1. Recreational marijuana is now legal in Maine. Here’s what you need to know
Published Jan. 30
The road to legalization in Maine was bumpy, starting with two competing initiatives and a legal challenge to getting the referendum question on the November ballot. After legalization was approved in a close vote the opponents requested a recount, but after two weeks of hand-counting ballots there was no change in the outcome.
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2. Search for WCSH meteorologist Tom Johnston ends with discovery of body in Auburn
Published April 6
The WCSH-TV weatherman was reported missing after he failed to return from an event at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry on Saturday, station news anchor Rob Caldwell told viewers during the 5 p.m. broadcast.
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3. Lost: Heroin’s killer grip on Maine’s people
Published March 26
They are dying in the western Maine foothills where paper mill closures have sown economic anxiety. They are dying in cities like Portland and Augusta and in the affluent suburbs, where heroin is plentiful. The death toll reached 376 last year, driven almost entirely by opioids – prescription painkillers, heroin and now fentanyl. More than one victim per day. More than car accidents. More than suicide. More than breast cancer.
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4. Dartmouth women’s swim team placed on probation for hazing incident
Published July 20
The team admitted violating the Ivy League school’s hazing policy during a winter-break training trip in December. According to school officials, neither drugs nor alcohol was involved, and no students were physically harmed.
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5. Power companies expect recovery from historic storm to take days
Published Oct. 30
“This is the largest number of outages in the company’s history,” CMP spokeswoman Gail Rice said in a news release. CMP was established in 1899. “It is significantly larger than the 1998 ice storm that people remember so well.” Early Tuesday morning, over 410,000 Maine power customers were still in the dark.
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6. B2B Maine winner collapses shy of finish, then ‘I felt someone pick me up’
Published Aug. 5
Robert Gomez, Jesse Orach’s top competitor from Maine, helped him to his feet. Gomez, 34, of Windham held Orach up as they ran together to the finish line, and Gomez gave him a nudge over the line. Both men completed the 6.2-mile course in 31 minutes, 31 seconds.
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7. Republicans make one last push for unity on taxes
Published Oct. 25
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said this week that he plans to pass the tax bill through the House by Thanksgiving, and any delay in the budget vote could upset that timetable. Four Republican lawmakers from the high-tax states of New York and New Jersey said Tuesday that they intended to vote against the budget unless a deal is in place to at least partially preserve the state-and-local-tax deduction, also known as “SALT.”
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8. After 911 ‘butt’ call, York police raid underage party, return to arrest man in attic
Published Nov. 19
Police, using cellphone towers, identified the approximate location of the 911 call, and when they pulled into the driveway, the homeowner – Leighlon Anderson, 45 – came running out to apologize about the errant call for help. She was then charged with furnishing/allowing minors to consume alcohol.
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9. Portland designates 2nd Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Published Sept. 18
The Portland City Council voted unanimously Monday to designate the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The vote came after nearly an hour of public comment.
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10. For Standish couple, suicide was a loving choice, relatives say
Published Feb. 7
Sandra and Donald Cragin of Standish were found dead in their home Jan. 24. So far, police have said only that their deaths are not considered suspicious. The cause of death is still pending results of toxicology tests by the state medical examiner.
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11. Portland police identify man killed by officer at Union Station Plaza
Published Feb. 18
Chance David Baker, 22, of Portland was shot on the sidewalk outside the door of the Subway sandwich shop, Assistant Chief Vern Malloch said in a news release Saturday night. Baker was taken by ambulance to Maine Medical Center, where he later died.
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12. Susan Collins withstood intense pressure, ultimately voted against health care repeal
Published July 28
All eyes were on three Republican senators – Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John McCain of Arizona – during a dramatic late-night vote in Washington, D.C., that defeated attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act early Friday.
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13. Teen jumps out of plane emergency door at San Francisco Airport
Published Aug. 2
Witnesses said the teen seemed fidgety and anxious throughout the seven-hour flight from Panama City, Panama, and that by the time passengers realized the door had been opened, he was already on the ground, running.
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14. What happens when you’re the only one who shows up to church?
Published Jan. 1
The wide, empty nave was dark except for the light coming in through the stained-glass windows. My footsteps had never sounded louder as I walked toward the little octagonal chapel at the back, where the Rev. Anne Fowler sat alone by the altar.
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15. Wearing defiance – but not on her sleeves – Portland 6th-grader protests dress code as sexist
Published April 13
When Molly Neuner got dressed Wednesday, the King Middle School sixth-grader decided to put on a tank top – and a message. The tank top was a deliberate violation of the school’s dress code, and the message – written in inch-high letters down her arm – was #iamnotadistraction.
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16. To Portland panhandlers, program may offer welcome change: Jobs
Published March 5
City officials are working on a 36-week pilot program to offer day jobs to panhandlers. A city social worker would drive a van around to busy intersections and offer panhandlers a chance to earn $10.68 an hour cleaning up parks and other light labor jobs. They would be paid at the end of each day.
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17. TV weatherman Tom Johnston remembered for his energy and humor, on air and off
Posted April 7
More than 1,100 people left comments on the TV station’s Facebook post about Johnston’s death, describing their shock at the news and their fondness for the meteorologist.
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18. Trapped by heroin: Lobster industry struggles with its deadly secret
Published April 2
The Gulf of Maine is full of people battling addictions. Tristen Nelson has hauled traps beside them, shot up with them and attended their funerals. And now, as somebody who has kicked the habit, he is trying to help other fishermen find their way into recovery.
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19. Sinclair Broadcasting – and 2 Maine TV stations – under fire for pro-Trump segments
Published July 30
In the midst of the local news, a taped commentary from President Trump’s former special assistant Boris Epshteyn appeared on the screen, trumpeting the administration’s position with what Marc McCutcheon thought selective use and abuse of facts.
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20. Federal agency makes it clear: Even legal marijuana users can’t buy guns
Published Jan. 27
The new language, added last week to forms filled out by gun buyers in Maine and nationwide, has raised concerns that the government is unfairly denying cannabis users their Second Amendment right to bear arms. And it has renewed calls from medical and recreational marijuana advocates for a change in federal law to catch up with the country’s changing views on marijuana.
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21. Portland’s robust restaurant scene about to get a lot more crowded
Published April 19
Here’s a sampling of new restaurants coming to Portland and South Portland this spring and summer. Dig in.
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22. Now there’s proof daylight saving time is dumb, dangerous and costly
Published March 10
The latest research suggests the time change can be harmful to our health and cost us money. The effects are most disruptive in the spring and fall, right after the time changes occur.
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23. Hotel workers reported gunman before Las Vegas massacre began
Published Oct. 11
Maintenance worker Stephen Schuck told NBC News that he was checking out a report of a jammed fire door on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay when he heard gunshots and the hotel security guard who had been shot in the leg peeked out from an alcove and told him to take cover.
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24. Advocacy groups link suicide of Maine weatherman to sex assault
Published April 19
The Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Maine’s National Alliance on Mental Illness issued a joint public statement on Tuesday that said the WCSH-TV meteorologist, Tom Johnston, was “being investigated for a reported sexual assault.”
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