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It’s been close to a year since the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, which is the nonprofit publisher of The Maine Monitor, launched Monitor Local to provide people in towns in western and downeast Maine with a new source for news about their communities.

In the time since, I’ve worked with a team of talented correspondents reporting across Oxford, Franklin, Somerset and Washington counties, and am really excited that Monitor Local will be expanding our civic news reporting to Kennebec and Waldo counties in November.

We have heard from many, many readers about how valuable they find our local news coverage, which this week includes a story out of Eastport where the Port Authority board meeting abruptly ended with a call to adjourn after audience members started shouting at each other. Now the police are investigating allegations of harassment after the argument continued into the parking lot.

We also have a story from Tuesday’s Washington County Budget Advisory Committee where members briefly considered tabling budget discussions after an attorney challenged the process, and a story from Thursday’s Calais City Council meeting where officials voted – after years of discussion – to purchase the armory.

Readers have told us our work has had an impact in their communities, including a farmer in Cherryfield who said The Monitor is the only news site she reads and that she really appreciates Monitor Local’s Washington County coverage.

Our team of community journalists has grown from six to 21 writers in the past year, and we’re looking for more people to join us in our mission to bring Mainers more local news. We are prepared to train people through Journalism New England’s Career Lab and also working with me. If you’re interested, apply here. 

And if you’re interested in reading more local news, sign up at themainemonitor.org/newsletters. All of our journalism is free to read, so please share this link with family and friends.

Have a great weekend!

Judy

Eastport police investigate accusations of harassment following heated meeting of Port Authority board: Dispute ends session, drawing law enforcement into an inquiry over alleged intimidation. Read this story by Melissa S. Razdrih

Attorneys for Washington County Sheriff’s Office challenge 2027 budget process: Demand for three years of internal records prompts Budget Advisory Committee to request legal counsel. Read this story by Judith Meyer

Machias Select Board schedules workshop to discuss extending moratorium on cannabis businesses: Board sets Oct. 28 meeting to gather public input; approves $6,800 heater for Machias Bay Area Transfer and Recycling Center. Read this story by Evan W. Houk

Calais City Council votes to buy armory for $578,000: The 4-3 decision caps years of debate, paving the way to move city administration, recreation and police services under one roof. Read this story by Ethan Bien

Cancelled plans, caps on enrollees and a dearth of info on some premiums: It’s Medicare open enrollment time: The federal government hasn’t provided some premium costs yet. Many Medicare Advantage plans were cancelled. And assistance slots to help Mainers figure it all out are filled. Read this story by Rose Lundy

More money is going to 25 negative U.S. Senate ads in Maine than winter heating assistance for the entire state: The $46 million in heating aid funding has already been eclipsed by the amount of negative ad spending in the race featuring Susan Collins and Troy Jackson, with two weeks left before Election Day. Read this story by Matt Junker

Referred to new Maine surgeons, she was shocked when they wouldn’t accept her traditional Medicare: The vast majority of medical providers across the country still accept Medicare. But 1.5 percent of Maine physicians do not. Read this story by Rose Lundy

The local ballot questions that will drive Maine’s tax bills: Local ballots across Maine carry school mergers, closures and multimillion-dollar fire trucks that will shape tax bills for years. Read this story by Daniel O'Connor of The Maine Monitor and Bangor Daily News

How does Maine choose its constitutional officers and state auditor?: State lawmakers elect the secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer and auditor through a secret ballot process. It is the only state that chooses all four positions this way. Read this story by John Forbes

As midterms approach, faith groups are urging Mainers to vote: Conservative and progressive faith-based groups have organized get-out-the-vote efforts ahead of the November election. Read this story by Sean Scott

Monitor Local to expand to provide civic news for Waldo and Kennebec counties: The expansion will bring the total counties covered by the Monitor Local initiative to six. Read this story

The following stories are from other newsrooms. While The Maine Monitor does not place its content behind a paywall, some newsrooms we link to below may. Paywalled stories are followed by a ($). We encourage you to consider supporting local Maine newsrooms.

At Cadillac Mountain, a missing Wabanaki marker and the fight over what national parks should tell | Associated Press

A rising tide lifted floating wind turbines. Now comes the real test. | Inside Climate News

Dennys River ambulance service closes due to lack of volunteers | Quoddy Tides

Why New England doesn't have large AI data centers, and what the region is doing to prepare for them | Maine Public

Eastport health center to be renovated; new building nixed | Quoddy Tides

Heating oil hit a new record, costing $750 more to fill a 275-gallon tank than it did last year | Maine Public

Feds tap heating oil reserves as Maine braces for costly winter | News Center Maine

More than 136,000 people have already voted | Maine Public

Legislation in Augusta would change voters’ “unenrolled” label to “independent” | WABI

Nearly 50,000 Mainers are on Medicare plans that will be unavailable next year | Maine Public

Maine drought as bad as last year, and might get worse | Spectrum News

Have feedback, a correction or know of something we should look into? Send it to our newsroom. You can reach Monitor Local editor Judith Meyer directly via email:  judy@themainemonitor.org. 

The Maine Monitor is a publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism. We believe news is a public good and keep our news free to access. We have no paywall and do not charge for our newsletters. If you value the reporting we do for Maine, please consider making a donation! We cannot do this reporting without your support.

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