Maine
The Maine Millennial: America’s new F-word is more offensive than the original
When I was growing up, I was really interested in World War II and specifically the Holocaust (I know, I know, I was a weird kid). I read a lot of survival narratives. Some Jewish and other targeted people escaped Nazi territory altogether, some survived the camps, some were successfully hidden for the duration of the war.
But one thing most of the narratives and experiences had in common was that at some point, the Jewish person or family tried to leave their country, but they couldn’t get papers. Papers always came up — sometimes exit visas, sometimes entry visas, sometimes passports. But always, the German (or, often, occupied) government denied them travel papers.
Years later, my sister came along and read my Holocaust books as well. She went a step further and decided she wanted to dedicate her life to stopping genocide and human rights abuses, and she is currently attending Leiden University in the Netherlands for a master’s degree in war and peace studies. She’s graduating in May, and our whole family is supposed to go see her (and, in my case, go overseas for the first time!).
But. We don’t know if the government will issue my wife a passport. You see, almost all her legal documents have her proper name and gender marker, but her expired passport from high school doesn’t. And a few weeks ago, the president instructed the State Department to stop changing gender markers on passports.
So, we have no idea what will happen if we apply for our passports. Either a renewal will be rejected outright, or it will process in a way that does not match all her other documents. We don’t even know if we should apply for passports — you have to give your documents to the government. What if they don’t give them back?
It brought me back to Germany in 1938. But we’re in America, in 2025. And we don’t know if the government is going to prevent us from leaving the country. Not because we’re criminals or international spies or something, but because of matters of identity.
I don’t care if you think I’m silly and hysterical comparing these things. I was blessed with a good education, including in history. Plus, I have autism, which in addition to the ability to eat the same thing 87 days in a row without complaint also comes with enhanced pattern recognition.
I don’t like what I’m seeing. I don’t like the conclusions I’m drawing. It feels like the Democratic Party has thrown my community under the bus and the Republicans are driving the bus. We’re in the middle of a constitutional crisis right now. Most people haven’t noticed because the television isn’t framing it that way, and also because it’s kind of boring and involves words so long that you fall asleep halfway through them, words like “impoundment” and “appropriation.”
Congress has the power of the purse in our government. I double-checked the pocket Constitution I keep in my purse. (It’s a different type of purse power.) By unilaterally shutting down chunks of the government that Congress voted on approving funds for, the president is violating both the Constitution and the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.
And so many so-called constitutional conservatives who are always thumping on about the Constitution and federalism and checks and balances of power are rolling over like my dog asking for a belly rub, abandoning all their previously held beliefs just because they like the man violating them. Pathetic.
In my time here at the Press Herald, I’ve occasionally pushed the boundaries of words you can and cannot print in the state’s paper of record. I’ve gotten away with “hell” and “rat’s ass” (in the context of not giving one). But I’ve been extremely sparing with F-words. There’s definitely one that I’m not allowed to say at all, and another that I suspect in the future I might not be allowed to say either.
But there’s only one word for a government that scapegoats its problems on a minority of citizens, that concentrates power in the executive offices, specifically the head of the state, while ignoring the elected representatives of the people. That F-word is fascist.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
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