Maine News Sunday May 17

 FREEPORT EVENTS
FREEPORT TALES

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- U.S. Senate (chance of winning) MAINE Democrat: 79% (flip) Republican: 23%

Graham Platner -  A "reporter" with Fox "News" asked me if I thought I was too extreme or too radical to defeat Susan Collins here in Maine.  Here’s what I told him:

I don’t think it’s radical to try to bring down costs for working Mainers.

I don’t think it’s radical to try to make sure that our communities don’t get hollowed out because housing has become unaffordable for young people.

I don’t think it’s radical to try to create a health care system that doesn’t exist just to screw over working people all for the benefit of a health insurance CEO.

There’s nothing radical about thinking that the working people of Maine should be able to afford groceries, buy a home, or have a health care system that isn’t collapsing before their eyes.

What’s radical is somebody like Susan Collins who has, for decades now, passed policies that only support corporations and billionaires – to the detriment of working people.

Press Herald - Months after Congress enacted sweeping changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the number of Mainers receiving benefits has plummeted by more than 11,000, according to state officials. The new law shifted more costs to states, slashed benefits to certain groups of people and ended exemptions to work requirements for many others. Rural areas of Maine — where food insecurity rates are the highest and more people tend to rely on SNAP — are being hit especially hard by the changes, according to hunger prevention advocates.

One in five adults in the U.S. have used a GLP-1 drug. Doctors see the medications as an unprecedented tool in the fight against obesity, yet because they’re so popular and powerful, they’ve gotten very expensive, so only a small percentage of insurance plans in Maine cover them and that number continues to fall. Read more.

JOBS

• Dunkin' posted a job opening for Team Member in Freeport. Apply here.
• The Gap posted a job opening for Retail Sales Associate - Freeport Vlg Station in Freeport. Apply here. 
  You can search for other jobs near Freeport here.

Where are the songbirds? As climate shifts, Acadia’s forests are getting quieter Hummingbirds’ arrival has Mainers buzzing  They aren’t cops. So who are these people in uniforms in downtown Portland?

Maine News Saturday May 16

Old Portland, Maine, Restaurant Has Reopened on an Island in Greece

Graham Platner's interview with the NY Times

Six Maine airports to split $13.6M for improvements

WJBQ - Moderation Brewing and Black Pug Brewing in Brunswick are both moving to new locations. Thankfully, the two breweries aren't going far; instead, they're simply shifting to new places in the town.That means you can still get their crisp, cold beers just in some fresh new digs.

Moderation Brewing shared its moving plans back in 2023, revealing a desire to expand to a larger space, ideally the old fire station. The brewery project, along with plans for affordable housing there, was later approved by the town council. Since then, renovation and work on Brunswick’s Historic Central Fire Station for the mixed-use commercial and residential complex have been underway.

JOBS

• Circle K Stores, Inc. posted a job opening for Customer Service Representative in Freeport. Apply here.
• Albertsons Company posted a job opening for Assistant Front End Manager in Freeport. Apply here.
•  You can search for other jobs near Freeport here.

Maine News Friday May 15

The Wolfe's Neck Farm Café is back, serving up a menu that celebrates the best of Wolfe’s Neck Center and our local food community. Start your morning with hot coffee, house-made pastries and seasonal gran and go options made with Wolfe’s Neck Center produce and pasture-raised meats. Beginning May 22 - Stop by for a hot breakfast sandwich in addition to coffee, pastries and grab and go items. Hours: To May 17th – Friday to Sunday – 8:00am to 1:00pm  May 22nd through the summer – Thursday to Monday – 8:00am to 1:00pm

Jon Stewart interviews candidate Platner

Press Herald - Speaking to a crowd of about 400 people in Bangor, Vice President JD Vance said healthcare fraud in Maine was robbing taxpayers and that Gov. Janet Mills has "fought back against" efforts to identify fraud in Medicare and Medicaid programs. Mills called it a "weak attempt" to distract from the war in Iran and the rising costs Mainers are facing daily.

Over 11,000 Mainers are no longer receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The decline comes only months after Congress enacted sweeping changes to the program that slashed benefits for certain groups and ended work requirement exemptions for many others. Hunger prevention advocates say rural areas of Maine are being hit especially hard.

The Portland Tenants Union says a recent audit of online rental listings shows not only widespread rent control fraud, but also the city’s failure to enforce its own rules. A team of union volunteers surveyed 271 rental listings that appeared on the real estate website Zillow throughout the month of March and compared those listings to the city’s rental requirements.  According to the union, an analysis of the listings found that 130 of the 271 listings they audited — just shy of 50% — were out of compliance with city rental regulations, alleging overcharged rent, registration issues and false claims of owner-occupancy among other violations.

Maine chef wins $1M grand prize on CBS cooking competition

What’s on the June ballot in Brunswick?

Maine Morning Star -  A statewide poll from Schoen Cooperman Research on behalf of 314 Action Victory Fund, which is backing the public health leader, found Shah with 28% support, nine points ahead of the others on the first ballot. The survey, which spoke to 522 Democratic primary voters from April 30 to May 4, found King following with 21%, Bellows at 16%, Pingree with 15% and Jackson at 13%. When the ranked-choice ballot is taken into account, Shah’s lead grows to 16 points on the final ballot. 

Down East Magazine - Forty years ago, Jeff Aumuller sailed into Portland Harbor, and he’s lived aboard his boat ever since. In the spring and summer, he moors at Centerboard Yacht Club, in South Portland. When cold weather hits, he docks in a friend’s spot on Maine Wharf, on Commercial Street, or sails down the coast. Around him, the city skyline has become more congested, the boats sleeker and zippier. But Aumuller, a musician, isn’t interested in keeping pace. He wants little more than a deck to strum his guitar on and a tiny cabin to retire to at the end of the day. “I’m here until I die,” he says.

Aumuller has fulfilled a childhood dream of exploring the world by sailboat. “Some winters I’d take off for Bermuda, play music. It was the life I wanted and I led it,” he says. At age 85, Aumuller still rows out to his mooring, but getting into the dinghy takes some doing. He starts off lying sideways along the edge of the dock, then swivels his legs, boom-like, over the belly of the boat before lowering himself slowly inside. A couple of years ago, he traded Grebe, the 40-foot wooden sailboat he had for five decades, for Tyn’Lyne, a 31-foot fiberglass sloop that’s easier to maintain. He calls it “a Clorox bottle.” “It’s a retirement boat,” Aumuller says with a shrug. “I don’t have to cross oceans anymore.”

Maine News, Thursday May 14

FREEPORT EVENTS
FREEPORT TALES

Portland Weekly Newsletter -   “With deep regret and broken hearts,” grocers Chet and Peggy Knights announced on social media Wednesday that they are closing Fresh Approach, the long-running neighborhood store in Portland's West End.

Brunswick adopts budget with 5.2% tax hike (pressherald.com)

Maine Art Gallery to host panel program on sustainable farming (pressherald.com)

As GLP-1 use rises in Maine, insurance is less likely to cover the medications

JOBS

• Wolverine World Wide, Inc. posted a job opening for Retail Store Associate - Merrell in Freeport. Apply here.
• Albertsons Companies, Inc. posted a job opening for Assistant Front End Manager in Freeport. Apply here. 
• You can search for other jobs near Freeport here.

Maine News Wednesday May 13

Maine Morning Star -   Maine is seeing less Border Patrol and more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity, along with increased cases of people being targeted and arrested at home, according to the only state-wide immigration legal services organization.

“We continue to see the majority of arrests are of Maine residents in lawful immigration processes with no criminal record,” said Lisa Parisio, policy director of the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project. 

The rise in reported ICE activity has also shifted away from rural parts of the state — as seen in the aftermath of ICE’s large-scale operation in January — back to more populated areas, said Ruben Torres, advocacy and policy manager for the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition, which runs the hotline.  A month ago, calls to the hotline documented one to two detentions per week. Over the last two weeks, that’s now the daily average. 

Maine Morning Star -   The signature gathering practices of the campaign behind the anti-transgender sports initiative are being cast into doubt, potentially derailing a referendum set to appear on the November ballot.   Evidence submitted over several hours to the Secretary of State’s Office Tuesday suggested a pattern of negligence within the campaign behind the citizen’s initiative, with signature collectors admitting to leaving forms unattended, among other infractions. The outstanding question is how many signatures were collected improperly, after almost a dozen witnesses testified to seeing petition handling that violated Maine’s rules. 

The Secretary of State’s Office previously conceded in court that more than 3,000 signatures could be questionable, so Tuesday’s hearing centered on the validity of just over 330 signatures.  “The evidence today will show that once the secretary considers all the facts, the ballot initiative in fact, fell very far short of the required threshold to qualify,” Attorney Christopher Dodge from Elias Law said during the hearing at the Secretary of State’s Office in Augusta. 

Maine Morning Star -  A coalition of Maine environmental and community health organizations have published a five-year policy guide outlining how Maine can address environmental challenges and opportunities ahead of this year’s pivotal elections for governor and Maine Legislature.... The report, titled “Meeting the Moment,” outlines specific policy actions, centered around five focus areas: land, water, and wildlife for future generations; healthy and prosperous communities; sovereign Wabanaki Nations; clean and affordable energy; and a government that works for everyone. 

 In the latest poll we have  in the Maine governor's race is about two months old and, Shah leads with 31%, followed by Jackson with 18%,  Bellows with 17%,  16% with Pingree and 9% with King. Five good candidates.  Platner leads in the Senate race against Collins by an average of the last three polls of 7%. 

JOBS

• Vineyard Vines, LLC posted a job opening for Crew Lead (Part Time Manager) - 58 Main St, Freeport, ME in Freeport. Apply here.
• NextEra Energy, Inc posted a job opening for Production Specialist (Shift) in Yarmouth. Apply here. 
• You can search for other jobs near Freeport here.