Ed Muskie and ‘forever chemicals’ / Down East drug violence / Home bidding wars

Today is Monday. Temperatures will be in the low 30s to high 40s from north to south, with a chance for snow in the north and mostly sunny skies in the south. Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.

The latest on the coronavirus in Maine

Fifty more Mainers have died and another 4,011 coronavirus cases were reported across the state Saturday, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The elevated case count comes as the agency continues to grapple with tens of thousands of backlogged positive cases. That brings the statewide death toll to 1,960. Check out our tracker for more information.

Caroline Buckley was only 2 days old when she contracted COVID-19, and required a breathing tube for 39 days. On Friday, Caroline finally headed home.

Can-Am Crown International Sled Dog Races and Northern Maine Medical Center officials will help Canadian mushers maneuver COVID-19 testing requirements to cross back into their country after the competitions.

While numerous businesses will continue to require masks or a proof of vaccination, others plan on ditching the requirements now that Portland’s mandate is over.

Maine parents of young children feel left behind in calls for COVID-19 ‘normalcy’

Many question whether an outsized burden has been unfairly shifted to families with kids still too young to be vaccinated.

COVID-19 is still here, but more Mainers are moving on from it

Many across Maine seem to have decided that now is the time to move on from the pandemic , and that masks, social distancing and chronic anxiety about potential exposure or illness are on their way to being a thing of the past.

Maine’s PFAS problem traces back to Edmund Muskie’s landmark clean water law

That solution to so many problems spawned another.

Violence is the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of Washington County’s drug problem

Ten people have been shot in the county in the past five years, and drugs have been cited by police as a factor in at least four of those shootings.

1st-time homebuyers in Bangor are getting outbid during housing crunch

Andy Day gave up looking to buy a house after a year of being elbowed aside by the competition every time.

Federal judge in Maine reflects on his impact after 40 years on the bench

Brock Hornby has overseen thousands of criminal and civil cases, while bringing humility and a sense of fairness to the bench.

Finally sober, he faced a stiff drug sentence. How would the retiring judge decide?

Gil Perez’s future rested in the judge’s decision whether to take the recommendation of prosecutors, or put faith in a person’s ability to change.

It will soon be easier to access a huge bog that sits on the outskirts of Rockland

About 50 percent of the midcoast’s largest peat bog is located on the outskirts of Rockland, but there’s no convenient way for people to access this unique area from inside city limits.

In other Maine news …

Penobscot County deputy sheriff dies in northern Maine snowmobile crash

Car bursts into flames in Harpswell cemetery following crash

Waterville 18-year-old charged with making explosive devices

Interim coach gains 1st win as UMaine men’s basketball rallies past NJIT

Lawmakers come out against higher fees for large aquaculture projects

Litchfield man dies from injuries after rollover crash

Avian influenza discovered for 1st time in Maine

Maine is 1st New England state with alerts for missing kids with disabilities