Maine
Sun Life U.S. and Maine Celtics hold second annual Fit to Win program at Boys and Girls Club of Southern Maine

“We are excited to bring this program to the Boys and Girls Club of Southern Maine for the second year and support all the great work they do with the kids in our community,” said Dajuan Eubanks, team president, Maine Celtics. “We thank Sun Life for their partnership and continued support in bringing this program to Maine.”
Sun Life U.S. is a leading provider of employee benefits and health services that help people access the care and coverage they need. The company became partners of the Maine Celtics in 2023, an expansion of its partnership with the Boston Celtics. In June of that year Sun Life and the Maine Celtics unveiled a newly renovated basketball court at the Boys and Girls Club.
“When we equip kids with the knowledge they need to live healthier lives, we help them become healthy adults,” said Ed Milano, vice president of Marketing, Sun Life U.S. “We’re pleased to be able to work with the wonderful staff at the Boys and Girls Club, along with the Maine Celtics, and see how much fun the kids have during the Fit to Win experience.”
Sun Life U.S. has been an official partner of the Boston Celtics for more than a decade and has been conducting the Fit to Win program with the YMCA of Greater Boston since 2015. More than 2,000 children have participated in the program throughout New England. In addition to Fit to Win, Sun Life and the Boston Celtics conduct the #SunLifeDunk4Diabetes campaign each November, raising money for the YMCA of Greater Boston’s Healthy Habits program, which helps at-risk adults learn to better manage their health and avoid type 2 diabetes.
For more information about the Fit to Win program with Sun Life and the Boston Celtics, visit https://www.nba.com/celtics/community/fit-to-win.
About Sun Life
Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing asset management, wealth, insurance and health solutions to individual and institutional Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of September 30, 2024, Sun Life had total assets under management of C$1.51 trillion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com.
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.
Sun Life U.S. is one of the largest providers of employee and government benefits, helping approximately 50 million Americans access the care and coverage they need. Through employers, industry partners and government programs, Sun Life U.S. offers a portfolio of benefits and services, including dental, vision, disability, absence management, life, supplemental health, medical stop-loss insurance, and healthcare navigation. Sun Life employs more than 8,500 people in the U.S., including associates in our partner dental practices and affiliated companies in asset management. Group insurance policies are issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Wellesley Hills, Mass.), except in New York, where policies are issued by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, Mich.). For more information visit our website and newsroom.
About the Maine Celtics
Originally called the Maine Red Claws, the Maine Celtics have been the NBA G League Affiliate of the Boston Celtics since the team’s inaugural campaign during the 2009-10 season. The Boston Celtics purchased the franchise prior to the start of the 2019-20 season and renamed the team to the Maine Celtics in May 2021. The Celtics play their home games at the Portland Expo. During the Red Claws/Celtics’ first 13 seasons in Maine, 21 players have earned GATORADE Call-Ups to the NBA, including four players to Boston. Additionally, 37 Boston Celtics have been assigned to Maine for development or rehabilitation. 14 former Maine coaches have made the jump to the NBA, including Boston Celtics Head Coach Joe Mazzulla and Boston Celtics Director of Player Personnel Austin Ainge.
Media contacts
Devon Fernald
Sun Life U.S.
[email protected]
781-800-3609
Evans Boston
Maine Celtics
[email protected]
617-943-8776
https://www.facebook.com/SLFUnitedStates
https://www.linkedin.com/company/sun-life-financial
SOURCE Sun Life U.S.

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.
Maine
Opinion: Funding for Maine housing emergencies should be nonnegotiable

A few days ago in Augusta, a community member almost froze to death while they slept outside in single-degree weather. Perhaps lawmakers don’t know it, but on their way to the State House in the mornings, they are passing right by woods where more fellow Mainers have been camping. Then, elected leaders enter the marble hallways of the Capitol to consider funding — or cutting — programs that prevent evictions and build affordable homes.
None of us can have a productive, healthy life without a decent and affordable place to live. Housing comes first in our lives — and it should be a first priority in the state budget. Yet this year the governor has proposed cutting the housing program of last resort, General Assistance, making those facing eviction and homelessness eligible for only three months of relief a year.
She didn’t continue funding for the successful Eviction Prevention Program (EPP) created by the Legislature in 2024. In fact, the governor’s budget would even divert $10M from the HOME fund, which supports programs including affordable housing development, homelessness assistance, home repair and lead abatement.
Legislators must stand up for these programs and ensure they are adequately funded. Doing so would support thousands more families crushed by housing costs and better protect our cities and towns from housing and financial crises.
The EPP, an $18 million pilot, is expected to help at least 1,000 households pay their rent and avoid the trauma and displacement of an eviction. As soon as the program opened in October, applications rushed in from 1,800 renter households swamped with rising housing costs. Money continues to flow to help renters catch up and stay afloat. Each renter who is helped to stay in their home alleviates costs for GA, shelters and other programs.
Our legal team has helped Mainers who qualify for relief from the EPP. It’s life-changing.
In November, Maine Equal Justice met a tenant at eviction court in Portland. He owed his landlord back rent from being out of work for several months due to a serious illness, and his wife was working limited hours because of complications with her pregnancy. He was starting a new job in a couple of weeks, but it was going to be difficult for him to catch up on his debt. Our paralegal helped him apply for rent relief, and within a month, his landlord received a check to clear his debt. This assistance is going to help him and his wife save money for the birth of their first child, due any day now.
That’s the power of housing: this man, his wife and their child will spend their first months together in security and be able to work for a brighter future. Multiply that brighter beginning by the 1,000 households the EPP will help. We wish legislators could meet more families like this.
Losing a home can mean months or years of instability, job loss, lost education and stability for children and trauma. Maine undoubtedly needs to pull out all the stops for new construction, but it will take a decade or more to meet current needs, so supporting people who have an emergency now must be a top priority.
Maine people strongly support more housing solutions like the EPP. In 2024, Maine Equal Justice surveyed Mainers with low income; housing was the top concern by far, and nearly 90% supported extending the pilot to prevent more evictions.
Some worry that taking care of our renters facing eviction is too much for Maine to take on. They say we simply need more help from the federal government for programs like Section 8 (housing vouchers). That’s clearly not going to happen this year, and it’s no excuse to allow evictions to skyrocket.
Maine can prevent evictions, and their societal costs, by asking the wealthiest 1% and corporations to pay their fair share. What is the state for, if not marshaling resources for an emergency that is affecting every community and almost every business?
We know lawmakers want to do their best to make a difference for Maine people. We hope they’ll keep in mind how much of their work and success depends on their previous night’s sleep, morning shower, dinner and breakfast at the table, and knowing their families are safe and warm. Our homes are basic to everyone’s survival and success — and should not be treated as optional or up for negotiation in the budget.
Maine
Weekend storm bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain to southern Maine


Nico Doyle, 17, of Portland, clears snow from a neighbor’s driveway on Feb. 9, 2025. Another storm is headed to Maine this weekend. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald
A winter storm lasting more than 24 hours this weekend is expected to deliver a sampling of everything to southern Maine: snow, sleet and freezing rain.
“It’s all one kind of system. It’s a long duration one,” said Greg Cornwell, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Gray.
The storm will start with snow Saturday evening and into the night, and switch to freezing rain and sleet on Sunday, he said. The forecast is less than clear about when the system will change from snow to freezing rain. “It gets a little muddy if warm air comes in, then sleet and freezing rain,” Cornwell said.
Everyone from those who have to shovel their driveways, to children hoping to enjoy fresh snow on a holiday weekend will be watching how many inches of snow the storm will leave behind, but the weather system is likely to bring more than just fresh powder.
“Accumulated sleet is kind of an odd thing to walk on and shovel,” Cornwell said. “It’s kind of granular and doesn’t behave like snow packed down.”
“We’re confident it’s going to be an impactful winter storm for the region, but there are still details to be ironed out for snowfall or freezing rain,” he said.
The National Weather Service forecasts possible snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches Saturday night. Snow is expected to continue into Sunday afternoon, followed by sleet between 2 and 5 p.m., then freezing rain and more sleet. Snow and sleet accumulation of 3 to 7 inches is possible.
The totals are expected to be greater in northern and central Maine. The National Weather Service expects snow to spread across the region Saturday evening, with the potential for 8-12 inches across much of central Maine, including the Augusta and Lewiston areas. Parts of western Maine near Rangeley could see 10-16 inches.
As of Friday, forecasters expect the storm in southern Maine to taper off late Sunday night and move north. “Far southern Maine will be out of consistent precipitation by midnight Sunday,” Cornwell said.
Monday, President’s Day, is expected to be windy and blustery as the storm exits southern Maine.
Unlike previous storms that brought light, fluffy snow easily shoveled out of the way, the coming storm will have more moisture, Cornwell said.
This winter is shaping up to be more of a resurgence of normal weather after three years of milder, less snowy seasons. Before a storm Thursday that dropped between 10 inches and 12 snow inches of snow Portland had nearly reached last year’s total for the season.
After Sunday, southern Maine is likely to be on pace for its snowiest winter since 2017-18, according to a meteorologist at the National Weather Service said.
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