Le Journal

Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to letters@bangordailynews.com Although I do not live in Bangor, I am writing to express my strong disappointment with the Bangor legislators who not only supported but sponsored LD 1806, “An Act to Create a Residential Rental Unit Registry,” including Reps. Ambureen Rana and Amy J. Roeder. LD 1806 goes far beyond the creation of a simple registry. It introduces the potential for fines and penalties for noncompliance and expands government authority into private property decisions that have historically been handled at the local level. These provisions erode property owner rights while offering no meaningful or realistic solution to Maine’s housing shortage. For years, I believe Bangor’s representation has drifted away from common-sense, practical leadership and toward an ideology with what I see as a well-documented record of failure. This bill exemplifies that shift. It increases bureaucracy, paperwork, and enforcement mechanisms, yet produces not a single new housing unit. Bureaucracy doesn’t build homes — people do. If lawmakers are serious about improving housing availability, they should focus on policies that encourage construction, rehabilitation, and responsible ownership, rather than measures that penalize participation and discourage investment. Bangor was once known for pragmatic problem solving grounded in reality. I think it is time for its leadership to return to those roots and pursue solutions that strengthen — not undermine — housing stability for Bangor and the surrounding communities. David Giles Corinth

AUGUSTA, Maine — A network of 12 volunteer mentors is linking up with Mainers looking for ways to start, grow or improve their businesses. The state’s northern chapter of Service Corps of Retired Executives, more commonly known as SCORE, provides free one-on-one assistance to local entrepreneurs from the southern end of Knox County to the Canadian border. International business consultant David Green of Bangor heads the chapter and travels to some of northern Maine’s most remote locations to help bring out the best in people, he said. Maine is a state of mainly small businesses and Green said he wants it to be a place where people can make a comfortable living and thrive. “The Small Business Administration says people with a mentor are twice as likely to succeed and that’s what we do,” Green said. What started out as a northern Maine road trip with Green and two other SCORE executives three years ago to meet people in places such as Caribou, Van Buren, Presque Isle and Houlton has grown into a network of partnerships and cooperative events with rural towns as a way to reach out to local businesses, Green said. The chapter works with local Chambers of Commerce, the Northern Maine Development Commission and the Southern Aroostook Development Corp., to name a few, and provides free business-related training sessions in addition to one-on-one mentoring. Additionally, they work with school programs and other community organizations to provide business-related training and assistance. The total in-person session attendance grew 30.2% last year, from 232 in 2024 to 302 in 2025; total services increased 28.4% from 1,165 in 2024 to 1,496 in 2025; and total local services from 836 to 934. This month, the Northern Maine Chapter earned the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2026 National Chapter of the Year Award, ousting much larger metropolitan chapters this year. “The secret sauce is we have created partnerships in these areas and are doing more of what people need,” said Green. Green, like all SCORE volunteers, brings a wealth of career knowledge to entrepreneurs seeking guidance. An engineer, he worked with Hewlett-Packard and ITT in the UK before moving to Canada to work for Nortel for 25 years. He now owns Bangor-based WardGreen Group consulting with his wife, Ginger Ward-Green. He takes on a new SCORE client every week, he said. One woman, who owns a consulting business and does strategic planning, process improvement, leadership development and coaching, has been working with him to pivot her business to leverage AI, he said. “My help so far has been to introduce her to people who are on the leading edge of AI so she can refine her business model to focus on work she wants to do and where there is a market need,” Green said. Some of the contacts Green has helped with include a city development director, a nationally known entrepreneur embarking on her next big thing using AI, and one of SCORE’s AI subject matter experts. Another client in a small town had bought an old building with a commercial kitchen and asked for help starting a sandwich shop. “By the time I met with her she had changed her mind about the sandwich shop and thought instead of renting the kitchen to someone she knew,” he said. “We brainstormed other options and one was an event center using a range of catering options from self catering to a high-end chef.” Still, despite concerted outreach initiatives into Maine’s northernmost regions, many budding business owners, some struggling to stay afloat, are not aware of the help these executive volunteers offer. Others are reluctant to reach out for help, often because they don’t want anyone to know, said Houlton entrepreneur Fred Grant, who has been a volunteer SCORE mentor for nearly two years. “If that’s the case, the business can request a mentor from somewhere else,” Grant said. Fred Grant, owner of the Temple Theatre in Houlton, talks with patrons before a screening of the award-winning documentary “A Moment…

The University of Maine will receive $45 million in congressionally directed spending for a health and life sciences complex to be built on the Orono campus, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced Tuesday. This is the largest federal award for a single project in Maine’s history and will better position UMaine to build a public medical school in the future, the release, shared exclusively with the Bangor Daily News, said. “The new health and life sciences complex will expand educational opportunities, research capacity, and workforce training while better positioning the University on a path toward one day establishing the first public medical school in Maine,” Collins said. This funding comes two weeks after the University of Maine System released a study that said building a public medical school in Penobscot County is not financially feasible because it would cost at least $210.5 million. The study recommended actions UMaine could take to prepare for a medical school and close the physician gap Maine is facing, which included constructing a health and science complex in Orono. The health and life science complex was something UMaine President and Vice Chancellor Joan Ferrini-Mundy said the university was looking into following the study’s release. It’s not immediately clear when the complex will be constructed or what programs it will house. The complex will be important to health care across the state, not just in Orono, and will prepare students for the “evolving world of modern life science, health care and innovation,” Ferrini-Mundy said. “[Collins’] support for the planned UMaine Health and Life Science Complex will lead to transformation for our flagship university and the health and well-being of the people of Maine and beyond,” Ferrini-Mundy said.

LEWISTON, Maine — A downtown Lewiston shop has closed early every day since the city’s mayor released a statement last week saying he expected heavy immigration enforcement. Sunday was “eerily quiet” in the immigrant-dominated downtown of Maine’s second-largest city, and sales have been down by 30% compared with this time last year, said the business owner, who spoke on the condition that they and their business not be named. It was another sign that the city’s immigrant community, including hundreds of Somalis, was reacting strongly to the plans. The largest immigration enforcement and removal operation in Maine during President Donald Trump’s second term is expected to be centered on Lewiston and Portland, a law enforcement source told the Bangor Daily News last week. Some people have reportedly left the city. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection unit overseeing Maine placed rush orders for cold weather gear, mirroring similar moves ahead of crackdowns in Minnesota. Maine’s U.S. attorney issued a Monday statement warning against protests that endanger or impede law enforcement. Maine’s Somali community is centered in Lewiston and Portland since the early 2000s and has grown in power in recent years. Most Somalis were born in the U.S. or have become citizens. But President Donald Trump’s administration has launched an investigation into refugee cases in Minnesota that has led to several arrests in the Somali community there. Cars drive through downtown Lewiston, Monday. Credit: Sawyer Loftus / BDN Few people walked downtown on Monday, which was a federal holiday and a day after a snowstorm. There were signs throughout town that warned that ICE is coming and gave a hotline to call to report activity. One sign on an African food market provided tips for what to do if someone worries they are at risk for immigration enforcement. It said to have a plan in case the person is detained, as well as warned people to not apply for immigration status change or a green card renewal. An employee in the store declined to do an interview. There is fear in the community, a Baraka Store employee who identified herself as Alice said. The store, which sells food and clothing, has been quiet. An employee at another store said the streets are quieter than normal, while a third said that he has noticed what seems to be fewer people coming and going from the mosque on Lisbon Street. “Fear is definitely palpable on the street right now and I understand that,” Mayor Carl Sheline said Monday. “What we need to do now is to find ways to support each other, and that work is ongoing and happening in a variety of ways. Lewiston is a community that cares about each other and we will stand strong together.” There were “No ICE for Maine” signs scattered around the city on Monday. Another sign told people to stay non-violent but not to stay silent. The statement from U.S. Attorney Andrew Benson, who was appointed by Trump, looked ahead to protests in the coming days to say assembly is protected but violence or impeding law enforcement is not. Shivam Kumar, a commercial real estate agent based in Lewiston, stands on Lisbon Street for a portrait, Monday. Credit: Sawyer Loftus / BDN Parking spots in downtown have been empty on Lisbon Street in downtown, a very rare sight, said real estate agent Shivam Kumar, who was showing a commercial property near the intersection with Main Street. He said he hopes the community comes together and helps rally behind a downtown that has seen high business turnover. “Lisbon Street’s still here,” the first business owner said. “It’s still open for business.”

C’est la saison des baromètres de levée de fonds ! Au plan national, trois grands réseaux de conseils publient des analyses sur les levées de fonds réalisées au niveau français européen et régional. KPMG Tech Insights 2025, est le « panorama des levées de fonds de la french tech » en 2025. Idem pour le réseau EY qui […]