Fridays with Fossel
The weekly update for Friday, July 11, 2025
Welcome to this week’s recap, everyone - for Friday, July 11, 2025.1
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🗳 Maine News & Politics🗳
Just like she can’t decide on whether to run for the U.S. Senate, Janet Mills also can’t decide on the fate of a number of bills awaiting her signature or lack thereof from this past legislative session. All of these bills will either be recalled by the Legislature or carried over to the next legislative session, which amounts to the same thing.
As I noted last week, Rep. Laurel Libby has now agreed that her lawsuit against the Maine Legislature over her censure is a moot point. This spares the U.S. Supreme Court from having to make a real decision on the issue. This outcome suits them, and all parties involved, perfectly well.
A Portland-based attorney, Joshua Dunlap, has been nominated to the federal appeals court by Donald Trump. As is often the case with federal judicial nominations lower than the U.S. Supreme Court, the state’s U.S. Senator - in this case, Susan Collins - had a direct role in the selection. These lower-court nominations are also typically uncontroversial, usually approved without much debate or notice by the U.S. Senate. That’s one norm that’s largely continued in Washington, D.C. these days. Senators simply don’t want to spend a lot of time on these nominations.
The Portland City Council is debating what to do about Avelo Airlines, which has a contract with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to do deportation flights and operates out of the Portland Jetport. The airline says no such flights have flown out of Portland, and it’s not clear if the city has any authority to do anything about it, but it’s better than talking about homelessness or crime, I suppose.
Louis Sigel, an 81-year-old Gardiner Democrat, says he is challenging Jared Golden in the primary. It seems unlikely in the extreme that he’ll actually get the signatures necessary to get on the ballot, or that he’ll be a factor if he somehow does. I fully expect that his announcement is the last we’ll hear of this. He’s exactly the sort of figure who makes a big fuss about his candidacy and then quietly fades away in to nothing long before next June. Voters may not be thrilled with Golden, but they’re not exactly thrilled with the prospect of more octogenarians in Congress, either. There’s been no further talk from former Secretary of State Matt Dunlap about challenging Golden, but that may yet materialize. He seems like a more serious contender, should he elect to take the plunge.
🏀 Sports 🏀
The Boston Bruins and the Boston Celtics continue their offseasons. ESPN actually gave the Bruins a moderately decent grade for theirs, which surprised me. The Celtics have been retooling and downgrading to save money. They’re apparently already looking to move G Anfernee Simons they acquired from Portland for Jrue Holiday - probably for more draft picks. Except for that, they seem to be done for the offseason.
The Boston Red Sox have somehow managed to win six in a row, which is kind of impressive. That probably means they’re due for a losing streak. This weekend they have a four-game home stand against the Tampa Bay Rays, an AL East rival who are ahead of them in the standings. They began the series last night with a win, so that’s a promising start. Now is the moment when we’ll begin to see what they’re really made of, and if it amounts to anything at all.
🍺 What I’m drinking 🍺
Julius (6.8%), from Treehouse Brewing Company in Massachusetts, is my favorite non-Maine New England IPA - and considering how much that category has exploded over the past few decades, that’s saying something. It’s a bright, fruity, tropical IPA that isn’t too hoppy. It’s an excellent, approachable IPA that has rightly become legendary, and the flagship of the brewery. They often do worthy variations of it, so if you’re going through Massachusetts on the way up here, stop by and pick up a few.
🎵What I’m listening to 🎵
After finally watching ‘A Complete Unknown’, which featured an outstanding performance by the talented Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, I’ve been on a Bob Dylan kick this week. Here’s some of my favorites of his:
Jim is also a weekly columnist for the Portland Press Herald, Maine’s largest daily newspaper. Follow him on X, BlueSky, on Facebook.
This was written Thursday evening and scheduled for publication Friday morning.