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Now displaying: Category: news
Oct 4, 2023


Portland mayoral hopefuls debate homelessness, climate change

Much of the debate between Pious Ali, Justin Costa, Mark Dion, Dylan Pugh and Andrew Zarro focused on the homeless encampments that the city has struggled to manage.

Five candidates vying to become Portland’s next mayor sparred Tuesday, October 3 over the city’s top challenges, including homeless encampments, housing, immigration and climate change, during a 90-minute debated hosted by the Portland Press Herald and the University of New England.

Much of the focus on the debate, which drew about 260 people to UNE’s Innovation Hall, was on the efforts to deal with homeless encampments throughout the city.

The debate was moderated by Press Herald reporters Grace Benninghoff and Rachel Ohm.

Sep 29, 2022

Question A, proposed by a group of short-term rental operators, seeks to limit corporate owners from registering short-term rentals. Question B, one of the questions proposed by the Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, would reduce the number of short-term rentals. Both groups oppose the other’s proposal and a third group, Enough Is Enough, opposes both – and every other question on the ballot. How much of an effect do short-term rentals have on Portland’s rental market? How important are short-term rentals to our local economy? Join us for answers to these questions and many more.

May 6, 2022
Video of this event is available here: https://www.pressherald.com/2022/04/30/maine-voices-live-with-bill-nemitz/

Bill Nemitz

Bill Nemitz has worked as a journalist in Maine since 1977, when he became a reporter for the Morning Sentinel in Waterville after graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He moved to Portland in 1983, working first as a reporter for the Evening Express and later as a city editor and assistant managing editor/sports for the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram. He began writing his column in 1995. While focusing on Maine people and issues, his work has taken him three times to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan, where he was embedded with members of the Maine Army National Guard and the Army Reserve; to Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the 1998 referendum on the Good Friday Peace Accord; to Manhattan for the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks; to the Gulf Coast for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; and to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. Nemitz is a past president of the Maine Press Association and for many years taught journalism part-time at St. Joseph’s College of Maine in Standish. He also served for eight years, including three as chairman, on the board of trustees for the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland. In 2004, the Maine Press Association named Nemitz Maine Journalist of the Year for his reporting on the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion in Iraq. In 2007, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the New England Newspaper Association. In 2015, Nemitz was inducted into the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame.

Dec 14, 2021

About the partnership

No news organization is more invested in the health of the Gulf of Maine and the region’s residents than the Portland Press Herald and The Boston Globe. So, as the gulf’s warming waters pose an increasingly existential threat to Maine’s signature industry, lobster, we joined forces to take a hard look at the climate crisis unfolding on our shores.

We descended on the island of Vinalhaven, one of Maine’s busiest fishing villages, and turned loose reporters, photographers and videographers from both news organizations to learn firsthand the challenges, stresses, and fears of those facing this uniquely perilous time for lobstering. The problems posed by the warming waters were sometimes subtle — the slow migration of whales and lobsters, the gradual rise in sea levels. The tensions and stakes were glaring. Climate change gravely threatens the nation’s richest fishery and the communities that depend on it.

The result is The Lobster Trap, presented here today. It is a story of a group of Mainers struggling to preserve their way of life in a rapidly changing world. It is also a snapshot of life on the front lines of a monumental crisis, no less than last summer’s western wildfires or the rise of extreme flooding events.

This collaboration was made possible by support from Participant, the company that co-produced the movie “Spotlight” and funds the Globe’s Spotlight Fellowship program. We are grateful for the continued support and hope that you, our readers, find this work illuminating.

Portland Press Herald Managing Editor Steve Greenlee and Boston Globe Editor Brian McGrory

Dec 2, 2021

After 33 years at the Portland Press Herald, reporter Meredith Goad is retiring and moving back to her childhood home of Tennessee. She talked with food editor Peggy Grodinsky about how the food and drinks scene in Portland, and Maine, has exploded over the 15 + years she has chronicled it, from Sam Hayward’s 2004 James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef Northeast (the first such award for Maine) to the growing farm-to-table movement, through the trials and tribulations for Maine’s restaurants and other food establishments  during the COVID-19 pandemic. Find out what she’ll miss – and won’t – about eating in Maine, and just see what happens if you ask her about her favorite restaurant.

May 11, 2021

An evening of live conversation with Cynthia McFadden, the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News. She is a Lewiston native who graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Bowdoin College.

McFadden was interviewed by Portland Press Herald reporter Kelley Bouchard.

Apr 6, 2021

Timothy Simons grew up in Readfield and attended University of Maine in Orono, where he discovered his love of acting. He then worked in the Chicago theater scene before moving to Los Angeles. In just a few years, he landed his breakout role on HBO’s “Veep,” starring as the lovingly hated Jonah Ryan alongside Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tony Hale. Now, Simons has amassed nearly two dozen film and television credits, including the limited series “Looking for Alaska” on Hulu, “The Hustle” opposite Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway and voicing characters for “Robot Chicken,” “Big Hero 6: The Series” and “Ralph Breaks the Internet.” He is currently developing his own comedy for HBO, about a man who runs an assisted suicide business.

Oct 30, 2020

A live panel discussion with our Sunday columnists – Greg Kesich, Bill Nemitz, Victoria Hugo-Vidal and Jim Fossel – for their views on what will happen on Election Day. Conversation starts at 7:00 p.m. Bill Nemitz is the award-winning metro columnist for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. He has been writing about Maine news and Maine people for more than 40 years. Jim Fossel is a conservative activist and political observer who lives in Gardiner. He has been writing his column about Maine and the nation in the Telegram since 2017. Victoria Hugo-Vidal, The Maine Millennial, adds her unique voice and observations of life as a young adult making her way in the nation’s oldest state. Her columns appear each Sunday in the Telegram. Greg Kesich has been the editorial page editor for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram since 2011. He weighs in each week under his own byline with “The View From Here” column.

Jan 18, 2019

Since 1995, Tom Caron has been a studio host on NESN, covering the Boston Red Sox, Bruins and play-by-play announcing for college hockey. His weekly column on the Red Sox, Bruins and Patriots runs on Tuesdays in the Portland Press Herald.

A graduate of Lewiston High School, he began his broadcasting career in upstate New York, covering the Montreal Canadiens and Expos but eventually moved to Portland, anchoring sports segments for WGME from 1988 to 1993. Before leaving Maine for NESN, Caron was the play-by-play radio announcer for the Portland Pirates in their Calder Cup championship season, work that earned him a spot in the Pirates Hall of Fame. He has also won three New England Emmys, and a number of other media awards for his work in hockey broadcasting.

Portland Press Herald Link

Oct 19, 2018

There’s a lot of new office space under construction or in the pipeline for Portland and surrounding towns: Wex’s new HQ on the waterfront, a mixed-use development including offices at Widgery and Union Wharfs, and Rock Row in Westbrook. A panel of local experts with look at how a boom in office space will affect the real estate market for existing commercial spaces and start to tackle the issue that confounds every growing city: with an influx of commuters, how long will we be sitting in traffic and where will everyone park?

Story: https://www.pressherald.com/2018/10/17/business-breakfast-forum-office-park-portland-2/

Oct 11, 2018

Press Herald Business Editor Carol Coultas moderated the debate on October 10, 2018 at the University of New England, with columnist Bill Nemitz and Editorial Page Editor Greg Kesich as panelists. Candidates were Alan Caron(I), Terry Hayes (I), Janet Mills (D) and Shawn Moody (R).

Read the coverage of the debate at https://www.pressherald.com/2018/10/10/candidates-for-governor-will-debate-in-portland-tonight-and-well-be-streaming-it-live/

Jun 11, 2018

In this episode, state Rep. Ken Fredette talks about growing up in northern Maine and his history of public service.

Jun 6, 2018

In this episode, former state Rep. Diane Russell talks about roots in Bryant Pond, learning to shoot guns and her tight-knit family.

Jun 5, 2018

In this episode, Attorney General Janet Mills talks about her well-known family and her iconoclastic spirit.

May 25, 2018

This is a recording of the Maine Cannabis Report Live event held May 23rd at the Port City Music Hall.

The topic today is "Ready for Recreational"

The guests are:

Scott Durst, the founder, Durst Security Group specializes in cannabis business security in Maine.

Thomas Mourmouras, managing partner, Fiscal Therapy Financial, a marijuana-focused business consulting firm 

Erik Peters, chief operating officer, GHM Insurance  in Waterville

And Jacques Santucci, Principal, Nucleus One,  a consulting firm specializing in performance and management in the cannabis industry Santucci is also a co-founder of Wellness Connection of Maine, a medical dispensary with four locations. 

The moderator is Portland Press Herald reporter Penelope Overton.

Mar 15, 2018

Staff reporter Penelope Overton and an experienced panel discusses one of Maine’s newest growth industries: medical marijuana. The panel explores what business opportunities exist in this market, how the caregiver network has evolved, proposed state legislation and rules that could transform the industry, and how the launch of Maine’s recreational market could impact patient access, demand and business opportunities.

On the panel:

Catherine Lewis, chair of the board, Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine

Patricia Rosi, CEO, Wellness Connection of Maine, the state’s largest group of medical marijuana dispensaries

Eric Brakey, Republican senator from District 20 (Auburn, New Gloucester, Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls)


Peter Mourmouras, founder, The Tax Doctor, a tax and financial consulting practice

Jul 25, 2017

As the latest session of the legislature closed this year, reporter Eric Russell was watching how lawmakers would respond to the opioid addiction and overdose crisis. Last year, 376 Mainers died after taking some form of prescription or street-bought painkiller: things like OxyContin, fentanyl, heroin, or a combination of drugs. Russell was the lead writer for Portland Press Herald's Lost, a chronicle of how addiction and death impacts communities as a whole, and thought the urgency of the issue would result in legal changes and ... it didn't. 

In this episode, Russell explains to social media editor Jim Patrick how ongoing narcotic addiction spread into the mainstream and they discuss how framing the issue as a moral crisis is impeding meaningful change.

Related Stories

Lost: Heroin's Killer Grip on Maine People

As Maine’s opioid crisis worsens, 128th Legislature largely does nothing

Mainers will soon be able to get Narcan over the counter

Jun 19, 2017

Medicaid is the country's largest public healthcare system. It made up 17% of the federal budget last year. The program subsidizes healthcare costs for people with low incomes, people with disabilities, and families with children. While Medicaid is mainly funded by the US government, states provide funding too. That means enrollment criteria and costs change from state to state and from year to year depending on state policy.

So sometimes it gets a little confusing. Health and human services reporter Joe Lawlor sat down with editorial page editor Greg Kesich to untangle the  overlapping systems and detail the recent and upcoming changes to MaineCare, the state's name for its Medicaid administration program.

Related stories:

Mainers to vote on whether to expand access to Medicaid under ACA

Maine would be among first states to impose work requirements, premiums on Medicaid recipients

Sen. Collins says Indiana's plan to expand Medicaid could be model for Maine

May 19, 2017

For this week's episode, Portland Press Herald City Hall reporter Randy Billings joined Editorial Page Editor Greg Kesich to explain our city's unique government structure and how it may contribute to drama in a municipal government with no partisan difference.

This week's fight was over the city budget... kind of. The city council passed a $240 million annual budget with a very small cut (.02% of the budget) that exposed deep discord: they eliminated a position for Mayor Ethan Strimling's assistant, which was held by Jason Shedlock. Now Strimling is threatening to veto, an act that would likely be symbolic since the council has the right to override. 

The arrangement of our city council, mayor, and city manager has lead to confusion over job roles and decision making power. On this episode Billings opens up his reporter's notebook from the fraught budget debate, explains why the two men who have held the new-ish role of elected mayor have interpreted the job description differently, and how the city might solve this confusing issue. 

Apr 14, 2017

Portland Press Herald reporters Ed Murphy and Matt Byrne discuss in detail the case of Anthony Sanborn Jr., released on bail after serving 25 years for a 1989 murder. They talk about the circumstances of the crime, and the new evidence that led to his release. They also describe the dramatic moments in the courtroom when Superior Court Justice Joyce Wheeler announced the decision.

Related Stories:

Man convicted of 1989 Portland murder granted bail after star witness recants

In first hours of freedom, disbelief it was real after 25 years in prison

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