FREEPORT EVENTS
FREEPORT TALES
SAM SMITH BIO
FREEPORT EVENTS
FREEPORT TALES
SAM SMITH BIO
Patch - A longtime Freeport firm, Fine Lines Construction, is moving its offices this June from Main Street to the former Stars and Stripes Brewing Co. site on Varney Road and adding a cabinet and millwork shop by September. The 35-employee company has heavily renovated the vacant brewery building and says the larger space will support more local projects within a reasonable radius of Freeport.
Friday May 22nd through Monday September 28th
*PLEASE NOTE: All reservations are non-refundable*
Maine Morning Star - President Donald Trump said he supports a bill from Democratic U.S. Rep.Jared Golden to extend the pause on federal lobster rules. Last month, Golden introduced a bill to continue shielding Maine lobstermen from new regulations to protect North Atlantic right whales until 2035. “The need to protect Maine’s iconic lobster industry knows no party,” Golden said in a statement. “I’m grateful for the President’s support for Maine’s lobstermen and hopeful that my colleagues in the House will join me in quickly passing this bill into law.” On Friday, the Trump administration announced its strong support of the bill in a Statement of Administration Policy and said the president would sign the legislation if Congress sends it to his desk.
Troy Jackson is first person ever to be endorsed in a gubernatorial primary by the Maine AFL-CIO
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Press Herald
Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, plans to visit Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas to see Olivia Andre, a 19-year-old asylum seeker from Maine, who has been in federal detention since November.
Washington County farmers face mounting economic uncertainty, but they will not see a proposal for relief funds on the November ballot. Lawmakers made several attempts to revive LD 2094, a bill that would have directed a $45 million bond into existing grant and low‑interest loan programs for farmers and the forestry sector — even introducing an amendment to fold the farm and forestry funding into another bill. But the legislative session ended in mid‑April with the proposal stalled. Read more from The Maine Monitor.
Maine Morning Star - From food assistance to healthcare, housing to energy costs, the Democratic-led Maine Legislature passed dozens of laws to counteract the adverse effects of federal cuts on affordability, while advancing several long-term Democratic priorities, notably a new tax on millionaires that aims to raise state revenue and permanently making community college free.
“The major accomplishments of the legislative session were efforts to counteract the cruelty of the Trump administration,” Maine House of Representatives Speaker Ryan Fecteau (D-Biddeford) told Maine Morning Star.
....But lawmakers stopped short of fully counteracting mounting federal pressures. Several ambitious proposals failed in the session’s final weeks, including a $250 million healthcare bill meant to help Mainers struggling with rising marketplace insurance costs and changing Medicaid eligibility.
Gov. Janet Mills got a lot of what she wanted during her final legislative session. The Legislature again failed to override her vetoes, including what would have been a first-in-the-nation temporary ban on data centers. She also blocked continued attempts to return full sovereignty to the Wabanaki Nations. And, her “affordability checks” for some Mainers squeaked through, despite pushback from even some within her own party.
Maine Monring Star - The latest legislative session in Maine saw few changes to the state’s criminal justice system. Lawmakers pursued three overarching types of reform: adding oversight of prisons, reestablishing parole and expanding criminal record sealing. The first two proposals were significantly walked back, while the latter was outright rejected through the failure of multiple bills. But, the lawmakers and advocates behind these proposals said they plan to bring them back, either again in future legislatures or potentially as citizen initiatives sent to voters.
FREEPORT
On April 30th, Freeport’s Meetinghouse Arts hosted the statewide National Poetry Month Maine grand finale, A Celebration of the Maine Poets Laureate...The poems carried us through marriage and grief, rhubarb and beauty salons. A letter to a Maine still one hundred years away. Cow faces pressed to farmhouse screens, the moon compared to a deadbeat roommate and a violinist who played through her own brain surgery. The recording is now on YouTube
Maine Biz - The Freeport Sewer District has scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony for May 7 to mark the start of its wastewater infrastructure upgrade and rehabilitation project at 43 South Freeport Road. The projectreceived $20.1 million from U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.
“We are pleased to mark the groundbreaking of a project that has been years in the making and represents a once-in-a-generation investment,” said Mike Ashby, the district’s chair. The project is a “significant step forward in strengthening Freeport’s wastewater infrastructure for the future,” he added.
“As commercial clammers, we depend on clean water,” Ashby and Tom Hudak, the district’s treasurer, said in a joint statement. “This project allows the district to continue to protect the Harraseeket River and Casco Bay for everyone. The project is a critical investment in upgrading the district’s 50-year-old facilities and ensuring effective wastewater treatment for our community and visitors for decades to come.”
Maine Biz - The Wood Build Maine conference on June 5 in Freeport will showcase how wood is shaping the future of construction, from mass timber and engineered wood systems to sustainable building practices and advances in manufacturing and research. Sponsored by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, in partnership with the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development and the Maine International Trade Center, the one-day event will bring together architects, builders, designers, manufacturers, policymakers and investors.
The event builds on the DACF’s partnership with Finland’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. It will highlight the broader movement that sees wood not just as a building material, but as a climate solution, an economic engine, a design element and an opportunity to connect with nature.
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FREEPORT NEWS
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:
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. Online services such as some payments, permit information, forms, and requests are available 24/7 on our website at https://www.freeportmaine.com/184/Online-Services-Transactions The total number of hours Town employees work will be unchanged, and there is no reduction in staffing or services. The change aligns public hours with the staffing capacity approved through the Town’s budget, helping ensure that offices are routinely staffed whenever Town Hall is open. MAINE UPDATE Recent poll: Palmer leads Collns by 2% |
Thom Hartmann - Maine just handed Democrats a wake-up call that they’d damn well better actually listen to this time.
Press Herald - Special education rates are at an all-time high nationally. Depending on the study, Maine ranks second, sometimes third, in the nation, with just under 21% of the state’s 171,174 students qualifying for additional services in the 2023-24 school year. The national average is 15%. There is no clear reason for Maine’s high rates, though experts mention factors like the aftereffects of the COVID pandemic, an aging teacher population and state regulations.
Press Herald - When Susan Tarpinian opened the original Morning Glory Natural Foods on Maine Street in Brunswick in 1981, her son, Toby, was just 2 years old. Now, he’s running the business, and has a brand new store for his own 2-year-old to toddle around in.
Tarpinian and his team decided to expand the business about a year ago, feeling cramped in the downtown store. The new location [in the former REAL school building in Brunswick Landing] offers the same natural food products as the Maine Street store, with the addition of a seafood counter and a butcher.
Interview with the team behind Morning Glory here.
How five Democrats running for governor agree and disagree with Janet Mills
Clean Link - The Green Restaurant Association (GRA), a national non-profit organization that demarcates official Certified Green Restaurants, announces the winners of the 2026 Green Restaurant Award. These facilities support sustainability initiatives that aim for both conservation and cleanliness. To measure the efficacy of environmental efforts, organizations are measured alongside eight categories: energy, water, waste, chemicals and pollution, food, and building and furnishing. For each element implemented within a category, Green Points can be obtained. The cumulation of these points demonstrates foundational steps toward eco-friendly operations. Greenest Independent Restaurant: Maine Beer Company Tasting Room, Freeport, Maine
Graham Platner interviewed by Jon Stewart
The Hill - Centrist Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Thursday broke ranks with Republican leaders and most GOP colleagues by voting for a war powers resolution sponsored by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to halt military actions against Iran, the first Republican senator to change her position on curtailing President Trump’s military authority.
Collins joined Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in voting to advance a resolution to withdraw U.S. military forces from the conflict with Iran unless Congress votes to authorize the use of force. She and Paul voted with most Democrats for a motion to discharge the resolution from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but it still failed by a vote of 47 to 50.
Press Herald - When Maine seemed poised to pass the nation’s first temporary ban on new data center development, the country started to pay attention. Then came the veto. Gov. Janet Mills shot down the measure late last week, saying she would have signed it if it included an exemption for a development proposed at the former Androscoggin Mill in Jay. Critics were quick to condemn the move, while supporters praised Mills for defending local interests amid national scrutiny.
A jury has awarded $102.2 million in a lawsuit over artwork attributed to the late Robert Indiana, a longtime Maine resident who created the famous LOVE sculptures. In a case filed in New York just before Indiana's death in 2018, the group that owns the rights to his work sued his former associate, Michael McKenzie, who was found to have produced fraudulent pieces and violated copyright and trademark laws.
What Maine put in a time capsule that’s meant to be unearthed in 250 years
How to stay safe amid elevated fire risk in Maine
Press Herald - Maine marijuana growers are increasingly using radiation and other methods to remove contaminants like mold and yeast from their products, a process consumers are likely in the dark about. Despite state policy requiring remediated products to be labeled, that rule hasn't been enforced since at least November 2024. Supporters say the process is safe, while opponents argue there isn’t enough research on remediated cannabis.
Supporters of a bill that would give certain lawmakers access to confidential child protective records will make another push this week, arguing the change is needed to hold the state accountable. They plan to rally on Wednesday, when the Maine Legislature returns to Augusta to act on bills vetoed by the governor. The measure could get a second vote on “veto day,” or it could go without another vote and die upon adjournment.
How to watch the upcoming primary debates in Maine’s races for governor, Senate, House
Pro-Collins super PAC launches $2M attack ad against Graham Platner
Maine Morning Star - Energy affordability was top of mind for state lawmakers this session, as they passed an assortment of bills to try and bring down Maine’s high energy prices. But with a varied approach, it’s hard to tell exactly how much impact the legislation will have on residents’ bills. “I think it is a shift in emphasis and in direction going forward that I think will help us start to turn the tide or push down on the upward price pressure that we’re finding coming from lots of different angles within electricity rates,” said Heather Sanborn, the state’s public advocate. But, she added, there’s nothing among the list of new laws “that is immediately going to make bills lower.”
... Dr. Barbara Kates-Garnick, a professor of practice in energy policy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, said the progress will have an impact long term. But in the immediate future, it’s unclear what ratepayers will see. “All of these measures make a difference, but whether or not, in the short term, we’re going to see the price decreases and impacts that people desire, I think the jury is really out,” Kates-Garnick said.
Bowdoin exhibit documents the Wabanaki experience through oral histories, photos (pressherald.com)
Jobs
Patch - Gap posted a job opening for Retail Sales Associate - Freeport Vlg Station in Freeport. Apply here.