LEWISTON, Maine – The Lewiston City Council rejected two proposed changes to its meeting rules Tuesday night, voting down efforts to reduce public speaking time from three minutes to two minutes and to eliminate the second public comment period from council agendas. The proposed amendments came under Policy Manual No. 6, the rules governing the city council, and were presented as part of a broader discussion about the growing length of council meetings. Mayor Carl…

VIRGINIA — A man who recently pled guilty to providing support to the Islamic State was released from federal prison in 2024, yesterday he opened fire in a classroom at Old Dominion University, killing one person and injuring two before he was subdued and killed, initially covered by Fox 5. The suspect, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh of Sterling, Virginia carried out the attack after completing his 2016 sentence on terrorism-related charges, sparking concern from officials about…

A Massachusetts police officer flipped on the blues during a stop in neighboring New Hampshire.Fine so far, maybe.Then, not so much.Problem is he’s not really a cop.Mikel Beltran, 37, was arrested by police in Londonderry, New Hampshire, impersonating a police officer.Beltran allegedly flashed his blues at another car, according to CBS News Boston.Two problems – Beltran is a fired Mass cop and two, blue lights are not allowed in personal vehicles in New Hampshire.So even…

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Lamar Cook was released from custody on Tuesday after posting just $25,000 bail despite facing charges of cocaine trafficking and illegal firearm possession. The former deputy director in the Western Massachusetts office of Gov. Maura Healey was arrested last October. Hampden County Superior Court records indicate the bail was posted by Kamai Norman and follows months of detention, in what prosecutors described as an operation of an ongoing enterprise that exploited public…

AUGUSTA — Today, Sen. Martin Heinrich became the third U.S. senator to formally endorse oyster connoisseur Graham Platner for U.S. Senate in Maine, in a purported chess move tied to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s devotion to Gov. Janet Mills. The endorsement, first sighted on social media in an X post, enters as Platner continues to poster himself as the voice of Maine in contrast to others relying on national donors. The message was telegraphed…

Gov. Janet Mills (D) has signed a bill into law expanding access to the state’s Fund To Address Food Insecurity and Provide Nutrition Incentives. State law previously specified that only federal food and nutrition assistance programs were eligible to benefit from this fund. According to the sponsor of LD 2004, Sen. Henry Ingwersen (D-York), this change brings the law into alignment with lawmakers’ original intentions. Sen. Ingwersen explained that “no matter the funding sources, the…

AUBURN, Maine — Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage returned to familiar political ground Saturday night in Auburn, using a speech before the Androscoggin County Republican Committee’s Lincoln Day dinner to rally Republican voters, blast Democrats and frame the 2026 election as a make-or-break fight over fraud, welfare policy and Maine’s political future. Now running for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, LePage told the Republican crowd that the path to victory is simple: show up and vote.…

A Maine coastal community known as much for its money as its breathtaking shoreline has decided if you don’t live there you can’t use its public beach.Put down Cape Elizabeth, Maine as a town so rich it doesn’t have to care.Municipal officials under the cover of darkness (also known as winter) have decided to ban all parking near Cliff House Beach.First they restricted nonresident parking on Sea View Avenue leading down to the beach, so…

A Bangor woman is facing a potential 30-year prison sentence after she pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. [RELATED: Attempted Bank Fraud in Houlton Leads to Cross-Border Chase Into Canada Involving Canadian Mounted Police…] Nichole Kelley, 46, of Bangor, pleaded guilty to her role in a bank fraud conspiracy that lasted from July to October 2024. As part of the scheme, Kelley entered banks while impersonating legitimate bank customers. She used…

An Edgecomb man accused of beating a young girl to death has been found guilty, state officials said.Tyler Witham-Jordan was charged with murder in connection with the death of 3-year-old Makinzlee Handrahan on Dec. 25, 2022. Witham-Jordan was the boyfriend of Makinzlee’s mother.Prosecutors said Witham-Jordan was experiencing opioid withdrawal on that Christmas morning and was mad at his girlfriend’s children, WMTW-TV reports.Cops used DNA evidence found inside the upper waistband of the girl’s bloody diaper…

It came 46 years late but the families victimized by the 1979 Iran hostage crisis get to sleep a little easier now that Khamenei is boxed up for shipping.The grabbing of American hostages at the U.S. embassy in Tehran during the failed Democrat Jimmy Carter administration included two Maine residents. A Mount Desert Island man, Moorhead Kennedy, died in 2024 at the age of 93. “I spent my 49th birthday tied up, blindfolded, and tied…

The Boston Globe columnist who previously was caught lying about being at the scene of a downtown bombing is now trying to make up for lost time on his latest gaffe.Gaffe is actually too generous a description of Kevin Cullen’s most recent work of literature.Cullen, who wrote sympathetically last week about a white Irish guy who was being deported as an illegal immigrant, faced a firestorm once a Boston media watchdog learned about the suspect’s…

A convicted felon who stole 20 firearms from a Brunswick home in 2024 pleaded guilty to an additional charge on Tuesday after he failed to surrender for his prison sentence and was apprehended by U.S. Marshals. [RELATED: Topsham Felon Found with 20 Stolen Firearms Sentenced to Six Years in Prison…] Christopher Tucker, 34, of Topsham, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a charge of failure to surrender for service of sentence in the U.S. District Court…

Mainers could be forced to verify their ages before accessing artificial intelligence tools if a Democrat-led bill aimed at protecting minors from the harms of chatbot use goes into effect. [RELATED: All Residential Electricity May Soon Be Exempt from Sales Tax in Maine…] “We know that more than 70% of teens report using AI chatbots for companionship, and roughly half use them regularly. Many are not simply asking factual questions — they are seeking emotional…

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Democrats are moving legislation that would create a new legal pathway, and a taxpayer-funded legal defense fund, for people they say were wrongly detained during the Trump administration’s recent immigration enforcement surge in Maine, branded by the Department of Homeland Security as “Operation Catch of the Day.” The bill, LD 2176, sponsored by Sen. Jill Duson (D-Cumberland), would establish a $2 million fund for civil legal service providers that represent people…