Q-POINT
Q-Point Podcast, hosted by Corenna and David Quirk, is a nonpartisan platform for candid conversations with policymakers, public officials, and changemakers shaping Maine and the nation. We go beyond the headlines, diving deep into policy discussions, current events, personal journeys, proposed legislation, and leadership philosophies. From community leaders to government officials and business executives, our guests share their insights, experiences, and perspectives on the issues that matter most. Guests have included former Maine Governor Paul LePage, Congressman Jared Golden, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, and Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows as well as several Gubernatorial and Congressional Candidates - to name a few. Focused on substance over soundbites, Q‑Point explores the real-world impact of legislative decisions, oversight, and public policy. Broadcast statewide weekend mornings on VOM Radio (101.3, 103.9, or stream from anywhere on the VOM App). Available anytime at QPointPodcast.com or on all major streaming platforms. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered professional advice or recommendations of any nature whatsoever, and no warrantee, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy of the information presented is made by your use. The views, information, opinions, comments, and observations of this podcast may not be those of the host or the management, and you entertain and rely on the content presented at your sole risk and responsibility. Your access of this podcast acknowledges that the contents and design are the sole property of the presenter and no use in any shape, manner or form of this podcast may be made without written permission. The presenter of the podcast hereby disclaims any and all responsibility for any and all damages arising out of or related to your use, reference and reliance on podcasts and information presented therein. This podcast does not endorse candidates nor should any episode be considered an endorsement.
Episodes
In this episode of the Q-Point Podcast, Corenna and David Quirk sit down with Keri Kapaldo, RN, SAFE Program Coordinator at St. Joseph Hospital, for an in-depth and informative conversation about Maine’s Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE) Program and the significant gaps that still exist in statewide survivor support.
Kapaldo explains how the SAFE Program operates alongside the emergency department to provide trau...
In Part Two, Democratic candidate for Hancock County Sheriff Lieutenant Dakota Dupuis explains how geography and limited staffing shape law-enforcement coverage across the county. He discusses his plan for all administrators to work night shifts to stay connected to deputies, improve communication, and better understand the challenges on the road.
Dupuis outlines the strain created when deputies are positioned on oppos...
In Part One, Lieutenant Dakota Dupuis shares his career background and the priorities driving his run for Hancock County Sheriff. He discusses modernization efforts within the Sheriff’s Office, including updated equipment, body and cruiser cameras, and expanded training. Dupuis also emphasizes community trust, accreditation goals, and plans to strengthen early mental-health interventions.
He describes the dramatic incr...
🎙️ Q-Point Podcast | Penobscot County Commissioner Dan Tremble
“It’s Like Death by a Thousand Cuts.” — Commissioner Tremble on Small but Constant Regulations, Fees, and Mandates Piling Up on Small Businesses.
Penobscot County Commissioner Dan Tremble joins Corenna and David for a detailed look inside the issues reshaping Penobscot County — from the long-overdue need for a new jail and the rising cost of boarding inmate...
🎙️ Q-Point Podcast | Maine State Representative Mike Soboleski
“Since Golden Has Bowed Out, Are You Now Considering Challenging Paul LePage?” — Soboleski on a Potential Run for Congress
In this powerful interview, Rep. Mike Soboleski breaks down the shifting dynamics at Maine’s borders, the rise in interior apprehensions, and the increased attention on northern smuggling routes. He shares what he uncovered while exam...
🎙️ Q-Point Podcast | Bobby Charles, Republican Maine Gubernatorial Candidate — Part Two
The Spike Hitting Every Mainer — “Our Energy Costs... Jumped Higher Than Any State In The United States.” — Bobby Charles
Part Two expands the conversation into Maine’s escalating energy costs, overregulation, and the broader affordability crisis. Bobby Charles lays out his 20-point energy framework, describing how solar subsidies,...
🎙️ Q-Point Podcast | Bobby Charles, Republican Maine Gubernatorial Candidate — Part One
Public Safety At A Breaking Point — “85% Of All Crime Actually Goes Back To Drug Trafficking.” — Bobby Charles
Part One takes a hard look at Maine’s public safety crisis — from drug trafficking and repeat offenders to cashless bail, the court backlog, and the imbalance between prosecutors and public defenders. Bobby Charles outlines...
In Part Two, Owen McCarthy shifts the conversation toward rebuilding opportunity across Maine’s rural communities. He outlines how workforce shortages, access barriers, economic stagnation, and outmigration can be addressed by tapping homegrown talent, expanding entrepreneurship, strengthening infrastructure, and embracing new industries.
He also explains why AI, innovation hubs, life sciences, and micromobility aviati...
Owen McCarthy. Republican Gubernatorial Candidate, joins Corenna and David for a wide-ranging conversation on public safety, energy policy, Maine’s housing shortage, accountability in the criminal justice system, the rise of Chinese illegal grow operations, education decline, trades shortages, and the pressures facing working-class families.
He shares his upbringing in Patten, his engineering background, his work...
Part Two continues the discussion with Maine Veterans' Homes CEO Brad Klawitter as he delivers a powerful floor-speech-style message urging legislative action on LD 182 and calls on Mainers to contact their representatives. He shares updates on the OPEGA investigation clearing the organization of waste or abuse, explains partnerships with veteran service organizations, and highlights the homes’ five-star CMS rati...
In this first part of the conversation, Maine Veterans' Homes CEO Brad Klawitter joins Corenna and David Quirk in-studio to discuss the organization’s history, mission, and the financial headwinds facing long-term care for Maine’s veterans.
Klawitter outlines the origins of Maine Veterans Homes, founded in 1977 to honor the state’s moral obligation to veterans and their families, and explains how six faciliti...
🎙️ “They Knew That It Was a Problem.” — AND — “They Didn’t Tell Anybody.” — Frey on PFAS manufacturers concealing known dangers and profiting from decades of silence.
Part Two continues the in-studio conversation with Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey, as he explains how PFAS manufacturers knowingly hid the dangers of their “forever chemicals” for decades—contaminating Maine’s soil, water, and farmland. Frey discusses...
“There Are Still Threads to Pull.”
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey joins Corenna and David Quirk in studio to discuss the absentee ballot investigation that has drawn national attention after hundreds of ballots were discovered in an Amazon delivery box.
Frey explains how his office and the Secretary of State are working together to ensure a thorough, transparent review, reaffirming public confidence in Maine’s ...
Maine State Representative Steve Bishop joins Corenna and David Quirk in studio for his third appearance to talk about what really works in Augusta — listening, teamwork, and leaving party labels at the door.
From his work on the Transportation Committee to the realities facing Maine’s small businesses, housing, and local economies, Bishop shares what he’s learned about focusing on solutions over soundbites. He explain...
Hancock County Sheriff Scott Kane joins Corenna and David Quirk on the Q-Point Podcast for an unfiltered look at law enforcement in rural Maine. From the deadly impact of fentanyl and rising addiction rates to patrol shortages, K-9 program challenges, and navigating county and federal jurisdictions, Sheriff Kane discusses the realities behind the badge. He also shares insights on red-flag laws, community policing on M...
In Part Two of their conversation with Republican gubernatorial candidate David Jones, Corenna and David Quirk dive into the economic and policy challenges shaping Maine’s future.
Jones calls high taxes and government waste “oppressive,” arguing that working Mainers are trapped in what he describes as “economic prison.” He outlines his plan to make Maine more affordable through fiscal reform, energy independence, and e...
David Jones joins Q-Point Podcast to talk candidly about his campaign for governor — and his belief that teamwork, humility, and unity must replace ego in politics.
Drawing from decades in business and public service, Jones shares firsthand experiences on the campaign trail, his time as a national convention delegate, and what he’s learned about leadership from working alongside figures like Paul LePage and Donald Trum...
In this continued conversation, Senator Jim Libby discusses welfare expansion, accountability, and the urgent need to realign Maine’s budget priorities. He shares concerns about unbid nonprofit contracts, misuse of public funds, and the growth of dependency programs that he believes “are hurting, not helping” Mainers. Libby calls for stronger oversight at DHHS, transparency in spending, and a renewed focus on workforc...
Senator Jim Libby sits down with Q-Point Podcast to explain his decision to run under Maine’s Clean Elections system and share his views on how money shapes policy in Augusta. He breaks down budget growth and tax changes, outlining a four-year plan to reduce income taxes and expand the homestead exemption for property-tax relief. Libby shares concerns about MaineCare expansion and hospital reimbursement challenges, ca...
In Part Two, Maine State Senator and Independent Gubernatorial Candidate Rick Bennett continues the conversation, turning to some of Maine’s most urgent challenges:
⚡ Energy Reform — Bennett warns that Maine’s solar subsidy program has left “$240 million of stranded costs onto ratepayers,” with most benefits going to out-of-state Wall Street firms. He argues these policies drive up rates, hurt small businesses, and sta...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.
"SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!