The Trump Administration’s rapid moves to impose fiscal restraint on the sprawling federal bureaucracy will hit at least one governmental organization in Maine: Medical Care Development, a 501(c)3 group that pulled in $37 million in 2023. Medical Care Development, which operates as “MCD Global Health,” is a Hallowell-based nonprofit that claims to employee 195 people, according to its 2023 Form 990 tax filing. According to tax documents, MCD Global Health worked on USAID-funded malaria control…
In the face of a new executive order issued by President Donald Trump on Wednesday imposing significant penalties on schools that allow males to compete in girls’ sports, the Maine Department of Education (DOE) maintained its commitment to radical gender ideology. [RELATED: Maine Education Department Tells Public Schools to Ignore Trump’s Order on Transgender Ideology…] “The Executive Order ‘Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government’ applies to the…
Maine Attorney General Aaron M. Frey has joined a coalition of 12 state attorneys general in opposing the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s decision to grant Elon Musk and his newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to sensitive financial and personal data of American citizens. In a joint statement released Thursday, the attorneys general condemned DOGE’s cost-cutting measures, calling the initiative an “unlawful, unprecedented, and unacceptable” violation of privacy and constitutional protections. So…
A wealthy Maine philanthropist who quietly used his access and money to promote social good is being remembered by the region’s largest transportation museum. James S. Rockefeller Jr., 99, who founded the Owls Head Transportation Museum 50 years ago, died recently at his Camden home. As the museum celebrates a half-century in operation, it’s honoring Rockefeller, the famous-named New Yorker who’d adopted Maine as his home. Rockefeller donated his name, time and money to help…
Police have identified but are still attempting to locate the individual suspected of shooting another person inside the Maine Mall Wednesday afternoon. In a Thursday morning press release, police identified 20-year-old Ahmed Basheer Awad of Westbrook as the suspected shooter. Police say they have obtained a warrant for Awad’s arrest for elevated aggravated assault, a Class A felony. More charges are expected as their investigation continues, police said. Ahmed Basheer Awad, 20, of Westbrook |…
Over a year after the tragic mass shooting that rocked Lewiston in October 2023, scrutiny has emerged over how one Maine nonprofit organization distributed funds raised in response to the tragedy. While more than two-thirds of the funds went directly to victims, nearly a third was parceled out to an array of local nonprofits, many of which were arguably unrelated to the mass shooting. The Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1983,…
The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) told 8 Investigates that a records request aimed at exposing the agency for failing to pay thousands of dollars it owed to day care providers would cost over $250,000 to fulfill and take four years. [RELATED: Maine Democrats Take Dim View of Bills to Increase Government Transparency…] According to the outlet, they submitted a Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) request for public records to the DHHS…
Democratic Maine Rep. Jared Golden urged his party to pump the brakes on their reflexive, hair-trigger responses to Republican advances in an interview with The Washington Post on Friday. Golden expressed frustration with Democrats’ tendency to quickly characterize President Donald Trump’s agenda as “dictatorial or illegal,” arguing such rhetoric undermines the party’s credibility. Democratic lawmakers have intensified such language primarily in response to the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) broad reshuffling efforts across several executive agencies to…
The Maine Trust for Local News, already reeling from a string of executive resignations, is now losing the publisher of one of its largest papers. Jody Jalbert, publisher of the Lewiston Sun Journal and the Maine Trust for Local News Community News Division, said she is stepping down. A 36-year-veteran of the newspaper, including the last three years as publisher, Jalbert announced the news to her colleagues on Tuesday. Jalbert’s unexpected resignation comes on the…
David Asher, a long-time U.S. advisor on national security, appeared on Canada’s state-funded CBC news on Sunday to defend Trump’s efforts to force Canada to secure its borders, citing the largest fentanyl lab in the history of the world busted in October. [RELATED: Trade War in Flux as Trump Agrees to Delay Tariffs on Mexico and Continue Talks with Canada’s PM…] “Several months ago you had the biggest lab in the history of the world,…
The Mills administration is seeking an organization to award $300,000 to administer the state’s “social equity program,” a taxpayer-funded affirmative action business development initiative for disproportionately incarcerated, racial, ethnic or tribal populations, according to state contract documents published Friday. [RELATED: Maine House Speaker Introduces Bill to Establish State ‘Social Equity Program’ Pushing Affirmative Action for Business Development…] Maine’s state government is now required to provide a social equity program after the passage of LD 1517,…
Lift tickets are already expensive, but they just got a lot more so for a man who thought he was getting them for free. Skiing at Sugarloaf just cost a Massachusetts public worker $6,000. Scott Callahan, a foreman for the Auburn, Massachusetts Water District, violated conflict-of-interest laws by accepting freebie ski trips to Maine from a company that sells water meters to the town, authorities said. The Massachusetts Ethics Commission ordered Callahan to pay $6,000…
California Democratic Rep. Jared Huffman protested the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, claiming it violates the separation between church and state. The congressman said in an X video that “Christian prayer” should not be allowed in the Capitol building and that the government needs to “build a wall” between church and state to uphold a “secular republic.” (RELATED: Blue State Bill Would Force Catholic Priests To Violate Church Law) “Hi Folks, just getting ready to cross the…
A man previously arrested for a stabbing in Portland is now being accused of trying to grab, kiss and give alcohol to a 13-year-old girl who was walking home in Westbrook on Wednesday. Westbrook Police say they received a call at about 1:35 p.m. on Wednesday from a citizen reporting that an unknown male had “grabbed a 13-year-old family member by the shoulders and attempted to kiss them, while the victim was walking home.” The…
The South Portland Police announced late Thursday afternoon that they had arrested 20-year-old Ahmed Basheer Awad, who is suspected of injuring a man in a Wednesday shooting at the Maine Mall. South Portland Police, along with numerous other law enforcement agencies and emergency services, responded to the Maine Mall shortly before 4 p.m. on Wednesday for a reported shooting in the mall’s food court. A male victim in his late-20s was found at the scene…