Free Republic

The next stops for Kasich are the primaries in New England. Vermont and Massachusetts, whose media markets at points overlap with New Hampshire, where Kasich practically lived for the past several months, both hold primaries on March 1. The Maine primary follows on March 5. Those around Kasich believe he can capitalize on his investment in New Hampshire with voters in those surrounding states. Kasich is scheduled to spend the day of the South Carolina primary in Massachusetts ... Still, Kasich’s biggest target other than his native Ohio remains Michigan, which will hold its primary on March 8. Kasich’s advisers...

Maine election officials have cleared a firearm background check proposal for the November ballot. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Thursday that the referendum supporters obtained 65,821 valid signatures, exceeding the minimum threshold by more than 4,500. The proposal would require a background check before a firearm sale or transfer between individuals. The parties would be required to meet at a licensed firearm dealer, who would conduct a background check on the gun recipient and complete the sale. There are exceptions, including transfers between family members. The proposal will go to voters unless Maine lawmakers approve it.

Waterville police chief Joe Massey says the assault and rape of a 73-year-old city woman on Sunday makes a good case for why citizens should arm themselves as a defense against crime. "It's one of those cases where you could make a good argument for citizens arming themselves," Massey said Thursday. Someone said, 'A gun in hand is better than someone on the phone telling you police are on their way.' In cases like this, you wish the homeowner had a weapon and was capable of defending themselves.

It’s a case of miracles and wonders up in the Pine Tree State, folks. A report from Rachel Sheffield and Robert Rector at the Daily Signal takes a look at welfare programs and efforts to reform them, particularly in the area of food stamps. They note that one of the fastest growing segments of welfare programs over the last decade has been applications for food stamps by ABAWDs, or able bodied adults without children between the ages of 18 and 49. These are folks who are determined to be otherwise able to work but without a source of income....

One trillion dollars—that’s how much the government spent last year on means-tested welfare aid, providing cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to poor and low-income individuals. The food stamp program is the nation’s second largest welfare program. The number of food stamp recipients has risen dramatically, from 17.2 million in 2000 to 45.8 million in 2015. Costs have soared over the same period, from $20.7 billion in 2000 to $83.1 billion in 2014. The most rapid growth in the food stamp caseload in recent years has been among able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs). These are work-capable adult recipients...

Christie's ground game doesn't match his aggressive debate style. His volunteer effort it rather tame. The NJ crowd didn't make the 4-hour drive north to New Hampshire.

Good morning from Augusta, where a large group of Republican legislators and activists is set to endorse presidential hopeful Ted Cruz on Thursday. Between 40 and 50 legislators will hold a noon news conference at the State House to announce support for the Texas senator, who won the Iowa caucuses on Monday, finishing ahead of runner-up Donald Trump and the third-place Marco Rubio...

Maine State Police took to Facebook on Friday, saying a trooper is being falsely accused of racial profiling.

AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage said he has made it a point to attend the Maine Right to Life’s Hands Around the Capitol rally every year because of children. “They are the future and we have to have more children and a better future for our society,” LePage said. “Right now, more people are dying than being born, so it’s time to have an opportunity to keep them alive. We should not have abortion.” LePage, who received two standing ovations, was among a handful of speakers Saturday afternoon to a crowd gathered at St. Michael School gymnasium in Augusta to...

Singer Don McLean was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge Monday in Maine. Camden's Chief Randy Gagne told FOX411 police responded to a call at McLean's Camden, Maine residence early Monday morning and arrested the singer without incident. He was transported to Knox County Jail in Rockland, Maine, and was later released after on bail. He has a court date set for February 22, 2016. ...

Critics of Maine Gov. Paul LePage failed to muster enough support to require a vote Thursday on an independent investigation that could have led to impeachment for alleged abuse of power. Instead, House lawmakers voted 96-52 to indefinitely postpone debate after Republican leader Ken Fredette introduced a motion to pre-empt any action on the impeachment order. A group led by Democratic Rep. Ben Chipman of Portland wanted to punish the brash and outspoken Republican governor for pressuring a school operator into rescinding a job offer to Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves. ...

Mom Becca Edwards is "pissed" about a racist remark that her state's governor made, and she's calling him out on it, offering her own biracial family as an example of how very wrong he is. Maine Gov. Paul LePage issued his offensive comment at a town hall meeting in Bridgton on Jan. 6 while speaking about the influx of heroin in the Pine Tree State. "These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty -- these types of guys -- they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home," the...

Not sure about the press herald's policy for copywrite, so I'll just sum up here- Democrats in Maine are going after Gov Paul Lepage for 8 charges- mostly to do with what they call "abuse of power"- and for his comment a bit ago that out of state drug dealers were impregnating "Young White Girls" in Maine. The are calling for a special house committee to investigate "allegations of misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance and other misconduct"

A long-time math teacher at Bangor High School said on her Facebook page that she was ordered by the principal on Friday to remove a small Christmas tree from her classroom. Catherine Gordon said in a post timestamped Dec. 18 at 9:17 p.m. that the "tree had no religious symbols on it whatsoever. No crosses or angels, just pink Hello Kitties and my students really enjoyed it and it cheered me up during the day." Gordon said in the post that she has been decorating her classroom for the holidays for 30 years. Bangor School Superintendent Betsy Webb issued the...

State AG sues major tech support provider alleging deceptive scam By Connie Thompson Wednesday, December 16th 2015 State investigators just sued one of the rising stars in the tech-support industry claiming part of the operation is based on a scam. The company, called iYogi, is accused of tricking people into paying for tech support services they don't need. According to investigators iYogi engaged in a different twist on the notorious tech support scams where someone call you claiming your computer has problems. What's significant in this case is workers don't call you, you call them. And iYogi is one of...

Republican Gov. Paul LePage recently began enforcing Maine’s volunteer and work requirements for food stamp SNAP recipients to keep their benefits. The end result was more than 9,000 non-disabled adults getting dropped from the program. The rules prevent adults who are not disabled and do not have dependents from receiving food stamps for more than three months, unless they work at least 20 hours a week, participate in a work-training program, or meet volunteer guidelines for 24 hours out of the month. Any one of those three getting met will not result in the loss of their SNAP food benefits.

The lone health insurance cooperative to make money last year on the Affordable Care Act's public insurance exchanges is now losing millions and suspending individual enrollment for 2016. Maine's Community Health Options lost more than $17 million in the first nine months of this year, after making $10.9 million in the same period last year. A spokesman said higher-than-expected medical costs have hurt the cooperative.

Since the start of the Syria's civil war in the spring of 2011, the U.S. has admitted 2,311 Syrian refugees and resettled them in 36 different states. According to data from the State Department's Refugee Processing Center the top three destinations for Syrian refugees since the beginning of the conflict are California, Texas, and Michigan. From March 15, 2011 through December 1, 2015, California received the most (261) Syrian refugees, Texas received the second most with 242, and Michigan has received the third most with 217. Other states that have received Syrian refugees since March 2011 include: Arizona (182), Illinois...

The Thanksgiving tale of the Pilgrims and the Indian has an astonishing, less well-known back story. The story of how the Pilgrims arrived at our shores on the Mayflower—and how a friendly Patuxet native named Squanto showed them how to plant corn, using fish as fertilizer—is well-known. But Squanto’s full story is not, as National Geographic’s new Thanksgiving miniseries, “Saints & Strangers,” shows. That might be because some details of Squanto’s life are in dispute. The important ones are not, however. His story is astonishing, even raising profound questions about God’s role in American history. Every Thanksgiving we remember that,...

Mary Mayhew, commissioner of Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services, knows her politics aren’t always popular. “I can’t stress enough what an attack campaign it has been from the media for four and a half years,” Mayhew said Thursday at an anti-poverty forum in Washington, D.C., hosted by The Heritage Foundation. Then there are the more personalized critiques: “There is a poet, or he calls himself a poet, and he sends me poems all the time,” she added. “They are not nice poems.” Mayhew claims that detractors—who mostly take issue with welfare reforms enacted by Gov. Paul LePage, a...