Jeremy Frey, a Passamaquoddy artist, and Indigenous cartographer Margaret Wickens Pearce both received the $800,000 award.
Reuben M. Schafir
Staff Writer
Reuben, a Bowdoin College graduate and former Press Herald intern, returned to our newsroom in July 2025 to cover Indigenous communities in Maine as part of a Report for America partnership. Reuben was most recently working in Southwest Colorado, where he covered county government, the environment, public health and politics.
Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
In Sipayik, the Passamaquoddy are finding resilience in a half-acre of clams
With one of the largest soft-shell clam gardens in the world, the tribe is confronting invasive crabs and human-caused ecological damage.
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Posted inBusiness, Local & State, News
Maine’s border towns feel decline in Canadian visitors: ‘Half our community is gone’
Border crossings were down nearly 30% in August compared to last year. In spots like Calais and Houlton, the difference is palpable.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Abbe Museum returning funerary cultural objects to Wabanaki Nations
Many of the objects sat unknowingly in a University of Maine collection for years because a loan to an archaeologist was never recorded.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Penobscot Nation to reclaim 1,700 acres in rural Maine as tribe grows land holdings
The Appalachian Mountain Club is repatriating the parcel to its former Indigenous stewards as part of a larger acquisition finalized Tuesday.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Houlton Band of Maliseets celebrate thousands of years of traditions
Over 500 people attended the Wabanaki tribe’s 45th annual community days in Littleton on Saturday.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics
Gov. Mills pledged to revive Maine’s tribal relations board. Most state seats are empty.
Hobbled by vacancies, political clashes and structural limitations, the future of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission is hazy.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Pilot of small plane killed in crash at Bangor International Airport
Airport officials offered new details on the plane Saturday, including that it was a single-engine Cessna 185 arriving from Canada. The pilot’s identity hasn’t been released.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Passamaquoddy leaders move to exempt tribal members from vehicle registration tax
The Tribal Council at Sipayik voted last week not to collect automobile excise tax, but it’s not clear whether it actually has the authority to take such action.
Posted inFeature Obituary, Local & State, News
Penobscot elder ‘Butch’ Phillips dies at 85
A celebrated culture-bearer and artist, Reuben Elliot ‘Butch’ Phillips also was part of the team that negotiated the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980.