Maine
Maine’s leaders cannot turn the other cheek on gun violence | Opinion
Julie Smith of Readfield is a single parent whose son was in the Principles of Economics class at Brown University during the Dec. 13 shooting that resulted in the deaths of two students.
When classrooms become crime scenes, leadership is no longer measured by intentions or press statements. It is measured by outcomes—and by whether the people responsible for public safety are trusted and empowered to act without hesitation.
On December 13, 2025, a gunman opened fire during a review session for a Principles of Economics class at Brown University. Two students were murdered. Others were wounded. The campus was locked down as parents across the country waited for news no family should ever have to receive.
Maine was not watching from a distance.
My son, a recent graduate of a rural Maine high school, is a freshman at Brown. He was in that Principles of Economics class. He was not in the targeted study group—but students who sat beside him all semester were. These were not abstract victims. They were classmates and friends. Young people who should have been worried about finals, not hiding in lockdown, texting parents to say they were alive.
Despite the fact that the Brown shooting directly affected Maine families, Gov. Janet Mills offered no meaningful public acknowledgment of the tragedy. No recognition that Maine parents were among those grieving, afraid, and desperate for reassurance. In moments like these, acknowledgment matters. Silence is not neutral. It signals whose fear is seen—and whose is ignored. The violence at Brown is a Maine issue: our children are there. Our families are there. The fear, grief, and trauma do not stop at state lines.
The attack and what followed the attack deserve recognition. Law enforcement responded quickly, professionally, and courageously. Campus police, city officers, state police, and federal agents worked together to secure the campus and prevent further loss of life. Officers acted decisively because they understood their mission—and because they knew they would be supported for carrying it out.
That kind of coordination does not happen by accident. It depends on clear authority, mutual trust, and leadership that understands a basic truth: in moments of crisis, law enforcement must be free to work together immediately, without second-guessing.
Even when officers do everything right, the damage does not end when a campus is secured. Students return to classrooms changed—hyper-alert, distracted, scanning exits instead of absorbing ideas. Parents carry a constant, low-level dread, flinching at late-night calls and unknown numbers. Gun violence in schools does not just injure bodies; it fractures trust, rewires behavior, and leaves psychological scars that no statement or reassurance can undo.
That reality makes silence—and policy choices that undermine law enforcement—impossible to ignore.
After the Lewiston massacre in 2023, Governor Mills promised lessons would be learned—that warning signs would be taken seriously, mental-health systems strengthened, and public-safety coordination improved. Those promises mattered because Maine had already paid an unbearable price.
Instead of providing unequivocal support for law enforcement, the governor has taken actions that signal hesitation. Her decision to allow LD 1971 to become law is the latest example. The law introduces technical requirements that complicate inter-agency cooperation by emphasizing legal boundaries and procedural caution. Even when cooperation is technically “allowed,” the message to officers is unmistakable: slow down, worry about liability, protect yourself first.
In emergencies, that hesitation can cost lives. Hesitation by law enforcement in Providence could have cost my son his life. We cannot allow hesitation to become the precedent for Maine policies.
In 2025 alone, hundreds of gun-related incidents have occurred on K–12 and college campuses nationwide. This is not theoretical. This is the environment in which our children are expected to learn—and the reality Maine families carry with them wherever their children go.
My son worked his entire academic life—without wealth or legacy—for the chance to pursue higher education, believing it would allow him to return to Maine rather than leave it behind. Now he is asking a question no 18-year-old should have to ask: why come home to a state whose leaders hesitate to fully stand behind the people responsible for keeping him alive?
Maine’s leaders must decide whose side they are on when crisis strikes: the officers who run toward danger, or the politics that ask them to slow down first.
Parents are done with hollow promises. Students deserve leaders who show their support not with words—but with action.
HARPSWELL (WGME) — The Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office says a person was hospitalized after a shed fire Wednesday night.
Firefighters were called to 23 Smokehouse Road in Harpswell for a shed fire around 7 p.m.
Crews quickly put out the fire and kept it from spreading into the woods.
An unhoused person who had been living in the shed suffered burns and smoke inhalation.
They were taken to Maine Medical Center for treatment.
Investigators believe the fire may have been electrical in nature.
BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT
The fire remains under investigation.
Three tornadoes have been confirmed across New England so far in 2026, and remarkably, all of them have occurred in Vermont.
Two of those tornadoes touched down during severe thunderstorms on June 18, when a potent weather system swept across the region.
Vermont tornadoes in 2026 (WGME).
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado in Lincoln with peak winds of 105 mph and another EF-1 tornado in Woodstock with winds reaching 100 mph.
Earlier this spring, an EF-1 tornado struck Williamstown on April 16 with estimated winds of 90 mph.
This week’s Climate Chronicles question comes from Kate:
With severe weather last week, how often do we actually see tornadoes touch down in Maine?
Maine tornado activity (WGME).
Historically, Maine averages about two tornadoes each year, with most occurring between June and August.
Most storms develop during the late afternoon and early evening, typically between 3 and 9 p.m., when hours of sunshine have heated the ground and created the instability needed for thunderstorms to form.
The last confirmed tornado to touch down in Maine was in 2023.
Average amount of tornadoes that touch down in each New England state per year (WGME).
Massachusetts and Connecticut also average about two tornadoes per year, with many occurring across the flatter terrain of western portions of both states.
In Massachusetts, the broad Connecticut River Valley stretching through Springfield has earned the nickname “New England’s Tornado Alley” due to its history of tornado activity.
Vermont, on the other hand, typically averages just one tornado annually. With three confirmed tornadoes already in 2026, the state has already exceeded its yearly average by two, making this an unusually active year for tornadoes in the Green Mountain State.
Maine’s tornado history (GoSanAngelo, WGME).
Since 1950, Maine has recorded 140 tornadoes. None have been rated stronger than an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, the system used to classify tornado intensity based on the damage they cause.
Unlike hurricanes, tornadoes are not assigned ratings while they are occurring. Instead, National Weather Service survey teams assess damage after the storm has passed, examining impacts to homes, buildings, trees, and other structures.
From that damage, meteorologists estimate the tornado’s wind speeds and assign an EF rating ranging from EF0 to EF5.
While Maine has experienced its share of tornadoes over the decades, the state has never recorded a violent EF4 or EF5 tornado.
Do you have any weather questions? Email our Weather Authority team at weather@wgme.com. We’d love to hear from you!
PORTLAND — Perhaps the June Swoon is over for the Portland Hearts of Pine.
A flurry of second-half activity Wednesday night resulted in four goals and a much-needed 5-1 USL League One victory against the Richmond Kickers that had fans buzzing with feel-good frenzy at Fitzpatrick Stadium.
Ollie Wright scored the go-ahead goal on a header off a great cross from Jaden Jones-Reilly in the 57th minute. In short order, Konstantinos Georgallides and Aboubacar Camara each added a goal, and then Camara got a second late in extra time.
Diego Gonzalez, playing his third game with Portland, added friskiness to the midfield and opened the scoring with a header in the first half. He also assisted on Camara’s first goal with a slick through pass.
Portland had lost four straight games, including three in a row in USL1. The Hearts are now 4-5-5 in league play and moved from 13th to 10th in the 17-team league, just three points out of the eight-team playoff picture.
It was a dramatic reversal from Portland’s most recent game, a 5-1 loss at Westchester SC on Friday that was shown live back in Portland at an open-air setting in Monument Square.
PREVIOUSLY IN JUNE
When the month of May ended with a gritty home win against Spokane, Portland was 3-2-4 in league play and overcoming injuries.
June has not been as kind. Portland entered Wednesday’s game on a four-game losing streak. Digging into the numbers, the skid looked even worse.
It was the first time the Hearts had lost four straight games in their brief year-and-a-half history. They were outscored 15-5 in that stretch, and 15-3 starting with the two extra-time goals they allowed in a 3-2 loss at Corpus Christi.
Portland had also lost three straight against USL League One games for the first time.
Two of the four losses were ugly 5-1 affairs. Portland didn’t lose by more than three goals and had just four losses by two or more goals in 2025.
RETURNS AND NOTES
Portland was glad to have Mikey Lopez back on the game-day roster. Lopez, who had bene out more than month because of an injury, entered as a 75th-minute sub with Portland leading 4-1. … Sean Vinberg, one of Portland’s primary starting center backs in 2025, became the second former Hearts player to return to Fitzpatrick, wearing the captain’s band for Richmond. Vinberg was released at the end of the 2025 season. He made 33 starts for Portland, second most on the team. … Maine Gatorade High School Soccer Players of the Year Finn Coburn (Scarborough) and Noelle Mallory (Cape Elizabeth) handled the honorary coin toss before the match.
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