The Maine Independent News Collaborative is delighted to announce that the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, the nonprofit publisher of The Maine Monitor, is now a strategic partner of MINC and will work collaboratively with MINC and its partner news organizations.
MCPIR will bring its experience in investigative reporting, philanthropic fundraising, and audience engagement, in particular, to support the MINC newsrooms and to work with MINC partners and other independent newsrooms throughout Maine to support strong and sustainable journalism for Maine.
“We look forward to exploring collaborative news reporting projects, sharing knowledge, and supporting joint outreach and events,” said MCPIR Executive Director Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm. “In particular, we want to share our experience as a nonprofit to help Maine news organizations consider new ways to share their reporting and to seek philanthropic support for their important local journalism.”
“The addition of MCPIR and The Maine Monitor as a strategic partner of MINC to secure local news for Maine is an important move towards greater collaboration between news organizations throughout Maine — and towards a stronger news future for Maine,” Jo Easton, MINC steering committee member and Bangor Daily News Director of Development noted. “We are excited to expand MINC and look forward to building new partnerships and growing the impact of our work by addressing unmet news and information needs, investing in infrastructure of independent community news sources, and leveraging the collective to lower costs.”
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The Maine Monitor is the nonpartisan, independent publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 27-2623867), dedicated to delivering high-quality, nonpartisan investigative and explanatory journalism to inform Mainers about issues impacting our state and empower them to be engaged citizens. MCPIR is governed by an independent Maine-based board of directors with fiscal and strategic oversight responsibilities.
The Maine Independent News Collaborative was founded in 2023 by founding partners the Bangor Daily News, Eastern Maine Development Corporation and Unity Foundation. MINC is a collaborative journalism support organization representing 1.5 million readers comprising five local news organizations with common values: Amjambo Africa, the BDN, The Lincoln County News, Penobscot Bay Press and The Quoddy Tides. The project is fiscally sponsored by EMDC.
Learn more about MINC at maineindependentnewscollaborative.org.
The Maine Monitor
The Maine Monitor is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. Our team of investigative journalists use data- and document-based reporting to produce stories that have an impact.
Content labeled as “By The Maine Monitor” are written by staff editors and are reserved for newsroom announcements (e.g. stories about accolades earned or welcoming new hires). This content is reviewed and approved by another editor.
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After Maine’s first Democratic gubernatorial debate, I commented that the candidates seemed to be vying with each other to be agreeable. Would it last? Back then, I thought I’d be happy with any of them as Maine’s next governor.
Not so now, as I observe the cronyism of Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson and Hannah Pingree, whose plan to rank each other when they vote provides a blueprint for gaming the ranked-choice voting system in the primary. The political insiders are forming an alliance against the outsiders, Nirav Shah and Angus King III.
Shah’s campaign responded that it would stay focused on winning voters’ support, a more principled approach, in my estimation.
I prefer a governor who listens and learns from his constituents over one experienced at alliances and deal-making. I want integrity and leadership, not manipulation and exclusion.
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I no longer believe that Bellows, Jackson or Pingree would make a good governor.
BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – A Wall Street Journal article reports that Amy Gertner, the wife of Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, told campaign aides she found sexually explicit text messages on Platner’s phone after he launched his bid for office last year.
According to the report, Gertner disclosed the messages while aides were conducting opposition research, and she asked a campaign aide to review what Platner had sent—reportedly to several women—to determine whether it could become a liability for his campaign.
The Wall Street Journal reports Gertner believed she was confiding in someone she considered a friend.
The article also states the couple discussed the messages in marriage counseling.
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In a statement from Gertner provided by the Platner campaign, she wrote that they have gone through counseling and that their marriage today “is stronger than ever before.”
Amy Gertner provided a statement through the Platner campaign.
“I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend. In the months since, I have had to watch as she spread malicious gossip to anyone who would take her call. I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives – the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind – and I am deeply hurt by her betrayal and the invasion of our privacy.
“It is no secret that Graham and I have struggled on our fertility journey. We did the hard work that marriage requires. We went to counseling. We were honest with each other in ways that weren’t easy. And we came through it, not in spite of how much we’ve been through, but because of how much we love each other and the life we’ve built. Our marriage today is stronger than ever before.
“I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and the worst days of my life. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t.” – Amy Gertner
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Platner and Gertner married in 2024, according to the report.
