Radio Midcoast WCME - 995FM

04/25/2025

Jim Bleikamp here.

We will be looking for FOREVER HOMES on the Midcoast for the handsome dog Gunner and the sweet cat Junie when we do the WCME Creature Feature--your weekly pet and animal update at 8:35 this morning on the WCME Midcoast Morning Buzz.

Brought to you by the animal lovers at Darling's Brunswick Ford.

Bath Road--you'll do better at Darling.

04/25/2025

From WCME News -- Your 24/7 Midcoast Breaking News Leader

It's a financial milestone as well as a welcome milestone in the timeline of Maine's housing crisis. But is it the start of a trend?

After six years of significant increases, new data from the Maine Realtors Association indicate that home sale prices in Maine FINALLY declined last month, with a median price in the range of $376,000 -- a drop of nearly one percent in comparison to the same time last year.

848 homes changed hands last month -- about a six percent drop from March of last year.

Real estate agents say there are signs of an easier market ahead, but others caution that a one month drop does not mean that the housing crisis has ended, and no one is yet calling this a buyer's market.

04/25/2025

From WCME News --Your 24/7 Midcoast Breaking News Leader

We in Maine are deeply divided in our views of Governor Mills and President Trump but new survey data from the University of New Hampshire show Mills with greater approval than the president.

Survey results show Mills with an approval rating of 52 percent while 46 percent disapprove of her performance and two percent are not sure.

Just 42 percent of Mainers approve of Trump while 57 percent disapprove and one percent are not sure.

Both Mills and Trump have strong approval from members of their own parties and are intensely disliked by members of the opposing parties.

04/25/2025

From WCME News -- Your 24/7 Midcoast Breaking News Leader

New data from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center indicate that Susan Collins has a hard road ahead and much work to do in order to be re-elected next year.

The data find that more than two-thirds of Mainers, including most Republicans, don't feel Collins deserves to be re-elected.

A spokesperson for Collins’ campaign tells the Portland Press-Herald that “it is absurd to be polling at this point in the cycle” and says that the UNH polls, like many, have historically failed to predict the results of elections in which Collins has been engaged.

04/24/2025

Update from WCME News -- Your 24/7 Midcoast Breaking News Leader

Maine's education department is refusing to sign a letter certifying with the federal government that it has removed diversity, equity and inclusion programs from schools in compliance with Title VI.

Maine's education leaders are also asking school superintendents not to sign the letter.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in New Hampshire has now ruled that the federal directive overstepped the executive branch’s legal authority, and says the administration did not provide an adequate definition of DEI. The Trump administration is expected to appeal the ruling, which limits the administration's ability to withhold federal funds from public schools with DEI initiatives, one of which is the Brunswick School District.

However, the judge has not issued a nationwide pause on the policy. The ruling is limited to schools that employ or contract with at least one member of the groups that brought the lawsuit: the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, and the Center for Black Educator Development, a nonprofit that seeks to recruit and train Black teachers.

04/24/2025

From WCME News -- Your 24/7 Midcoast Breaking News Leader

State Senate President Mattie Daughtry, a Democrat, and the Senate's top Republican, Trey Stewart of Presque Isle, are jointly supporting a property tax relief compromise that may be difficult to finalize in a tight state budget environment.

The Bangor Daily News reports that the plan would increase the maximum property tax fairness credit from $1,500 to $2,000 for taxpayers younger than 65 and up to $2,500 for taxpayers 65 and older.

This plan would also set up a property tax relief task force that would eventually make recommendations on improving the property tax process and reducing Maine’s tax burden.

04/23/2025

From NBC News and WCME

President Zelinskyy stands firm on rejecting Russia's takeover of Crimea, which was illegally annexed in 2014, and is predictably slammed by Trump.

High-level talks in London aimed at bringing a pause to fighting in Ukraine disintegrated after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff pulled out.

04/23/2025

Jim Bleikamp here. Beginning in the late 90s and for about 15 years, until I began the process of resurrecting WCME, which had gone silent in Brunswick, I found myself in an area of the news business, where I never expected to be. Covering the world of finance--the markets. Most of that time as an anchor at the Wall Street Journal Radio Network.

But all this began with a friend taking over the radio operations at CNBC and graciously offering me a chance to give him some help. At first I wasn't sure I could do it--no background in this stuff. But I learned a great deal quickly.

The one mantra that more than any other has stayed with me over the years and is just about as certain as the law of gravity is that the market does not like--really HATES--uncertainty of any kind.

It's really as much or more about simple human nature than anything financial--we instinctively like security. Virtually no one wants to take huge risks with their money.

But more than a few who should know better are prone to forgetting a perpetual sure-fire reality.

Sometimes in dramatic fashion with dramatic consequences.

And this reality is playing out again today--President Trump, who many forget is a builder and not a financial strategist, is letting up on talk of firing Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman.

And what do you know the markets are up.

Off their session highs as I write this.

But still notably higher.

Stocks surged after President Donald Trump said he doesn't plan to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell from his post as central bank leader.

04/23/2025

WCME News Exclusive

After a public hearing that included comments from a number of landlords and from a member of the Brunswick Renters Organization, Brunswick town councilors have voted unanimously, with one councilor absent, to revise the town's rental registry ordinance.

The most notable change is the elimination of a registration fee for landlords, although they will face a fifty dollar penalty for late submission of required information--a fee that will double every thirty days with a maximum of $400.

Brunswick Economic Development Director Sally Costello says the town needs more information about the town's rental housing stock for adequate emergency response, if necessary. She also says information is needed to guarantee inspections on a timely basis.

The lone tenant speaking in the public hearing likes the revised ordinance and said that Brunswick needs a mechanism for holding negligent landlords accountable.

04/22/2025

From WCME News -- Your 24/7 Midcoast Breaking News Leader

Four college presidents in Maine, one of whom is Bowdoin College President Safa Zaki, have signed on to a letter accusing the Trump administration of “unprecedented government overreach and political interference.” It's a letter that so far has been signed by more than 230 college and university presidents and presidents of scholarly organizations throughout the nation.

The other three Maine presidents are Garry Jenkins of Bates College, David Greene of Colby College and James Herbert of the University of New England. The letter has been published by the American Association of Colleges and Universities.

The letter indicates that the signers "do not oppose legitimate government oversight." However, they do "oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live and work on our campuses. We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding.”

Most of the signing presidents represent private institutions, but there are some signers from state colleges and universities. However, a spokesperson for the University of Maine system is declining comment.

In recent months, the Trump administration has removed or threatened to remove federal funding from higher education institutions that don’t comply with the president's agenda on student protesters, admissions practices and transgender athlete policies.

04/22/2025

WCME Sports

A tough day and a tough loss for the Brunswick girls softball team.

Oxford Hills wins out 13-0.

04/22/2025

Update from WCME News -- Your 24/7 Midcoast Breaking News Leader

After a unanimous vote today in the Maine Senate, Governor Mills has now signed into law a bill to help the state's communities prepare for extreme weather situations and the long-term impact of climate change.

The measure also includes a grant program that will assist residents with investments in safeguarding their homes from extreme weather, and use federal funds to establish a new state office to reduce storm damage and protect infrastructure.

04/22/2025

From NBC News and WCME

Exclusive NBC reporting on Hegseth's latest information sharing.

Hegseth has denied the information he shared was classified, but it was given to him on a system for sensitive and classified information, sources told NBC News.

04/22/2025

Pope Francis on migrants and refugees:

"We must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories."

04/21/2025

From WCME News -- Your 24/7 Midcoast Breaking News Leader

After almost three months of frozen payments, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has now canceled a five-year, $35 million climate-smart agriculture grant to a demonstration farm at Wolfe's Neck Center in Freeport, which says it's been informed that it lost the grant because its overhead costs exceeded new guidelines set by the Trump administration.

The USDA has announced it is canceling most of the 135 projects funded by the $3.1 billion Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program, calling it a Biden-era slush fund “built to advance the green new scam at the benefit of (nongovernmental organizations)."

04/21/2025

From NBC News and WCME

The news comes about a month after the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was mistakenly added to a separate Signal chat with national security leaders.

04/21/2025

Breaking from NBC News and WCME

The pope is gone at the age of 88.

NBC's Astha Rajvanshi found the right words here:

He rattled the Church's traditionalists.

Francis is expected to be buried at the ancient Basilica of St. Mary Major, which lies outside the Vatican walls. A conclave will soon begin to elect the new Catholic leader.