Rare image of great white shark captured off the coast of Maine

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC • July 14, 2025

As soon as National Geographic Explorer and photographer Brian Skerry locked eyes with the enormous animal, he knew immediately what was staring back at him. “There’s no mistaking that face,” he says. A nearly 10-foot long great white shark was just four feet away. Sharks tagged with tracking devices have been documented off the U.S. coast of Maine, but Skerry thinks this is the first underwater photo of one here.  Once rare, great whites are now flourishing in the Gulf of Maine, which stretches from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Nova Scotia, Canada. While these growing numbers might make it easier to see or photograph a shark in nearby waters, experts say the risk of being bitten by a great white remains low.

Federal appeals court says Maine's foreign electioneering law is likely unconstitutional

MAINE PUBLIC • July 14, 2025

A federal appeals court has agreed that Maine's voter-approved law dealing with foreign spending on elections is unconstitutional. In November 2023, roughly 86% of voters supported a ballot initiative that sought to ban foreign governments from spending to influence candidate elections or referendums in Maine. The initiative was a response to the tens of millions of dollars that Central Maine Power and Hydro Quebec spent to defeat an earlier referendum trying to block a controversial power line project through western Maine. CMP, Hydro Quebec and Versant Power challenged the law. In early 2024, a U.S. District Court judge blocked the state from enforcing the law. And on Friday, two judges with First Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with that decision in separate but concurring opinions. They said the law would likely violate the campaign activity and, therefore, the free speech rights of U.S. corporations that have foreign shareholders.

L.L. Bean CEO and President set to leave the company early next year

MAINE PUBLIC • July 14, 2025

L.L.Bean has announced that Stephen Smith will leave the company early next year after ten years as president and CEO. In a press release issued Monday, the Freeport-based retailer credits Smith with modernizing operations and helping the company navigate the pandemic, during which it earned record profits. The company's Board of Directors has initiated a search for Smith's successor.

Enjoy nature in nature with the can’t-miss movies at Maine Outdoor Film Festival

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 14, 2025

Maine loves its outdoors, in all its fascinating and multifaceted glory. The Maine Outdoor Film Festival (July 23-27) expands that love to the rest of our teeming, diverse and sadly imperiled world with a five-day movie masterpiece of documentaries, shorts, Maine-made movies and other cinematic explorations of the word around us.

Chebeague-Cumberland Land Trust acquires 77 wooded acres in Cumberland

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 14, 2025

The Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust acquired 77 acres of forest in Cumberland known as Watson Woods through a land purchase. The parcel — a mile from downtown Cumberland — had long been eyed by the trust. “CCLT and the town have waited decades for the opportunity to conserve this stunning parcel,” said CCLT Executive Director Penny Asherman. The parcel features a cascade waterfall and abundant wildlife. Adjacent to the trust’s Rines Forest and Read Family Farm and Woods, the combined parcels will create a conserved block of more than 450 acres. The trust will construct trails and a small parking area on the Watson Woods property over the next year. Watson Woods is part of a multi-town conservation and recreation corridor stretching over 2,000 acres from Windham through Falmouth, Cumberland and beyond.

Rumford looks to build parks and rec building by end of year

SUN JOURNAL • July 14, 2025

The Select Board plans to announce Thursday the critical need to construct an office and garage for the Parks and Recreation Department on Hosmer Lane. The flood of December 2023 caused an estimated $2 million damage to the department office, equipment and garage.

Safety is front of mind for Maine youth camps

MAINE PUBLIC • July 14, 2025

Camp safety is in the spotlight after flooding killed dozens of campers and counselors in Texas. The state of Maine oversees the licenses for 168 summer youth camps and inspects them every other year to assess safety, sanitation, how food is prepared, and health. The state just updated its regulations for camps in May for the first time in nearly 20 years. Jennifer Jamison, Associate Director of Community Health at the Maine Center for Disease Control, said her biggest concern this summer is heat. "Based on climate change, I think it is the heat advisories," Jamison said. "The Maine CDC sends out advisories to the camps to let them know there's going to be excessive heat and what to monitor and when children need to be seen."

Column: Of course millennials killed U-pick farms

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 14, 2025

It took sweating through a flannel at an apple orchard in Gorham a few falls ago for me to finally admit defeat. Left feeling unsatisfied in a way that even virtual hearts couldn’t have fulfilled, I decided right then I was done picking my own anything. As we learned this summer, the problem was bigger than me. We wannabe farmers-for-a-day have taken a toll on U-pick operations, demanding bathrooms, food and other forms of entertainment, forcing actual farmers into becoming amusement park operators. Some of them are putting an end to the madness by closing to the public, not because there’s a lack of business but because whatever we spend isn’t worth the hassle. ~ Leslie Bridgers

Wabanaki leaders offer perspective on America’s 250th at Bar Harbor festival

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 13, 2025

The Abbe Museum in downtown Bar Harbor is dedicated to illuminating and advancing understanding of, and support for, Wabanaki Nations’ heritage, living cultures, and homelands. It hosted Dawnland for the second time last weekend, although the festival was preceded for many years by the annual Native American Festival and Basketmakers Market. Organizers estimated over 1,200 people attended the free two-day festival, which featured performances and 64 Indigenous vendors, mostly from regional tribal communities, with a range of artwork including traditional baskets and jewelry.

Why is conserved land in Belfast being sold as commercial property?

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 13, 2025

The 24-acre lot for sale in Belfast, between Renys and Goodwill, is touted as “an ideal location for retail, office, or mixed-use development.” But ads for the $295,000 property don’t mention that state and federal officials in 1997 approved its use as a mitigation site, to compensate for wetlands that the credit card giant MBNA filled while building its campus just across Route 3. And that as part of that deal, the parcel “shall be protected in perpetuity from future development.” The plan that Maine DEP and the US Army Corps of Engineers approved seems never to have been filed as a restriction to the deed for the property. Now, it’s as though it never existed.

Albany’s Songo Pond may get second loon chick in 40 years

SUN JOURNAL • June 13, 2025

Bill Lowe says it could be any day now — Songo Pond is getting ready to welcome its second loon chick in the last 40 years. Last year, Lowe and fellow residents reached out to Audubon’s Maine Loon Restoration Project, hoping to reverse decades of failed nesting, which had produced just one chick since the 1980s, in 2023. They scouted Songo by boat and chose a quiet spot to place a floating cedar-log nest — 4.5 feet square, anchored just offshore. Installed after the 2023 breeding season, the raft gave the loons time to get used to it. This spring, it was set up again.

Bowdoin College’s plan for Kingfield campground meets local resistance

SUN JOURNAL • June 13, 2025

A proposal from Bowdoin College for a student camping and outdoor education site on a 20.7-acre parcel off Iron Bridge Road is drawing sharp criticism from neighbors. Residents, worried about traffic, noise and the narrow private road leading to the property, have been vocal about the plans and what they say are inconsistencies in the school’s messaging. The college’s proposal plans for seven gravel pads for tents, each accommodating up to four tents; a 1,200-square-foot picnic shelter; two vault toilets; a hand-pump well; a small pad for a future maintenance building; and two parking areas and a bus drop-off zone along Iron Bridge Road. The location is central to areas where the group already sends trips, including Sugarloaf and Saddleback ski areas, Flagstaff Lake, the Appalachian Trail and the Bigelow Range.

Column: Take a hike on the wild side

SUN JOURNAL • July 13, 2025

I had someone write me to say they have always enjoyed my news columns and that they have taken some very good hiking tips from them. Since I’ve written maybe .00002% of my columns about hiking and the rest about crime and mischief, I sincerely hope the lady isn’t taking anything I write as hiking tips. If she does, she’ll probably end up hiking Mount Bartlett Street in Lewiston for those breathtaking views of Kennedy Park, and she’ll carry sidearms instead of trekking poles. ~ Mark LaFlamme

Editorial: Maine must not leave water safety to chance

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 13, 2025

A concerning series of accidents and near-accidents in the waters of our state’s ponds, lakes and beaches this summer has highlighted the need for improved attention to water safety by members of the public — and by the entities in Maine that should step up and take responsibility for it. Maine should take it upon itself to do more to support a confident, calm relationship between people and water — and it should start early. Would it not be magnificent if Maine were to become the first to make swimming instruction compulsory in elementary school?

Letter: Editorial offered incomplete picture of Sappi’s environmental practices

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 13, 2025

Your recent editorial, “Hold Maine’s paper mills to higher standards,” gave an incomplete picture of Sappi’s environmental practices. At our Somerset mill in Skowhegan, about 80% of our energy comes from renewable sources, mainly biomass and black liquor, both byproducts of the papermaking process. These fuels are considered carbon neutral by the U.S. EPA, Maine DEP and many international governments because they’re part of the natural carbon cycle. We don’t use coal, and tire-derived fuel is a small part of our energy mix that helps keep tires out of landfills, reducing mosquito breeding grounds. ~ Sean Wallace, Sappi, North America

Closing the gap on Southern Maine’s Eastern Trail finally moving toward completion

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 12, 2025

After years of delays caused by everything from difficulty securing easements to a global pandemic, the 1.6-mile project is — at last — starting to take shape, with construction having begun in June. When the Eastern Trail Alliance launched its first fundraising campaign, it believed the gap could be closed by 2017, at a cost of $4.1 million. If all goes smoothly from here, it will be just 10 years behind schedule and nearly $3 million over budget. The new link could be “a real game-changer,” said Scott Kunkler, the Scarborough Land Trust’s conservation director. “The connection goes beyond just recreation,” he said. “It could encourage more people to choose active transportation options for daily commutes or errands, helping to reduce reliance on vehicles.”

Court rules Maine can’t enforce law prohibiting foreign spending on campaigns

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 12, 2025

Maine cannot enforce a law voters approved two years ago that limits what foreign governments can spend on campaigning in state and local elections, following a federal appeals court decision Friday. The court is siding with several Maine utilities and media groups who sued Maine to stop it from enforcing the law in late 2023. Judge Lara Montecalvo remarked that the law was both “overwhelmingly popular” with voters, with 86% casting their ballot in favor, but also controversial — playing out amid a lengthy legal battle over the construction of an energy transmission line that would run across Maine to connect Massachusetts to Canadian electricity.

Kennebec drowning victim remembered as a generous man who loved the outdoors

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 12, 2025

Robert Stolt was fishing on the Kennebec River near Lines Island in Bath on Sunday when he jumped into the water to rescue his dog after it had tried to retrieve a fish. His body was recovered Wednesday evening after a three-day search by the U.S. Coast Guard and Maine Marine Patrol. The Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined his death was an accidental drowning.

Letter: Tell L.L.Bean it’s time to get greener

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 12, 2025

I used an L.L.Bean credit card for 40 years, but I cut mine up last year because it was a Citibank card, and Citibank is among the world’s top investors in fossil fuels. Third Act Maine volunteers, who want to reduce climate change, have been trying to convince L.L.Bean to change its credit card and L.L.Bean isn’t listening. It knows that our climate is threatened, and it could do something about it. ~ Richard Thomas, Waterville

Want a good place to hike in Maine? Try these 6 spots

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 11, 2025

From Aroostook County to the Atlantic Ocean and from Cumberland County to Cobscook Bay, Maine has many great conservation lands and many miles of fine hiking trails. Here’s a six-pack of good ones for your must-do list this summer. Enjoy!
• Deboullie Public Lands, Aroostook County
• Baxter State Park
• Acadia National Park
• Forest City Trails, Portland
• Cobscook Shores, Lubec