Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025

Quote of the Day

“I was to say, ‘These drums look legit.’ And then the detective would say, ‘Oh, they’re legit, huh, so you want to buy them?’ That was the code word for the deputies to roll up.”

— Evan Casas, a Cumberland musician, describing how he got his beloved drum set back after it was stolen.

Today’s Top Maine Stories

Don’t bet on $500 apartments coming to the Bangor Mall. The idea was one of several big changes the crumbling mall’s owner teased last week in court.

Bangor has launched its search for a new city manager. The start of the process comes more than a month after the announcement that Debbie Laurie will step down on May 30.

Connecticut is buying Maine solar power for less than we pay. But the disparity ties into how the large-scale Connecticut projects typically lead to lower costs than small-scale projects here under Maine’s net energy billing program.

A Maine musician got his stolen drums back in an elaborate Hollywood-style sting. The set was among the first built by a college friend whose clients now include Dropkick Murphys, Rancid and Sum 41.

Rockland gave a financial boost to a new workforce housing project. City councilors on Monday agreed to give $100,000 in tax revenue to as-yet-unnamed developers who have proposed to build 12 units.

News from Around the State

• Maine’s yellow flag law in 3 charts

• Maine battery ownership question remains unresolved

• Maine real estate mostly unaffected by commission changes

• 3-year-old dies after wandering in the snow in Corinna

• 1st person federally charged in Maine for running an illegal marijuana grow house pleads guilty

• Police looking for person who robbed Bangor Circle K with knife

• Defense says Aroostook man fatally shot girlfriend in self-defense

• 2 Maine women to compete in ice swimming world championships in Italy

• Midcoast high school reports bed bug infestation

• Antiques Roadshow is finally coming to Maine

• Court denies effort to block $30M for Boothbay-area school repairs

• Island electricity cooperative gets nearly $9M for renewable energy expansion

• Maine town strengthens its water extraction ordinance amid drought

• Alleged intoxicated driver collides with Maine plow truck

• Tractor-trailer rolls over in Maine with children inside

• Maine town approves removing 2 river dams

• Maine man arrested after allegedly breaking into 17-year-old girl’s room

• Man accused of stealing Maine sailboat

• Analysis: Defense and goaltending propel UMaine men’s hockey to big wins

Maine in Pictures

Evan Casas sits in his Cumberland living room Thursday, with his custom set of SJC drums, made 25 years ago by the company's founder when the two were college friends. The drums were stolen in February, but Casas got them back on New Year's Eve after internet sleuths and police intervened with a sting operation. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN

From the Opinion Pages

Life in Maine

Enjoy these videos from Maine’s viral firewood YouTubers. You may have read about these “woodhounds” in Maine who are sharing their daily business.  

Invasive plants may be helping ticks spread across Maine. A new five-year, $1.8 million grant-funded University of Maine research project aims to find out for sure.

Here are the nutritional benefits of wild meat. “The fact that the fruits of our labor in the deer woods is good for us just makes the successful hunt all that much sweeter,” V. Paul Reynolds writes.

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