Rep. Dani O'Halloran

🧡🖤 Brewer is proud to stand with our neighbors, firefighters, and EMS during their time of need.
Please join us for Neighbors Helping Heroes on Thursday, June 25th at 6:00 PM at the Brewer Auditorium, 318 Wilson Street.
This is a community fundraiser to support the victims of the Robbins Lumber Mill Explosion, and 100% of the money raised will go to the Waldo County Firefighters Association to help provide relief to the affected families. Brewer is honored to help however we can, and we hope you’ll come out, bring your family, and support this important cause. ❤️🚒🚑
🧡🖤 🧙‍♀️

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Senior Fraud Awareness Day is a reminder to stay alert and look out for the people we love. Scammers often target older adults through phone calls, texts, emails, and other deceptive tactics. Please take a moment to check in with family, friends, and neighbors, and encourage them to trust their instincts, slow down, and report anything suspicious right away. If you or someone you know has been targeted, contact Maine Adult Protective Services at 1-800-624-8404.

I stand with the Maine County Commissioners Association and the Maine Sheriffs Association in expressing deep disappointment that no supplemental funding was included for the County Jail Operations Fund.
This was not an arbitrary request. This was a direct opportunity to provide real property tax relief to Maine people, and it was missed.
Let’s be clear about what that means. When the State fails to meet its responsibility for county jail funding, the burden does not disappear. It shifts directly onto local property taxpayers. At a time when families are already stretched thin, that is not just frustrating, it is unacceptable.
There also continues to be a fundamental misunderstanding of what our county jails actually do.
These facilities are not just holding individuals. They are managing people in active drug withdrawal. They are providing constitutionally required medical care, often for serious and complex health conditions. They are addressing mental health crises. They are providing counseling, supervision, and access to substance use treatment and rehabilitation programming.
In many ways, our county jails have become some of the largest de facto behavioral health and detox facilities in the state.
At the same time, Maine’s state mental health facilities are operating at roughly half capacity, while our county jails are operating at or above capacity. This imbalance is not theoretical, it is playing out every single day and placing enormous strain on staff, resources, and our local budgets.
In Penobscot County, we are routinely forced to board out between 50 to 60 individuals due to capacity limits, at an approximate cost of $100 per inmate, per day and over 100 miles away. These issues represent a significant and ongoing financial burden. And this number does not include the additional costs of transportation, staffing, and logistics required to move individuals back and forth for court appearances and proceedings.
These costs are not occurring in a vacuum. They are being driven in large part by pressures and decisions at the state level.
County jails are directly impacted by the operations and limitations of the courts, the Department of Corrections, and the State’s mental health system.
Delays in the court system mean individuals remain in county custody longer than necessary. Limitations in state mental health facilities leave counties housing individuals who would be more appropriately served elsewhere.
And critically, the Department of Corrections continues to leave individuals in county jails even after arraignment, as well as housing individuals on probation violations at the county level. These are state responsibilities that are being carried at the county level, at significant expense to local taxpayers.
With these challenges, counties have worked collaboratively, creatively, and responsibly to manage operations and control costs wherever possible. But there is a limit to what can be absorbed locally when the underlying pressures are coming from the State.
This disconnect becomes even more concerning.
This funding request was clearly presented. The consequences were clearly outlined. Yet some of our own local representatives voted against providing this relief to their own communities.
At the same time, we are seeing significant state dollars directed toward other initiatives that do not provide the same direct, measurable relief to property taxpayers or support core public safety responsibilities. To me this raises a serious question about priorities.
County jails are not optional services. They are a basic part of our criminal justice system. They are legally required to meet strict standards for safety, staffing, and care. Our county sheriffs cannot scale back when funding falls short, and they cannot simply absorb these costs.
When the State steps back, taxpayers are forced to step in.
This is the reality for Penobscot County and communities across our State.
We need to refocus on what truly serves the greater good of our constituents. That means prioritizing essential services, supporting public safety, and delivering meaningful property tax relief.
We still have an opportunity to do exactly that. As the Legislature takes up the supplemental budget in the coming days, I want to assure our County Sheriffs that I will continue to fight for my community to provide adequate state funding that helps alleviate the burden on property taxpayers not just in Penobscot County, but across the state. ☘️🚔

It's that time of year again; the State Treasurer’s Office has just released its annual list of unclaimed property in Maine!

To see if you might have any money waiting to be claimed, visit www.maineunclaimedproperty.gov.

Proud day for Brewer.

Seeing one of Brewer‘s own step onto a Major League roster is more than just a personal achievement. It reflects Matt’s years of hard work, and deep commitment to his dream.

Matt Pushard’s journey is a reminder to young people in our community that where you come from does not limit where you can go!

When you believe in yourself and stay committed, incredible things are possible. (Both on and off the field, court, gym, ice, mat, balance beam and turf.)
This is a proud moment for Brewer and a POWERFUL reminder that big dreams can grow right here at HOME.
We will all be cheering you on, Matt.

CONGRATULATIONS to you, Matt! ⚾️

‘If you believe in it, you can do it’: How Matt Pushard made it from Brewer to the Major Leagues Brewer's Matt Pushard joins the St. Louis Cardinals' opening day roster, becoming the first Brewer native on the MLB roster since 1971.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day 🍀!

Happy Birthday, Maine! Today, our Beautiful State turns 206! ❤️

As we approach St. Patrick’s Day, I think about so much more than green beer, Guinness, Irish whiskey, parades, and shamrocks.
Personally, I think about resilience…
I feel it’s important to remember that Irish history is not a simple story, it is marked by profound hardships. It includes centuries of political struggle, religious persecution under the Penal Laws, forced land confiscations, and the Great Famine of 1845 to 1852 that drove more than a million Irishman from their homeland. Many came to America, including here in Maine. They arrived with little more than determination, hope and a smile.
In earlier centuries, many Irish men, women, and children were transported to colonies as indentured servants, working under harsh conditions for years to repay debts or as punishment following political conflict. It was an unforgiving system, and it shaped the experience of many who eventually came to America seeking something better.
Irish immigrants helped fight for this country in the Revolutionary War, serving in the Continental Army. They fought again in the Civil War and in every major conflict that followed. They believed in the promise of America, even when that promise was not always fully extended to them.
Here in the Brewer and Bangor area, Irish immigrants became part of the backbone of our local economy in the 19th century. Many worked in the logging camps along the Penobscot River when Bangor was known as the Lumber Capital of the World! Others found work in Brewer’s sawmills, shipbuilding operations, on the railroad, and later in the mills that powered our local economy. Many also labored in Brewer’s brick yards, where the rich clay along the river was shaped and fired into bricks that were used to build homes, mills, storefronts, churches, schools and public buildings here in Maine and far, far beyond.
Irish Catholic families built lasting institutions of faith such as St. Teresa’s Catholic Church and St. Mary’s Catholic Church, both of which became a community for neighborhoods of Irish families starting over in a new land.
When the Irish arrived on these shores, they often faced discrimination, poverty, and exclusion. “No Irish Need Apply.” Still, our ancestors built. They laid railroad track, fished our waters, worked our mills, farmed our land, shaped our towns, and strengthened our communities. They became teachers, police officers, firefighters, business owners, soldiers, and public servants.
What carried them forward was strength, courage, and an unshakable work ethic. They had deep pride in doing a job well, keeping your word, and standing your ground when it matters….
There is also something else that defines us. Despite the hardship, Irish culture shared its music, dance, love of storytelling, poetry, and a sense of humor sharp enough to survive just about anything (admittedly, our humor is not appreciated by everyone). And our best asset, that Irish charm. ☘️
We learned how to endure. We also learned how to laugh and smile, especially when things were hardest.
I am proud of my heritage. Proud of the resilience. Proud of the work ethic. Proud of the courage. And, proud of the joy that somehow still survived through it all.
This combination of grit and grace is worth celebrating!!☘️

On this St. Patrick’s Day, I celebrate not just because, and not just for where we came from, it’s for the spirit that refused to be broken! May we all carry that same courage, determination, genuine compassion, and ability to find beauty and joy in the smallest things, even when it’s tough.
And if we can do it with a little laughter along the way… even better…

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. 🍀❤️☘️