Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024

Quote of the Day

“Taking someone out of an encampment and putting them into an apartment, what do you think it looks like? It looks like an encampment indoors. Allowing people some basic furnishings to create a home they can sustain, take pride in and reconnect with friends and family is important.”

— Bangor City Manager Debbie Laurie on a grant the city received to help people who have recently been placed in permanent housing after having been homeless.

Today’s Top Maine Stories

Fifty people still live in the homeless camp Bangor plans to close by year's end. Part of the problem, according to one city official, is the number of new people moving in.

Maine’s Democratic lawmakers picked Aaron Frey to remain attorney general. Frey won a secret ballot vote over challenger Maeghan Maloney. Democrats also picked Rep. Joe Perry of Bangor for state treasurer.

A $2 million “equestrian paradise” is for sale on the Penobscot River. The property’s most prominent feature is its barn: an 1880s post-and-beam structure with horse stables, living quarters and a polygonal turret.

Mount Desert Island Hospital is moving ahead with a $42 million expansion. The upgrade will triple the size of the hospital’s emergency room and make the main building more visible from Main Street.

A new cafe and bakery is opening in a former Ellsworth newspaper building. The restaurant is the latest business to set its sights on Ellsworth, which in recent years has become a popular destination for area residents.

News from Around the State

• Mid-week storm could drop up to 9 inches of snow over parts of Maine

• CEO of Maine’s largest newspaper group is stepping down

• Husson University will offer free tuition for students from Penobscot County

• 2 Bangor men are missing

• Bangor fixes glitching traffic light on busy road

• Pedestrian in serious condition after being hit by car in Bangor

• Fire badly damages 144-year-old Bangor home

• Residents suing Aroostook town over land swap deal

• 2nd Deer Isle-area school board suspends superintendent

• High court denies Waldo County teen’s request to be tried as juvenile in killing

• Contra dancing is a great way to get through a Maine winter

• National land trust purchases 44K acres near Jackman

• Murder charge dropped for man accused of killing unhoused woman in Portland

• Police reopen Maine-New Hampshire I-95 bridge

• Death traps await endangered sea turtles in warming Gulf of Maine

• UMaine men’s basketball cruises past UM-Augusta

• ​​UMaine hockey star Lynden Breen to undergo surgery for undisclosed leg injury

• Former UMaine hockey star invited to Canada’s World Junior tryout camp

Maine in Pictures

The Conservation Fund, a national land trust, has purchased more than 44,000 acres of forest near Jackman and the Canadian border. Credit: Jerry Monkman / The Conservation Fund via Maine Public

Maine Town of the Week

Got a fun factoid about a Maine town? Email us at news@bangordailynews.com.

DEER ISLE: Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck stopped in Deer Isle during the epic American road trip that inspired his 1962 travelogue "Travels with Charley." There, he ate lobster and attempted to ask for directions from taciturn, suspicious Maine locals — a stereotype about Mainers that has lived on more than 60 years after the book was published, and may have a grain of truth to it. Steinbeck said of the island town, "One doesn't have to be sensitive to feel the strangeness of Deer Isle."

From the Opinion Pages

Life in Maine

“Working the Sea: Historic Images from National Fisherman,” published this week, takes readers on a journey from the turn of the 20th century, when three- and five-masted schooners still ruled the sea, to modern times with modern boats and technology.

If it’s your first winter in Maine, here’s a guide to get you started. While winter in Maine is no joke, your first in the Pine Tree State doesn’t have to break you as long as you are prepared.

Climate change means strawberry plants need protection in winter. It’s important to provide that cover now more than ever, as heavy snowfall is less likely to cover the ground throughout the winter.

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