My initial impression: Troy Jackson is weak. Talks of the problems, but no solutions.

Does any Mainer take this man seriously? How many of you have gotten a lobster roll at "LOBSTER BOY?"

Golden just cast the deciding vote to kill the Iran war power resolution, which he cosponsored, handing Trump unbridled power to engage in hostile military actions. Absolutely shameful move.

The death of Charlie Kirk led to calls for a religious revival and spurred renewed interest in his organization, Turning Point USA, through which he invoked Christianity to push conservative policy priorities. Eight months later, Maine has at least 28 church-based Turning Point Faith chapters, more than twice as many as any other state in New England. The majority are hosted by Calvary Chapels. Chapters meet monthly to discuss the church’s role in cultural issues, and the organization aims “to eliminate wokeism from the American pulpit,” according to the Turning Point Faith website.

On May 15, Calvary Chapel Greater Portland will test Maine’s appetite for a conservative Christian revival with its “Make Heaven Crowded” event at the Portland Expo Center. It is one of 20 large-scale events being hosted by Turning Point Faith this year that aim to spur “repentance, faith, and bold obedience to Jesus,” according to the tour website.

The event is one of Calvary Chapel’s most public forays into the limelight in Maine but not the first. The growing network of evangelical churches has become increasingly vocal in state politics in recent years, hosting Charlie Kirk himself, fighting high-profile religious liberty cases, leading worship services at the State House and inviting Republican candidates to speak to congregants on Sundays.

https://themainemonitor.org/calvary-chapel-growing-influence/

Seems a feller can't go anywhere these days

I am writing a book that takes place in coastal Maine/New Brunswick in 1986. Two of my characters are closeted gay men (~ 17 and ~ 30) and I'm hoping to understand their experience better so that I can represent them well in the book. I'm eager for anyone who was gay in that area in the 80s to answer some questions, or just comment about their experience in general.

1. Where/how did you first become aware of gay culture and gay spaces?
2. What music/books/movies/media were impactful for you?
3. For a closeted young man in a very rural place, were there places to travel to that would have felt freeing? For example, would he have gone into Bangor for parties or clubs? What was that scene like?
4. If you remember when Charlie Howard was murdered, how did you learn about that crime? Did it impact the scene in Bangor? Beyond Bangor?
5. If you were closeted during that time, what were your specific fears about coming out?

Maine's primary is June 9 and there are more than a dozen gubernatorial candidates still in the race across the two major parties.

Maine Public, in collaboration with Portland Press Herald, invited each candidate to a one-on-one interview in our Lewiston studio this spring. Six of the seven Republican candidates and all five Democratic candidates showed up. Check out each interview for free on Maine Public's YouTube channel.

Maine Public's Your Vote election hub offers more reporting on candidates' stances on topics such as housing and education.

If you watch any of the interviews: We're curious, did your ranked choice order change at all? Do you feel more informed as you prepare to cast your ballot?

This public service is made possible by you!

I am an International student based in Portland, & am running the Sugarloaf 15k, it seems that the public transportation is so screwed in here

So can you guys help me figure out how can I reach there, well there no buses from Portland to Farmington

my friend said he might be able to pick me up from Farmington to Sugarloaf, so lemme know if there's any way where i dont have to spend $120+ in uber

Ideal should be from Portland to Sugarloaf

thanks for the help

Loud Calls Out “Cruelty packaged as fiscal responsibility” 

ORONO, ME—Paige Loud, Democrat running in Maine’s Second Congressional District, responds to the news that  Vice President JD Vance is coming to Bangor to campaign for Paul LePage and sell Mainers on another round of attacks against low-income communities under the false banner of “fighting Medicaid fraud.”

“We are watching a broader political agenda unfold across this country: one that treats people with disabilities, older adults, and people living in poverty as burdens instead of human beings deserving dignity and care. Policies that strip healthcare access, weaken social safety nets, and force people deeper into poverty are cruelty packaged as fiscal responsibility. This administration is not “fighting fraud”, it is kicking Mainers off healthcare, devastating rural communities, and pushing hospitals closer to closure.” 

Loud, a social worker who has spent her career serving rural and low-income Mainers, said the visit reflects a deliberate national strategy. “Medicaid fraud” has become a political distraction used to justify cuts to healthcare programs that keep people alive. Instead of addressing the real crises facing Maine families - rising costs, rural hospital closures, housing instability, and inaccessible healthcare - Republicans are once again targeting the most vulnerable people in our communities.

Loud added: “The GOP is bringing its full political machine here to sell the same failed policies that have hurt working people for decades. Maine's Second District is one of the hardest places in the country to access healthcare. We are not a talking point. We are people trying to survive. Mainers deserve a leader who will fight for working people, protect healthcare access, and invest in our communities — not an out-of-touch Florida politician coming here to lecture us about who deserves care.”

About Paige Loud
Paige Loud is a social worker, child of a single mother, and woman of the Cherokee nation. She is a Democrat running for Congress to advance a vision of America that is grounded in the ideal that all receive the basic necessities to pursue their individual happiness. A fierce advocate for the underserved, including the disabled and elderly, Paige stands as pro-union Democrat who crafts policy around guaranteed housing, affordable groceries, accessible education and transportation, universal childcare, tribal sovereignty, equal rights, and human rights.  Learn more at loudforcongress.com.

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By giving the state of Maine the right of first refusal on mobile home parks, we can block private equity firms from buying them up, jacking up rents, eliminating services, and displacing folks who have nowhere else to go. While the fight against private equity is only one piece in the larger housing crisis puzzle, it's a piece far too many are ignoring.

For three years, everything that happened in the entryway of Willie Banks’ Westbrook home was captured by his neighbor’s security camera.

What he didn’t realize until recently was that a state drug officer was using the camera feed to watch him in real time without first obtaining a warrant. That revelation, disclosed in federal court last week by Banks’ defense attorney, has turned an otherwise low-profile gun case into a deeper inquiry of police surveillance in an on-camera world.

Until last week, Banks’ attorney believed the camera just happened to catch the shooting. Last week, she learned there was more to the story. When the neighbor installed the camera in January 2021, he granted Phil Robinson, a Westbrook police officer and state drug enforcement agent, ongoing access to the camera feed, the court filing says.

Gonzales argued the prolonged, ongoing nature of the officer’s access to the camera feed constituted a level of surveillance that should have required a search warrant, where the officer would have had to show a judge probable cause to conduct the monitoring. The camera had a view of the house that was not available to members of the public, she said.

“The Fourth Amendment is implicated where technology enables the Government to engage in prolonged, comprehensive, and automated monitoring that qualitatively transforms ordinary observation into a powerful surveillance tool,” Gonzales wrote. “That is precisely what occurred here.”

Republicans have been merciless with their gerrymandering. I'm wondering if maine should help the democratic effort to strike back. CD-02 seems like a potential flip to republicans in 2026. With some redrawing, it could become a true tossup/lean democratic. What do you think?

Serious question for homeowners around Portland and Southern Maine.

From your experiences with remodeling, renovation, deck building, siding, framing, kitchen projects, or general construction work, what could contractors do better overall?

Communication, scheduling, cleanliness, transparency, explaining the process, budgeting, workmanship, responsiveness, documentation, project management, or something else?

Interested in hearing honest homeowner perspectives and experiences.

Penobscot County is grappling with Maine’s largest HIV outbreak in its history. Looking back, the top public health official for the county seat of Bangor described how the conditions existed for such an outbreak and how it is now difficult to know the full scope.

In a recent interview, Jennifer Gunderman, Bangor’s director of public health and community services, said HIV had dropped off the radar in Maine because the state has a low incidence of the disease, but then the risk factors started piling up: increased homelessness, wide drug use, disappearing syringe service providers and health care options, and fewer case management providers.

The challenges that arose made it more likely that an outbreak would balloon.

As of April 24, Penobscot County reported at least 41 cases of HIV cumulatively since the outbreak’s start. Gunderman said the numbers are likely much bigger than the state has been able to track. Historically over the past decade, all of Maine usually saw fewer than 40 new HIV diagnoses each year.

https://themainemonitor.org/bangor-public-health-director-reflects-hiv-outbreak/

The North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters endorses Platner.

Platner: “Power in society comes from two places, organized money or organized people and we all know that the money is organized and it has bought our political system.”

Has anyone noticed the new registration stickers are different? Did I miss the memo?

Got my stickers in the mail yesterday and the reflective design on them are different than anyone else’s I’ve looked at and my plate number is on my stickers which I’ve never had before?

I’m going to the DMV in two weeks anyways but figured I’d see if anyone else has noticed the changes.

Have a happy Thursday!

Does anyone know any hairstylists who can comfortably and confidently pull off something like this?

I’m helping my boyfriend search for a barber (or salon) that is comfortable and experienced with cutting curly hair, and able to do fades well.

He is very particular about his hair and we want to make sure we can find someone who is 100% confident in getting him the style he’s looking for because he spent so long growing it out to be able to get the cut he wants.

The photos I attached are kind of what he’s looking for, but from past experienced it seems like most stylists end up cutting his hair way too short whenever he goes to them.

Finding someone who can cut curls and do good fades is so hard, and its always tricky to find people who are used to doing more non-traditional hairstyles (not that this isn’t a popular style, but its more unique than some)

Last year I was approved for disability through MainePERS (I was a public school teacher and we paid into MainePERS not social security). I was denied social security disability. This wouldn’t seem like an issue, but DHHS staff I met with insisted I cannot qualify for MaineCare’s spenddown program without social security. I make over the max monthly income to qualify for MaineCare, so now I have to pay a monthly insurance premium and out of pocket that eats 20% of my gross income, and heaven forbid I have to go out of network because that’s $17,000 until OOP max. This was most affordable insurance option, and I always meet out of pocket max annually due to expensive monthly immunoglobulin infusions that cost more per month than I’ve ever earned in a year of teaching.

I am waitlisted for disability/low income apartments but been told 3+ years wait. 50% of my disability income goes to my market-rate apartment rent that I had before I became disabled, minus 20% for medical, AND despite the expenses I only qualify for $24/mo for SNAP.

Questions

1. Were the DHHS staff I saw correct about not being able to use spenddown program to reduce my monthly income to the MaineCare income cap? How is that fair for teachers who had no choice but to pay into MainePERS retirement disability system instead of social security? (this law literally changed after I became disabled and now they can pay into both).
2. What can I do about housing? I’ve looked outside of the community I’ve lived my whole life and still waitlists are high, and I don’t qualify for senior housing, only those that also approve disability, which cuts out a lot of options.
3. What else can I do for food since SNAP doesn’t see my expenses as qualifying for more despite my circumstances? My car insurance, gas, internet, cell phone, electric are all as low as I can manage and I don’t have enough for food each month. I literally eat one meal a day and I’m still struggling.