Free Republic

Gregory Hodge, of Jefferson, is urging people on the political left and right to look critically at their party affiliation. Hodge was the state committeeman for the Lincoln County Republicans until he and 11 other Republicans unenrolled from the Maine Republican Party and resigned related positions this week, Hodge joined five other state committee members, Republican National Committee member Mark Willis, and five other registered Maine Republicans in writing a letter outlining their disaffiliation and the reasons behind it to Maine GOP Secretary Chuck Malaheris. The Aug. 18 letter criticizes a number of people, actions, and groups, including rule changes...

Gov. Paul LePage told a group of Republicans last week that President Obama "hates white people," according to two state lawmakers who say they heard the remark directly. The governor made the comment during a Maine Republican Party fundraiser on Aug. 12 at the home of John and Linda Fortier in Belgrade. According to the invitation, the fundraiser was a "meet and greet" for LePage and first lady Ann LePage, and an opportunity to meet Rick Bennett, the new party chairman. The lawmakers, both Republicans, confirmed the comment when asked by a Portland Press Herald reporter but asked that their...

Alorah Gellerson loves her three-month-old son. "He's a really good baby. He's always happy. He likes to eat," she said. But what baby Carson eats has caused a lot of trouble for this 17-year-old mother. When the baby didn't take to breastfeeding, Gellerson started feeding him homemade goat milk formula. "Oh, he loved it," Gellerson said. "We put celery juice in it, and he just loves that, and it worked really well with his body, and he grew like a weed." But when her doctor reported this to the Department of Health and Human Services, things got messy. "She came...

A pair of hikers who had been rescued after getting lost in the fog and rain inside a Maine state park drowned on Tuesday night when their car plunged into the water off a boat launch as they were trying to leave. Amy Stiner, 37, and Melissa Moyer, 38, were found dead inside a minivan in 20 feet of water about 175 feet from the boat ramp on the edge of Roque Bluffs State Park, the Washington County Sheriff's Department said. A dog, a pit bull mix who was with them, also drowned. Officials say the women, who had just...

ROQUE BLUFFS, Maine (AP) — A pregnant Maine woman and her friend visiting from Pennsylvania got lost hiking and were rescued but died later that evening, authorities said, when they accidentally drove their car into the ocean in the nighttime fog.

BOWDOINHAM, Maine (Reuters) - A Florida motorcyclist known as the "fastest man on two wheels," died Sunday after crashing at just under 300 miles per hour while trying to break his own record for the fastest speed on a conventional motorcycle in a time trial in Limestone, Maine...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Lawmakers who are also military veterans were angered Tuesday when a host of their colleagues switched votes on a bill that would have required public schools to give recruiters in uniform access to school grounds. According to the Maine Department of Education, a handful of schools in Maine have disallowed uniformed recruiters but those opposed to the legislation said there was no evidence recruiters in uniform were being barred. The bill was offered by the administration of Maine's Republican Gov. Paul LePage. Republicans who supported the bill, LD 1503, noted 20 Democrats who voted for the measure...

Police open investigation into deadly derailment in Quebec as dozens of bodies remain buried in ruins. At least 15 people were killed and many more went missing after an oil train derailed at a speed of 63mph [EPA] Canadian police have opened a criminal probe into a fatal oil train blast in the town of Lac-Megantic, following claims and counter claims by operators and firefighters over the causes.Police also raised the death toll from Saturday's blast to 15 from 13 on Tuesday and said the total number of dead and missing people was 50.Quebec police inspector Michel Forget told a...

AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage has wielded his veto pen more than any other Maine governor in recent history — and the session isn't over yet. Throughout the contentious session, the Republican governor has spiked 57 bills the Democratic-led Legislature sent to his desk, recently surpassing former Independent Gov. James Longley, who previously held the record for single-session vetoes with 49 in 1977. In a statement, LePage quoted former President Calvin Coolidge, who said, "It is better to block a bad law than sign a good one."

BANGOR, Maine — A 43-year-old man in a Park Street residence who fired 70 or more rounds from a gun was taken into custody unharmed early Thursday afternoon, according to police. Perrin Oliver of Detroit, Mich.,

Democratic Rep. Michael H. Michaud’s Thursday announcement that he is exploring a run for governor in Maine could spark crowded primaries for his competitive 2nd District. Michaud has won that district with comfortable margins for six terms, but his seat could be competitive if he launches a gubernatorial bid. President Barack Obama won it with 53 percent last year. “This obviously becomes a nationally targeted race if Michaud runs for governor,” said Erik Potholm, a Republican consultant who has worked extensively in Maine politics. “For Republicans, it’s a tremendous opportunity to pick up a new seat, because the … rural...

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) on Thursday went after a Democratic state senator by using a vulgar metaphor involving lubricant. LePage told reporters that state Sen. Troy Jackson “claims to be for the people, but he’s the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline.”LePage then walked away, later returning to explain his comment.“That comment is not politically correct,” he said. “But we gotta understand who this man is. This man is a bad person. He doesn’t only have no brains; he has a black heart.”(Full audio can be found here, starting at about the 2:25 mark.)....

AUGUSTA, Maine — The often-brash governor of Maine used crude language Thursday to express his frustration over the state budget, targeting a Democratic opponent with a sexually vulgar phrase to describe how he believes he is taking advantage of the people. Gov. Paul LePage made the remark about Sen. Troy Jackson to journalists from two television stations and one newspaper Thursday.

Daniel Musso of Brentwood was one of a group of people protesting the Mayors Against Illegal Guns rally. An anti-gun violence rally at the Statehouse plaza on Tuesday turned ugly when gun rights supporters turned out to protest the event and one pro-gun advocate had to be Tasered by Concord Police after resisting their efforts to detain him. Daniel Musso, 52, of Brentwood attempted to interject commentary while John Cantin of Manchester was speaking about his efforts to influence U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, on the background check issue. Musso, who was wearing a pro-Native American rights T-shirt, asked Cantin...

(Reuters) - Democratic legislators in Maine scrambled on Tuesday to muster the votes needed to override Republican Governor Paul LePage's late-night veto of a bill to expand Medicaid coverage to an additional 60,000 people. LePage late on Monday blocked a compromise bill that would have increased the number of low-income people eligible for the federal insurance program, an expansion allowed by the U.S. healthcare reform that stands as the signature domestic legislative achievement of President Barack Obama's first term. In vetoing the Medicaid bill, LePage warned against repeating past mistakes, calling previous expansions of Medicaid - which contributed to the...

Maine’s highest court will soon decide which restroom Nicole Maines, a 15-year-old transgendered student, should use. Last week the state supreme court heard oral arguments about whether a school district violated her civil rights when it forbid her from using the girl’s restroom. She was in fifth grade at the time. Maines is biologically male but has identified as female since she was very young. As such, she wished to use the girl’s restroom. State law, however, mandates that boys and girls use separate facilities. Her school told her to use the staff restroom instead. These requirements violate the Maine...

Maine's highest court heard arguments Wednesday over whether transgender students can use the bathroom of their choice, and the girl at the heart of the case said she hoped justices would recognize the right of children to attend school without being "bullied" by peers or administrators. Nicole Maines, now 15, watched lawyers argue over whether her rights were violated when the Orono school district required her to use a staff bathroom after there was a complaint about her using the girls' bathroom. Maines said after the hearing in Bangor that she hopes the Supreme Judicial Court will ensure no one...

Where should a transgender schoolgirl be allowed to pee? To some, this may sound like a minor, insignificant question, but not to Nicole Maines, a 15-year-old transgender girl who attended Maine public schools. Born a boy biologically, Maines now self-identifies as a girl, dressing in girls’ clothing and sporting a typical 15-year-old girl’s hair and makeup. In addition to the harassment she faced from other kids, Maines also met intolerance by school officials, who refused to allow her to use the girls’ bathroom. Instead, in a remarkably insensitive decision, the school required her to use a staff bathroom after a...

Dustin Reininger is a U.S. veteran and former police officer serving 3-5 years in a New Jersey prison for possession of firearms that he legally owned. As a result of the extreme and unjust New Jersey gun laws, Reininger was convicted of illegal possession of firearms as he was passing through the state. Dustin Reininger is not from New Jersey. He was actually moving from Maine to Texas and was driving through New Jersey when he parked his car in a parking lot to rest for the night. Reininger was awakened in the night by police officers who searched his...

A twisted story out of Maine, where police say one man's plan to play the hero ended with the death of a 15-year-old girl. Kyle Dube, 20, allegedly planned to kidnap a teen, who he would then "find." Police say he set up a fake Facebook account under the name Bryan Butterfield and used it to convince Nichole Cable to meet him on the evening of May 12 at the end of her street. A ski mask-clad Dube grabbed her, secured her with duct tape, and hid her in his dad's truck, according to a police affidavit; Cable was reportedly...