s 2023 mayoral candidates each weighed in on how they would tackle the city’s homelessness crisis if elected. [RELATED: Portland Public Schools Enrolled More Than 300 Homeless Students for 2022-2023 School Year…] Tuesday’s debate marked the first time that Portland voters got to hear from all five candidates who will appear on November’s ballot in a moderated debate format. The candidates are Portland City Councilors Mark Dion, Pious Ali, and Andrew Zarro, former City Councilor Justin Costa, and political newcomer and software developer Dylan…

Boston University announced Wednesday that it is launching an inquiry into Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s Center for Antiracist Research (CAR) following accusations from former staff members that allege mismanagement of grant funds, a high turnover rate, and general disorganization. The inquiry, which BU said will be “focused on the center’s culture and its grant management practices,” comes just a week after Kendi laid off more than half of the center’s staff members. “We are expanding our inquiry to include the Center’s management culture and the faculty and staff’s experience with it,” BU spokesperson Colin Riley said. “Boston University and Dr. Kendi…

Unanswered questions linger regarding a July 911 call to the South Portland Police Department asking police to respond to the home of the Chair of the South Portland Human Rights Commission Pedro Vazquez. Based on an anonymous tip, the Maine Wire filed a public records request with the South Portland Police Department seeking records concerning a child welfare 911 call regarding Vazquez. In response, the South Portland PD provided a heavily redacted 911 call transcript which shows a clearly distressed and panicking woman — who is not identified in the transcript — calling on behalf of a friend who had…

Maine school libraries are stocking a children’s graphic novel meant to teach “news literacy” that contains thinly veiled allusions to COVID-19, Donald Trump, and passages meant to persuade children not to trust their families over the corporate news media. The graphic novel, “Killer Underwear Invasion: How to spot fake news, disinformation & conspiracy theories,” is by Canadian author and illustrator Elise Gravel. The book is one of many recommended by the National Literacy Project, a nonprofit that has partnered with the Maine Department of Education to help teach Maine students which sources of information are trustworthy. In partnership with several…

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Thursday that approximately 472,000 Venezuelan nationals living in the United States will be granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which will prevent them from being removed from the country and give them employment authorization. The decision, according to a Thursday DHS press release, comes due to “extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent individuals from safely returning.” The safety concerns cited by the DHS include the South American country’s “humanitarian, security, political, and environmental conditions.” Under the TPS designation, Venezuelans who arrived in the U.S. on or before July 31, 2023,…

Joseph Bankman, the father of the infamous former crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, allegedly held a role on the advisory board of a top liberal dark money consulting firm, Arabella Advisors, according to a lawsuit filed Monday. The Washington, D.C. Arabella Advisors serves as a passthrough organization for wealthy progressives to donate, often anonymously, to left-wing political activists and candidates. The lawsuit, filed Monday in Delaware against Bankman-Fried’s parents by his former crypto exchange company FTX, accuses the couple of exploiting their “access and influence within the FTX enterprise to enrich themselves, directly and indirectly, by millions of dollars.” According to…

There were approximately 320 students from homeless families enrolled in the Portland Public School (PPS) system during the 2022-2023 school year, according to the district’s fast facts report. The PPS report states that five percent of the 6,424 total students — around 320 students — enrolled in the district during the 2022-2023 school year were “McKinney-Vento” students. McKinney-Vento students are children and youth experiencing homelessness that qualify for federal assistance under the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. The federal legislation’s definition of homelessness includes children who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, who are sharing housing with others…

Maine State Rep. Mike Soboleski (R-Phillips) announced Thursday that he is officially entering the Republican primary election for a chance to challenge Democratic Rep. Jared Golden in the 2024 race for the state’s 2nd Congressional District. [RELATED: State Rep Mike Soboleski Considers 2024 Challenge to Golden in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District: Interview] “The radical policies of Joe Biden and his enabler-in-chief Jared Golden have left Maine families behind,” Rep. Soboleski said in his campaign announcement. “Today, our southern border remains a free-for-all and a humanitarian crisis. Our parents continue to see their rights eroded, and Mainers struggle to make ends…

As part of the nearly $1 billion in federal funds Maine received from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, Gov. Janet Mills announced Wednesday a $6.5 million electrical grid upgrade program for rural Maine businesses. The electrical grid upgrade program is the latest addition to Gov. Mills’ Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, which launched in October 2021 after approval by the State Legislature. [RELATED: Janet Mills Awards $3.7 Million in Grants to Sea-Run Fish Habitat Restoration Projects…] “This important investment from my Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan will help growing Maine businesses access safe and reliable electricity to power their…

Maine State Rep. Josh Morris (R-Turner), ranking Republican member of the Legislature’s Insurance Committee, sent a letter Wednesday to Acting Superintendent of the Maine Bureau of Insurance Tim Schott calling for an investigation into alleged fraudulent insurance practices by Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Allagash). [RELATED: Maine Senate President Troy Jackson Locked in Bitter Legal Fight Over Augusta Home He Bought – and Moved Into – in 2019] “I am writing on behalf of the thousands of Mainers that buy insurance, play by the rules, and are concerned about rising costs,” Rep. Morris wrote. “Any potential malfeasance should be taken seriously…

Three former intelligence officials who falsely tried to discredit the infamous Hunter Biden laptop story as Russian disinformation have been appointed to a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ‘Experts Group.’ [RELATED: Biden Campaign Prompted Ex-Spies, Intel Officials to Call Hunter’s Laptop Misinformation: Ex-CIA Director Morell] DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the formation of the Homeland Intelligence Experts Group, which will meet four times annually, Tuesday. The group, comprised of ex-intelligence officials, journalists, and human and civil rights advocates, will consult the DHS on threats foreign and domestic including domestic violent extremists, cyber criminals, drug-trafficking cartels, and other transnational criminal…

Parents in the Maine School Administrative District #51 (MSAD #51) pushed back against pornographic books in the district’s school libraries at a chaotic Monday evening School Board meeting. The brouhaha follows the district’s July Board meeting, which abruptly adjourned following one Cumberland parent, Scott Jordan, raising his concerns to the Board about the sexually explicit book Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe being in the Greely High School Library. [RELATED: Maine School Board Shuts Down Discussion of Pornographic Books, Police Called on Parents] Although the speaker prior to Jordan in the public comment section of the July meeting was given over…

A Texas-based U.S. judge ruled Wednesday against an Obama-era immigration policy meant to prevent the deportation of and provide work permits to immigrants who came to the United States illegally as children. U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Texas Andrew Hanen, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the program, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), was unlawful — despite an effort by the Biden administration to increase the program’s regulation in order to preserve it. DACA was created in 2012 after Congress failed to pass legislation granting lawful status for individuals brought illegally to the…

A Portland high school was evacuated Monday morning after police received an unfounded text message claiming there was in active shooter in the school, according to a Portland Police Department press release. The Portland Regional Communication center received a 911 text at 9:21 a.m. Monday stating there was an active shooter in Casco Bay High School. Officers who arrived on the scene were told by school staff that they were unaware of the text. School officials made the decision to evacuate all students to a nearby location, and fifteen Portland Police officers secured the perimeter of the school and began…

The Communist Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), the Maine Democratic Socialists of America (MDSA), the Maine People’s Alliance (MPA), and other left-wing activists rallied outside Portland City Hall Friday to protest the city’s policy of clearing out its homeless encampments. Event organizers are calling for the city to pass an ordinance stopping the sweeps of the encampments until more long-term housing solutions are available, and some speakers wanted the city to sanction a permanent homeless encampment. [RELATED: Natural Disaster Threatens Man-Made Disaster as Hurricane Lee Bears Down on Portland’s Growing Homeless Camp] Friday’s “Stop the Sweeps” protest came a…

Portland’s now-largest homeless encampment at the Marginal Way Park and Ride has approximately doubled in size since August, with a total of 77 tents according to the city’s Unhoused Community Dashboard. [RELATED: ‘Millsvilles’: The Maine Wire Visits Portland’s Drug-Infested Tent Cities] There have also been 91 new tents observed in Portland in September, for a total of 239 tents citywide, according to the dashboard. This weekend the rapidly growing Park and Ride encampment will have to face the high-speed winds and flooding which will come with the arrival of Hurricane Lee Friday night. One side of the Park and Ride…

In advance of Hurricane Lee’s projected landfall Friday evening, Maine Gov. Janet Mills declared a State of Emergency Thursday and requested that President Joe Biden issue a preemptive Presidential Emergency Disaster Declaration for the state. The governor’s proclamation states that Hurricane Lee will likely cause “sustained high winds, pounding surf, and heavy rains” that could pose “an imminent threat to public safety as well as damage to public and private property.” The proclamation also authorizes the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to activate and deploy all resources necessary to respond to the hurricane. “The preemptive actions I took today position…

CNN inadvertently confirmed several key claims regarding the corruption allegations against President Joe Biden when the network’s “fact checkers” tried Wednesday to debunk claims House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made Tuesday when announcing a formal impeachment inquiry into the president. “House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct,” McCarthy announced Tuesday. “Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.” “These are allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption, and they warrant further investigation by House of Representatives,” he said. The CNN article comes just two days after White House spokesperson Iam…

In a new guidance issued Wednesday, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo warned young healthy adults under the age of 65 against taking the latest mRNA COVID-19 vaccine booster shot. [RELATED: Press Herald and Janet Mills’ Sister Hype “Eris” COVID-19 Variant to Push More mRNA Injections] This comes just days after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced their approval of an updated mRNA vaccine for a new COVID variant dubbed “XBB.1.5.” The agency said unvaccinated children aged 6 months and up are eligible to receive the Moderna mRNA injection. “What I have directed our department to do is to…

An excerpt of a new biography of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) published in The Atlantic Wednesday tells the story of how Maine Sen. Angus King reportedly texted Romney four days before the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol Building warning of threats of violence, gun smuggling, and plans to “storm the Capitol.” Romney relayed Sen. King’s warnings to then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who did not respond. [RELATED: Mitt Romney Calls on GOP Donors to Force “Lost-Cause” Candidates Out of 2024 Primary to Take Down Trump] King texted Romney on Jan. 2, 2021, citing a conversation that he…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills announced Wednesday that her administration has awarded $3.7 million in grant funding to projects that will help the state’s sea-run fish species access their habitats. [RELATED: Gov Mills Pushes for 2023 Farm Bill to Include Increased Food Stamp Funding, ‘Climate-Smart’ Agriculture] Sea-run fish refer to species of fish that spend portions of their lives in both the ocean and freshwater, usually having to undergo a significant migration once or twice in their lifetime. Natural and manmade obstacles, such as dams or pollution, can be an impediment to the completion of their migration cycles. The projects receiving…

Florida Governor and current second-place 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate Ron DeSantis announced the formation of his campaign’s Maine leadership team Wednesday. The team of three includes former House Republican Leader and attorney Josh Tardy, Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook), and State Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport). “Ron DeSantis’ leadership stands out to me like no Republican candidate has before, and that’s why I am proud to endorse DeSantis for President. He is truly the only candidate who can defeat Joe Biden and get the job done for Americans with no drama and no excuses,” former top Republican lawmaker Josh Tardy said…

The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) announced Tuesday the arrest of a South Portland man on drug trafficking charges that resulted in the seizure of over two pounds of illegal drugs. [RELATED: Texas Fugitive Arrested for Trafficking $40,000 Worth of Illegal Drugs at Westbrook Motel] The MDEA said the arrest stemmed from a several month investigation conducted by the Cumberland District Task Force into illegal drug trafficking by 52-year-old Michael McNamara. During their investigation, undercover agents were able to purchase high quality methamphetamine from McNamara, while he was working as a general manager at Spring Point Tavern in South Portland.…

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced Tuesday that he is directing House Republicans to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over allegations of abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption. [RELATED: Majority of Americans Think Biden Was Involved in Hunter’s Business Dealings: CNN Poll] “House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct,” McCarthy told reporters outside his office Tuesday. “Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.” https://twitter.com/SpeakerMcCarthy/status/1701616470793547969?s=20 McCarthy referenced revelations made by GOP-led House Committees regarding Biden’s involvement in his family’s overseas business dealings, bank records showing nearly…

Washington University announced Monday that their physicians at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital will no longer prescribe puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to minors for the purposes of gender transition. [RELATED: Freeport School District Set to Consider ‘Transgender and Gender Expansive’ Student Policy] “We are disheartened to have to take this step,” the university stated Monday. “However, Missouri’s newly enacted law regarding transgender care has created a new legal claim for patients who received these medications as minors.” “This legal claim creates unsustainable liability for health-care professionals and makes it untenable for us to continue…

Testimony from a CIA whistleblower to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence alleges that the agency bribed six experts in order to change their position on COVID-19’s origin, according to a Tuesday House Oversight Committee press release. [RELATED: House Oversight Report: Top Scientists Suppressed COVID Lab Leak Hypothesis to Protect China] The whistleblower, who presented themselves to the committees as a “highly credible senior-level CIA officer,” testified that six of the seven CIA officers assigned to a team tasked with analyzing the origins of COVID-19 concluded that the virus likely originated from…

Videos circulating widely on social media this week appear to show a migrant caravan of more 4,000 people is heading north towards the United States through Panama’s Darién Gap. [RELATED: US-Mexico Border Is World’s Deadliest Land Route For Migrants, Report Shows] Real America’s Voice host Ben Bergquam shared videos showing the migrant caravan on the scene in Lajas Blancas, Panama, to X. “I’ve never seen anything like this, it’s a sea of people, look at this,” Bergquam said. “All the way down to the river, guys, thousands, four thousand in one day.” Lajas Blancas has been “completely overrun,” Bergquam explained,…

Biden’s Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm had the police called on her over a dispute at a charging station at a Georgia rest stop during her four-day electric vehicle road trip this summer. The trip was intended to promote the ease and convenience of using EVs, but it backfired spectacularly. A Department of Energy staffer in Granholm’s entourage reportedly parked a gas-powered car in front of one of the station’s working chargers in order order to reserve it for Granholm’s luxury Cadillac Lyriq, according a Sunday NPR story entitled “Electric cars have a road trip problem, even for the secretary…

South Portland Police officers were dispatched to the Pine Haven Motel on Main St. in the early hours of Tuesday morning to respond to a report of a man holding a female occupant hostage at gunpoint, according to a Tuesday city press release. [RELATED: Maine AG: No Officer Wrongdoing in the 2021 Death of Man who Broke into Ex-Girlfriend’s House, Took Hostages, & Planted Pipe Bombs] After nearly four hours from the initial 1:00 a.m. dispatch, the Southern Maine SWAT team and Crisis Negotiators were able to convince the man to allow the female hostage to exit the motel room.…

The Department of Administrative and Financial Services (DAFS) announced Monday that it has filed a request for mediation to help advance contract negotiations with the labor union that represents Maine’s state employees. The Maine Service Employee Association Service Employees International Union 1989 (MSEA-SEIU), Maine’s second largest union, has struggled all year to get an agreeable pay proposal from the Mills Administration. The mediation request, through the Maine Labor Relations Board, comes after three months of tense contract negotiation between the State and MSEA-SEIU. Gov. Janet Mills and the State Legislature have allocated up to $99 million to negotiate during collective…

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sunday that he has granted a pardon to a father who was prosecuted and convicted for protesting a Loudon County high school’s handling of his 15-year-old daughter’s sexual assault. [RELATED: Freeport School District Set to Consider ‘Transgender and Gender Expansive’ Student Policy] The father, plumber Scott Smith, was arrested and charged with Obstruction of Justice and Disorderly Conduct at a rowdy June 2021 Loudon County School Board meeting after a verbal altercation with a woman who said she didn’t believe his daughter was raped. At the school board meeting, Superintendent Scott Ziegler — who…

Minnesota will soon allow an estimated 81,000 illegal immigrants living in the state to receive a driver’s license, when the state’s “Driver’s Licenses for All” law goes into effect at the beginning of October. [RELATED: DeSantis Outlaws Out-Of-State Driver’s Licenses Issued To Illegal Immigrants] Driver’s Licenses for All was signed into Minnesota law by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in March. “Ensuring drivers in our state are licensed and carry insurance makes the roads safer for all Minnesotans,” Gov. Walz said in a March press release. “As a longtime supporter of this bill, I am proud to finally sign it into law, making…

A majority of Americans say they think President Joe Biden was involved in his son Hunter’s business dealings while he served as vice president to Barack Obama, according to a recent CNN poll conducted by Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS) The CNN poll comes as the special counsel appointed to oversee the federal investigation into Hunter Biden, David Weiss, intends to seek a grand jury indictment against the president’s son by the end of September. Hunter Biden has been the subject of a 5-year investigation and is facing a felony gun possession charge and misdemeanor tax charges after a plea…

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced Thursday that the Committee is investigating one of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s top prosecutors for alleged “abusive tactics” employed in the Trump Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe. [RELATED: House Judiciary Launches Probe into Fulton County DA’s ‘Politically Motivated’ Trump Indictment] In a Thursday letter to Special Counsel Jack Smith, Rep. Jordan alleges that Jay Bratt, a senior prosecutor in Smith’s office, improperly pressured an attorney for one of the defendants in the documents probe, longtime Trump aide Walt Nauta. Bratt allegedly told Nauta’s attorney, Stanley Woodward, “that the Administration would look more…

The Biden administration is considering forcing some migrant families who enter the United States illegally to remain near the border in Texas while awaiting adjudication on their asylum claims, three U.S. officials told the Los Angeles Times. [RELATED: Federal Judge Orders Texas to Remove 1,000 Floating Border Barrier, Gov Abbot Promises to Appeal] The remain-in-Texas policy, which has yet to be finalized, would effectively limit the migrant families’ abilities to travel within the U.S., while helping the administration quickly deport families who fail their initial asylum screenings and acting as a deterrent to other migrants from crossing the border. Under…

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey released a report on his office’s investigation into the 2021 death of a man who broke into the Livermore Falls home of his ex-girlfriend’s father, took the father and her boyfriend hostage, and planted 11 pipe bombs throughout the house before a standoff with police. Donald White, 44, of Jay, broke into the home of his ex-girlfriend’s father, 64-year-old Kenneth Smith, in the early hours of Monday, March 8, 2021 — armed with two firearms, zip-tie wrist restraints, and handcuffs. Smith, his granddaughter, daughter, and the daughter’s then-boyfriend were asleep inside the house. White entered…

Maine Regional School District 5’s (RSU5) Board of Directors is set to hear a first reading of a new policy next Wednesday regarding “transgender and gender expansive students” that would codify allowing school staff to keep issues related to students’ gender identity secret from their parents. RSU5 represents the towns of Freeport, Durham and Pownal, and a total of seven schools, from pre-k to high school. The stated goals of the policy are to “foster a learning environment that is safe and free from discrimination, harassment, and bullying,” and to “assist in the educational and social integration of transgender and…

New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared in a town hall event Wednesday evening that the city’s migrant crisis “will destroy” the city, while ripping the Biden Administration for not doing more to help the city cope with an influx in so-called asylum seekers. “We turned this city around in 20 months, and then what happened?” Adams said. “It started with a madman down in Texas, decided he wanted to bus people up to New York City,” he said, referring to Texas Gov. Greg Abbot’s program of busing migrants to blue states in an effort to make them share the…

During her segment on the Maine Public’s “Maine Calling” radio show Wednesday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills was asked to address a Bangor Daily News article about a Patten man who died in police custody while high on a combination of methamphetamine and fentanyl and resisting arrest. The Maine State Police issued a statement Wednesday calling the BDN article “irresponsible journalism” after the outlet published the story without including comments from the Maine attorney general’s office, Maine State Police and the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office. [RELATED: Maine State Police Slam Bangor Daily News for “Irresponsible Journalism” On Man’s Death in Police…

A federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas handed the Biden Administration a victory when it ruled Wednesday that the state must remove its 1,000 foot floating buoy barrier on the Rio Grande meant to deter migrants from crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. [RELATED: Biden Admin Sues Texas Over Floating Border Barrier After Threatening Gov. Abbott] Senior U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra issued a preliminary injunction ordering Texas officials to remove the floating barrier by Sept. 15, at the state’s own expense. The injunction also prohibits the state from setting up similar floating…

On Maine’s taxpayer-funded Maine Calling radio program Thursday, Maine Gov. Janet Mills told host Jennifer Rooks that she has not visited any of Portland’s homeless encampments, some of which are on state property. [RELATED: ‘Millsvilles’: The Maine Wire Visits Portland’s Drug-Infested Tent Cities] “I’m wondering if you have visited any of those encampments and talked with the people there,” Rooks asked. “No I have not,” Mills responded. Rooks followed up by asking Mills “if there are more ideas if there are more proposals coming forward, given the scale of the problem” in the upcoming legislative session. Mills didn’t supply any…

The Maine State Police issued a statement Wednesday slamming the Bangor Daily News for their article covering the death in police custody of a Patten man last year. Jeremy Lau, 46, died in police custody on March 1, 2022, after he was arrested by officers from the Maine State Police and the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office following a report that Lau was vandalizing a woman’s house and threatening people. The woman who called 911 told dispatch that Lau had broken a window, had access to a knife, and was “on something.” Lau was reportedly swinging a bat at people while…

Portland Director of Health and Human Services Kristen Dow and Fire Chief Keith Gautreau joined the City Council during its Wednesday meeting to provide an update on the clean up of the Fore River Parkway encampment earlier that day. The city’s Encampment Crisis Response Team (ECRT) has been working to move individuals from the Fore River encampment into shelters ahead of Wednesday’s deadline since June, moving 18 of the almost 100 homeless individuals living in the encampment into housing. August saw the greatest increase in new tents observed in Portland — 78 — according to the city’s Unhoused Community Dashboard.…

Maine State Rep. John Andrews (R-Paris) filed an official written complaint Wednesday with Maine’s Attorney General’s Office and Ethics Commission against Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook). The formal submission of the complaint comes after a Maine Wire exclusive report detailing Jackson’s years-long legal battle fought over an Augusta home he bought in 2019, potential violations of the Maine Constitution’s residency requirement for lawmakers, misrepresenting his primary residence on campaign documents, and lying to obtain a federally-insured loan. [RELATED: Pictures Suggest Troy Jackson Still Living in Augusta Post-Session, Not His Allagash District] Jackson bought a house in Augusta in Sept. 2019,…

Over 1.2 million native born U.S. workers lost their jobs between July and August, while foreign born workers gained 668,000 jobs, according to the latest Employment Situation report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS defines “foreign-born” as “those residing in the United States who were not U.S. citizens at birth.” To be foreign-born, an individual must be born outside the United States or one of its outlying areas such as Puerto Rico or Guam, to non-citizen parents. Native-born persons are those born in U.S., Puerto Rico, or Guam, or born abroad to at least one citizen…

In a CNN interview Saturday, Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci defended the use of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on individual basis in response to a study that claims masks are ineffective. [RELATED: ‘Caught red-handed’: Rand Paul Files Criminal Referral Against Fauci for Allegedly Lying to Congress Over Gain-of-Function Research] “When you’re talking about the effect on the pandemic as a whole, the data is less strong,” Fauci, the former White House chief medical advisor told CNN’s Michael Smerconish. “But when you talk about an individual basis of someone protecting themselves……

Portland’s Public Health Division has been selected as a recipient of a $4 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the agency’s Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) program. [RELATED: ‘Millsvilles’: The Maine Wire Visits Portland’s Drug-Infested Tent Cities] The CDC’s OD2A program was launched in 2019, awarding 66 grants to state, territorial, county, and city health departments. This month, the CDC awarded new five-year cooperative agreements to 90 jurisdictions under two programs, one designed for states, and one designed for localities and territories which Portland received. The OD2A program focuses on data collection via a…

Shortly before 9 p.m. on Monday, Portland Police were dispatched to a Kennedy Park apartment building where it was reported that a gun had been fired into an apartment. [RELATED: “Zombie Slasher” Machete and Loaded Shotgun Horrify Store Owners Across from Portland Homeless Encampment] Officers were given a description of the potential suspect, a juvenile, and later located him. The juvenile was taken into custody and the weapon was recovered. He received a summons for Aggravated Reckless Conduct and was released on conditions. Aggravated Reckless Conduct is a Class B crime punishable by up to ten years incarceration and a…

The owner of Fogg Lighting, a store across from one of Portland’s largest homeless encampments at the Marginal Way Park and Ride, emailed city officials, Mills Administration members, and state lawmakers Friday to inform them that he found an abandoned “Zombie Slasher” machete on his store premises. [RELATED: “We are asking for help”: Business Across From Portland Park and Ride Homeless Encampment Put on Lockdown After Man High on Drugs Enters Store] “Attached to this message is a photograph of a recovered machete, aptly named ‘The Slasher,’ which was found on the premises,” Sanford Fogg wrote in the email, which…

In a letter sent Wednesday to the Biden Administration, several key Congressional committees, and Maine’s Congressional Delegation, Gov. Janet Mills detailed Maine’s priorities for the forthcoming 2023 farm bill. Chief among them: More federal dollars to recharge EBT cards. [RELATED: $11.2 Billion Lost to Food Stamp Overpayment in FY2022, Highest Amount in Program History: FGA Report…] In her Aug. 30 letter, Gov. Mills expressed her support for a “comprehensive and equitable” 2023 farm bill. “My administration supports an equitable and robust Farm Bill that retains and, in key areas, expands funding to critical agriculture, nutrition, forestry, and conservation programs,” wrote Gov.…

Maine Gov. Janet Mills attended a remembrance ceremony Thursday, Aug. 31, on International Overdose Awareness Day — as the total number of overdoses in the state so far this year reaches close to 6,000. [RELATED: ‘Millsvilles’: The Maine Wire Visits Portland’s Drug-Infested Tent Cities] Since Mills took office, the number of fatal overdoses in Maine has increased every year. In 2019, there were 380 overdose deaths. From 2019 to 2022, a total of 2,232 Mainers have suffered fatal overdoses, according to state statistics. The ceremony was held in Boothbay, Maine, and hosted by the 716 Candles Project. The number “716”…

Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Attorney General Aaron Frey said Thursday that they are reviewing election laws related to the 14th Amendment in order to determine if former President Donald Trump could be barred from the 2024 ballot over the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building. Secretary Bellows and Attorney General Frey, both former Democratic lawmakers, said that they are “working together to research and analyze the legal requirements for ballot access, including presidential ballot access, as we do prior to every major election,” in a written statement regarding “14th Amendment election law questions.”…

In a Thursday letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), Ranking Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called for a subpoena of documents related to the foreign business dealings of former President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The Oversight Democrats initially launched a probe into Kushner’s investment firm, A Fin Management LLC (Affinity Partners), in June 2022, over the firm receiving billions of dollars from wealth funds controlled by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.). Two months after he left his position as an advisor to then-President Trump on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, Kushner…

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced Wednesday that he has filed a civil rights complaint seeking an injunctive order against a Jonesboro man who allegedly threatened an interracial couple and their children near their home in April. The injunctive order would prohibit the man, 52-year-old Dale O’Brien, from having any contact with the victims and from violating the Maine Civil Rights Act in the future, violation of which is a Class D crime, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. [RELATED: AG Frey Files Permanent Injunction Under Maine Civil Rights Act in Racial Threatening and…

Foreign nationals bilked American taxpayers for more than $280 billion as a panicked federal government handed out relief funds during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Republican lawmakers what some answers. Chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) sent a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding answers from the Department of Justice regarding billions of taxpayer dollars allocated to COVID-19 relief funds that were stolen by international criminal organizations. https://twitter.com/COVIDSelect/status/1696553274168549485?s=20 After Republicans won a majority in the House in the 2022 midterm elections, the committee has been tasked with investigating the origins of…

A Texas man has been arrested and charged with aggravated drug trafficking as well as being a fugitive from justice following an investigation into the sale of methamphetamine, crack cocaine and heroin in the Greater Portland and Westbrook area, according to a Wednesday press release from the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA). [RELATED: Eight Arrested for Drug Trafficking in Central and Mid-Coast Maine Following Months-Long Investigation] Isaac Mireles, 38, of Richmond, Texas has been charged with one count of aggravated trafficking methamphetamine, fugitive from justice for three outstanding warrants from Texas, possession with the intent to distribute illegal drugs, human…

The Maine Statistical Analysis Center, part of the University of Southern Maine’s Catherine Cutler Institute, published a report in July entitled “Recidivism Among Sex Offenders in Massachusetts & Maine.” [RELATED: Left-wing Lincoln County DA Drops Assault Charges on Angolan Citizen Who Brutally Attacked Woman, Gave Man Detached Retina, Then Fought a Cop] The report was funded by a Bureau of Justice Statistics grant, in order to provide policy makers with empirical data on a critical issue of public safety — sex crimes committed by reoffenders. In Maine, recidivism is defined as the presence of an arrest that results in a…

In a video posted to his Instagram account Wednesday, Boston Red Sox legend David Ortiz said he is the victim of an extortion plot by a criminal network of hackers who gained access to his old phone, and are threatening to release intimate details about his personal life. “I am being a victim of an extortion right now. There are people who hacked my phone from more than 15 years ago, which in recent times I have not used,” Ortiz said in his native language, Spanish. “They browsed through my personal life and have wanted to extort me with that,…

In a letter to his constituents published on his Substack Monday, Democratic Congressman for Maine’s 2nd District Jared Golden called out dark money-funded political networks for criticizing his opposition to President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. [RELATED: Jared Golden Said an Obviously True Thing About Biden’s Student Debt Scheme — and Radical Leftists Are Losing Their Minds] On Aug. 18, Rep. Golden issued a statement on X, formerly Twitter, in response to a blog post from the Maine Beacon, a digital news and opinion outlet funded by the left-wing dark money organization Arabella Advisors. “Sadly, this is what radical…

Portland Police made a traffic stop last Monday afternoon at the intersection of Park Ave. and Mellen St. in Portland that resulted in the seizure of a large amount of illegal drugs. [RELATED: ‘Millsvilles’: The Maine Wire Visits Portland’s Drug-Infested Tent Cities] After a brief investigation, officers discovered that a passenger in the stopped car, 22-year-old Justin Williams of Saco, had a warrant. Officers searched Williams, and discovered he was in possession of 83 grams of fentanyl — enough to kill 41,500 people — 45 grams of cocaine base, 60 grams of cocaine HCL, 92 grams of methamphetamine, 169 Adderall…

Lincoln County District Attorney Natasha Irving dismissed five charges against a man who allegedly assaulted his fellow staff members at Camp Chewonki is Wiscasset in late June. The man, whose real name, date of birth, and country of origin was unknown at the time of his arrest, has since been identified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as 21-year-old Carlos Dielumbaka Pedro Missione, a citizen of the African country of Angola. Lincoln County District Attorney Natasha Irving The alleged assault occurred on June 24, two days before campers were scheduled to arrive. The victim said she woke up around…

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday a lawsuit to challenge the mandatory gender identity disclosure policy of the Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education. The policy, adopted in July, requires schools to notify parents if their child requests to use a name or pronoun different from that on their birth certificate or official records. Parents of the Chino Valley School District are also required to be informed if their child requests to use facilities or participates in programs that don’t align with the sex on their official records. This lawsuit comes after an almost month-long civil rights…

Police in Portland, Maine were called Saturday to the house of a recently-deceased man whose daughter found three explosive devices when she was cleaning out her father’s home, according to a Monday press release. [RELATED: Suspicious Package Left at Topsham Walgreens Being Investigated by Maine State Police Bomb Squad] https://twitter.com/PolicePortland/status/1696197015384867239?s=20 Portland Police Department’s Hazardous Devices Unit (HDU) was dispatched to the Verril Street residence to assess the three suspicious items. The HDU found a claymore mine and two grenades. Some of the explosive devices were found to be unstable, and were recovered and placed in a containment vessel for save…

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office announced Sunday that the death of Republican legal activist Alexander Talcott, 41, in his Durham home Saturday is being investigated as a homicide. Talcott, a lawyer and member of the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA), was pronounced dead at his home early Saturday morning. The New Hampshire Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jennie V. Duval determined the cause of Talcott’s death was a stab wound to the neck. State Director of the New Hampshire chapter of the RNLA, William O’Brien, told NBC10 Boston that Talcott stood out as a “staunch advocate for the core values…

York County residents are being targeted with unsolicited purchase agreements by a Utah real estate investment company, but county officials say residents may want to consider seeking legal advice before moving forward. The York County Registrar of Deeds, Nancy Hammond, said in a press release last Wednesday that her office has received about half-a-dozen calls from property owners who have received letters from Edge Equity LLC, a land investment company based in Washington, Utah. The letters from Edge Equity state that the source of the ownership record is “from the York County assessor.” In one instance, Edge Equity offered a…

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is fighting back against a Maine hospital that threatened to file a defamation lawsuit in response to a 15-year-old’s op-ed which called attention to patient safety concerns at the hospital. Samson Cournane, then 14, wrote a Change.org petition in September 2022 addressed to Rep. Jared Golden regarding patient safety concerns at the Northern Light Health’s Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine. Dr. Anne Yered, his mother and a pediatric intensive care doctor, was fired from the same hospital in June 2022 after she raised concerns about patient safety. While Dr. Yered…

Port City Flooring, a business directly across from one of the city’s largest homeless encampments at the Maine Department of Transportation Park and Ride, was put on lockdown Wednesday after a man high on drugs entered the store fearing that someone was trying to stab him. [RELATED: ‘Millsvilles’: The Maine Wire Visits Portland’s Drug-Infested Tent Cities] In an email sent Friday to Portland city officials and Maine State Legislators, Port City Flooring Vice-President Anna McCoy told the terrifying story of what it is like operating a business across from a homeless encampment and open air drug market. “We had a…

Officers from the South Portland Police Department were dispatched at approximately 4 a.m. Friday to Summit Terrace apartments for a domestic violence call with shots fired. Upon arrival, the victim told the officers that Christapher Dodge, 47, had fled the apartment in his pickup truck. During the officers’ investigation, Dodge returned to the scene and engaged the officers in an “armed confrontation.” Officer Anthony Verville shot Dodge, who was later pronounced dead at the scene. Verville has been placed on administrative leave, a standard procedure in all police involved shootings. The incident will be investigated by the Attorney General’s Office…

Former President Donald Trump has returned to X — the social media platform formerly known as Twitter — for the first time since January 2021, when his account was suspended over fears that he would incite violence following Jan. 6. Trump’s Twitter account was unsuspended by Elon Musk last November after he took control over the company. The former president’s return to X came shortly after he surrendered at Fulton County Jail on charges brought by District Attorney Fani Willis alleging that he used a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. [RELATED: House Judiciary Launches Probe…

Instead of attending the first 2024 Republican presidential primary debate hosted by Fox News, former president and current primary frontrunner Donald Trump did a sit-down interview with Tucker Carlson on X (formerly Twitter)– which has now raked in over 200 million impressions since it was published Wednesday night. According to Nielsen Ratings, the concurrently-programmed Fox News Republican primary debate drew in 12.8 million viewers, about half as many as the first GOP presidential debate in 2015, which hit 24 million viewers. https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/status/1694513603251241143?s=20 Although X shows the Trump and Tucker Carlson interview as currently having more than 238 million views, X…