Maine News Thursday July 2

Patch - Yarmouth, Maine doctor accused of running a massage parlor as a front for prostitution reaches plea deal (wmtw.com) — Freeport police led an investigation, alongside Brunswick officers, into a Yarmouth doctor whose Route 1 business in Freeport was alleged to be a front for prostitution and human trafficking. The doctor has now pleaded guilty to engaging a prostitute, while advocates stress that sex trafficking continues to affect hundreds of people each year in Maine.

Maine Morning Star -   Starting in 2028, Maine may have to contribute $50 million per year to maintain its federal food assistance due to the Trump administration’s changes that penalize states for making largely unintentional errors while administering food benefits.

A provision in President Donald Trump’s 2025 budget law requires states to pay for portions of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which had exclusively been funded by the federal government since it began many decades ago. How much each state has to pay will depend on its payment error rate — a measure of how often households receive too much or too little in benefits.

Maine’s payment error rate of more than 10% in 2025 means the state would be responsible for 15% of SNAP benefit costs beginning in 2028.  

Anti-hunger advocates have warned that if the state is unable to come up with its share, it might drastically reduce the state’s SNAP benefits.

Chebeague Island restoration effort improves shore for people and plovers

FREEPORT

Town of Freeport - Beginning Monday, July 6, the Town of Freeport will implement new Town Hall public hours to better align open hours with staff capacity and community usage patterns.

Under the new schedule, Town Hall will be open:

·                    Monday: 7:30am - 5:00pm

·                    Tuesday: 7:30am - 6:00pm

·                    Wednesday: 7:30am - 5:00pm

·                    Thursday: 7:30am - 5:00pm

Analyses of Town Hall activity showed very low transaction volumes during the 5:00 - 6:00pm hours, during which time multiple departments remain staffed. Adjusting hours allows the Town to focus staff coverage during times residents most frequently seek in‑person assistance.

Times Record -    As part of its campus redesign, L.L.Bean will stop selling retail goods at the Bike, Boat & Ski Store on Main Street. It will continue to carry boating and skiing equipment in the new flagship.

As it wraps up a multiyear redesign, the L.L.Bean campus in Freeport will stop selling cycling equipment, a spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. The company is also moving retail operations out of the Bike, Boat & Ski Store on Main Street.

The change is part of an effort to focus on “heritage activities like hunting, fishing, family camping, watersports and winter fun,” L.L.Bean public affairs manager Jason Sulham said in an email Wednesday.

Boat and ski items will be moved over to the new flagship store, Sulham said, but the retailer will no longer carry cycling equipment

Sam Smith – Our happy  recycling center behind the Fire Department has been closed meaning we now have to go more miles to 100 Hedgehog Mountain Road. Not only is there no longer a center right in the town but the Hedgehog facility is only open Wednesday through Saturday 7AM-4 PM.

UPCOMING

July 3

Maine Historical Society 5 pm  Learn More

Free Coffee Friday! In-Person Curtis Memorial Library Library Lobby (below the mezzanine) 9:00 am

July 4

www.llbeanroadrace.com

Cook’s Lobster & Ale House, 68 Garrison Cove Rd., Bailey Island: Travis James Humprey, 5-8

Discovery Park, LL Bean, Freeport: Don Campbell Band, 7 pm
Freeport Fourth festivities kick off at 7 a.m. with a $10 pancake breakfast at the Harraseeket Grange. Also happening that morning is a 10K road race and 1-miler in support of the YMCA.  The Independence Day parade along Main Street steps off at 10 a.m.  

July 5
Memorial Park, 5 Park St., Freeport: Richard Reichner, 2-4

Women's History Walking Tour  10-30 AM  Maine Historical Society Learn More | Register

Routini Run  8:30AM - 9:30AM  21 Stanwood Street, Brunswick, ME 

JULY 7 

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

JULY 8 
Peaks Island Lions Club, 2 Garden Rd., Peaks Island: Don Campbell, 5

JULY 10 

JULY 11

JULY 12

Memorial Park, 5 Park St., Freeport: The Honey Tones, 2-4

JULY 17 

Maine News Wednesday July 1

The Casco History Lab is a new program Wolfe’s Neck Center created in 2025, and is based in the deep history of the farm’s 626 acres. Each year the Lab’s manager, Tilly Laskey, collaborates with Wolfe’s Neck Center staff and community members to build relationships through co-developing yearly experiments. For 2026, we are working with the Penobscot Nation’s Cultural and Historic Preservation staff and the Maine Ulster Scots Project. 

Flip the Senate - Democrat Graham Platner has led Susan Collins in the last 3 polls, with a 2-point lead in the most recent poll from The New York Times. 

Maine Morning Star   - Despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday upholding transgender athlete bans in other states, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said the state will continue to defend its inclusive policies.  The high court upheld bans in Idaho and West Virginia on trans girls playing on girls' sports teams, aligning with the Trump administration's interpretations of federal anti-discrimination laws that claim allowing such participation is unsafe and unfair. 

"The question before the Court is: Under Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the majority opinion. "In other words, may schools maintain women's and girls' sports for biological females? The answer is yes."

Maine is not one of the 27 states that have passed similar bans. The state has protected trans athletes' rights to play in school sports and access bathrooms and locker rooms for more than a decade through a provision in the Maine Human Rights Act. . Frey said Tuesday the ruling does not stop Maine from defending its law.

Sam Smith - I've yet to see a non-partisan report on the difference in the playing skills of transgender athletes and ordinary women players. I don't see this as a political or moral issue but based on the pragmatic question of whether having transgender players is fair. 

FREEPORT

If you are looking for ways to stay cool, the Freeport Community Library will be open regular hours on Wednesday and Thursday, so swing by if you need a place to get out of the heat and catch up on some summer reading while you are there! Freeport Community Services (Freeport Community Services | Connecting neighbors, enriching lives) will also be open both days and offering their space for residents to stop by and cool off.  

The Maine Emergency Management Agency keeps a list of Cooling Centers in Maine which can be found here: Mass Care | Maine Emergency Management Agency

For the latest on the heat and hot weather, visit the National Weather Service (Gray, Maine) website at Weather Story for New Hampshire and Western Main

There will be commercial fireworks display in Freeport this year.  In addition, the Town of Freeport prohibits the use of consumer fireworks in the Town of Freeport.  For more information, please view our Fireworks Ordinance at Microsoft Word - chap38.doc

Maine News Tuesday Jun 30

Alternet -  President Donald Trump’s sometimes-ally in Congress, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), was just blasted in an op-ed from a major Maine newspaper for her role in overturning abortion rights.  “Mainers cannot and will not forget Sen. Susan Collins’ critical role in dismantling the nearly half-century-old constitutional right, causing cruelty and chaos to ensue,” wrote civil rights attorney Azaleea Carlea in the Portland Press Herald on Monday. “Either she was foolish or a hypocritical [sic]. Either way, she is not fit to serve another term in the U.S. Senate.”

Carlea detailed how Collins, despite promising to not vote in favor of confirming a Supreme Court Justice who would overturn Roe v. Wade, accepted Brett Kavanaugh’s word that he accepted the abortion rights ruling as “settled law.” After being confirmed, Kavanaugh joined four other judges to overturn Roe v. Wade in a 5-to-4 ruling. Three of those judges — Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett — were appointed by Trump. 

Press Herald - Democrat Hannah Pingree is the favorite in the Maine governor’s race, a New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll found. The poll is the first public survey done since the June primaries and also dug into how voters are feeling about U.S. Senate Democratic nominee Graham Platner’s list of scandals ahead of the election. 

For the first time in 15 years Maine has increased the cost of fishing licenses by $5 for residents and $19 for nonresidents. Officials said every new dollar is going directly to the fisheries division of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and the projected increase in annual revenue is nearly $2 million for multiple projects. 

Maine braces for extreme heat ahead of Fourth of July

Patch -  Freeport High School seniors are among the first in Maine to earn the new Seal of Climate Literacy, recognizing coursework and projects focused on climate and environmental issues. The statewide pilot honored 57 students from nine schools and will expand this fall, with new resources and guidance coming from the Maine Department of Education.

Maine News Monday June 29

NY Times - Senator Susan Collins and Graham Platner are locked in a neck-and-neck Senate contest in Maine, according to a New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll, as voters weigh a desire for Democratic control of the Senate against Ms. Collins’s record and controversy around Mr. Platner’s past conduct.

Mr. Platner leads the race by two percentage points among likely voters, capturing the support of 49 percent, compared to 47 percent for Ms. Collins. It is a slight advantage, but one that is considered too small for polls to measure reliably, and which could easily grow or shrink as campaigning ramps up.

FREEPORT

Press Herald - Dozens of restaurants, artists and marine specialists took over the lot behind L.L.Bean’s iconic Freeport location on Sunday for the 5th annual Maine Oyster Festival, where visitors enjoyed a full weekend of tastings and live music, complete with a shucking competition.

Solid majority of Mainers disapprove of Trump on cost of living

JOBS

• American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. posted a job opening for AE -
  Stock Associate - Evening (Off-Hours)
• Stock Associate - Evening (Off-Hours) in Freeport. Apply here.
• L.L.Bean, Inc. posted a job opening for Assistant Corporate Merchant in Freeport. Apply here. 
• You can search for other jobs near Freeport here.

Maine News Sunday June 28

 JOBS 

• Under Armour, Inc. posted a job opening for Stock Keyholder, PT in Freeport. Apply here.
• Vineyard Vines, LLC posted a job opening for Crew Lead (Part Time Manager) - 58 Main St, Freeport, ME in Freeport. Apply here. 
• You can search for other jobs near Freeport here.

Maine News Saturday June 27

Press Herald - Maine is full of roadside farmstands, many of which ask customers to serve themselves — Pine Ridge Acres’ store in Cumberland county is just one example. Columnist Leslie Bridgers explores how this system works, what happens when someone doesn’t pay and if honor-system farmstands are another one of those ‘only in Maine’ things. 

A housing project intended to help people facing long-term homelessness transition into stable housing was recently approved by the Portland Planning Board. The four-story, 33-unit Home For Good project on Forest Avenue will be at the site of a Tex-Mex restaurant that closed in 2022.

With the last day of school in the rearview mirror, students across Maine are heading into summer break. Many of their teachers, meanwhile, are transitioning to seasonal jobs, some for the fun of doing something different, others out of financial necessity.  The average salary for a public school teacher in Maine is $68,820, according to the statewide teachers union, while the average starting salary is just $45,830.

The state’s minimum salary is set to increase from $40,000 to $50,000 this year (and incrementally each year until 2029) thanks to legislation that passed this spring following years of advocacy from teachers.

But Maine still lags behind most states, per the National Education Association, and even the average wage for all teachers is on the lower end of the state’s area median income range (between $67,000 and $97,000).

Teachers, librarians and ed techs across southern Maine said they love their jobs but a teaching salary often just isn’t enough to cover childcare, pay rent or think about buying a home, especially for early-career educators, those in single-income households or parents. 

Seasonal jobs can help close that gap. The Press Herald talked to eight educators about the extra work they do in the summer, and why they do it.

Maine Morning Star - Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner wants to overturn the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections by any means possible. 

He supports a constitutional amendment and ethics rules on the high court, which the Sullivan oyster farmer included in his latest policy rollout Thursday to rid politics of corruption. He also supports more roundabout efforts, such as an ongoing attempt to use a Maine law to debunk the foundation of the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, he told Maine Morning Star. 

“Getting money out of American politics is the end state,” Platner said. “How we get there may take several different kinds of possibilities, but we should be right now aggressively pursuing every single one of them.” 

Maine Humanities Council - Our team here at Maine Humanities is taking the month of July to truly slow down.  We are taking the month as a time of rest, respite, and sabbatical. We work and live in a culture that often moves too fast for us to pause, reflect, and readjust. At Maine Humanities, we have realized that keeping this constant pace does not help us do our best work. We need space to reset our brains and our bodies so that we can return to our work and our partnerships with clearer minds and hearts.

To this end, our offices will be closed for the month of July. We are not the first non-profit to adopt a sabbatical month. We have learned from other non-profits we work with and are inspired by here in Maine.... How many of us have spent countless hours staring into our computers with back-to-back meetings, events, and obligations? Scheduling and rescheduling?  This type of stress gets trapped in our bodies and we need time to unplug and to just ‘be.’”

WCYY   -  Following the pandemic, many movie theaters throughout Maine closed their doors permanently. Many of those belonging to Cinemagic but other small theaters felt the pain as well.   That included the Nordica Theater in Freeport, Maine, which decided to permanently close. It looked to many in Freeport that the small theater would simply do what other vacant spaces do in Freeport, transform into something else.  

Instead, Patriot Cinemas decided to step up and reopen the movie theater after a six-year absence. Patriot Cinemas Opens New Location in Freeport, Maine | 

FREEPORT

The Freeport Wood Bank, supported by Freeport Community Services, provides free firewood to households that rely on wood heat. This past winter, demand was so high that supplies ran out before the season ended—highlighting how vital this resource is.  Now is the time to rebuild. Donations of split firewood or logs help volunteers prepare for the coming winter, ensuring no family is left without heat. Volunteers are also needed to cut, stack, and deliver wood—no experience required.  \

Maine News Wednesday June 24

Maine Biz - Noble Pizzeria & Barbecue, at 476 Stevens Ave. in Portland, will have its final day of operation on July 12.

Maine Morning Star -   The Republican-led U.S. Senate served up a rare public check on President Donald Trump’s agenda Tuesday when it voted to approve a House-passed War Powers Resolution to end hostilities in Iran.

Senate approval marked the first time both chambers have agreed in a rebuke of Trump over his war in Iran.

The concurrent resolution, which passed 50-48, does not require the president’s signature and its enforceability has been a perennial topic of debate. 

The Senate’s approval occurred against the backdrop of the administration’s peace deal negotiations with Iran, which have been criticized from both sides of the aisle.

Four Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the measure: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; Rand Paul of Kentucky; Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy, who recently lost his primary race after Trump endorsed an opponent; and Susan Collins, who’s fighting a tough reelection campaign in Maine. 

FREEPORT

Public Works is currently making temporary repairs to a sinkhole due to a collapsed pipe at a culvert near 29 Lower Mast Landing Road.  Traffic is reduced to one lane during this time and will return to two lanes later today (6/24), once the temporary fix is complete. The Town is in the process of hiring a contractor to fix the pipe. That work should be completed over the next 1-2 weeks.  View it on website

JOBS

• Dunkin' posted a job opening for Team Member in Freeport. Apply here.
• Allied Universal posted a job opening for Security Officer Mobile Patrol Driver in Yarmouth. Apply here. 
• You can search for other jobs near Freeport here.