WGME - Freeport’s Memorial Day parade steps off at 10 a.m. on Holbrook Street, travels up Main Street, and ends with a ceremony at Memorial Park honoring fallen service members. The roundup also lists parades and ceremonies in many other Maine communities, useful if you’ll be traveling or visiting family elsewhere in the state.
News Center Maine - Gubernatorial candidate and State Senator Rick Bennett is the first Independent to drop off his petition signatures at the Secretary of State's office to get his name on the November general election ballot. That same day, the signatures were confirmed, qualifying Bennett for the election. Bennett and his campaign turned in 5,300 signatures, more than the 4,000 minimum. The senator from Oxford has been campaigning for nearly a year and has released his plans for housing, health care, and energy if he is elected to the Blaine House.
JOBS
- Circle K Stores, Inc. posted a job opening for Customer Service Representative in Freeport. Apply here.
- Dunkin' posted a job opening for Crew Member in Yarmouth. Apply here.
- You can search for other jobs near Freeport here.
Press Herald - A proposed refer endum to ban transgender athletes from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity is invalid, a presiding state official said Wednesday. Of the 67,150 signatures collected, 12,542 were invalid, meaning the proposal was over 500 signatures short of the 67,682 needed to put it on the ballot in November.
Maine Morning Star - The Maine Education Association is sticking to its endorsements for governor, despite their two top ranked gubernatorial candidates criticizing the third, Nirav Shah, for an outside ad supporting him that is partially funded by a school choice organization. “Our first and second choices were Shenna Bellows and Troy Jackson, because of their adamant commitment to maintaining public funds in public schools,” said Maine Education Association President Jesse Hargrove.
Maine Morning Star - The U.S. District Court in Maine delivered a blow to President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice Thursday, granting the state’s motion to throw out the federal government’s lawsuit over Maine refusing to turn over sensitive voter data. Further, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker concluded that the government’s stated purpose for the request — to ensure compliance with federal voter laws — is insufficient. Such an interpretation of federal law, Walker wrote in his ruling, “would take a sledgehammer to the balance Congress struck when it required states to create and maintain computerized lists of registered voters in the first place.”
“Under our Constitution, states are the primary regulators and administrators of elections for federal office, unless Congress passes legislation that preempts that framework,” Walker wrote. “And Congress’s power to do even that is itself subject to limitations.”
Meanwhile, Shah “has expressed wanting to learn more information about charter schools and voucher systems, and he’s been direct and honest with that,” Hargrove added. “I think that his honesty is probably why [MEA] ranked him third, rather than first or second.”
Shah’s campaign clarified that he was asked during an interview with the teacher’s union about whether he supports expanding public charter schools. The candidate reportedly told members that he would support such schools to the extent that they would benefit public school students. Shah has repeatedly polled at the top of the crowded Democratic field, as candidates make their final pitches ahead of the June 9 primary.
Maine Morning Star - Mainers may no longer be voting this November on a ballot question to restrict the rights of transgender students to access bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams aligning with their gender identity. That’s because a state official determined that petitioners did not collect enough valid signatures, falling 500 short of the minimum required threshold to qualify for a citizen-led ballot initiative. Chief Deputy Secretary of State Katherine McBrien, who presided over a hearing last week to determine signature validity, is recommending to the Maine Secretary of State’s Office that more than 12,000 signatures that may have been collected improperly be invalidated, the office confirmed on Thursday.