Alex Seitz-Wald

An objectively wild career move and one I couldn’t be happier with or prouder of. The world needs more local reporters more than it needs more national ones and even if I go back to national reporting one day, I’ll be a much better reporter for this experience.

Pickup at my kid's school in Lincolnville today, one town over from fire, was parents trading notes about the condition all their spouses on the town's volunteer fire department who responded. Several sustained burns and other minor injuries, but all OK.

We've taken down our paywall for this story. midcoastvillager.com/news/publicsaf…

Camden's 88-year-old former fire chief, after whom the public safety building is named, was seen suited up in his turnout gear at the station, helping mind the store in case of any local emergencies while most of the department was out in Searsmont. midcoastvillager.com/news/publicsaf…

😮

BREAKING: Multiple Injuries Reported After Explosion, Fire at Robbins Lumber Complex in Searsmont. We have 2 reporters on the scene, one each at the two local hospitals receiving casualties, and more reporting from our newsroom. midcoastvillager.com/news/publicsaf…

Heartbreaking

Tragic breaking news...

@GrahamMaineWire Yeah I’ve been very curious about that too!

@aseitzwald Sure was one big coincidence that NY Times travel did a story on Platner's oyster farm about two weeks before he announced his candidacy. What lucky circumstances that the NY Times had an archive of photos ready to go for their reports the day he announced!

To be fair, while the business-ness of Platner's oyster farm can be debated, it is real. I've eaten them, a local raw bar owner raves about them. When an NYT travel writer went to sample Maine oysters last year, they visited a then-unknown Sullivan man. nytimes.com/2025/07/04/tra…

Here's what Andy Rogers, the owner of Jolie Rogers Raw Bar in Wiscasset, told @willyblackmore about Graham Platner's oysters when he got in the race last summer: "When somebody's put a lot of extra labor into an oyster, you can kind of tell." midcoastvillager.com/life/what/it-s…

“If he’s an oysterman, I’m a florist, OK? Because I raise roses and give them to my wife,” said Tony Buxton, a former chairman of the Maine Democratic Party who had supported Ms. Mills. nytimes.com/2026/05/15/us/…

This is a useful thread on the revolt against property taxes. And one takeaway I think is that a gov’t that taxes property needs to have the capacity to assess property’s value on a regular basis. So people don’t get surprises like this. (Which probably means federal gov’t.)

Too many interesting nuggets to quote here so do yourself a read this, not only if you're interested in politics but communicating anything (such as local news outlet!) in 2026.

@media_outlier From the last Pan Atlantic poll of Maine, which hasn't voted for a Republican president since GHWB beat Dukakis here (and in 39 other states).

@media_outlier The downstream effects of a property tax revolt could be huge. I grew up going to California public schools post-Prop 13, as ed. rankings slid from near-top to near-bottom due in part to underfunding. And liberal CA (!) has never been able to repeal Prop 13 once in place.

I'm not sure folks here are seeing what's happening with property taxes as housing values have shot up since previous valuations. A local woman is selling her house to move in w/ her son bc taxes (up 50% last year!) wiped out her disposable income. midcoastvillager.com/news/working-o…

@NY_LBSS @KM_Zencat Sounds like a winning political message!

@KM_Zencat @aseitzwald She would have to downsize. Which is completely normal for a senior. Or she can take her profit from the sale and make an addition on the sons house. Freezing property taxes for seniors raises the price of houses and hurts young people. Seniors get more than enough welfare.

@jon_m_rob A good question! I think broadly, at least here, answer is no. So far, tax relief efforts have been focused on credits/caps/rebates for hardest hit, like retirees (see link). I think most people view their equity as binary -- sell or don't. midcoastvillager.com/news/rockland-…

@aseitzwald Sort of naive question, but do you have a sense of the level of awareness people have to be able to tap into the equity they've built up in their homes? Some states even have programs in this regard.

Corrected link: midcoastvillager.com/news/politics/…