Pete Hegseth is coming to BIW on Monday to tour the facility and give a speech about the battleships we can’t build. I guess it’s possible we could build units if BIW partners with other shipyards. Ingalls is already experimenting with outsourcing Arleigh Burke units. We may end up with similar work. We could build units here then barge them downriver to be assembled into a battleship elsewhere. But we will not build battleships start to finish like Arleigh Burkes. Some of Chuck Krugh’s statements to employees on this topic have been misleading. Management may try to pull the wool over Hegseth’s eyes, too. Who knows? In any case, I suspect management is nervous about his visit.

In Maine News

Ballot initiatives

• Cannabis Business Times: Maine campaign to kill adult-use cannabis market misses 2026 signature deadline
• Maine Morning Star: With signatures delivered, Maine voters could be first to roll back trans rights in November

Elections

• Bangor Daily News: Maine Republican hit with ethics complaint over a top staffer’s phone call
• Portland Press Herald: Why 2 candidates for Maine governor are holding an unusual debate

Immigration

• Bangor Daily News: ICE demanded Maine sheriff’s employment records following his criticism of arrest
• Portland Press Herald: ICE pulled detainees from Cumberland County Jail. That could hurt taxpayers

Bangor Daily News: Janet Mills’ $300 checks fall short in addressing Maine’s affordability crisis [editorial]

Bangor Daily News: Pete Hegseth plans speech at Bath Iron Works next week

Maine Morning Star: Maine was the first state to abolish parole. Incarcerated Mainers, advocates hope to bring it back

Portland Press Herald: What are the Maine income tax brackets for 2025?

In National News

Immigration

• AP: 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and father return to Minnesota from ICE facility in Texas
• AP: Trump’s border czar pulling 700 immigration officers out of Minnesota immediately
• In These Times: Trump’s assault on immigrants hurts US-born workers, too
• Jacobin: Democrats aren’t reining in ICE. Here’s how they could [Branko Marcetic]
• Labor Notes: How to debunk anti-immigrant myths at work
• ProPublica: The real story behind the midnight immigration raid on a Chicago apartment building
• ProPublica: Two CBP agents identified in Alex Pretti shooting

Texas elections

• AP: Texas stunner. Democrat Taylor Rehmet flips Republican state Senate district Trump won by 17 points
• Houston Chronicle: Teamsters back Greg Abbott as unions split endorsements in governor’s race
• IAM Union: IAM Union congratulates IAM District 776 member and activist Taylor Rehmet on Texas Senate District 9 victory
• The New York Times: After his Democratic victory in Texas, a new working-class star rises

AP: Trump administration launches TrumpRx website for discounted drugs

Ars Technica: ICE observer says her Global Entry was revoked after agent scanned her face

Literary Hub: The difference between a general strike and a national shutdown (and why it matters) [Kim Kelly]

San Francisco Chronicle: Supreme Court leaves California’s Prop 50 maps in place for 2026 midterms

Shifting Gears: Status of suspended Ford worker changes

---

Did I miss something? Share what you’re reading with me, and I’ll try to include it next Friday!