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Today on Total Maine coastal resilience. One year after back to back storms devastated waterfront communities, we’re forecasting our future, the steps Portland business owners are taking, and *** new bipartisan storm preparedness plan is put forward by Governor Mills. We break it down in the arena, how you could benefit from state funding, plus no phones. Months into *** controversial policy at *** Meat Coast High School, how’s it working? We hear from students and educators. Well, hey there, good Sunday and happy New Year. Thank you so much for joining us for the first total May of 2025. I’m Terry Stackhouse. Back on Friday, Maine’s total coverage examined how the state rebounded after last year’s winter storms during our forecasting up our future special. Making buildings more resilient ahead of future storms is *** major focus for planners and coastal property owners in Maine. Today we’re taking you to Portland’s working waterfront for *** look at what city leaders and business owners are doing to adapt. The whole place has had to be pulled apart. Off the walls and into storage. One by one, Casco Bay artisans owner Jen Schwartz moved all at-risk inventory to higher ground in the days before the historic January 10th storm. Friend and fellow artist Russ Cox helped carefully carry pieces around the waterfront property and up *** flight of stairs. It’s *** process he calls labor intensive and anxiety provoking. She and her staff are able to make. All these these moves touch all of these pieces of artwork without ever scratching anything. Measures to limit flooding like sandbags helped. We put tape out there too, but nothing could stop the rising water from seeping into the commercial street gallery. It was still *** hope somewhat of *** of *** hopeless feeling when the water water is. You know, it just came and it just kept coming. It was rolling down the wharf and I knew it was seeping into the gallery. The gallery is located along the main wharf owned by Steve Goodrich. It was very concerning. I was more concerned for the tenants than the wharf itself. But the storm impact was beyond nuisance clean up, not just for the main wharf, but the neighboring Custom House wharf which Goodrich also owns. So this is where most of the structural damage occurred is underneath. Where we are now, the properties are home to *** mix of commercial and industrial space, with *** priority to serve the marine industry and commercial fishing. This did not all occur at the storm though. This was probably this was made worse by the storm. Pressure from the high tide, Goodrich says, took *** toll on the main wharf’s concrete. The tide was such that it actually lifted it up off the piles, and when it sat back down, shims were displaced, piles were broken, and It just really disrupted the structure of it underneath. There is help on the way. The two wharves were each awarded $2 million through the state’s Working Waterfront resilience grant program, but that money has yet to be made available. We’ll probably have to put *** million dollars or so of our own money into the repairs. It’s by our estimate about $4.5 million. We did some of the repairs already, began mitigating it just to stabilize the wharf. Goodrich says he is grateful for the support and appreciates what the city of Portland is doing to administer the funding. Over here you can see these are examples of the piles and the lumber that we use down below. Schwartz is thankful all she lost was time. That’s what she and others are investing now in preparation for the next storm, and it’s how you choose to manage. Your mind, um, you can’t ignore it but you know you have to weigh you know your situation and, and then don’t look back. And just *** quick note here, uh, we do need to tell you the owner of Casco Bay Artisans is related to an employee here at Maine total coverage. Today we’re also speaking with Portland’s waterfront director Bill Needleman says that there is an effort across all city departments to address resiliency and prepare for future coastal storms. He also says the pace of storm occurrence appears to be accelerating, and city leaders are meeting routinely with coastal property owners. It’s becoming much more unpredictable. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that, well, the two storms in January were historic. We had comparable storms in December of 2022, as well as in March of 2024. Needleman says that efforts to adapt infrastructure will continue because Portland, in his words, can’t allow climate change to interrupt the city’s relationship to the water. We’re also checking in with one of Maine’s hardest hit communities in New Harbor, which is part of the coastal Lincoln county town of Bristol. It took about 6 months to rebuild the dock after it was wiped out from the storm. There is still *** lot of work left to do. Lobsterman Matt Moody says that it was the worst storm and subsequent damage he’d ever seen. Will probably take years for their co op to financially get back to where they were before. Regardless, they are still thankful for all the community support. You know, as *** working waterfront, you know, we all work together. The Shaw’s restaurant next door let us unload our lobsters over there for 5 or 6 months, you know, so we could keep operational, uh, using their fuel, um, so you know we, we made it work with what we had left. Moody says this new dock has extra reinforcements made to prepare for future storms. And preparing the state for future storms, the legislature is now considering *** bill sponsored by Governor Janet Mills. LD1 would offer *** $15 million grant for homeowners to prepare to prepare their homes for future storms, $15,000 each, but also enhance the state’s emergency management communication system, and establish *** state resilience office which would be funded through *** five-year grant from NOAA. The bill has bipartisan support from leaders of both parties in the legislature. It’s really about preparedness. It’s making sure that our communities are resilient to these extreme weather events so that when the next one happens, uh, the damage is lessened. I think we need to focus on ways that we can Build things back quicker, get people help quicker now rather than all these, uh, you know, plans that are supposed to change things 100 years from now. Last year, the legislature approved $60 million to help Maine communities and businesses recover from those severe storms. The Mills administration said it is the single largest investment in storm recovery by any administration in the history of our state. Now, if you missed Friday’s hour long forecasting our future special, you can find it right now on our website WMTW.com. You can also watch it inside the app for Maine’s total coverage. With Republicans in the majority in the US Senate, Susan Collins is getting *** powerful chairmanship. Still ahead on Total Maine, Kate McCusker sits down with the senator in studio to discuss her plans for the Appropriations Committee. And waiting periods for gun purchases are expected to be *** topic again in the legislature. Our panel of experts from the In the Arena podcast weigh in on that and other issues facing our state when Total Maine returns. Stay with us. Not much snow on the ground in southern Maine so far this winter, but it’s been windy. It has been cold. You can certainly feel it from these images coming from Scarborough’s Higgins Beach thanks to photojournalist Kevin Fowler. All right, welcome back. We are in the arena here on this Sunday morning. We have our panel of podcast experts here. Thanks so much for coming in, guys. Uh, remember, in the arena is the place to go for civil discussion on hot button topics. Typically we’re all getting along here, right? That’s the, the hot button gets pushed *** little bit, uh, in this week’s episode, no tie this week. Well, the first topic I want to begin with, uh, we are approaching the one year anniversary of those back to back devastating storms, uh, which impacted communities up and down the Maine coast. And last week, middle of last week, Governor Mills putting forward *** bipartisan bill aiming to boost storm preparedness and resilience, uh, this including recommendations from the commission tasked with reviewing options to better prepare Maine for the next batch of storms. Uh, Mill’s office says that this plan is not going to ***. Rely on money from the state’s general fund, uh, noting in *** release that it’s gonna be *** tight budget cycle here instead using federal funding and fee-based funding through the main Bureau of Insurance. Uh, this included $15 million for *** home resiliency program. So if you live along the coast, you could apply and get $15,000 to make your home more resilient. What do you think? Is this gonna be *** no brainer for the state legislature to act on? The most important thing about this, it has the support of all leadership. And they’ve got *** plan laid out how to how to tap federal funds and how to get matching funds during *** disaster and Phil, it acknowledges the fact that everybody in Maine feels the impact of these storms even if you don’t live directly on the coast. Sure, uh, and, and I think the preparedness is, uh, gonna prevent more damage than what we’ve seen in the past, and it’s gonna be interesting to see where do these dollars go? Do they go to support uh staff and office. or does it go to actually be deployed in people’s home? That’ll be the key. It’ll be two new positions within MEMA within the Department of Emergency Management, but we’ll see if there’s any other new hires it’s always good to see Republicans supporting new spending, right? Makes you all warm and fuzzy. That’s the warm and fuzzy. I love that, right? And that’s the point, right? Sometimes we really have to make investments. When you don’t, there’s real damage that can happen. And, and look, I think this is easy. I think this is going to pass. Um, not to be too cynical about it, but when you have this kind of bipartisanship, it’s probably not *** radical proposal. And one of the issues with this proposal that I hope people look at perhaps in other bills is we’ve got to reduce the impact of climate change. We have to reduce our impact that is creating such storms on us. So this is *** very reactionary bill. This is like how do we respond when *** storm hits? We need to start spending more time trying to figure out how to have fewer of these. Remember, everybody who was running for another office later on is going to want to say I helped, you know, in *** way to protect your home that was yeah, hopefully we’re not gonna see any storms on that scale this winter, but let’s hope not. That’s always *** possibility. Check with Roger voter ID, this is *** topic which we have discussed at length on this program. It has widespread support among Republicans. They had *** signature gathering efforts. They claim that they’ve gathered enough to get this on the ballot. November, an event in Augusta. What do you think? Well, way more than enough. 170,000, Ethan, I think now that’s got to send *** message to you and Democrats who have tried to push back on voter ID. Yeah, not at all not received bad idea even so, yeah, they say they have 170,000 signatures. This will clearly get on the ballot, but look, this is going to be bad for democracy. This is going to make it harder for people to vote, and I think that’s why Democrats are going to be so strongly opposed to it. They’re not going to pass it. In the legislature this will basically make absentee voting almost impossible. That’s something that Maine people love. This will make you drop boxes where you can drop off your ballot. That’ll make it harder for people to be able to have. It says each municipality can only have one dropbox. Well, in some of these rural districts they are huge, or even in the city of Portland, you know, only to have one, and we have 11 different voting places. So this is really an effort unfortunately. To reduce the number of people who are going to vote, that’s why I don’t think Democrats are going to pass it. And Phil, some of those details maybe will be *** poison pill for some who say, yeah, you should have to prove who you are when you get to the ballot box, uh, when you’re on voting day, but you know, as he points out, *** lot of popular programs that that help engage voters. Sure, sure. Well, let’s remember there’s, I think 38 states in America that already have some form of voter ID. There are hundreds. Of countries around the world who require voter ID, I truly believe that the reason they got reportedly twice as many signatures as they needed is that this issue transcends geography, political party. People want to believe that whoever is voting legally has the right to do so. The Secretary of State objects to that, and the League of Women Voters are preparing *** fight, so it will be interesting to see how that develops between now and November, I can’t believe that we’re already talking about November, but here we are. Here’s January mad. No wonder people hate us. Uh, House Minority Leader Billy Bob Paul Kingham is planning to introduce *** bill which would repeal, uh, the now implemented 72 hour waiting period to obtain *** gun that you’ve purchased in the Democrat controlled legislature. Is this gonna go anywhere? Uh, maybe it’s *** message bill. More than *** chance to actually accomplish it, yeah, I think the, the distinction here is that if you have gone through *** background check and have been proven worthy of owning *** firearm, why should you have to have this 72 hour waiting period to uh physically take possession of it? The other side of the conversation, of course, is it’s going to prevent. Uh, you know, domestic violence or or suicide, it’ll be an interesting conversation to see how that unfolds in the legislature. Yeah, this is just political posturing. It’s not going anywhere. There’s *** lawsuit actually happening in court to deal with this issue, so the courts will resolve whether it’s constitutional or not. But you know why should you have to wait 3 days to be able to get your gun? Why do you need your gun that fast, right? That’s the fundamental question. And unfortunately many people who have bought guns that quickly across the country and in Maine. Have used them to kill themselves or used them to kill somebody else. That cooling off period is *** good thing. But yeah, uh, you know, Billy Bob is just looking for some headlines on this one. It’s not going anywhere. It’s compelling arguments made by uh on all sides of this issue, but you mentioned posturing. Uh, the state legislature, some and we floated them on this program. You’ve discussed, uh, potential candidates for the Blaine House. I know the Governor Mills, uh, will be, be termed out. Do do you see any posturing happening this? Well, I think we’re already seeing it even in the in the news conferences about the voter ID signatures you had Laura Libby, *** Republican who may well have gubernatorial ambitions, and Shenna Bellows as the Secretary of State, uh, also no doubt harbors that thought. Many people think she might run and the two of them were kind of going at it over, uh, over this bill. Yeah, you know, the, the great irony sometimes is you see people from the floor of the legislature in these years who. Want to give these big speeches and they try to drive their way through. It’s it’s actually very hard to go from the main legislatures directly to the governor’s office. Doesn’t really happen actually. You sort of go to another office first, so people like to think when you’re in that body that you are going to give the speech that will get the headlines. You’re willing to show up to the cameras *** little more often, so I’m sure we’re going to see *** lot of posturing. Laura Libby is the first very good example. Oh, I think the linguistic talent will improve this session. I think the fashion statements is there, the fashion statements on Herb Adams Award and the eloquence that’s *** high bar, yeah, yeah, and you know, I’m, I’m really proud that Maine is *** place where people who serve in the legislature can actually consider and succeed at running for the highest office in the land. We see it happen outside of politics from time to time. Uh, maybe to your point, maybe we’ll see *** legislator, but we have an engaged electorate, yeah, that’s for sure, for sure. All right. Remember new episodes of In the Arena drop every Thursday. You can watch on our website wmtw.com or listen wherever you get your podcasts. With Republicans in majority of the US Senate, Senator Susan Collins is now the chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Kate McCusker sat down with the state senior senator about what she hopes to accomplish on the committee during the incoming Trump administration. I am now in the best position possible to help the state of Maine. The Senate Appropriations Committee controls discretionary spending for the federal government, allowing Senator Susan Collins to influence funding in Maine and nationwide. Our committee has jurisdiction over about 27% of the budget, but that’s an important 27% of the budget. It includes the entire Department of Defense, education, biomedical research, NIH, agriculture. It’s *** huge, huge jurisdiction. Since 2021, Senator Collins has been able to secure more than $1 billion in funding. For over 500 projects in our state now when she becomes chair of the committee, Collins hopes to fund biomedical research on national defense, infrastructure, and more. I think it’s so much better for me to recommend projects that should be funded in the state of Maine than to have someone who’s well. Tension but sitting in *** Washington office building, has never been to Maine, has never heard of our communities, and doesn’t understand the needs. Collins is the only Republican member of Maine’s congressional delegation, but she is not *** huge fan of President-elect Donald Trump. In 2016 she penned an op ed against him when he first ran for president. In this past November, she wrote in Nikki Haley’s name instead of her own party’s nominee, but she says she’ll still work with him. I have always wanted every president. To be successful in improving life in America and that’s true whether I voted for him or whether I did not. I’m sure there will be areas where I disagree with President Trump, and I’m sure there will be areas where I agree with him. So that’s going to be the approach I take. Trump is also establishing the Department of Government Efficiency. To cut excess spending, which could overlap with Collins’ role on the Appropriations Committee. They cannot unilaterally cut out whole programs or departments. They would have to come to Congress and get approval, but if they do, you know, try to cut something that you want to fund, so it’s you’re the stopping point, right, and, um, and I would say no and. I think they’re going to find that this is *** much harder task than they think, but there clearly are duplicative programs. There’s *** lack of innovation. There’s *** lack of efficiency and in some departments, and I think they can be very helpful there and Maine senior. The senator will be running for re-election in 2026 as leaders in the party threaten primary challengers against GOP dissenters. Yet Collins says she isn’t going to shy away from doing what she believes is best for the country and the state of Maine. You know, I just can’t operate that way. I have to do what I think is right regardless of the consequences. Kate McCosker reporting for us there. Working without your cell phone nearby might seem difficult, if not impossible, right? But students at Morts High School in Bath, they’ve been doing just that this school year. Still to come, Scott McDonald talks to students about how they feel this ban is working when Total Maine returns. Just incredible wildlife pictures here. If you’ve ever been in *** Maine lake, it’s *** bird call unlike any other. We’re talking about the loon. The common loon is the only species that breeds in Maine. Those loons are enjoying *** day on the water and maybe *** bite to eat in Bremen. Kevin Fowler bringing us those images. Subtracting cell phones from the high school equation is *** bold step in Bath. It’s now been several months since his cell phone ban was put into place. Scott McDonald visited Morse High School to explore how the policy is impacting students and staff. In the lifespan of high schools, Morse in Bath is new, opening during the pandemic. But for the over 600 students, it was *** new mandate that really got everybody buzzing. They were so mad. They were like everyone was talking about how mad they were. What would make *** bunch of high schoolers really mad? We use Snapchat pretty often. No cell phones during school hours. We were like, there’s no way they’re going to do this to us. It’s going to be horrible. Staff knew having students put. Their phones in these bags before school starts. You put your phone inside, usually you put it on do not disturb would come with plenty of pushback. I expect students to complain about not having their devices. That’s their job is to push back against what adults do, but it finally feels like. The adults have said we care about you enough to do what needs to be done. As an English teacher, Jona Stanton has seen the toll that phone addiction has taken on effective communication and attention. At the risk of being dramatic, I do find it frightening if it wasn’t *** 32nd sound bite. I don’t know how long TikToks are, then it wasn’t going to get integrated. Surprising some students, things have honestly been *** lot easier than I was expecting. It didn’t take long before attitudes began to shift. Definitely *** lot more talking. It’s *** lot more loud, especially during class. I mean there would be times when we would all just be on our phone if there’s 5 minutes left during the day, and now it’s just people talking to each other, which is really nice. Students have noticed *** difference in others. And themselves I feel very focused in class honestly with my phone in my pocket I just oh I got *** notification let me let me check real quick, but now I don’t have that distraction. In *** nutshell, students are more engaged in life. Now there’s so much more energy in the room and that’s *** good thing. It really feels like we’re focused more on teaching and learning and growing and being together and those are all so positive for *** school environment. Scott McDonald with that story there. It’s gonna do it for our first total mate of 2025. I’m Terry Stackhouse. We look forward to you joining us in the year ahead. It might be winter in Maine and we haven’t had *** lot of snow this season, so we’re gonna leave you with *** reminder of the white stuff that fell back before Christmas. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. We’ll see you back here next Sunday for another edition of Total Maine.