Maine

Last year, Maine made assaulting an emergency medical worker a felony. The problem of patient violence remains

Published

2 years ago

July 14, 2024

Last year, Maine made assaulting an emergency medical worker a felony. The problem of patient violence remains

A year-old law seems to have done little to curb a surge in violence against health care workers that began during the pandemic, despite increasing charges for assaults on nonmedical staff – such as custodial, security or administrative workers – who are providing emergency medical care.

According to Maine’s Judicial Branch, there have been 12 charges of “assault on an emergency medical care provider” in 2024 – on track to meet similar numbers as the last five years. There were 27 charges in 2023 and 25 in 2022, for example.

Joe Bragg, a registered nurse and nursing supervisor at Down East Community Hospital in Machias, said the expanded definition doesn’t seem to be changing the behavior of patients, many in a state of crisis when they arrive in the emergency department.

“I don’t think anybody is going into the hospital going, ‘Well, I better not act out today because L.D. 1119 is in effect,” said Bragg. “It doesn’t change anything. If violence is going to happen, it’s going to happen.”

The law – L.D. 1119 – which passed in July 2023, increased charges for an assault occurring in an emergency department setting, regardless of whether the victim is a health care worker, from a Class D crime – punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine – to a Class C crime, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

(Felonies are typically crimes punishable by more than a year in prison, while misdemeanors are typically considered less serious crimes punishable by less than a year in jail. Maine no longer uses these categories.)

Between 2017 and 2021, Maine health care workers filed 1,000 claims for lost time due to intentional injury, most related to interactions with patients.

Prior to the new law, health care workers filed 167 intentional injury lost time claims in the first seven months of 2023; 114 were filed in the first four months after the law took effect.

Advocates for the expanded law, including Maine’s two largest health care conglomerates, MaineHealth and Northern Light Health, say the changes were intended to help law enforcement and prosecutors hold people accountable for their behavior and to protect those not previously included, such as security officers.

“L.D. 1119 really doesn’t impact the number of assaults, it simply clarifies the ability to prosecute,” said Jeff Austin, principal lobbyist for the Maine Hospital Association.

Austin said MHA is seeing around 200 incidents per month at its member hospitals, similar to years prior.

To further help combat workplace violence, hospitals have put out campaigns. The Northern Light Hospital system is working to get the ‘Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees’ Act passed in Congress. At DECH in Machias, administrators have hung signage encouraging a safer environment and reminding visitors to “be kind to our staff.”

While violence in emergency departments predates the pandemic, its ongoing effects have added to the frequency of assaults.

In testimony last year, a registered nurse within the MaineHealth system described a patient throwing a chair at a sliding door, shattering the glass before grabbing her arm.

In another instance, Nancijean Goudey, the director of emergency services at Maine Medical Center, described a patient who lunged, grabbed her around the neck, threw her on a bed and attempted to climb on top of her.

In testimony, emergency providers described attacks that ranged from spitting to verbal abuse to physical violence. The Maine Medical Center emergency department reported 277 incidents of workplace violence in a three-month period in early 2023.

Nurses and hospital staff pushed for the passage of the law, arguing that something needed to be done to help with the violence and protect nonmedical staff.

Defense attorney Walt McKee believes classifying assault on emergency health care personnel as a felony can be a slippery slope – the person’s job should not be part of the consideration, he said.

“A felony level crime should be dealt with when there is significant bodily harm, not because it was on a nurse and not a teacher,” said McKee.

CRIMINALIZING MENTAL HEALTH

Others argue the expanded law hasn’t helped deter violence in the year since it was passed and that it adversely affects those with mental health issues, who may be more likely to act violently in emergency settings.

Advocates on both sides agree that violence against hospital staff should not be tolerated. But with mental health treatment resources across the state increasingly strained, those in crisis have few places to turn beyond an emergency room.

There are only 10 inpatient psychiatric treatment facilities across Maine, with roughly 500 beds. The long waitlist of people seeking mental health treatment only continues to grow, with wait periods stretching for months.

Facing a lack of resources and appropriate treatment, people turn to their hospitals, said state Rep. Nina Milliken, D-Blue Hill.

“The message is if you have a medical issue, just go to the emergency department,” said Milliken. “These systems are operating as our only response currently to a long list of human suffering. It isn’t fair to the criminal legal system, it isn’t fair to ER staff, and it isn’t fair to anyone else.”

The new law punishes people – some of whom may be in a state of psychosis and unaware of their actions – “for something that is essentially a treatment failure,” said Emily Mott, staff attorney for Disability Rights Maine.

People in crisis brought to an emergency department against their will because they are deemed a danger to themselves or others are often more at risk of lashing out, although they may not be fully in control – or even aware of – their actions.

That was the case for Julie Potter, who brought herself to the emergency room for a dissociative episode while studying for her master’s in social work at the University of New England.

Potter said after explaining her situation to hospital staff that she was led by police officers to a sterile room. Potter said she tried to leave, and remembers only waking up to bruises on her body with officers saying she had assaulted them.

Potter was eventually charged with assault on a police officer – a charge that carries similar punishments to those under L.D. 1119.

While the charges were eventually dropped, after what she said was a lengthy court proceeding and a year of psychiatric supervision, the incident upended her life and ultimately resulted in Potter leaving her master’s program.

“What it’s going to do is criminalize people’s trauma in mental health,” Potter said of the expanded law. “We are going to have more people in prison, in jails, in the court system that are just hurting and more hopeless, and do not believe in a system that cares about them. … You are ruining people’s lives.”

People convicted of a felony may have trouble getting jobs or housing, said Mott, of Disability Rights Maine, which can further delay treatment.

“In a world of collateral damages, it’s important.”

Health care workers shouldn’t have to tolerate assault, said Frayla Tarpinian, district defender at the new Capital Region Defender’s Office, but expanding the law will not effectively deter violence if the behavior is driven by mental illness and the punishment doesn’t include treatment.

“There is just something manifestly unfair about somebody who does not want to be touched to be forcibly medicated, then charging them because they don’t comply.”

WHO BENEFITS?

“It’s a tough situation all around. Who does it help the most? The irony is, it probably helps prosecutors, judges and defense attorneys,” said Brendan Trainor, district attorney for Penobscot County. “It does give us more options to charge somebody.”

Despite this, many district attorney offices and police departments across the state say they have not seen an increase in the number of charges since the law was passed.

The Portland Police Department has only seen four charges since the law was enacted, despite Maine Medical Center reporting large numbers of assaults.

Other departments, including in Augusta, Lewiston and Machias, said they had seen little change in the number of charges since the law’s passage.

In Penobscot County, there have been eight charges for assault on emergency medical service personnel since July 2022. The Lewiston Police Department reported six charges between July 2023, when the law was enacted, and this June, and the Augusta Police Department reported four – on par with the 10 and seven charges, respectively, reported in the year prior.

On the other side, McKee, the defense attorney, felt prosecutors already had enough “tools in the toolbox” to charge someone with assault. Unless judges said they were seeing serious offenses that require more serious charges, he said, there was no reason to increase the penalty.

Health care providers emphasized they do not file charges against a person in a mental health crisis, unable to distinguish right from wrong. Once charges are brought, whether a person is competent to stand trial is decided by the state’s forensic evaluators and a judge.

Austin, of the Maine Hospital Association, and hospital staff recognize that violence can be unintentional, especially if it stems from someone with a mental illness.

But that’s not true for all, said Austin.

“And we believe [they] should be held accountable for their decisions.”

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from the Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.

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Maine

A top issue in Maine and Oklahoma governors’ races? Tribal sovereignty. – ICT

Published

3 hours ago

May 14, 2026

Press Room

A top issue in Maine and Oklahoma governors’ races? Tribal sovereignty. – ICT

This story is part one of a two-part story on gubernatorial races to watch in the 2026 midterm elections as part of the #NativeVote26.

Pauly Denetclaw
ICT

Two of the 39 states with gubernatorial races have tribal sovereignty at the top of their policy agendas: Oklahoma and Maine. The two states where tribal nations have had friction with their state governments. Now Native voters in both states will be electing a new governor, and the results will impact the relationship between tribal governments and the state for the next four years.

Wabanaki Nations in Maine had a challenging time getting state legislation signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills, Democrat, that would strengthen tribal sovereignty. The 38 tribes in Oklahoma had a tumultuous relationship with Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.

Eighteen of the 39 governor races in 2026 will have incumbent candidates, according to the National Governors Association. Stitt is the 2025-2026 chair of the association.

What’s happening in Oklahoma?

Over the past seven years, tribal nations and the state of Oklahoma had a contentious relationship — especially after the McGirt decision. Current governor, Stitt, who is a Cherokee Nation citizen, has been outspoken against the McGirt decision, tribal compacts for tobacco and car tags, and tribal gaming compacts.

Tribal-state compacts are legal agreements between federally recognized tribes and state governments. It is most commonly used for class III gaming — slot machines and table games.

“There was a time and a day when we used to compact with the tribes. That is not a unique thing across the nation. It wasn’t a unique thing in Oklahoma,” Chip Keating said during an April 6 candidates forum. “We absolutely have to hit the full reset button with the tribes — work together, treat them with the respect that they should have been treated with, and we’ve got to get back to compacting.”

Tribal leaders are looking forward to new state leadership, said Michael Stopp, president and chief executive officer of SevenStar Holdings.

“It’s good for the tribes and the tribal leaders are happy about it,” said Stopp, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. “It has very much been a sticking point with tribal leaders that Governor Stitt has a very different perspective on sovereignty and what role the tribes play in this state. Obviously, we’ve had some big changes with the reservation status here because of the McGirt decision in 2020, but Governor Stitt, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, has been more of an antagonist when it comes to that, than trying to help with the transition. I can definitely say the tribal leaders are looking for leadership change.”

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin called Stitt the most anti-Indian governor in the state’s history. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond described Stitt as having a “penchant of racism against tribes,” during an April candidates forum. He added that it was unacceptable.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is pictured during an interview in his office Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Board of Pardon and Parole has recommended clemency for death row inmate James Coddington. Stitt said that he hasn’t been formally briefed on Coddington’s case, but that with any clemency recommendation, he meets with prosecutors, defense attorneys and the victim’s family before making a decision. (AP Photo, Sue Ogrocki) Credit: Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is pictured during an interview in his office Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoma Board of Pardon and Parole has recommended clemency for death row inmate James Coddington. Stitt said that he hasn’t been formally briefed on Coddington’s case, but that with any clemency recommendation, he meets with prosecutors, defense attorneys and the victim’s family before making a decision. (AP Photo, Sue Ogrocki)

Tribal nations and state governments have to work together often. As seen in Oklahoma, Stitt vetoed several tribal compacts, despite overwhelming support by the state’s legislature, and this slowed the process for establishing the tobacco, car tag and gaming compacts between Oklahoma and tribal nations.

“Governor Stitt came in thinking that he could renegotiate this contract, and quite frankly, it just doesn’t work that way. Instead of listening and coming to the negotiating table, (Stitt) tried to come in with a really strong stance and ended up losing, honestly,” Stopp said. “I think that was unfortunate for him and for the tribes. Again, missing out on the chance of negotiating and I think the tribal leaders are definitely looking forward to having someone on the other side of the table to negotiate with.”

Oklahoma governor candidates

There are nine Republican candidates on the ballot for Oklahoma’s primary election set for June 16:

Gentner Drummond: 20th Attorney General for Oklahoma
Chip Keating: Former highway trooper and former Oklahoma Secretary of Public Safety
Mike Mazzei: Former Oklahoma state Senator and former Secretary of Budget
Charles McCall: Longest-serving Speaker of the House in Oklahoma history
Jake Merrick: Local radio host and former Oklahoma state Senator
Kenneth Sturgell: Local, small business owner
Leisa Mitchell Haynes: Former marketing director and former city manager
Calup Anthony Taylor
Jennifer Domenico-Tillett

Three Democratic gubernatorial candidates are also running for the primary election:

Cyndi Munson: Oklahoma House Minority leader
Connie Johnson: Former Oklahoma state Senator
Arya

Candidates will have to get more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff. If there is no outright winner, the top two candidates for each political party will head to a primary runoff election on August 25.

An additional three Independent candidates will automatically head to the general election this November.

Two important issues this election in Oklahoma are tribal sovereignty and a commitment to working with tribes.

During an April 6 Republican candidates forum, Gentner Drummond, Charles McCall, Chip Keating and Mike Mazzei, were asked to raise their hand if they shared Stitt’s perspective on the McGirt decision. Stitt was quoted as saying that the McGirt decision has torn Oklahoma apart and has created two justice systems based on race. None of the four candidates raised their hand.

“For three and a half years I’ve been working with every tribal leader in the state of Oklahoma, and I recognize them as unique among themselves, just like France is different from Germany,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said during a candidates forum. “We have to honor and respect the culture of diversity that they bring to the table and the needs that they have. We have been working with tribal law enforcement each of the last three years to take the fight to organize crime in our rural communities. They are a great partner.”

All four candidates promised their administration would work with tribal nations and negotiate tribal compacts.

Mazzei said at two different candidate forums that he would be a strong negotiator with tribal nations.

In a recent interview with KOCO 5 News, local small business owner Kenneth Sturgell said tribal nations are their neighbors and should be treated as such. He also said that the state and tribal nations have to work together.

Jake Merrick, local radio host and former Oklahoma state Senator, was pleased that the state Supreme Court affirmed tribal nations’ right to hunt on their own lands, during a March 30 candidates forum.

Democratic candidate Cyndi Munson, Oklahoma House Minority leader, said in a recent press release that her caucus supports tribes.

“The Oklahoma House Democratic Caucus supports tribal sovereignty and acknowledges that our tribes fill important gaps in our education and healthcare systems, as well as other areas throughout our state,” Munson said. “I am extremely grateful for the work our tribes have done and continue to do despite vicious attacks on them by the Governor.”

A respectful working relationship between tribal nations and the state has shifted significantly since the last gubernatorial race in 2022.

“I think every one of them [Oklahoma governor candidates] has said something about it,” Stopp said. “[It’s] different than four years ago. It was an issue in the governor’s race, but it wasn’t a good issue. Here everyone’s saying yes, we want to change the tone and start the conversation differently. So I think as far as Indian voters go, that conversation is going to change regardless of who wins.”

Dawnland

In Maine, Gov. Mills repeatedly refused to sign a law that would strengthen tribal jurisdiction and recognize Wabanaki Nations right to access federal Indian laws. She vetoed the bill twice despite overwhelming support from state legislators.

“We’ve had multiple opportunities to send [legislation] to the governor’s desk and not just party line votes,” said Maulian Bryant, executive director of the Wabanaki Alliance and former Penobscot ambassador. “We generally have Democratic support, but we have gotten Republicans voting on these issues too. So, the governor has seen some great bipartisan work reach her desk and has still decided to veto some of these efforts.”

In order for tribes to access federal Indian laws, the state has to approve it. The Wabanaki Alliance, created to educate the people of Maine about tribal sovereignty, has been working diligently to amend the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980.

Through the settlement, tribal nations ceded land in exchange for $81.5 million. However, it also drastically limited tribal sovereignty, and brought tribes under the jurisdiction of the state. Tribal nations that predate the state, are subjected to state jurisdiction and treated more like municipalities. The act was meant to be a living document but the state resisted changes for decades.

The Wabanaki Alliance has been able to increase tribal sovereignty and self-governance one legislation or amendment at a time. Throughout her two-terms, Mills has resisted a complete overhaul of the 1980 act and this created tension between the governor and tribal nations.

“If we had a governor that came in and fully embraced the inherent rights and inherent sovereignty of our people, and fully recognized that, it would strengthen our communities and it would also uplift the entire state of Maine,” said Bryant, who is Penobscot. “Our tribal communities are near rural places that could really use economic opportunities and could really use tribal businesses that are able to grow without all of these bureaucratic restrictions. We really are coming from a place of friendliness and we want to be good neighbors and we want to uplift the communities around us.”

The Wabanaki Alliance held a gubernatorial candidates forum in March where nine governor candidates participated:

Shenna Bellows, Democrat
Rick Bennett, Independent
John Glowa, Independent
Troy Jackson, Democrat
Derek Levasseur, Independent
Hannah Pingree, Democrat
Nirav Shah, Democrat
Angus King III, Democrat

None of the eight Republican candidates participated.

Most of the gubernatorial candidates generally supported increasing tribal sovereignty, recognizing inherent rights and working with tribal nations. Angus King III said he wasn’t educated on the topic enough to make any commitments and would have to look into it. This sentiment was shared by John Glowa and Derek Levasseur.

Hannah Pingree, Rick Bennett, Shenna Bellows and Troy Jackson firmly supported tribal sovereignty for Wabanaki Nations.

“If a governor comes in, and isn’t afraid of recognizing tribal sovereignty and sees it as an opportunity, I think we could see some real progress for everyone,” Bryant said.

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Maine

The 10 Most Popular Restaurants in Portland, Maine, Back in 1996

Published

15 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Press Room

The 10 Most Popular Restaurants in Portland, Maine, Back in 1996

It seems commonplace now that people visit Portland, Maine, for the food.

Portland is home to a mix of classic and new restaurants that people travel long distances to experience.

But that wasn’t always the case. Looking back 30 years ago, Portland, Maine, was home to delicious restaurants that were not home to many frills or fanfare.

Some of those restaurants are still rolling along today, others failed to move forward.

Here’s a look at the 10 most popular restaurants in Portland, Maine back in 1996.

Back Bay Grill

Officially opening its doors in 1988, the Back Bay Grill quickly became one of the places for fine dining in Portland, Maine.

In 1996, it was one of only a handful of restaurants within the city that would be considered upscale.

The Back Bay Grill ended its lengthy run when it closed permanently in 2022.

Becky’s Diner

Opening in Portland’s waterfront in 1991, it didn’t take long before Becky’s Diner was a regular part of the working waterfront’s routine.

As the working waterfront began diminishing, Becky’s has managed to transform itself into a place locals still enjoy while simultaneously serving as a tourist destination.

35 years later and Becky’s is still going strong.

Granny’s Burritos

Opening in 1995, Granny’s Burritos has taken on an almost mythical presence for that fondly remember it.

Granny’s called several different spots around time home over the years but remains fondly remembered for its stellar nachos and signature burritos.

The last iteration of Granny’s Burritos officially closed in 2017.

Fore Street

Officially opening in 1996, Fore Street is widely considered the restaurant that took Portland, Maine, and put it on the map for food.

Almost from the day it opened, Fore Street became a cornerstone to fine dining in the city and laid the groundwork for many other upscale restaurants to follow.

Fore Street still remains one of the most popular restaurants in Portland, Maine, 30 years after it initially opened.

Squire Morgan’s

Now home to Cutie’s, the corner of Market and Milk streets was once home to one of Portland’s most popular pubs called Squire Morgan’s.

Squire Morgan’s had a fantastic run in the city through the 80’s and early-90’s before a fire burned the restaurant in 1996.

Squire Morgan’s rebuilt but it was never the same and closed permanently in 1998.

DiMillo’s Floating Restaurant

There is something unique and elegant about dining aboard a floating restaurant. That has been the draw for DiMillo’s since it opened in 1982.

Like Back Bay Grill, DiMillo’s was one of a handful of restaurants in Portland during the mid-90’s where people could visit and receive upscale service and dining.

Despite the restaurant scene changing drastically around it, DiMillo’s remains a destination restaurant for many visiting Portland.

Silly’s

Even amongst a slew of restaurants serving pub grub and classic New England fare, Silly’s always stood out.

It was a quirky spot with a eclectic menu that people consistently flocked to, especially on the weekends. It became a staple in the city throughout the 90’s.

Silly’s had a couple of starts and stops in Portland in more recent times before finally reestablishing itself in Standish.

The Sportsman’s Grill

Opened in 1952, the Sportsman’s Grill on Congress Street was a staple of dining in Portland, Maine, for decades.

The restaurant was sports themed as the name would suggest and evolved over the years to draw in sports fan and casual diners.

1996 proved to be one of the final years for the Sportsman’s Grill as it closed permanently in 1997.

The Great Lost Bear

Originally known as Grizzly Bear, the Great Lost Bear got a name change in 1981 and really grasped a rapid fanbase throughout the 80’s.

The Great Lost Bear has always been known for its large menu and larger portions and was one of the first spots in town to fully embrace craft beer and champion it.

The Great Lost Bear remains a favorite for many as it approaches its 50-year anniversary.

Walter’s

Originally opening its doors in 1990, some credit Walter’s as a stepping stone restaurant to what most see throughout Portland today.

It was a cornerstone upscale restaurant throughout the 90’s and eventually sold in 2004.

Walter’s moved from its original location at 15 Exchange Street to 2 Portland Square in 2009 and operated there for years before closing permanently in 2019.

The New York Time’s Best Restaurant Lists Feature These 7 Maine Spots

Gallery Credit: Sean McKenna

61 Maine Restaurants That Closed in 2025

Gallery Credit: Sean McKenna

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Maine

Data centers are coming for rural America

Published

1 day ago

May 13, 2026

Press Room

Data centers are coming for rural America

At its peak, the Androscoggin paper mill in Jay, Maine, a rural town about 67 miles northwest of Portland, employed about 1,500 people — until a pulp digester exploded in 2020, forcing the mill to close permanently.

In 2023, the 1.4 million-square-foot facility was purchased through a joint venture by JGT2 Redevelopment and a number of other holding and capital companies. The project is led by developer Tony McDonald. Over the next three years, McDonald and his team broke down the mill’s machinery and shipped it to Pakistan, and worked to clean up the industrial site for resale. That resale agreement was finalized earlier this year, according to McDonald — turning Jay into the latest flashpoint over giant data centers in America.

Maine is particularly appealing for data center developers for its relatively cool year-round temperatures, lax land-use statutes, and 54 percent renewable energy mix, the eighth highest in the nation. There is a handful of planned data centers around the state, which recently prompted the state legislature to pass a bill ordering an 18-month moratorium on permits and building of any proposed data center that consumes more than 20 megawatts of power. Lawmakers wanted to pause construction in order to study data centers’ impact on local economies, the power grid, and the environment.

But that bill, which would have been the country’s first, was vetoed by Maine Gov. Janet Mills last month. In her veto, she cited one overriding reason: jobs. A $550 million facility proposed for the shuttered paper mill in Jay, she argued, would create 125 to 150 permanent, high-paying positions in a town that had watched its largest employer close.

From mill towns in Maine to farm counties in Indiana to desert plots outside Abilene, Texas, data center developers are telling local governments: Bring us in, give us what we need, add some tax breaks, and the jobs will follow. More than 35 states have responded by offering incentives and more to attract the industry.

There’s little research into whether massive industrial sites actually deliver the long-term economic gains they promise, but early reports suggest otherwise. Experts say that rural communities often lack the governmental expertise to properly assess how data centers might impact an area. According to recent Pew Research Center data, 67 percent of planned data centers in the US are headed to rural areas, and 39 percent are going to counties that currently have none. As data center development scales rapidly, it’s becoming clear that what rural communities around the country are actually getting isn’t jobs, but a power- and water-hungry industrial facility that temporarily employs about as many people as a midsize restaurant.

The data center fight in Maine

Originally, Tony McDonald had planned to sell the mill to an oriented strand board company called Godfrey Forest Products, which would have employed approximately 150 people, he said. When federal tariffs killed the financial backing for that project, McDonald pivoted to an idea he’d been getting pitches about.

“Most of the people that were contacting us, you know, they were all hat and no cattle,” McDonald said. He fielded multiple calls from what he terms “data center cowboys” who claimed to have one of the seven big tech companies as a client and were looking for a place to build a new data center. When he’d dig deeper on the caller, he’d find that they didn’t actually have the backing they claimed.

After a few conversations, he began pursuing a data center partnership with Sentinel Data Centers, a New York-based company that specializes in data centers serving the healthcare, financial, and hyperscale industries, according to its website. Sentinel did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

McDonald says that, as he understands it, the project in Jay will be a neocloud data center, a specialized facility built to deliver high-performance GPU computing for AI and machine learning workloads. If a neocloud data center is going into the old mill, it will require more than 100kW of energy per rack, according to industry standards, and will need either direct-to-chip or immersion cooling, both of which require ample space and water resources.

“Most of the people that were contacting us, you know, they were all hat and no cattle.”

— Tony McDonald, JGT2 Redevelopment

While McDonald has repeatedly said that he is not interested in tax breaks for the project, he did want to leave the door open for potential tax benefits down the road if the town determines that it’s worth it. Just before Mills vetoed the moratorium, the Maine state legislature passed a law that excludes data centers from some of Maine’s tax breaks for businesses, but it leaves the door open for local municipalities to offer tax break agreements and other municipal incentives. That could spell trouble for small communities like Jay, hoping for a tax windfall to help them invest in schools, community buildings, and roadworks.

Maine state Rep. Melanie Sachs, the sponsor of the Maine moratorium bill, claims that McDonald did not inform the Jay Select Board of the new plan to turn the mill into a data center until late February 2026, just days before her moratorium bill was scheduled for a floor vote. Her bill was first introduced to committee on January 30th.

The Select Board heard McDonald’s presentation in March and voted 4-0 in support, according to The Maine Monitor. The moratorium bill passed both the state House of Representatives and Senate on April 14th, and Mills vetoed it on April 24th, citing the job creation in Jay as her reason.

Sachs, who chairs Maine’s House Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, said her legislation was never about banning data centers. “This bill was about creating the playbook,” she said. “And we were told, ‘Don’t worry your pretty little heads about it, data centers are not coming to Maine anytime soon.’ They came anyway, and without a framework in place, towns have no mechanism to evaluate the claims developers are making.”

“Even if it’s 30 jobs, that means a lot to Jay, then, okay, but you’ve swept away protections for 1.4 million Mainers for 30 jobs,” Sachs said.

The economics of data centers

Michael Hicks, the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University, is an economist and a professor who last November published one of the first causal analyses of data center employment effects in the United States. He studied data center openings across 254 Texas counties and measured their actual effect on local long-term employment.

He found that net job creation was effectively zero. Whatever long-term jobs existed at data centers were being offset by losses elsewhere in the same sector.

”As you drive by a data center, you see people working on it,” Hicks said. “You see construction workers. The hotels locally are packed. But there’s no net pulse of that. A lot of these workers are there for three weeks to do their part of it, and then they’re gone … The real question is whether there are permanent jobs associated with data centers, and in Texas, the answer is no.”

“A lot of these workers are there for three weeks to do their part of it, and then they’re gone.”

— Michael Hicks, Ball State University

Texas serves as an ideal test bed because of its isolated grid and a mix of large, fast-growing metros and tech hubs alongside rural, remote towns, which mirrors the rest of the country. As Hicks puts it, it’s essentially a mini-United States with its variety of regions, and the economic lessons learned in Texas can be widely applied across the country.

Rural towns are often “outgunned” when trying to negotiate deals with large data center builders, said Anthony Elmo, public education funding defender at Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research center focused on corporate and government accountability in economic development.

“They don’t have the resources to negotiate,” said Elmo. “They don’t know what to ask for. They don’t have the legal expertise, and they don’t feel like they have the leverage, which I think is part of the issue.”

On the national level, the math isn’t much better, either. Business Insider recently reported that the national subsidy for data centers exceeded $2 million in costs per permanent job, and in some cases, like one in New York, companies received nearly $77 million in tax breaks for a facility that created exactly one permanent position.

Microsoft’s Quincy, Washington, facility, which is roughly comparable to the initial plan in Jay, employed as many as 500 workers during construction but now operates with just 50 full-time employees. The type of data center being built determines where on that spectrum of long-term employment a community lands. Neocloud data centers, like the one coming to Jay, can require 30 to 50 full-time staff, depending on size.

“Of those, say, 50 jobs, a chunk of them are maintenance, a chunk of them are technicians in charge of backup generators. The high-tech jobs make up maybe 10 percent of the facility,” Elmo points out. And many times, data center companies will count remote workers in other states as employees of the state in which the data center is located. “We may get a little bit of an economic effect from that, but it isn’t nearly as much as if it were a physical person in Maine buying goods and adding to the local economy,” he said.

Most of the lobbying around data centers focuses on job creation and “upskilling,” or training workers for new or better-paying jobs. But according to researchers, even the retraining argument holds little water.

Just under 30 percent of Jay’s population has a bachelor’s degree or higher, while 90 percent have a high school diploma, according to recent census data. And, as Ball State University’s Hicks says, education matters for upskilling.

In the 1800s, when farm laborers were sent into the workforce in the Midwest, they had a basic education that made them trainable for factory work. Following World War II, men and women returned from the factories and the battlefield having learned many new skills, and in the post-Civil Rights South, more Black men and women became educated and entered the workforce in ways they had been unable to before.

Neocloud data centers, like the one coming to Jay, can require 30 to 50 full-time staff, depending on size

As Hicks points out, each of these three industrial revolutions only worked because of the big, new supply of educated people ready to move into those jobs. By contrast, the US currently has negative net immigration, low birth rates, and consistently underfunded education; there is no equivalent human-capital “wave” to support a similar jobs boom in data centers and AI, he says.

“The waves of industrialization accompanied waves of human capital into the United States,” Hicks said. “So, where do we think there’s this surge of employment surrounding data centers that can mimic those three events?”

”The big tech companies are investing in upskilling the construction trades,” Elmo points out, citing OpenAI’s recent agreement with NABTU and noting that in fully developed data center markets, electricians and HVAC maintenance workers float from project to project as contractors. “For states that don’t have developed data center infrastructure, like Maine, it’s not a permanent job. It’s an 18-month job. That’s it.”

The jobs promise, Hicks argues, distracts from the one benefit a data center can reliably provide to a rural community: tax revenue.

Using the Jay data center as an example, Hicks says that a $550 million data center in a town of 4,620 people, where the median home value is around $215,000, would carry an assessed value exceeding the combined worth of every home and every business in the town. The former mill had a tax abatement but generated roughly $1.8 million in tax revenue for Jay in its last year of operation, according to the Livermore Falls Advertiser. Taxed at the same rate as any other commercial property, that revenue could fund schools, rebuild infrastructure, and attract residents for generations.

”You could make that town into a Hallmark Channel town with those sorts of tax dollars, and then jobs would follow,” Hicks said. But that all depends on whether or not the town decides to grant the future project special tax breaks.

Rural towns are often “outgunned” when trying to negotiate deals with large data center builders

It’s not clear precisely how much tax revenue the data center could generate, as of this reporting, because there are still many unknowns about the project, including who Sentinel’s clients might be, the type of data center that will be built, what kind of tax incentives the town Select Board might offer, and even how many jobs the data center might bring to Jay.

McDonald’s job estimates have been all over the map, ranging from 100 to 150 as the project has progressed. He says the numbers he gave the Select Board and the state legislature are based on what Sentinel has told him, but warned that he’s “not a data center guy.”

What data centers actually mean for jobs

Ultimately, this is a tech ouroboros. The same data center infrastructure, subsidized as a jobs program, is purpose-built to reduce human labor, and the AI it powers is explicitly designed to automate work. Communities are being asked to trade tax revenue and grid capacity for jobs in an industry whose core product is labor replacement.

“It’s the biggest capital expenditure since the Manhattan Project, and it isn’t going to create tens of thousands of jobs in the long term,” Elmo said. “It’s not some economic boom. Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, Oracle, they’re shedding jobs in real time while spending billions on data centers so that other organizations can shed additional jobs through AI. At some point, people need to ask more critical questions about this.”

As Hicks points out, rural America is being sold the same bill of goods it has been sold for 50 years. “Civic leaders are living 75 to 150 years in the past,” and framing these data center deals in the old industrial-boom mindset without the educational and demographic conditions that made previous booms possible.

The mill didn’t save rural towns, nor did the manufacturing center, the call center, or the Amazon warehouse. Based on the economic data, data centers will not save them either, and the one thing that could genuinely help — treating the facility’s tax base as a community windfall rather than a negotiating chip — is precisely what most states are legislating away.

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