The family that fought a Maine landfill leaves their town behind
Five years after Debbie Cooper lost her fight against one of Maine’s most important landfills, her son’s family is also leaving Hartland.
What is Maine Focus?
Maine Focus is the Bangor Daily News’ investigative team, telling important stories that hold public figures and institutions accountable and make an impact in communities across the state. Its reporters focus on bringing new perspectives to the forefront. The team began as a community engagement project in 2013. Its reporters have done the state’s most ambitious journalism since then, chronicling the life and death of a young man who was addicted to heroin, illuminating a culture of sexual misconduct in the Maine National Guard, and telling the story of a man who spent years in solitary confinement. In 2025, BDN partnered with The Maine Monitor to strengthen investigative journalism in Maine and expand public access to the reporting. All reporting from this collaboration is free to read on bangordailynews.com.
Maine Focus Staff
Callie Ferguson is the deputy investigative editor and a reporter who focuses on Maine’s criminal justice system. She was a finalist for the Livingston Award in 2022. The next year, she joined the inaugural class of local investigations fellows at The New York Times. Callie graduated from Bowdoin College and lives in Westbrook.
Contact Callie: cferguson@bangordailynews.com / 207-990-8258
Sawyer Loftus is a reporter covering housing as part of a fellowship with the investigative outlet ProPublica. He was named the state’s journalist of the year by the Maine Press Association in 2024. Sawyer is a University of Vermont graduate who is based in Bangor.
Contact Sawyer: sloftus@bangordailynews.com / 207-217-1450
Lori Valigra is the environment reporter. She was a Knight journalism fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has extensive international reporting experience in Europe and Asia. Lori graduated from Boston University. She designed the western Maine log cabin in which she lives.
Contact Lori: lvaligra@bangordailynews.com / 207-990-8272
Michael Shepherd is the editor who oversees Maine Focus. He has led the BDN’s political coverage since 2019. He is a University of Maine graduate with a masters degree from the Muskie School of Public Service. He lives with his family in Augusta.
Contact Michael: mshepherd@bangordailynews.com / 207-370-7652
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Latest Stories
Editor’s note on the BDN’s Kids Project
Maine used to be one of the best states for students but now we rank among the worst. The BDN will probe why, and identify solutions.
What 3 educators told us about the problems facing Maine schools
Three Maine educators told the BDN that schools try to do too much for too many students without consistent standards or adequate funding.
Troy Jackson punched a man and pushed his partner in 1988, police report says
Lana Pelletier, the U.S. Senate candidate’s partner of 40 years, now denies telling police that Jackson pushed her after a fight.
Maine’s new strategy to stop another insect disaster in the North Woods
After a 26-year outbreak devastated Maine’s forests, the state is testing a targeted attack on spruce budworms invading from Quebec.
The fungus that could save Maine’s trees one seedling at a time
A fungus found in surviving trees during a 1990s outbreak is now bred into 30 million seedlings planted in Maine since 2017.
ICE agent who killed Biddeford man left a trail of disputed arrests
The BDN reviewed records from four of David Brouillette’s past arrests to better understand his conduct during his first months on the job.
Troy Jackson owed $4,600 in back income taxes during his run for governor
The stumble surfaced just as Jackson prepares to run one of the most closely watched Senate campaigns in the country.
Maine state trooper was suspended for punching handcuffed woman in the face
The Maine State Police sustained an excessive force complaint for the first time in a decade three months after a Maine Monitor/Bangor Daily News investigation called its practices into question.
Feds drop Maine gun case after judge questions years of secret surveillance
Police used a camera at a neighboring home to watch Willie Banks for three years before arresting him in connection with a shooting.
Paper mill was the source of Maine river oil spill
Sappi denied being the source of the spill in messages to regulators, but it acknowledged that a Coast Guard analysis confirmed it.
Maine has ignored this homegrown substitute for heating oil
Two startups plan to turn Maine tree waste into heating fuel, with buyers lined up, even as the state’s climate plan leaves biofuels out.
A Maine ICE shooting was a tipping point for Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown
Monday’s fatal shooting in Biddeford already looks to have helped force a change in federal policies.
What are your experiences with Maine’s education system?
We aim to understand why schools and students are struggling so much more than they were ten years ago, and to identify ways to create positive change.
We’re investigating Maine’s education freefall and seeking solutions
In a state that once led the nation in math and reading test scores, a concerning decline in the past decade is revealing cracks in the education system.
Maine was warned about toxins in sludge decades before PFAS crisis began
Maine’s PFAS crisis is often portrayed as a result of regulators and health officials not knowing about the chemicals that were present in the sludge spread throughout the state, but there were concerns about its contents almost from the start of the state-run program.
Judge admonishes ICE for misleading him about an immigrant detained in Maine
The ruling comes amid a wave of judicial rebukes in response to the agency’s hard-charging tactics under President Donald Trump.
How Donald Trump’s policies are slowing a Maine mill’s revival
Rising steel and fuel costs, as well as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, have contributed to delays in rehabilitating Jay’s Androscoggin Mill.
Fact-checking JD Vance’s and Janet Mills’ dueling statements on healthcare fraud
Vance embellished details of a fraud case and overstated what federal auditors found in a review, while Mills ignored critical findings from the state auditor.
Maine police watched a suspect through a neighbor’s camera for 3 years without a warrant
Until last week, Willie Banks’ attorney believed the camera just happened to catch the shooting. Then she learned there was more to the story.
Read the reports that powered our look at Bobby Charles’ war history
Charles says his experience in the federal government makes him the best choice to be Maine’s next governor.
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