Tom Walsh
Washington County bureau
Tom Walsh, who won numerous state, regional and national awards as a reporter for the Ellsworth American weekly newspaper from 2004-08, is based in the BDN's bureau located at 25 Main St. in Machias. Walsh worked as a science reporter for the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette from 2001-04 and also taught journalism at the University of Iowa, where he earned his degree in journalism in 1972. He earned a master’s degree in communication studies from Dublin City University in Ireland in 2002.
Washington County tidal generation project featured on Popular Science cover
EASTPORT, Maine — A first-generation, Maine-built tidal energy turbine is a cover girl, adorning the front of Popular Science magazine’s June 2013 issue, which hit newsstands this week. For years, Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Co. has been engineering, fabricating and testing underwater tidal generation technology in waters off the Washington ...
The season of the itch: Bugs that bite are both a nuisance and a public health concern in Maine
Between black flies, mosquitoes and ticks, spring and summer in Maine can be the season of the itch. While black flies are a May-July seasonal nuisance in Maine, black flies don’t spread disease. Mosquitoes and ticks can, and do, including West Nile virus spread by ’skeeters and Lyme disease spread ...
Regulating a proposed resurgence in mining under debate in Augusta
AUGUSTA, Maine — There hasn’t been an active mining operation in Maine for 40 years, but the prospect of new mining activity in Aroostook County is fueling a State House debate over the environmental effects of open-pit mining. During an afternoon work session Wednesday, the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Environmental ...
Restoration efforts put spotlight on once plentiful alewives
Despite alewives being the focus of sometimes contentious efforts to improve their access to Down East Maine freshwater spawning habitats, these migratory fish remain something of a mystery to many, while at the same time remaining a favorite food for wide variety of Maine wildlife. Alewives as a meal for ...
Age, lifestyle contribute to high cancer rate in Maine
The next time the Red Sox are on TV from Boston, think about this: Half of the men and a third of the women packed into Fenway Park to watch the game will receive a diagnosis of cancer during their lifetimes. The bleak reality is that half of those who ...
Debate raging in Augusta over genetically modified food labeling
AUGUSTA, Maine — The State House debate over requiring labeling of food products that have been genetically modified is one of many similar debates now raging throughout the country. It is also a debate that has been underway in Maine for 20 years. Legislative proposals to require labeling of consumables ...
Hampden amateur astronomer’s search team discovers distant exploding star
STEUBEN, Maine — Professional astronomers in Italy have confirmed that an amateur astronomy team headed by Doug Rich of Hampden recently discovered a newly visible exploding star in a galaxy that is 420 million light years from Earth. The discovery was made April 7 by the Eagle Hill Supernova Search ...
Pat’s Pizza expanding into Washington County
MACHIAS, Maine — Pat’s Pizza, one of Maine’s oldest and most popular family restaurant franchises, is weeks away from expanding to a new location in Machias. Work has been underway for months within the building at 168 Main St., which also houses a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise. On Tuesday, a four-person ...
Washington County mourns weekend death of longtime sheriff’s deputy Lester Seeley
DENNYSVILLE, Maine — Lester Seeley’s April 7 retirement party attracted nearly 200 people paying tribute to a man who Washington County Sheriff Donnie Smith described Monday as a “true American hero.” With his son and four daughters at his bedside, Seeley, 74, died Saturday evening at his home in Dennysville ...
Former Somerset County administrator named new Eastport city manager
EASTPORT, Maine — Larry Post, 60, a former administrator of Somerset County, will begin his new position as city manager in Eastport next week. The Eastport City Council met in executive session Wednesday night to make the hiring decision, according to Mary Repole, who chairs the five-member council. Post was among ...
Year one of Eastport tidal turbine research presents challenges
EASTPORT, Maine — Months of underwater testing in Cobscook Bay of experimental, tidal-based electrical generation technologies were not without its challenges, according to a research report recently filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Co. said in its 653-page, 2012 environmental monitoring report on its ...
Tuesday morning fire drives Addison family from their home
ADDISON, Maine — Fire heavily damaged the Indian River Road home of an Addison family Tuesday morning, but those who were inside escaped without injury. “It basically destroyed it,” Addison Fire Chief Sheldon Trundy said of Tuesday’s fire. “It was a really old house. It was close to 200 years ...
Wanted Presque Isle man arrested after allegedly bringing gun into bar
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Presque Isle police officers and Maine State Police troopers responded just after midnight Sunday to a report of a man with a gun at Bou’s Brew Pub on Main Street in Presque Isle. Officers responding found that the pub’s staff had removed, disarmed and detained a ...
Mandatory sea kayak life preserver bill drifts in legislative limbo
LAMOINE, Maine — As a by-the-book Republican, State Rep. Richard Malaby isn’t a proponent of regulating what he feels should be common sense. Don’t want to wear a motorcycle helmet? Fine. Don’t want to use your seal belt? Fine. Don’t want to wear a life jacket while sea kayaking? Fine. ...
Spring on the Schoodic Peninsula means Chester Pike’s is open
SULLIVAN, Maine — A silver sliver of a crescent moon rose over Frenchman Bay early Saturday morning as Bill and Stephanie Freeman’s alarm clock did its thing at their home in Trenton. “We set our alarm for 5 a.m., so we would be the first ones here,” Stephanie said after ...
Maine-born infant’s fight for life against rare eye cancer strains family on both coasts
LUBEC, Maine — Linda Maker is waiting on a miracle. So is her daughter. And so is her daughter’s daughter. And so is that daughter’s daughter, 7-month-old Londyn Elise Porter, whose young life is on the line. Londyn was 4 months old when she was diagnosed with a rare and ...
The mysterious elver, from Sargasso Sea to sushi
MACHIAS, Maine — Lost in the rhetorical fog of the ongoing economic, political and cultural controversies surrounding the netting of glass eels along Maine’s rugged shoreline is the grim fate that awaits the elvers being harvested. Two prominent naturalists recently interviewed by the Bangor Daily News said they share a ...
Talks on expanding, renovating Washington County’s courthouse continue, over sheriff’s objections
MACHIAS, Maine — Washington County’s Board of Commissioners has authorized County Manager Betsy Fitzgerald to continue discussions with state officials on a proposed renovation and expansion of the Washington County Courthouse. It is a conversation that has been ongoing for more than 20 years, according to Fitzgerald. At one point ...
Canadian boat builder plans to expand to Eastport, creating 50 jobs
EASTPORT, Maine — A long-established Canadian boat-building firm is expanding its operations to the Washington County community of Eastport later this year, a project expected to create as many as 50 jobs. New Brunswick-based Millennium Marine has been building boats in Escuminac since the 1940s and now produces a line ...
Falls common cause of serious injury, death among elderly
Helen Evancheck, 89, of Bangor is among the survivors of a hip fracture, which is a leading cause of death among the elderly. “I was in the bedroom, changing my slacks when I fell,” she said recently. “That was September of 2012. I’ve been in rehab ever since, and I’m ...
Call put out for ground search volunteers in effort to find missing Glenburn teen
Kitchen Nightmares meltdown or: How to lose an argument online
Three indicted in Houlton meth bust, endangering welfare of child
Funding isn’t everything: Education reform takes innovation, cooperation
Maine protects a woman’s right to choose
Strengthening the schools Maine already has
Scandals, real and imagined
Marcus Davis wins mixed martial arts main event at NEF VII
Emma Libby, 15, overcomes ruling to win Sport-4 race at Speedway 95
For those who are too fat for Abercrombie and Fitch
Market Basket in Biddeford starts hiring 300 workers
Promise of land brought Theriault family to ‘Acadie’ in 1630s
How do I teach my kids it’s not OK to be bullied, even by family?