DEC 13 - Sparkle Celebration

 Sparkle Celebration Frosty Frolic

DEC 20, JAN 17


A New GFCC Member Event:

Practitioners in the Park


Join Mobile Direct Primary Care for a FREE community wellness event, at Royal River Park, Yarmouth, every 3rd Saturday of the month from 1–3 PM.


Upcoming sessions:

  • December 20, 2025
  • January 17, 2026


Local healthcare providers will lead a walk through the park, answer health questions, and guide a discussion on healthcare and lifestyle wellness. Enjoy a healthy activity and connect with your community!


Everyone is welcome!

—

Emily Carle Family Nurse Practitioner Mobile Direct Primary Care

DEC 16 - Freeport Chamber of Commerce event


 Dec 16  5-7 PM - Business After Hours - Chamber Holiday Party

Join GFCC for some holiday cheer, hosted in partnership with Cadenza!

Dress as your favorite holiday character and enjoy hors d’oeuvres, festive beverages (including a 10% bar discount), and live piano music by Bess Jacques from 5:00–7:00 PM.

Cadenza will also raffle off five pairs of tickets to their 2026 shows.

Best-dressed guest wins a prize!
    

Cadenza
5 Depot St, Freeport, ME 04032

DEC 14 - At Cademza

 

DEC 12 - At Candenza

 

DEC 13 - At Cadenza

 

Maine News Thursday

Melanie Sachs -   The Maine CDC continues to recommend the hepatitis B birth dose and completion of the three-dose series, as has been the routine practice since 1991. This is in line with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

 

Timely childhood vaccinations remain a critical safety net that is essential to protecting the health of our youngest and most vulnerable people. Maine children deserve to be safe – especially from preventable diseases that can potentially result in lifelong complications.

 

Vaccines are safe and effective, and are the reason we have been successful at both mitigating and eradicating deadly diseases. In the Legislature, we will continue to make policy based on science, not misinformation, as we work to build healthy communities across our state for future generations. This includes considering legislation in the upcoming session to protect access to vaccines that have already been approved. 

Press Herald 

  • Maine is likely lagging behind its housing production goals for 2025. A much-publicized 2023 state report estimated that Maine was short by about 84,000 homes and would need to increase its housing stock by 11% by 2030. For 2025, the goal was to add 6,900 new homes, with incrementally larger goals for each year through 2030. So how close is the state to this year’s goal? It’s hard to say.  

  • Despite state lawsuit, another Maine school district affirms policy banning trans athletes

  • When temperatures drop and snowstorms move in, Portland’s overnight warming shelter doesn’t always open. The city activates the space only when the forecast calls for a low of 15 degrees or colder, or when snowfall is expected to exceed 10 inches — thresholds that have been in place for years. Homeless advocates have argued that the thresholds are too strict and could leave people exposed to dangerous cold. 
  • A small group of prohibitionists won state approval this week to launch a petition drive to try to close the recreational cannabis market in Maine and bolster the state’s oversight of the medical marijuana market. They have until Feb. 2 to collect 67,682 signatures to send the proposal to a statewide referendum. If enough signatures are gathered, voters would decide the fate of the $240 million-a-year market at the polls in 2026. 
  • Charter Communications, owner of the internet service provider Spectrum, laid off 176 workers at its Portland call center, according to filings with the state. That’s roughly one quarter of its Maine-based workforce, according to figures the company shared in August. At that time, Spectrum reported having about 700 workers in Maine.
  •  A new independent poll shows two-term Gov. Janet Mills with a 10-point lead over combat veteran and oyster farmer Graham Platner in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary race. The survey of 318 likely Democratic primary voters released Wednesday by Portland-based Pan Atlantic Research shows Mills with 47% support, compared to 37% for Platner and 14% undecided. The margin of error was 6.2% in the primary survey.

THRU DEC 28 Meetinghouse Arts Annual Holiday Show

SPARKLE

Meetinghouse Arts

Annual Holiday Show

in the Gallery

Now through December 28

Gallery Hours

Tuesday - Saturday 10-5

Sunday 12-4


 

The Maine Lawsuit That Could Save Democracy From Big Money

The Nation -  A legal fight could restore the state’s power to set its own limits on contributions to super PACs and encourage public financing.

When voters in Maine passed a ballot measure last year to cap donations to super PACs—also known as independent political action committees—it appeared to be another milestone toward fairer elections. In a state known for election reforms such as public campaign financing and ranked-choice voting, the proposal looked like another way to successfully curb the flow of money from corporate and wealthy donors into local races.

Then came the lawsuit. In October, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit agreed to hear Dinner Table Action v. Schneider, a case that could decide the future of money in American politics.

Fifteen years after the Supreme Court opened the floodgates to dark money and unchecked spending with Citizens United, the Maine initiative has exposed a tension in the movement for clean elections: should advocates pursue state and local reforms, or bet on a high-stakes legal battle that could radically rewrite the rules of campaign finance nationwide?

In the summer of 2023, Maine residents began to think about how to place a question about limiting super PAC contributions on the ballot. Drawing on a legal theory developed by Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig, organizer Cara McCormick founded Citizens to End Super PACs, the ballot-question committee formed to lead the campaign.

McCormick, who pushed for Maine to adopt ranked-choice voting in 2016, crafted the initiative to cap donations at $5,000 based on efforts by Lessig’s nonprofit, Equal Citizens, which had pursued similar initiatives in Alaska and Massachusetts—both ultimately blocked in court. 

Upcoming music

 FRIDAY, Dec. 12

 Cadenza, 5 Depot St., Freeport: Denny Breau, 7-8:30, $25-$30 (Also live-streamed on Cadenza’s Facebook page)

Tonic, 7 Dunlap St., Brunswick: Drumming Up Wishes with Continental Shakedown, Jeff Glidden & Papa Tim & The Whiskey Throttle Band, 8 p.m.-midnight 

SATURDAY, Dec. 13 

 Cadenza, 5 Depot St., Freeport: Heather Paterson plays Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown Christmas, 2 shows, 4, $30-$35; & 7, $30-$35 (Also live-streamed on Cadenza’s Facebook page)

SUNDAY, Dec. 14

Cadenza, 5 Depot St., Freeport: Songwriter Showcase presented by Jud Caswell, 4, $25-$30 (Also live-streamed on Cadenza’s Facebook page)  

TUESDAY, Dec. 16
 
Tonic, 7 Dunlap St., Brunswick: Open mic with Rexy Dinosaur, 6-8 

 

 

 FRIDAY, Dec. 19

Cadenza, 5 Depot St., Freeport: Half Moon Jug Band, 7-8:30, $25-$30 (Also live-streamed on Cadenza’s Facebook page) 

SATURDAY, Dec. 20 

Freeport Oyster Bar, 45 Main St., Freeport: Travis James Humphrey, 3-5 

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