U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) is undeterred by the “No Kings” signs that have become prominent at recurring ‘Hands Off’ rallies around the state and has launched a speaking program to raise the alarm about America’s democracy being in peril. Never one to let a low-hanging news hook pass by, Sen. King pegged an op-ed

Democratic lawmakers in the Maine House of Representatives on Thursday voted down a bill that would have shifted the financial burden of testing illegal drugs as part of criminal cases from the state’s taxpayers to convicted drug traffickers. LD 717, An Act to Amend the Maine Criminal Code Governing Restitution to Include the Costs of

Rhode Island-based U.S. District Court Judge Melissa DuBose reportedly issued a ruling late on Friday denying Maine State Rep. Laurel Libby’s (R-Auburn) claim for declaratory and injunctive relief against the terms of the censure Maine Democrats imposed against her last month. Those terms strip Rep. Libby of the right to vote or speak on the

New Hampshire’s proposed ban on offshore wind development proves the state’s loyalty to its coastal communities and the working men and women of the New England fisheries.  New Hampshire’s state Senate will soon take up HB 682, a measure that reorganizes or closes state offices backing the offshore wind buildout in the Gulf of Maine

The Portland Police Department say they grappling with an “alarming” surge in drug overdoses, reporting very recent eight cases in a less than 24 hour period, two of which were fatal. The department issued a press release Friday afternoon stating they have seen a recent increase in drug overdoses. According to police, the city has

A new Democrat-led bill proposes a study of aligning the state’s procurement processes with the Mills’ administration’s climate action plan, amid recent revelations of systemic oversight failures in the state’s issuance no-bid contracts. LD 1494, or a resolution “Directing the Office of Procurement Services to Study Adapting the Procurement Process to the State Climate Action

Statehouse Republicans blasted the Mills administration on Tuesday for what several suggested could be criminally-negligent stewardship of public funds in the latest fall-out from an official report from the State Auditor that highlighted lax controls and potential abuses of its contracting process. “My hat is off to (State Auditor Matt Dunlap, a registered Democrat) for

A first-term Maine Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill that would prohibit the state from investing public funds or entering into contracts with companies, persons or other entities associated with “perpetrator states” that have been found by international organizations to have committed “apartheid, ethnic cleansing, genocide or a war crime.” The bill, LD 1383, entitled

With over 10,000 overdoses last year alone and fatalities — many of them adolescents — ranging from 40 to 70 a month, Maine is facing an existential crisis of drug abuse, Robert “Bobby” Charles told a group of lawyers in Portland on Tuesday. Unless urgent, comprehensive action is taken soon, this trend threatens greater damage

The Maine Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee considered a bill from State Rep. Nina Milliken (D-Blue Hill) to restrict the coyote hunting season in the state this week that pitted hunters and state wildlife officials against those seeking to save the animal that farmers and others consider a threat to their livestock. When presenting

Legislative Democrats failed this week to secure a $120 million supplemental spending bill — thanks largely to Republicans in the Senate opposing the latest version of the MaineCare bailout package. At the same time, Democratic lawmakers in the House and the Senate also rejected a handful of mild welfare reforms and other cost-saving measures Republicans

A Maine high school track and cross country coach published an op-ed Thursday in the Bangor Daily News defending the participation of biological males in girls’ sports. The author of the op-ed, entitled “There is no place for hatred in running,” is Isaac Vaccaro, a math teacher and head coach of cross country, indoor track

The Maine Trust for Local News (METLN), the nonprofit organization that owns the Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun Journal and more than a dozen other regional newspapers, announced on Tuesday that it will be laying off 49 employees and reducing certain print publications as part of a new cost-cutting effort. [RELATED: Press Herald Faces More

In an interview published online last week, recently elected Portland City Councilor for District 2, Wes Pelletier, a longtime member of the Maine Democratic Socialists of America (Maine DSA), praised Maine Gov. Janet Mills for picking a fight with President Trump over the issue of biological males competing in women’s sports. Pelletier was elected as

With a turnout estimated at over 500 Mainers, demonstrators gathered outside the State House in Augusta on Saturday to show their support for protecting girls in school sports from transgender athletes unfairly impacting the playing field, protestors and speakers at the event said. “We will protect our girls and we will NOT back down!” Assistant

Former Bangor Mayor, Democrat state senator and state representative Sean Faircloth won Maine House District 24 on Tuesday, holding the seat vacated by Maine State Treasurer Joe Perry for his party against a challenge by Republican Carolyn Fish with over 70 percent, or 1,431 votes to Fish’s 566. The district which covers parts of Bangor

A former York County Jail corrections cadet was among a group of suspected illegal aliens taken into federal custody by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Cumberland County Jail last month. [RELATED: York County Jail Hiring Sanford’s ‘New Arrivals’…] Mauricio Romeu, 45 | Source: Cumberland County Jail Mauricio Romeu, 45, was one of five

President Donald Trump and Maine Governor Janet Mills traded legal ultimatums on Friday afternoon in a dispute arising from the state’s refusal to implement a White House order banning males from female school sports. “Governors won’t be governors if they continue to allow men in women’s sports,” Trump said, before looking to Governor Mills and

The push for boilerplate ‘Red Flag’ laws that would give authorities the ability to remove firearms and deny Second Amendment rights to targeted individuals endangers the progress Maine policymakers have made, experts, lawyers and legislators from both sides of the aisle argued on Friday at the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) Institute for Legislative Action

Portland Police announced Monday morning that they are investigating two deaths in the wooded area behind Hannaford on Riverside Street. Police say they received a call reporting two unconscious males in the wooded area behind the Hannaford shortly after 7:40 a.m. on Monday. Upon arrival, police found 57-year-old William Liese and 44-year-old Lee Thomas Johnson

A wealthy Maine philanthropist who quietly used his access and money to promote social good is being remembered by the region’s largest transportation museum. James S. Rockefeller Jr., 99, who founded the Owls Head Transportation Museum 50 years ago, died recently at his Camden home. As the museum celebrates a half-century in operation, it’s honoring

The Trump Administration’s rapid moves to impose fiscal restraint on the sprawling federal bureaucracy will hit at least one governmental organization in Maine: Medical Care Development, a 501(c)3 group that pulled in $37 million in 2023. Medical Care Development, which operates as “MCD Global Health,” is a Hallowell-based nonprofit that claims to employee 195 people

Lift tickets are already expensive, but they just got a lot more so for a man who thought he was getting them for free. Skiing at Sugarloaf just cost a Massachusetts public worker $6,000. Scott Callahan, a foreman for the Auburn, Massachusetts Water District, violated conflict-of-interest laws by accepting freebie ski trips to Maine from

The co-founder of the National Trust for Local News, the “nonprofit” owner of Maine’s largest newspaper chain, who quit on Wednesday, had been under fire for taking huge salary increases amid budget cuts. As The Maine Wire reported a month ago, Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro has been under fire for grabbing massive pay hikes even as

U.S. Senator from Maine Susan Collins was one of just two Republicans to join Democrats on Thursday in voting against President Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. The Senate voted 51 to 49 to advance Hegseth’s nomination to lead the Department of Defense, with Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Collins siding

Two Democratic lawmakers escalated their efforts to obtain long-overdue reports on Maine’s cannabis industry on Wednesday, writing a letter to the director of Maine’s cannabis regulatory agency demanding that the reports be turned over by Friday. The letter comes nearly a week after a high-ranking state government employee admitted to intentionally hiding the documents last

The Maine Gambling Control Unit (MGCU) reported that sportsbooks in the state accepted $52.7 million in bets during December, a 1.5 percent increase from the previous month. That gambling activity resulted in just $417,000 in taxes from the month’s wagers, according to information provided by MGCU to Covers.com. The two legal sportsbooks in Maine, Caesars

Democratic Congressman from Maine’s 2nd District Jared Golden has reintroduced his proposed bill that would implement a universal 10 percent tariff on all imports, a move he believes will help incentivize American manufacturing, raise revenues and rebalance trade deficits. Rep. Golden’s reintroduction of his “BUILT USA Act” comes just days before President-elect Donald Trump will

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) is paying a Portland-based nonprofit $90,000 to form a stakeholder group that will work on strategies to combat diabetes among the city’s immigrant and refugee populations. According to a state contract document published Monday, the Maine CDC will be awarding $90,000 to Maine Access Immigrant

The City of Portland has issued a request for grant applications in order to find partner organizations to launch a “Day Space” pilot program for homeless individuals, and to open an on-peninsula methadone treatment program. Funding for the two initiatives comes from a nationwide class action lawsuit against opioid manufacturers. The City of Portland joined

A Maine Republican lawmaker who a week before election day turned himself in to police over an alleged aggravated assault incident has won reelection by a single vote after a Thursday recount. [RELATED: Maine Republican Representative Up for Re-Election Arrested on Aggravated Assault Charges…] State Rep. Lucas Lanigan (R-Sanford) received 2,478 votes, while his Democratic

At a Tuesday meeting of the Portland Board of Public Education, at-large member and Board Chair Sarah Lentz claimed that immigrants and refugees have “come under attack” after the election of Donald Trump, and said that the district is preparing for potential mass deportations of immigrants by the incoming Trump administration. WATCH: Lentz, who during

The York County Sheriff’s Office is looking for the owner of an 8-foot Boa constrictor a deputy found on the side of the road in Shapleigh on Friday. The Sheriff’s Office said Friday evening that earlier that day Deputy Jonathan Marshall responded to Shapleigh Corner Road in Shapleigh for an animal complaint When Deputy Marshall

In a statement issued following former President Donald Trump’s resounding victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last week, the executive director of the Maine American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the nonprofit is “prepared to act” to resist the “dangers” posed by Trump’s return to the presidency. [RELATED: Maine ACLU Demands Portland Stop ‘Criminalizing Homelessness’

A political action committee (PAC) founded by the Maine Education Association this week spent $75,500 on digital advertisements in support of six Democratic candidates running for State Senate this November. According to campaign finance records, Citizens Who Support Maine’s Public Schools, a political spending arm of Maine’s teachers’ union, bought $75,500 worth of digital ads

The City of Portland is now seeking applications to fill the vacancy at the top of the city’s Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (JDEI) office, a role which boasts a starting salary of over $110,000. Portland’s JDEI office was launched in 2023 on the recommendation of the city’s Racial Equity Steering Committee, which itself was formed

At a special meeting this Wednesday, the Portland City Council will consider adopting a resolution to divest the city from entities “complicit in the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” A description of the resolution, which is sponsored by City Councilor At-Large April Fournier, reads: “The City of Portland recognizes the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and

Maine’s ongoing effort to resettle non-citizens will get a $5.4 million boost thanks to a Biden-Harris Administration grant that will provide taxpayer dollars to house, feed, and provide other services to migrants recently released from U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) custody. On Wednesday, Aug. 28, DHS, alongside the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and

Tensions ran high at Portland City Hall on Monday evening as the city’s “justice, diversity, equity and inclusion” (JDEI) office gave its first update to the City Council since being formed last year. The city’s racial equity office has been without a director since May, when Umaru Balde, who joined the JDEI office in April

Mainers statewide have been experiencing sticker shock when reviewing their property tax bills for the upcoming fiscal year, and Republican lawmakers are laying blame for rising taxes squarely at the feet of Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Janet Mills (D). Legislative Republicans held a press conference in Gorham Wednesday addressing this issue and providing a platform

Maine has the seventeenth most underprivileged children nationwide with the sixth worst health, according to a recent study by WalletHub. All fifty states plus Washington D.C. were scored across several variables related to children’s well-being, including socioeconomic welfare, health, and education. Although Maine fell more towards the middle of the pack with respect to socioeconomic

Gov. Janet Mills (D) announced Tuesday that Maine is expected to receive between $45 million and $72 million in federal funding to “accelerate the adoption of heat pump technology” in homes across the state. Five New England states — including Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island — were given a combined total of