Portland Press Herald - Amid growing political pressures on American higher education and the rising cost of college, some southern Maine students are heading across the border. The number of American study permit holders in Canada reached its highest point in a decade in 2025. Last year, after President Donald Trump took office and began slashing grant funding and threatening schools with investigations, Canadian universities began seeing rising interest from American students
At first glance, 2025 appears to have been a banner year for housing production in Portland. The planning board approved 1,420 units — a city record and an almost 200% increase from the 477 approved the year before. However, last year was one of the worst years for completions in the last decade, with just 187 units added, down 68% from 2024.
Holy Donut workers at Portland’s Park Avenue store vote to unionizeMaine Morning Star - The Maine chapter of the Sierra Club has endorsed three candidates in the Democratic gubernatorial primary: Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson and HanAt a press conference Wednesday, Emma Conrad, chair of the chapter’s political committee, said the organization often endorses in primary elections, but this is the first time endorsing three candidates, which they said was a benefit of the state using ranked choice voting in the primary. More
Yarmouth: Lawmakers reject speed camera bill, but MDOT and Turnpike plan to try again (newscentermaine.com)
The Lincolnville-based Cellardoor Winery has closed its Portland tasting room on Middle Street.
Jetport update: A new approach for airplanes landing at the Portland International Jetport will minimize ongoing noise complaints, officials say.
Student walkout: Students at Lyman Moore Middle School in Portland walked out of class last week in support of social studies teacher Josephine Tibbetts, who believes she was retaliated against when administrators declined to renew her teaching contract.
187: The number of housing units built in Portland in 2025, after 582 were built in 2024, and 780 built in 2023.
Press Herald - The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to drop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from its contract with the U.S. Marshals Service to hold federal detainees at Cumberland County Jail. The board voted 3-1 to drop ICE from the agreement roughly eight months after dozens of constituents began showing up to commission meetings to advocate for such a move.
The decision also comes about three months after the Department of Homeland Security pulled its prisoners out of the jail. That was in the wake of Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce referring to ICE’s arrest of a corrections officer during the January surge in Maine as “bush-league policing.” DHS officials also cited the county’s decision to hire an “illegal alien” in the first place, though Joyce had said the correction officer’s record was “squeaky clean.”
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