Seth Koenig
Portland Bureau
Seth Koenig, formerly of the Brunswick Times Record, covers the Greater Portland area for the Bangor Daily News. He has been named both New England Journalist of the Year and Maine Journalist of the year.
Making ‘endangered places’ list could help restore landmark Portland building
PORTLAND, Maine — Portland’s 185-year-old Abyssinian Meeting House, which was built before the Civil War by free African-Americans, has been listed as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 “Most Endangered Historic Places.” “Frederick Douglass was here. William Lloyd Garrison was here. They spoke here,” said Leonard Cummings, ...
SETH AND THE CITY (blog)
Maine sunsets light up the Twitterverse
on June 18, 2013, at 9:31 p.m.
If you were on Twitter tonight — or still are — you’re seeing a lot of really amazing sunsets being posted (nay, Tweeted). I figured I’d collect a handful and post them in a gallery here for one-stop shopping. Some quotes from the 140-character soapbox: @themutewaitress : The sky was ...
Town slogans, from ‘Don’t pass Gas’ to the ‘Center of the known universe’
Yes. Life is good in Portland. Elsewhere in the nation, cities such as Las Vegas (“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”) and New York City (“I love New York”) have found great success branding, merchandising and attracting visitors with snappy slogans. Others have done the best with what they ...
VIDEO
Yes. Life is good life in Portland? New city slogan receives some no’s
PORTLAND, Maine — Yes. Life’s good here. So are the lobsters, biking and art. Moments after Portland officials announced the city’s new slogan at City Hall Tuesday, reaction on the street was largely lukewarm. “My first impression was kind of, ‘That’s it?’ It wasn’t a good first impression,” said Portland ...
South Portland voters likely to see ordinance to block tar sands on November ballot
SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — A group hoping to block transportation of so-called tar sands oil through South Portland — one end of the Portland-Montreal Pipeline — have gathered four times the number of signatures needed to put a prohibitive new ordinance on the November ballot. If the City Clerk’s office ...
SETH AND THE CITY (blog)
The first Southern Maine Pride Festival since same-sex marriages were legalized
on June 15, 2013, at 11:27 p.m.
SETH AND THE CITY (blog)
The first Southern Maine Pride Festival since same-sex marriages were legalized
on June 15, 2013, at 11:27 p.m.
POLL QUESTION
Is Maine’s population too old and white to be sustainable?
PORTLAND, Maine — The number of annual deaths in Maine has eclipsed the number of births for the first time in recent history, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and economists in the state fear the trend will shrink the work force and make doing business here more and more ...
VIDEO
Portland Adult Education center needs new home after 27 years in ‘temporary’ spot
PORTLAND, Maine — Portland Adult Education moved its academic classes into a former elementary school building on Douglass Circle in what was intended to be a temporary home. That was nearly 27 years ago. Now the public program, which annually serves approximately 2,500 students who are seeking to finish high ...
SETH AND THE CITY (blog)
Westbrook schools avoid drama, add jobs without increasing local taxes
on June 12, 2013, at 2:44 p.m.
All across the state today, we’re looking at results from yesterday’s school budget validation votes. The state-mandated second step in the annual local school budget approval process has added some drama to the June election days, which for many Maine communities had only previously attracted attention when political primaries for ...
SETH AND THE CITY (blog)
Updated: Portland takes another look at ordinance that would restrict panhandling
on June 11, 2013, at 6:21 p.m.
Tonight, the Portland City Council’s Public Safety, Health and Human Services Committee is taking another look at a proposed ordinance that would prevent people from lingering in the median strips in city streets. The larger council voted 6-3 against a similar ordinance last July, with representatives of the ACLU of ...
Portland voters may make history with recreational pot referendum this fall
PORTLAND, Maine — Statewide voters won’t get a chance to weigh in on whether recreational pot use should be legal this fall, but Portland voters just might. A group seeking to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Maine’s largest city announced Tuesday that it has enough signatures to get the ...
Portland building under investigation after bricks rain down: ‘Is this something that could happen elsewhere?’
PORTLAND, Maine — Work crews welded steel braces onto the side of the State Theatre building Monday afternoon after the aging facade came undone, raining brick and debris onto the street below on Sunday. The cause has not been determined. Representatives of Stone Coast Properties LLC, the company that manages ...
VIDEO
LePage supporters launch ad opposing budget deal
AUGUSTA, Maine — A conservative advocacy group associated with Gov. Paul LePage will begin running television ads opposing a budget deal reached by lawmakers last week. Maine People Before Politics, a group that evolved from the Republican governor’s 2010 transition fund, is launching a television ad campaign starting Tuesday pressuring ...
Bringing life back to Bayside: Portland’s proposed Midtown project at the forefront of master planning movement in Maine
PORTLAND, Maine — Developers of a four-tower, two-parking garage proposal in the Bayside neighborhood are the first to seek “master development plan” status in Portland — a strategy previously reserved for former military bases. Portland City Planner Jeffrey Levine said the master plan concept, providing incentives to developers to lay ...
Portland police seek man who allegedly attacked and threatened former girlfriend with handgun
PORTLAND, Maine — Portland police are searching for a Westbrook man they say attacked a former girlfriend and threatened her with a handgun at the city’s Trolley Park Thursday. Police said in a Thursday afternoon announcement that warrants have been issued for Michael Thurston, 49, on charges of criminal threatening ...
Brawl breaks out at Cumberland County jail over a magazine, one officer injured
PORTLAND, Maine — A corrections officer was injured during an inmate brawl at the Cumberland County Jail that started over a magazine, the county sheriff’s office announced late Wednesday. The incident, which took place at 11:15 a.m. on May 30, occurred in one of the jail’s medium security units. According ...
SETH AND THE CITY (blog)
Portland police want citizens to keep watch for suspicious behavior as big summer crowds arrive
on June 06, 2013, at 11:02 a.m.
Portland police this week are reminding area residents to be vigilant as summer rolls in — accompanied by crowds of visitors and popular events such as this weekend’s Old Port Festival. In a Thursday morning announcement, Portland police reminded locals that tips, photos and videos from the public were crucial ...
UNE researcher nets 7-foot, 250-pound Atlantic sturgeon in Saco River, says it’s a sign of the prehistoric fish’s comeback
BIDDEFORD, Maine — University of New England associate professor James Sulikowski has a big fish story. On Wednesday, his team of marine science researchers caught what they estimate to be a 7-foot-long, 250-pound Atlantic sturgeon on the Saco River, potentially the largest ever recorded in the southern Maine waterway. That ...
Portland musician finds, researches decades-old family notebook of Acadian songs ‘on the verge of extinction’
PORTLAND, Maine — There’s good news and bad news when it comes to the survival of many traditional folk songs, Portland musician Robert Sylvain learned. They’re oftentimes orally passed down from generation to generation, and as such, they carry tremendous nostalgic and familial value. That’s the good news. The bad ...
LePage speaks frankly to Dirigo Girls State delegates
Orono man enters not guilty pleas in Cable kidnapping, murder
Handful of Republicans being pressured to override LePage Medicaid veto
LePage fails to surprise on Medicaid expansion
The cost of requiring more renewable power
A vote against the budget is a vote for a state shutdown
Maine Sports Hall of Fame revokes Dana Wilson’s 2012 induction
American Lung Association retires number of cyclist killed in Trek Across Maine
Retiring Hermon High School athletic administrator Soucy maintains love of sports
Pats’ Hernandez questioned in homicide case
Midcoast multibajillionaire knows what her husband is doing before he does it
The Esther II: A father’s boat, a son’s heart