Like all years before it, 2024 had a reasonable mix of stunning highs and bitter lows for the folks who live and do business in our corner of Maine. 

Much of the year was spent in contemplation and review of the nightmarish mass shooting that blackened the year before. It was something that had to be done in honor of the dead but also in hopes of forestalling such horrors in the future. 

Yet, while that sadness remained, there were also reasons for optimism about the future. Building projects were getting off the ground all over the place in the Twin Cities, and there were signs that the region might be getting a handle on its homelessness problem. 

The community was sad and stunned when a hazing culture was exposed in Lisbon, but they were then uplifted when the yearly balloon festival was saved in spite of earlier troubles. 

Reports of gunfire continued to trouble residents in and around the residential downtown areas of Lewiston, but when April 8 came along, the region found itself galvanized by a solar eclipse, and can you believe it? Normally unreliable spring weather cooperated completely and the skies were clear for the big event. 

As we march into an uncertain new year, we can plainly see from the news stories of 2024 what brought us low and what rallied us to new heights over the course of the year. And with that in mind, here are the Sun Journal’s top 10 news stories of the year. 

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Shooting commission issues report of missteps in the Oct. 25 mass shooting while Lewiston marks grim anniversary

Candles are raised during the commemoration Oct. 25 at The Colisée in Lewiston on the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting in the city. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Where 2023 ended on a note of horror and frustration in the wake of a mass shooting at two businesses in Lewiston, 2024 was about finding answers, proposing solutions and memorializing the victims.

In August, after nine months of tense and tearful public hearings, the commission investigating the shootings shared its conclusions about the failures that led to the massacre of 18 Mainers on Oct. 25, 2023. 

The commission, a panel of seven legal and medical experts handpicked by Gov. Janet Mills, affirmed its finding that the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office should have done more to take Army reservist Robert Card, 40, of Bowdoinham into protective custody and confiscate his firearms under Maine’s yellow flag law a month before the shootings at two Lewiston businesses.

The report also criticized the shooter’s Army commanders for failing to take steps to reduce the threat Card posed to the public, despite being “well aware of his auditory hallucinations, increasingly aggressive behavior, collection of guns and ominous comments about his intentions.” 

The document included new details about Card’s time in two New York hospitals last summer and his discharge back into the community he would attack just two months later. Card’s attending psychiatrist told the commission in a private meeting that Four Winds hospital had reversed its initial decision to try to involuntarily commit Card because doctors doubted whether their petition would be successful in court. 

The report had plenty of rebukes to go around, yet some people expressed disappointment in the commission’s report because it did not include policy recommendations aimed at preventing future mass shootings. 

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When Oct. 25, 2024, came around, locals commemorated the one-year mark in a variety of ways. 

Some found solace in the Maine Resiliency Center — spending time with other survivors and victims in a place where they felt safe and understood. 

Others returned to the scenes at Just-in-Time Recreation bowling alley at 24 Mollison Way and Schemengees Bar & Grille at 551 Lincoln St. where they lost loved ones one sad year ago to the day. 

Nearly a thousand people assembled at The Colisée for a commemoration organized by the One Lewiston Resilience Fund Committee. They brought mementos and photos of their lost loved ones. They clustered with other survivors and shared stories about the people they had lost on that horrific night. At the center of the stage before them sat 18 empty chairs, one for each person killed in the rampage. 

“We have seen love and support grow out of the darkness,” said television sports commentator Tom Caron, a Lewiston native who served as host of the event. “Here, tonight, there is light.” 

And all around Lewiston, one could scarcely go anywhere without seeing signs of hope and remembrance. “Lewiston Strong” banners were hung in numerous places. In some areas, the sentiment was simply scrawled in chalk on the sides of buildings. 

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For that one night in October of 2024, the whole community seemed committed to memorializing those they had lost and to celebrating those who survived. 

Upheaval at Lewiston City Hall 

Robbie True pulls a barbecue chicken pizza from the oven May 15 at Davinci’s Eatery at 150 Mill St. in Lewiston. The restaurant found itself in the middle of a controversy that ultimately saw several city officials leaving their jobs. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

What mayhem a single cockroach can cause. 

At the start of the year, a Lewiston code enforcement officer was sent to Davinci’s Eatery for a health inspection. According to his report, at least one cockroach was found in the kitchen and the restaurant would have to close immediately. 

Oh, the chaos that followed. 

When Davinci’s co-owner Craig Tribuno defended the sanitation of his kitchen and complained about the losses his restaurant had incurred during the closure, many of his devoted customers rose up in defense of the eatery. But at the same time, many threw their support behind Code Enforcement Director David Hediger, who had suddenly found himself under fire over the Davinci’s affair. 

The community seemed split on the matter, but the opinion of City Hall became clear at once — Hediger was promptly placed on administrative leave and later his contract would be terminated altogether. 

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An uproar soon followed. While the owners of some restaurants and diners complained that an overzealous code enforcement department was making their lives miserable, an equal number described Hediger as “a man of complete integrity” and they condemned city leaders for their hasty decision. 

Once Hediger was gone, it became clear to other code enforcement officers that nobody was safe from the city’s wrath, and an exodus began. 

Misty Parker, the longtime economic development expert and deputy director, left in February. Nick Richard, an eight-year veteran of the code enforcement department, departed soon after. 

Code Enforcement Officer Adam Jones, who had been an outspoken supporter of Hediger and other colleagues, announced that he, too, was leaving his job in Lewiston. 

The treatment of Hediger had sparked rumors of favoritism and shady backroom deals among city leaders. Nobody seemed to know how many city workers would leave and whether the city could keep functioning in the aftermath. 

“Given the current direction of the city, they’re going to continue to lose very good hardworking people with integrity,” said Ben Westman, a former Lewiston code officer who had left his position a year before. 

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In March, City Administrator Heather Hunter announced she would resign following a period of public scrutiny over staffing decisions.

Whether related or not, in July, longtime Communications Coordinator Dottie Perham Whittier announced that she would leave after 42 years on the job. It was news even more shocking, for some, than Hunter’s departure.

In the midst of all of the upheaval related to code enforcement, the city mulled the idea of asking the state to take over restaurant inspections and eliminating the position of sanitarian position held by Louis Lachance, a friend of Hediger’s.

Instead, facing heavy criticism from all sides, city leaders hired Jon Connor as the new code enforcement director.  

Davinci’s reopened for business nine days after the troublesome cockroach forced the shutdown.  

Lewiston makes progress on dealing with homeless

Snow falls Dec. 5 as Lewiston Mayor Carl Sheline speaks during the groundbreaking for the new Trinity Jubilee Center at 123 Bates St. in Lewiston, which will provide more services to the homeless, the hungry and others it serves at its smaller location. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

In mid-November, a warming shelter for the homeless was opened at the former site of Schemengees a restaurant and pool hall.

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Kevin Boilard and his team at Kaydenz Kitchen gutted the building and opened it up to natural light.

“It was kind of symbolic,” Boilard said as he prepared to open the shelter Nov. 15, “bringing a whole new light to the facility.”

The winter warming center is open seven days a week from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. as a place for the city’s homeless folks to get out of the cold.

The opening was seen as one of a few positive steps during the course of the year to address Lewiston’s growing problem with homelessness.

Soon after the opening, Trinity Jubilee Center broke ground on its $5.1 million building at 123 Bates St. The 10,000-square-foot building will allow the organization to admit more people into its day shelter, store more food for its food program and give more space to caseworkers and medical professionals to help and treat clients. It will also give the organization room to grow its programs.

Meanwhile, Kaydenz Kitchen was also tapped to operate a city-run homeless shelter in 2025. The move marked a significant step in a lengthy effort to establish a low-barrier adult shelter in Lewiston.

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In November, Boilard’s nonprofit was awarded $2.5 million from MaineHousing toward the shelter effort. Boilard has said development on the 40- to 60-bed shelter could begin as soon as March 2025, with an “ambitious” operating start in September.

Lisbon football season KO’d by hazing incidents

Lisbon High School football players pause during a player-led practice Oct. 4 after the school suspended the team’s activities until further notice due to an investigation into reports of hazing. Haley Jones/Sun Journal

In October, a school resource officer’s routine inquiry into an assault at Lisbon High School led to some startling revelations. 

It also led to the utterance of one word that nobody in a school community wants to hear. 

Hazing. 

By the time investigations were done, the Lisbon community found itself facing some ugly truths about the school football community. These included reports of players whipping one another with leather belts; at least one incident of a freshman student being put headfirst into a trash can; and multiple instances of players being trapped behind a chain-link door and poked with brooms by upperclassmen. 

There were rumors across the community of darker incidents, although those rumors never materialized in any tangible way. 

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Some people called it hazing, some were reluctant to do so. But whatever word was used to describe the actions, it was enough to put an end to the Lisbon High School football season and to get prosecutors involved in the investigation. 

The reports of hazing came to the district attorney’s attention after Lisbon High School’s resource officer received a report of one student pushing another student around at the school. Police met with students Oct. 2 and during the meeting, a number of additional complaints involving a number of other students were mentioned — all tied to something that happened off campus Aug. 24. 

But did those incidents, described by many students as mere “horseplay,” rise to the level of crime? 

Ultimately, Androscoggin County District Attorney Neil McLean said his office would not pursue criminal charges against any members of the Lisbon High School football team. Most of what had occurred, McLean said, involved voluntary participation on the part of the students. 

Meanwhile, an independent review, completed in late October by lawyers at Portland law firm Drummond Woodsum, found what its authors characterized as a pattern of troubling behavior coupled with an unwillingness by many players to volunteer details or share evidence. 

In the Drummond Woodsum report, investigators claimed they had uncovered a “culture of hazing and roughhousing” among the football players, although their investigation was hampered by what they described as something akin to a code of silence among the students. 

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Many of the players resisted providing specific details, according to the report’s authors, and some looked visibly nervous during the interview. They added that teachers overheard players telling their teammates not to share details during their interviews. 

No one was legally charged in any of the complaints, yet the damage to the football community was almost immediate. Two days after the meeting with the school resource officer, Lisbon forfeited a football game against Mountain Valley High School in Rumford. Days later, school administrators removed seven players from the football team and suspended all football activities. 

The allegations of hazing caused a buzz through the community as the details were being explored. In its aftermath, though, most town residents were hoping the worst was behind them. 

“It was the big topic of conversation for a few weeks, but I think it’s died down some,” said a mother of a teenage girl who attends Lisbon High School. “I don’t think people here have any interest in being known for this.” 

Attempts to oust Oxford County sheriff

Oxford County Sheriff Christopher Wainwright listens April 22 to his attorney, Jonathan Berry, during a dismissal hearing at the Maine Department of Public Safety in Augusta. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

In May, Gov. Janet Mills announced that she would decline a request to remove Oxford County Sheriff Christopher Wainwright from office. 

The announcement marked the end of a long attempt by county commissioners to have Wainwright taken off the job. 

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Oxford County Commissioners David Duguay of Byron, Timothy Turner of Buckfield and Steven Merrill of Norway had sent a detailed 10-page complaint in February to the governor, asking her to remove Wainwright for his failure “to faithfully and efficiently perform the duties of his office and improperly exercised and acted outside of his legal authority.”  

The complaint was based on three incidents they believed called into question Wainwright’s ability to perform the duties of his office: ordering an officer to show leniency toward a person whom they had issued a ticket, selling firearms out of the evidence locker with no records showing the sale or location of the proceeds, and employing and arming two school resource officers whose credentials had lapsed. 

The commission itself has no authority to suspend or fire Wainwright, who was first elected sheriff in 2018.

In deciding against the move, Mills said she was influenced by the recommendation of former Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Donald G. Alexander, whom she had appointed to conduct an administrative hearing. 

Ultimately, Mills concluded that the complaints against Wainwright did not warrant his removal. 

“The evidence does not indicate that this single incident was part of a larger pattern of behavior, and, as a result, while handled poorly, I do not believe it is sufficient cause to justify the sanction of removal from a popularly elected office,” Mills wrote May 13 in a letter to Wainwright and county commissioners. 

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Wainwright remains on the job. However in July, his bid to have Oxford County commissioners pay his $42,750 in personal legal fees failed.

Balloon festival saved by city intervention 

Jim Rodrigue of Lewiston lifts off in his balloon Aug. 16 during the Lewiston-Auburn Balloon Festival at Simard-Payne Memorial Park in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Rain the weekend of Aug. 16 was a real bummer and all, but most people who showed up to the soaked fields managed to be thankful nonetheless. 

It was fortunate there was a balloon festival at all. 

Throughout the year, news about the always-popular Great Falls Balloon Festival ping-ponged between good news and bad. 

It started in May with the Sun Journal headline: “2024 Great Falls Balloon Festival canceled.” 

The problem? A “series of challenges and unforeseen circumstances,” according to the bestival board. Those challenges, according to forlorn organizers, included fewer sponsors, a lack of volunteers and planning difficulties ranging from procuring security to reserving portable toilets. 

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That was it. It was over. There was to be no festival in August. 

But not so fast, Spyderpig. Just days after the sad announcement, Nate Libby, Lewiston assistant economic development director, said officials from many city departments had met with a couple of experienced volunteers. Together, they agreed that the annual balloon festival ought to go on as planned despite its cancellation by the original organizers. 

There was some troubling back and forth, but after initially refusing to have anything to do with the municipal bid to lend a hand with the festival, the organizing board agreed to “fully support the city’s decision to move forward with their own event.” 

Officials in Auburn also jumped in to help, and the festival, for this year only, was dubbed the Lewiston-Auburn Balloon Festival. 

When the big date came, people flocked to Simard-Payne Memorial Park in Lewiston as they did every year. Why, it was like there had been no talk of canceling at all. 

Foul weather marked the beginning of the festival and ultimately, wind canceled all of the planned flights. In spite of that, the festival was deemed a success as the thousands who showed up contented themselves with live music, food and a hopping carnival on the ground.

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The Lewiston-Auburn Balloon Festival turned a small profit in 2024, and organizers began at once to start prepping for next year’s event. 

It’s not too early, in other words, to start praying for better weather. 

Lewiston sees new housing going up, with more to come 

The first of nine buildings in the Wedgewood housing development between Walnut and Pine streets in Lewiston is seen Oct. 4, nearly ready for occupancy. The 82-unit project is the first phase of the Choice Neighborhoods initiative. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

It was hard to turn any corner across Lewiston in 2024 without running into a housing project of some kind. 

In January, officials from Lewiston Housing outlined plans for a multiphase housing development that will begin with between 64 and 72 units at 61 Ash St., with a second phase that would put more housing at 104 Park St., the former home of the Sun Journal. 

In May, Choice Neighborhoods received a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to overhaul public housing and inject additional private investment into the Tree Streets neighborhood. 

In July, it received $2.5 million more to support the DeWitt project, the 104-unit second phase of the initiative across from Kennedy Park. That project will include apartments in two buildings with a total of 15,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floors.  

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The majority of the untis will be one bedroom, with 36 with two bedrooms. Most will be limited to a mix of between 50% and 80% of area median income, with 21 market-rate units. 

In June, the Lewiston Planning Board approved a project that includes nearly 400 market-rate apartments, commercial spaces and restaurant space at the massive Continental Mill on Cedar Street. The roughly $80 million project will consist of 377 market-rate apartments and a total of 45,000 square feet of commercial, light industrial and restaurant space in the historic mill. The housing will add to the 72 mixed-income units already under construction in the center of the complex.

Meanwhile, the first of nine buildings in the Wedgewood housing project between Walnut and Pine streets were near completion by autumn and the remaining buildings were going up fast. That development alone calls for 82 units in the middle of the downtown.

Also well underway by the end of the year was Gendron Active Living Estates, which will place 208 market-rate units in nine buildings on 11 acres between Farwell Street and East Avenue. The project is intended to be a community for those 55 years and older and featuring amenities such as a clubhouse, dog parks and green space. While it’s planned as a development for older people, Gendron will have the ability to change that should the market not support it.

By mid-August, the Planning Board had also approved projects including a second mixed-use building on Lowell Street expected to add 172 apartments to the already-approved 150-unit building across the street at 55 Middle St.; redevelopment of the former Martel School at Lisbon Street and East Avenue into 88 units of senior housing and plans to convert the Ramada Inn on Pleasant Street into 63 units of affordable senior housing. 

Reports of shots fired continue in Lewiston 

In mid-July, 17-year-old Sahal Muridi was killed in a shooting on Rideout Avenue in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Police tried saturation patrols. They tried community meetings to rouse the help of residents. They even brought in the U.S. Marshal’s Service at one point. 

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Still, the shootings continued. 

In mid-July, a teenager was killed in a shooting at the housing project on Rideout Avenue. The death of 17-year-old Sahal Muridi of Lewiston served as a kind of exclamation point for local residents already rattled by near nonstop gunfire in the city. 

It went on all year. Reports of shots fired came from different areas of the city, but mostly they were concentrated in the dense downtown area. 

In most cases, police would respond to find shell casings in the street and bullet holes in the sides of buildings, but no sign of suspects or victims. 

On Feb. 18, just before dawn, multiple shots were fired at an apartment house on Pine Street. When police arrived, they found shell casings and damage, but no suspects. 

On April 25, shortly before midnight witnesses reported hearing multiple shots, roughly a dozen, fired near the intersection at College and Sabattus streets. Three juveniles were later arrested. 

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On one night in August, police responded to two reports of gunfire in heavily populated areas of the downtown. 

The first report came in the early evening of Aug. 23 when rounds were reported fired behind a mosque on Bartlett Street. At the time, a Maine Immigrant and Refugee Family Fun Day, with hundreds of people in an attendance, was taking place at Mike McGraw Park in the same area. 

Minutes later, at about 7:05 p.m., more rounds were reported fired in the area of Horton and Pine streets. Again, nobody was struck, but police found evidence of multiple gunshots in the area. 

A teenager was injured by flying glass after the car he was riding in on Pine Street was riddled with bullets in August. 

By then, residents were used to reporting gunfire to police — and then quickly shouting it out on social media, as well, so that others in the community could duck and cover. 

The shootings continued into the end of the year. On Dec. 17, a 36-year-old local man was seriously injured during an apparent gunfight in the area of Walnut and Pierce streets. In that midday shooting, almost in sight of the police station, surveillance camera footage showed a number of young men, all masked, fleeing the scene. 

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Police are still investigating most of the shootings while also searching for ways to bring it all to an end. 

Jared Golden squeaks past Republican challenger in costly, high-profile congressional race 

Congressman Jared Golden gestures Nov. 6 as he walks to the podium to address the media during a news conference at his campaign office in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

It was one of the most costly political races in the country. 

It was also one of the most tense. 

In November, Lewiston Democrat Jared Golden appeared to squeak by Republican challenger Austin Theriault of Fort Kent, in the 2nd Congressional District race for the U.S. House of Representatives. But there was more drama to come. 

When the initial votes were counted, a razor-thin margin separated the two men, with the outcome dependent on the Secretary of State’s Office ranked-choice runoff ballot count. 

After steadily slogging through the votes cast in every town in the sprawling district, election officials said later in November that Golden had won a narrow victory in his bid for a fourth term, with 50.35% of the votes. 

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A recount followed, but it didn’t last long. In early December, Theriault ended the recount, officially handing the win to Golden. 

When the dust settled, a tally of campaign spending in the district shows that more than $50 million had poured into the contest between the two men. And most of the money came from outside groups, not the candidates’ campaign committees. 

Spending on ads alone in the district totaled more than $40.5 million by Election Day, according to AdImpact, which tracks TV, digital and streaming devices to keep tabs on millions of campaign ads nationwide. 

Of that, $22.4 million was spent for Golden or against Theriault while $18.1 million went to try to boost the GOP contender. 

It was said that only one other race in the country cost more. 

Solar eclipse wows western Maine

Grace Wilson, left, of Jay, Jazmin Ryder of Livermore, Isabelle Cordes of Jay and Emma Towers of Jay watch the solar eclipse April 8 at French Falls Family Recreation Park in Jay. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal file

Eclipse fever caught on in a big way in the early part of the year. 

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With a solar eclipse April 8, the really ambitious made plans to travel to a variety of towns across western and northern Maine in order to view it in its totality. 

Others chose to watch the phenomenon closer to home, flocking to places such as Mount David or Veterans Memorial Park, both in Lewiston, to enjoy the eclipse at 98% totality. 

It’s estimated that tens of thousands of people came to Maine specifically because it was on the path of totality. And that makes it somehow more amazing that the fickle spring weather cooperated, and the skies were clear when the Moon moved in front of the Sun. 

Since the start of the year, if not earlier, enthusiasm for the eclipse took hold in Maine and other parts of the country — it was said that community leaders in Aroostook County began planning three years earlier.

And while the state has seen total eclipses before, this one was considered special. For one thing, the full eclipse lasted longer than usual because the moon was just 223,000 miles from Earth, one of the year’s closest approaches. 

For a time in the days leading up to the eclipse, one couldn’t look anywhere without seeing or hearing breathless anticipation of it.

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Finally, it was showtime. The eclipse began at 2 p.m. Totality was reached more than an hour later, at 3:20 p.m., and for those on the path of totality, the world remained darkened for three magical minutes. 

And like that, it was over, and as everyone made their way back home, traffic jams were reported in the western and northern parts of the state. 

The eclipse was a riveting time for many. And for those who couldn’t get enough of wonders in the heavens, September delivered a partial lunar eclipse and supermoon, all rolled into one. 

It was a good year for looking up. 

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