Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman gave $2 million to Susan Collins’s super PAC. Since 2011, his firm has received an estimated $49 million in fees from Maine’s public employees.

The largest individual donor to Republican Senator Susan Collins’s super PAC leads a firm that’s raked in tens of millions of dollars in fees from Maine’s retirement system.

As his firm profits off Maine’s public workers, private equity billionaire Stephen Schwarzman has, in turn, plowed millions into efforts to re-elect Collins and keep the Senate under Republican control.

Last year, Schwarzman donated $2 million to Pine Tree Results, the primary super PAC backing Collins’s reelection campaign. He’s also given $5 million this election cycle to the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC affiliated with GOP Senate leaders that’s planning to spend $42 million to boost Collins in Maine. 

Schwarzman is the CEO of the Blackstone Group, which managed roughly $480 million for Maine’s retirement system last year, state records show.

Over the past 15 years, Blackstone has scored roughly $49 million in fees and expenses off the state of Maine’s investments, according to an estimate by Zeteo. This is an exceedingly conservative estimate, as it does not include the fees that alternative-investment firms like Blackstone typically charge on funds’ profits.

[Note Schwarzman’s $2 million donation to the Collins PAC was done the day before she voted to advance the BBB. Schwarzman’s firm is also gobbling up Maine real estate and general mortgage debt then selling the REITs on to the CCP. His firm is the primary stakeholder in two companies turning Amazon rainforest into agribusiness — the Amazon burns have been escalating for years.]

You're probably getting these nifty craft papers in the mail by now. I generally use them as a weed blocker in my garden, but today I discovered they are the perfect weight and size to serve as a paint guard when painting an old frame to avoid painting the canvas. My neighbors have gleefully donated their craft papers to me for just this reason. Wanted to pass this idea along to my friends!

A group of Gorham residents is asking Cumberland County Superior Court to overturn the planning board’s approval of Amazon’s proposed 146,280-square-foot distribution center.

The appeal, filed by citizens group Gorham United, alleges that the planning board failed to apply some of Gorham’s land use ordinances in its Sept. 14 approval of Amazon’s project. The group argued the megaretailer’s application did not present full evidence the project would comply with town standards governing traffic, public safety, wetlands and stormwater.

The appeal contends that the board approved Amazon’s project without a sufficient plan to mitigate significant traffic and wetland impacts, and that the project will “affect Gorham United members’ property, neighborhood conditions, traffic safety, environmental resources, public infrastructure, and interests.”

The warehouse is projected to see over 3,000 daily truck, van and car trips and impact 34,918 square feet of freshwater wetlands on 94 acres.

Read the rest on the Press Herald.

I just want people to be aware of this, because I simply do not see how the costs for insurance are sustainable. Something needs to change, and I am so disappointed that no one is taking about it.

For a tax household of 2, say aged 50, making $83k a year, you can get a health insurance plan for as low as $5 per month with a tax credit.

If you make $86k per year, this same plan now costs $2000 per month.

If you make $200k per year, the plan costs $2000 per month.

This is the case for 2026, and continues for 2027.

What the hell are we doing here? Obviously if you are truly making $86k a year, you need to lower taxable income down to qualify for a tax credit, it’s very clear situation. But if you are $95k, $100k, $105k, the ability to lower taxable income down becomes much, much harder.

This is all just so incredibly ridiculous, and something, anything needs to happen to address it. But all I see and hear is silence. Nothing at all being discussed about it.

It is incredibly sad and I am losing faith in our state and country. Our priorities are so out of whack. I just can’t believe it to be honest.

It really is a shame how much rail has declined. You used to be able to travel from Union Station to cities all over New England or places in Canada like Montreal or Halifax.

I am looking for a lidded jar in which to store coffee in my pantry, and I would really love to get one from a local ceramicist rather than from some department store. The jar should be able to contain at least one pound of ground coffee.

Anyone recommend a particular artist? I would prefer someone based close to Portland/Scarborough so I could see the item before purchasing to ensure it's not too large for my pantry shelf but I'm ultimately open to anyone in Maine. Would love to pay someone directly and not through Etsy to make sure they get 100% of the money.

This will affect my patients in Maine that can't afford expensive brand name meds except via Canada. More will be affected next year when they can no longer afford insurance or lose Mainecare.

Per one source quoted in the article, you can still drive to Quebec or New Brunswick and bring back a 90 day supply for now.

Sorry, can’t find a gift link on the Wall Street Journal page

So who has the details on the Sasquatch Festival in Stratton this weekend? I’m curious on if the drive from Portland would be worth it?

It passed the committee but was later killed.

Here is the link to the legislation.

Here is the link to who voted on the bill.

It seems most of the D's voted no. Is there any reason why?

I know some people really made out doing this with heating oil before the war jacked the prices up, but what about propane? Dead River hasn't filled my propane tanks since May, when it was 4.09/gallon, so I have no idea what it's going for now or what a good price would be.

Is this state wide or just some areas? MP is the only Medicare we have ever had. Any suggestions for an alternative plan?

For me, it’s the movie Reptile (2023) with Benicio Del Toro, and the 4th Season of The Sinner. Both have good plots, however Reptile is supposed to take place in Scarborough, something I found out only after the movie, since it does such a terrible job of portraying Maine (believe the entire thing was filmed in Georgia). And the Sinner. Not actually that bad, some parts did actually feel like Maine but I remember watching it with people, and there’s a flashback to a character running away from her small island town to Portland, and they show her in the middle of a crazy night life in this packed and giant night club with lasers and strobes everywhere and we almost fell off the couch laughing.