Today is Thursday. Temperatures will be in the 80s throughout the state, with dense morning fog giving way to sunny skies. Here's what we're talking about in Maine today.

Poll gives Dale Crafts edge in GOP primary in Maine’s 2nd District

• The former state representative had a clear edge in the first independent poll of the three-candidate race released six days before Election Day, but a ranked-choice count likely looms. Complicating the election more, nearly four-fifths of Republican voters in the 2nd Congressional District are waiting to cast votes on Tuesday and 19 percent are undecided on their first choice. 
   
• PLUS: Democrats are dominating absentee ballot requests in Maine ahead of next week’s primary. More than 120,000 Democrats have requested absentee ballots compared to just 32,000 Republicans, according to the secretary of state’s office.

• For decades, the stores and restaurants along Stillwater Avenue and Hogan Road have served as one of Bangor’s main economic engines, bringing jobs, tax revenue and enough retail destinations to eat up a shopper’s whole afternoon. But the cracks in that model have been emerging in recent years — and have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Bangor’s homeless can now take showers because of a dad who lost his son to an overdose

• Peter Kelleher, a Millinocket native, returned to Bangor this week, having raised the money for a shower that will be available to members of Bangor's homeless population at the Union Street Brick Church.

• More than 70 percent of Republicans polled in Maine's 2nd Congressional District over the past week would back the former governor in a 2022 gubernatorial primary without even needing to see any other candidates on the ballot, illustrating his hold on the party as he considers a run against Gov. Janet Mills. 

On a tiny island in a Maine pond, this 6-year-old made the catch of his dreams

• The ongoing pandemic has affected all of us in different ways. But on a tiny island in the middle of a central Maine pond, real life can be forgotten for a while. That’s what 6-year-old Hazen Wilcox and his family have discovered.

• These Belfast small-business owners have “pivoted” during the pandemic to keep their operations alive. Being creative and flexible has been key to surviving in an economic downturn marked by ever-changing restrictions and uncertainty. Here’s how they’re doing it. 

In other Maine news...

• Body washes ashore in Robbinston
   
• Cumberland County corrections officer faces criminal investigation for allegedly punching inmate
   
• Belfast crash leaves 1 dead, others injured