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Maine has recorded 500-plus earthquakes. But you wouldn’t know it with most of them. – The Boston Globe

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Maine has recorded 500-plus earthquakes. But you wouldn’t know it with most of them. – The Boston Globe


Many New Englanders were jolted Monday morning when they felt their homes and offices rattle and heard a brief rumble as a 3.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Maine startled communities up to 250 miles away.

The US Geological Survey said this quake, whose epicenter was about 7 miles from southern Maine’s coastal town of York, was the strongest earthquake to strike the Northeast since last April’s 4.8 shaker in northern New Jersey, which was also felt across must of Southern New England, including Boston.

Leslie Sonder, an associate professor of Earth sciences at Dartmouth College, said although today’s quake was 10 times smaller in amplitude and 30 times less in energy than the New Jersey earthquake, we could still feel the tremor because of our region’s rock composition formed over the span of a billion years.

“The cold rock structure underlying the East Coast means that seismic waves are transmitted much more efficiently,” said Sonder. “As a result, vibrations from even small earthquakes are felt over much larger areas than they would be in western states such as California.”

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Maine, like the other New England states, is no stranger to earthquakes. Quakes actually occur multiple times per month in our region. Minor earthquakes, generally a magnitude 2 or lower on the Richter scale, which measures the strength of earthquakes, are barely noticeable as we go about our day, according to experts. There have been hundreds of these low-end shakes on record.

“The Weston Observatory records about three to five minor earthquakes per month, but once you get to the magnitude of 3, we usually capture one per year,” said John Ebel, a senior research scientist at Weston Observatory at Boston College. “(Today’s) event was closer to a 4.0 magnitude, which happens about one in five years,” which goes for any earthquake at a strength of 3 or higher on the Richter scale.

Since 1900, there have been more than 500 earthquakes recorded across the state of Maine or within instrument range, according to the USGS. Most of them range from a 1 to 3 magnitude.

The state of Maine sees decent seismic activity, but larger earthquakes that we can actually feel occur once every five years.USGS

“When you get to or above a 5.0 magnitude, which happens about every 100 years, that’s where damage occurs,” added Ebel. “In 1755, we had a 6.2 earthquake by Cape Ann, Mass. which did a lot of damage.”

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The largest earthquake ever recorded in or off the coast of Maine was in 1907, where a 5.7-magnitude quake occurred in extreme Downeast Maine, within Passamaquoddy Bay.

However, there has been a notable cluster of earthquakes whose epicenters have lied between Cape Ann off the North Shore, stretching to southern Maine, where the earthquake on Monday occurred. Experts suggest that the strike-slip fault across a several fault lines in the Gulf of Maine may indicate that they’re becoming more fragile, with the developing concentration of epicenters focusing south of Portland and off the New Hampshire and Massachusetts coast.


Ken Mahan can be reached at ken.mahan@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @kenmahantheweatherman.





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Maine

Mass. man killed in Maine snowmobile crash remembered as loving father, husband

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Mass. man killed in Maine snowmobile crash remembered as loving father, husband


A Massachusetts man who died in a snowmobile crash in Maine on Thursday is being remembered as a loving father and husband.

Haverhill resident Jamie Rooney, 52, was riding on a trail in Jackman when he crashed into the truck just before 1:45 p.m. He died at the scene, but the tractor-trailer driver was not injured in the crash.

Rooney died “doing what he loved the most,” according to his obituary. He was the “cherished” husband of Christine Rooney.

  • Read more: Mass. man killed in snowmobile crash with tractor-trailer in Maine, reports say

In a Sunday Facebook post, his son, Kyle Rooney, described him as having an “infectious smile.” The father and son enjoyed playing cribbage and pool together and watching New England Patriots games.

“You were the best Dad, the best husband, the best baseball and hockey coach, the best HVAC tech, the best role model anyone can look up to,” Kyle Rooney wrote of his father.

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A visitation has been scheduled for Rooney for Sunday, Feb. 9 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Driscoll Funeral Home in Haverhill, according to his obituary. A service for Rooney is set follow at 4 p.m. at the funeral home.



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Maine congressional leaders react to President Trump’s new tariffs

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Maine congressional leaders react to President Trump’s new tariffs


BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – After President Trump imposed new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, Maine congressional leaders released statements on the move.

Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) said “President Trump campaigned on tariffs as a tool to level the playing field between American workers and industries and our foreign competitors.”

“I don’t agree with Trump on everything, but he’s right that the old deal stinks, and we need a new one,” said Golden.

“Tariffs push back against decades of free trade and globalization that prioritized low prices above all else. It was a race to the bottom that left America deep in trade debt and dependent on foreign nations and gutted our manufacturing sector, domestic supply chains, and entire middle-class communities.”

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“By privileging our own production and industries — something other countries already do — tariffs can help us rewire our economy for production, not just consumption,“ said Golden.

“We can incentivize job creation and manufacturing while leveling the playing field and rebalancing our trade. These tariffs are also a leveraging tool to help crack down on the deadly flow of fentanyl into our country.”

“Reversing the damage of decades of globalization will take time,” said Golden.

“In the meanwhile, every dollar raised in tariff revenue should be used to offset costs for Americans or invest in and protect American jobs and industries. Paired with increased energy production, support for unions, regulatory reform, and infrastructure investment, tariffs are one piece of the puzzle for building a strong, production-based economy that works for working families.”

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) expressed concern on tariffs.

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“President Trump’s tariffs will have devastating consequences for Mainers and our economy, driving up costs for working families and destabilizing key industries that our state relies on,” said Pingree.

“A 25 percent tariff on essential imports from Canada—including home heating oil, electricity, and raw materials for our mills and fisheries—is nothing more than an added tax on hardworking Mainers, who are already grappling with high costs. Rural communities will feel the brunt of these price hikes, particularly those in Aroostook and Washington counties who rely on electricity imported from New Brunswick. And let’s not forget the impact on our lobster industry, which is still recovering from previous trade wars and now faces potential retaliatory tariffs from Canada, a key processing hub for Maine-caught lobster.”

“Tariffs can be a useful tool when implemented in a responsible, targeted way,” said Pingree.

“But these broad, indiscriminate tariffs will only drive up costs for hardworking Americans and make it more difficult for businesses to stay competitive. We should be investing in policies that truly support domestic manufacturing—like the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, which are already creating good-paying jobs here at home. These tariffs are bad policy, plain and simple.”

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Opinion: Remembering Marianne Faithfull

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Opinion: Remembering Marianne Faithfull


Marianne Faithfull died this week at the age of 78, after a full and often raucous life that ranged from the top of the rock world to the depths of addiction and homelessness.

Marianne Faithfull’s father was once a spy; her mother a pence-less baroness. Marianne was singing in London folk clubs as a teenager, and recorded a worldwide hit, “As Tears Go By”, at 17. It was an early composition by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, and she began a turbulent relationship with Jagger that ended her marriage and inspired some of the Stones’ most celebrated songs.

But Marianne Faithfull was famously caught up in a drug bust at Richards’ place in 1967, clad only in a fur rug. She lost a baby, split from Jagger, struggled with heroin abuse, depression and eating disorders, and lived on London streets for a couple of years.

“It’s a great honor to be a muse,” Marianne Faithfull once told Britain’s Saga Magazine, but added, “that’s a very hard job.”

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Yet Marianne Faithfull had only just begun. She came back from addiction to release celebrated albums and act on stage and screen, including a convincing cameo as God in the British TV series “Absolutely Fabulous”. She received the World Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Women’s World Awards, and was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the government of France, where she had come to live.

In 2018, Marianne Faithful released her 20th studio album and recorded “As Tears Go By” once more. She turned a song she once sang as a teen who is wistful to find out she can no longer be a child, “doing things I used to do,” into the reflections of a wise woman who has lived through, and learned a lot in life; and has reached “the evening of the day.”

Copyright 2025 NPR





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