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Earlier this week, Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) decided not to veto an obscure law called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV), which calls for the state's 4 Electoral College votes to be awarded to the presidential candidate who gets the most votes nationally regardless of the outcome in the state. The law doesn't go into effect, however, until states totaling 270 electoral votes join the compact. That's the number of Electoral College votes required to win the presidency. Once dismissed as an unworkable, almost farcical fantasy, the NPV just tallied its 209th electoral vote with Maine, and now...

The 87-year-old self-described “frontman” for an elaborate Chinese-run drug trafficking organization active in rural Maine told the Maine Wire that he’s been living with a family of black market marijuana growers for nearly three years and helping them with electrical upgrades at facilities throughout the state. In exchange for his services, the immigrant family feeds him, provides some level of medical care, and takes him almost everywhere they go. That was just one of the stunning details revealed by J. Martin Vachon, a master electrician from Ellsworth, over the course of an hour-long phone interview — details that are confirmed...

A new Maine bill was passed by the state legislature on Wednesday that would tie Maine’s Electoral College votes for president to the country’s popular vote. The bill narrowly passed the state’s lower chamber in a 73-72 vote. It was then approved by the state Senate, and it now heads to the desk of Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME), who has not indicated whether she will sign the legislation. If she does, the state would join a national movement where each state in the agreement would assign their Electoral College votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote. “The...

A Chinese national living in the Guangdong Province, China, became the proud owner of a “fixer upper” in Penobscot County in February thanks, in part, to title transfer services provided by Paul H. Mills, the eldest brother of Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D). Xiling Ou, 44, of Malden, Mass., was the original owner of the ramshackle house and its three-bay garage, along with nine-acres of land, located at 51 Cider Hill in Corinna. But 13 days after the Penobscot Sheriff’s Department and Homeland Security agents raided an illegal marijuana grow just five miles away, she gifted the property to her...

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Wednesday indicated that he would not support President Joe Biden's judicial nominees if they could not secure the support of at least one upper chamber Republican. "Just one Republican. That’s all I'm asking for. Give me something bipartisan. This is my own little filibuster. If they can't get one Republican, I vote for none. I've told [Democrats] that. I said, 'I'm sick and tired of it, I can't take it anymore," he said, according to Politico. The moderate senator, who is retiring at the end of his current term, has long taken positions...

Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the northern U.S. border have jumped from 916 in fiscal year 2021 to 10,021 in fiscal 2023.. HIGHGATE, Vt.—At dawn or dusk, Kristy Brow used to enjoy alone time walking in the woods on her 21-acre property in Highgate, Vermont, a small rural town near the U.S.–Canada border. Lately, however, she’s cautious—she’s worried about potential encounters with illegal immigrants along the remote logging trail. “I don’t go out by myself anymore—especially at night,” said Mrs. Brow, who runs a dog obedience business from her home. “It’s unsettling. You can’t feel relaxed anymore,” she...

Democrats in Maine have quietly reintroduced into a different committee the same pro-transgender bill that was unanimously defeated once already. The bill would in part prevent parents from being contacted or having any say in the transing of their children by school or medical officials and would serve as a groomer protection measure. The bill, LD227, is very similar to LD 1735, which was killed in the Judiciary Committee in January. Republican critics of the bill are blasting the provisions as anti-family and anti-child.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed a 10-knot speed limit for much of the Atlantic coast in a bid to protect the Whale population. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the federal government nears final approval for a 10-knot maritime speed limit along the East Coast, the Southeastern legal Foundation is warning that such a move would adversely impact the economies of coastal communities. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed a 10-knot speed limit for much of the Atlantic coast in a bid to protect the whale population. Violators could face up to $20,000 in fines and one...

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellow has reversed course in her effort to keep former President Trump off the primary ballot after the Supreme Court on Monday unanimously overturned a similar ruling in Colorado. “I have reviewed the Anderson decision carefully. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that individual states lack authority to enforce Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment with respect to federal offices,” wrote Bellows, a Democrat. “Consistent with my oath and obligation to follow the law and the Constitution, and pursuant to the Anderson decision, I hereby withdraw my determination that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid.”...

Chinese gangs have set up thousands of illicit weed farms across the US as they begin to challenge Mexican cartels for supremacy as America's cannabis kingpins. Authorities in Oklahoma, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Maine have all been battling a surge in Chinese weed farms, with some thought to be linked to criminal gangs known as 'triads'. The spread is seemingly uncontainable, with police in Penobscot County, Maine, last week arresting three Chinese nationals at a weed farm and seizing 40 pounds of the drug alongside $4,700 in cash. It is thought to be one of around 270 illegal weed...

The family that had wanted to build the world’s tallest flagpole in rural eastern Maine has agreed to pay a $250,000 penalty under a consent agreement following construction of more than 50 cabins without obtaining environmental permits from the state. The Board of Environmental Protection signed off Wednesday on the consent agreement signed late last month by Morrill Worcester, patriarch of the family whose company owns the land. The Flagpole View Cabins were built from 2019 to 2022 in sparsely populated Columbia Falls near the site where the family wanted to build a flagpole taller than the Empire State Building....

Residents of Maine are expressing their outrage over the state’s plans to spend $13 million on constructing apartment complexes for illegal border crossers where some could be afforded up to two years of free rent. The apartment complex plan — derisively labeled the “Taj Mahal” for illegals — took a lot of heat from residents of Brunswick during a February 20 city council meeting. The locals were upset over the fact that the same apartments that cost citizens between $1,800 and $2,300 a month were going to be handed out to illegals for free.

Alade McKen plagiarized pages of material from Wikipedia.. The chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer of Columbia University's medical school, Alade McKen, plagiarized extensively in his doctoral dissertation, lifting entire pages of material, without attribution, from sources that include Wikipedia, according to a complaint submitted to the university on Wednesday. The allegations implicate approximately a fifth of McKen's 163-page dissertation, "'UBUNTU' I am because we are: A case study examining the experiences of an African-centered Rites of Passage program within a community-based organization," submitted to Iowa State University's School of Education in 2021. More than two of those pages are...

The Maine Republican Party says it won’t recognize ranked choice voting in the March 5 presidential primary, adding another layer of complexity to an already confusing election. snip BALLOTS SET FOR RANKED VOTING Despite the party’s opposition, Maine’s official Republican primary ballots are set up for ranked choice voting consistent with state law. The ballots offer voters the options of picking second and third choices. The state’s Republican party reiterated its position in an email to voters Tuesday, the day after early absentee voting started for the March 5 primary. “Mainers will vote on RCV ballots, but the first round...

In the race for President, Donald Trump (R) is leading Joe Biden (D) by six points statewide.

NEW ENGLAND GRID NEEDS: New England’s grid operator warned that the region will need to invest nearly $1 billion in its electric transmission infrastructure per year through 2050 to avoid capacity shortfalls and handle the rising power demand—especially as wind and solar make up a rising share of its energy mix. Takeaways: The report modeled for several different demand scenarios through 2050. The low end of 51 GW could be achieved only if the region kept online some stored fuels like natural gas and oil—which is almost a certain impossibility, given the emissions reduction targets passed by several of the...

Maine’s Department of Education is reportedly urging school districts to stop using taxpayer-subsidized electric school buses that were purchased within the last year. The districts reported problems with the new buses, which were supplied by Canada-based Lion Electric Co., last fall ... The windshields on the buses would leak whenever it rained, as the glass didn’t appear to be securely in place. concerns about mixing electricity and water from the leaking windshields led them to stop driving some of the buses. The buses, which cost about $345,000 each, were also sold with misaligned or incorrect lettering on the sides, and...

Forty-five Maine lawmakers are pressuring Cabela’s to stop selling AR-15s and other firearms Democrats describe as “assault rifles,” noting the October 25, 2023, Lewiston attacker bought a handgun from the retail giant. Lawmakers did not explain what buying a handgun has to do with buying an AR-15, but they are pushing for Cabela’s to drop the sales of AR-15s anyway. WGME noted that the push is being led by State Rep. Lori Gramlich (D), and that she the other 44 lawmakers sent a letter to Cabela’s which said, in part:

Unsettling Post footage and interviews with US residents along the Canadian border offer a rare glimpse into the thriving migrant smuggling operation that has taken hold up north in addition to the debacle to the south. ... smugglers have become so rampant that some locals are packing pistols to protect themselves and turning into amateur sleuths to help thwart them. “Now I’ve got the Border Patrol guys on speed dial,” local Chris Feeley, 52, recently grimly acknowledged. ... According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, the number of migrants illegally entering the US at the northern border last year...

Caribou High School has changed course and decided against implementing a biometric identification system to track student attendance. Parents and guardians of students who attend the high school were notified Wednesday that Regional School Unit 39 has abandoned its plan to use a finger scanning system at the high school, which enrolls about 460 students in grades 9-12. The RSU39 district serves students from Caribou and Stockholm. “Following careful consideration and feedback from our community, it was determined that the implementation of this system will not proceed,” Superintendent Jane McCall said in a statement released Wednesday. Only 2% of parents...