Maine

Maine passes extensive gun safety bill in response to Lewiston mass shooting

Published

2 years ago

April 18, 2024

Maine passes extensive gun safety bill in response to Lewiston mass shooting

Lawmakers in Maine voted to enact comprehensive gun safety measures less than six months after the deadliest mass shooting in state history left 18 people dead and more than a dozen injured.

Legislation approved Thursday strengthens background checks on private gun sales and makes it a criminal offense to wantonly provide a firearm to someone who shouldn’t have one.

The bill, urged by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills, also provides funding for a mental health crisis center in Lewiston, where Army reservist Robert Card went on a deadly Oct. 25 shooting spree, targeting a bowling alley and a bar.

Gun safety steps taken Thursday came hours after Maine’s Senate agreed to a 72-hour waiting period on gun purchases. The governor will review that bill as well as another that would ban bump stocks.

Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, left, confers with Senate Majority Leader Eloise Vitelli, D-Arrowsic, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harold “Trey” Stewart, R-Presque Isle, and Assistant Senate Minority Leader Sen. Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield, in front of the rostrum during a break in the morning session Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at the Maine State House in Augusta, Maine. (Joe Phelan/The Kennebec Journal via AP)

Executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition Nacole Palmer called this week’s actions by lawmakers “significant steps” toward keeping citizens safe.

While some Mainers impacted by Card’s shooting spree supported measures to make mass shootings in the state less likely, Ben Dyer, who was shot five times that night, told the Associated Press he’s not sure Thursday’s actions legislators accomplish that feat.

“A sick person did a sick thing that day,” he said. “And the Legislature and politicians are trying to capitalize on that to get their agendas passed.”

Dyer believes rigid gun control laws mainly hurt law-abiding weapon owners.

Card was institutionalized prior to his killing spree and said he “heard voices” before opening fire on civilians in Maine’s second-largest city.

Maine has yellow flag laws that allow police to ask courts to consider whether an individual is fit to possess a gun. The state hasn’t been able to pass a red flag law that would allow family members to petition a judge directly with concerns about a loved one’s access to firearms.

Card had 20 years of military experience, but was never deployed, officials said. The 40-year-old shooter took his own life shortly after using his Ruger SFAR semi-automatic rifle to wreak havoc on unsuspecting patrons at Just-in-Time Recreation bowling alley and Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant.

With News Wire Services

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Maine

After feds cut key food insecurity survey, Maine lawmaker urges state to fill data void

Published

5 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

After feds cut key food insecurity survey, Maine lawmaker urges state to fill data void

With food insecurity on the rise, Maine lawmakers are scrambling to ensure they have a sense of how many people are going hungry after the federal government’s recent cancellation of a key food insecurity survey. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Household Food Security Report, started under former President Bill Clinton, measured rates of food insecurity […]

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Maine

Maine Mariners add two defenseman

Published

17 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Defensemen Max Wanner was re-assigned to the Maine Mariners from the Providence Bruins on Thursday. Defenseman Michael Underwood was also re-assigned to Maine.

Wanner, 22, was acquired by the Boston Bruins when they traded Trent Federic to Edmonton last March. He played in 15 games for the AHL Providence Bruins at the end of last season, and seven this season.

Underwood returns for his second stint with the Mariners. He appeared in 67 games with Maine last season.

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Maine

Maine libraries scramble for books after distributor closes

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Maine libraries scramble for books after distributor closes

Rosanne Barnes, an adult services reader’s advisor, shelves new fiction books at Portland Public Library on Wednesday. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)

Some hot new titles have been arriving late at Maine libraries in recent months, after the closing of one the country’s major library book distributors.

Baker & Taylor, based in North Carolina, began winding down its operations in the fall and expects to close entirely this month. The company’s demise has left many Maine libraries scrambling to buy books through other sources, including local book stores, and to endure deliveries taking twice as long.

That means patrons expecting to get new books on or near publication dates are waiting longer to start turning pages.

At the Portland Public Library, “Heart The Lover” by Maine author Lily King wasn’t available to patrons until nearly a month after its Sept. 30 publication date, even though it was ordered in July. At the Libby Memorial Library in Old Orchard Beach, John Grisham’s Oct. 21 release “The Widow” took six weeks to arrive. Staff at the Kennbunk Free Library weren’t sure how long they’d have to wait for “The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans, so they bought two copies at a local store, Octopus Bookshop. As of this week, there were 28 holds on the book.

“Baker & Taylor closing has totally rocked the library world nationwide. It has long been the preferred vendor among many Maine libraries, and their closure is certainly having an impact on us,” said Sarah Skawinski, associate director of the Portland Public Library and president of the Maine Library Association. “I think we’re over the hump now, though.”

Skawinski and other librarians say Baker & Taylor had been having problems getting books from publishers and had been slow with some deliveries, a problem that began during the COVID pandemic. Last year when it became apparent Baker & Taylor was likely going out of business, many libraries switched to the nation’s other major distributor, Ingram Content Group, as well as another company called Brodart Library Supplies. But with increased demand, both those companies have been slow in filling some orders in the last couple months, too.

Industry publications reported that Baker & Taylor’s problems were mostly financial, beginning in the pandemic and included the failed acquisition of another company. An email to Baker & Taylor asking for more information on its closure was not answered Wednesday.

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Aspen Kraushaar checks books in at the front desk at the Kennebunk Free Library on Wednesday. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)

Not every Maine library bought the majority of its books from Baker & Taylor; some used other distibutors instead. Staff at the Waterville Public Library, for instance, say they rarely used the company and weren’t impacted. The Lithgow Public Library in Augusta was only getting about four books a month from Baker & Taylor, said Director Sarah Curra Schultz-Nielsen. Those included children’s books, reference books and travel guides. Finding other distributors for those books, including Brodart and Bookshop, a company that sells mainly to independent bookstores, has been “mildly inconvenient” for staff and has not impacted patrons, Schultz-Nielsen said.

But other libraries used Baker & Taylor for most of its new releases, including fiction and non-fiction, as well to replacements for worn-out books. Stephen King’s books, for instance, have to be replaced pretty regularly, some librarians said.

The Portland Public Library had been ordering about 1,000 items a month from Baker & Taylor, mostly printed books. The library has about 359,000 physical items in its collection. Now, new books are coming to the library from Ingram, but will take maybe four weeks to arrive, compared to one to two weeks when Baker & Taylor was running smoothly.

And there is added work for librarians: While Baker & Taylor sent books that had already been catalogued and ready to be shelved, with bar codes and spine labels, Ingram is not yet offering that service, said Nicole Harkins, cataloging librarian at the Portland library.

“Patrons are aware it’s taking longer and they’re being patient,” Harkins said.

Kennebunk Free Library also switched to Ingram, and staff are spending more time prepping books, including putting protective plastic covers on them, said Allison Atkins, assistant director and head of adult services. Atkins said library staff wrote about their “book ordering troubles” in a library newsletter and on social media, so patrons would understand why new books were slow to arrive. The library used to get about 100 books a month from Baker & Taylor and despite still being “way behind” on new books, patrons have been patient, Atkins said.

For smaller libraries with smaller staffs, finding a new supplier is not always easy. Baker & Taylor was the major books supplier for Davis Memorial Library in Limington. The staff there is so small that they didn’t have time to research or compare new suppliers, so they waited until early this month, said Heidi Libby, the library’s director. As a result, the library has very few new arrivals on its shelves right now and has been filling the “new book” shelves with donated books as well as ordering from Amazon.

Several librarians said this week that local book stores have been a big help during this period, getting books quickly and pricing them affordably. Sherman’s Maine Coast Bookshops, which has 10 stores across the state, saw its sales to local libraries increase from $50,000 in 2024 to nearly $100,000 in 2025, said Jeff Curtis, owner and CEO of Sherman’s.

The Auburn Public Library would sometimes get more than 300 books a month from Baker & Taylor, including books for adults, teens, and children, as well as fiction and nonfiction as well as some large print books and CDs, said Nancy O’Toole, collections manager at the library.

When Baker & Taylor started having problems, the library bought books from Amazon and the local Bull Moose music and book store chain. Now, with Baker & Taylor closing, the library has switched to Ingram, but has seen delivery delays as that company has been inundated with new customers. This week the library got an order of books that were released in November, including “Exit Strategy” by Lee Child and Andrew Child, “The Seven Rings” by Nora Roberts and “Return of the Spider” by James Patterson.

“The hope is that now that the holidays are over, shipping from Ingram will expedite. But just to be safe, we are choosing to buy certain books elsewhere, including titles by big-name authors, popular series, or anything tied to a fast-approaching holiday,” said O’Toole. “Patrons want to see those titles on the shelf in a timely manner, and we want to make sure we fulfill those expectations.”

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