Maine For Keeps

About Maine For Keeps

Welcome to Maine For Keeps, hosted by Jonathan Bush. Each week, we're sitting down with real Mainers - from small business owners fighting to survive, to industry leaders and innovators, to working folks trying to make ends meet - for raw, unfiltered conversations about: → The real stories of what's killing Maine jobs (like the 174 we just lost at the cement plant) → How Maine's smartest businesses are finding ways to win despite the obstacles → Why "environmental protection" often hurts both business AND the environment

Publisher

Jonathan Bush

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

22 Apr 2025

Latest episode

7 Oct 2025

Latest episodes

22 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   7 Oct 2025

   Where Did All the Money Go? Alec Porteous on Maine’s Exploding Budget

   Alec Porteous has run the numbers. He’s been the CFO of Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services. He’s been the Commissioner of Administrative & Financial Services, the state’s top budget job. He’s been the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer at the University of Southern Maine. And now? He’s sounding the alarm. In this episode, we dig into Maine’s budget explosion and what Alec sees as the most under-discussed risk to our future. We cover: - Why Maine’s Medicaid budget is growing 21% a year and no one knows why - How state spending ballooned 25% while population grew just 5% - Why working Mainers are getting squeezed while newcomers think Maine is a steal - The paradox of rising revenue and rising property taxes - How to put real teeth into revenue sharing and municipal accountability - What Alec would do with our $1.5 billion rainy day fund - Why now might be the moment to experiment with bold tax cuts - The truth behind Maine’s economic outlook and what’s needed to fix it This isn’t about cutting for cutting’s sake. It’s about building a Maine that’s affordable, competitive, and resilient for the people who already live here and the ones who are trying to stay. 🎧 Available on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 📍 Subscribe to Maine For Keeps for weekly conversations about how we build a stronger future for Maine.

2. 

   30 Sept 2025

   The Crime Surge No One Wants to Talk About in Maine with Lt. Nick Goodman

   Lt. Nick Goodman has been a cop in Portland for over 20 years. He’s run narcotics stings. Solved cold cases. Led Portland’s SWAT team through high-risk raids and manhunts. He’s watched the city change, from a place where gunfire made headlines to a place where “another shooting” barely raises eyebrows. This episode is a raw, unfiltered look at what public safety in Maine actually looks like today (and what it will take to turn things around). We cover: Why Portland went from 1–2 shootings a year to 60–70 The real reason police recruitment is collapsing What happens when jails stop taking violent offenders Why COVID still haunts Maine’s courts, streets, and police departments How “well-meaning” laws backfire in ways few people understand What a Vegas man did to get a heart transplant in Portland Why tech silos make Maine a playground for repeat offenders And what Lt. Goodman believes Maine’s next governor must do right now We also explore a bigger question: what happens when systems stop working and the people inside them still try to show up? This is not a pro-police or anti-police episode. It’s a pro-reality episode. And it’s one of the most urgent conversations we’ve had on Maine For Keeps. 🎧 Listen on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 📍 Subscribe for weekly episodes on the future of our state.

3. 

   23 Sept 2025

   How Maine Can Fix Education Before It’s Too Late with Stephen Bowen, Former Commissioner of Education

   Stephen Bowen has seen the future of education, and he’s seen what happens when we ignore it. As Maine’s former Commissioner of Education and now Executive Director of the Hoover Education Success Initiative at Stanford, Stephen brings a rare perspective: deep local roots combined with a national, bird’s-eye view of what actually works. In this episode, he lays out a bold, actionable vision for how Maine can rescue its schools, support its students, and rebuild its economy. We cover: - Why Maine’s education rankings have collapsed in the last decade - The one metric that determines a student’s future (and a state’s future) - What Mississippi and Louisiana got right and how Maine can follow - The school choice model already working in parts of rural Maine - How local districts are blocking students from accessing better programs - The untapped potential of micro-schools, magnet academies, and virtual learning - Why ignoring top-performing kids is a dangerous mistake for small towns - What Maine’s next governor should do on day one to start the turnaround This is one of the clearest, most strategic conversations we’ve had on Maine For Keeps about education. Listen now on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to Maine For Keeps for weekly conversations on how we build a stronger future for Maine.

Who has been a guest on Maine For Keeps

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Sarah Lemonick
• Jonathan McDevitt
• Jen Millard
• Martin Molloy
• Melissa LaCasse

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 37 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

62

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

32

Contact Maine For Keeps

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Maine For Keeps