Maine: The Ellsworth American

Shutdown Ends; Maine Back In Business

Plenty of Maine newspapers covered the end of a two-day state government shutdown in 2017, but only this article covered it from the perspective of a representative of one of the Maine’s most remote districts. The article includes both the hard numbers of state budgets and the emotional reality that politicians from both parties faced while struggling to reach a compromise with an irascible state governor.

Bucksport Sergeant Helps Best Friend Kick Drugs

This article grew out of a conversation with a police officer about the effects of the opioid crisis in Maine. Detective Sergeant David Winchester and his childhood friend, Jared Zimmerman, opened up about how their lifelong friendship helped bring Zimmerman back from the depths of addiction.

Bucksport’s Papermaking Lore Captured in “Still Mill”

Shortly before I started covering Bucksport, the town’s paper mill--its economy mainstay for over 80 years--closed forever. Many of my articles on Bucksport covered the town’s miraculous economic recovery. However, this story is, at its heart, about the underlying anxiety felt by some residents as the town transitioned from an industrial past into an unfamiliar future.

Dedham School Feeling The Statewide Foreign Language Teacher Shortage

This enterprise story emerged out of a meeting I covered of the Dedham school board, which runs the education programs for its 110 students. Dedham isn’t the only school district having problems hiring foreign language teachers. I found out that schools across the country are feeling the pinch, which makes it even more difficult to attract teachers to rural Maine.