Rural vaccination rates / Maine state sandwich / Scabby potatoes

Today is Wednesday. Temperatures will be in the high 60s with sunny skies throughout the state. Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.

The latest on the coronavirus in Maine

Ten more Mainers died and 897 coronavirus cases were reported since the weekend, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The statewide death toll now stands at 1,036. Check out our tracker for more information.

More than 1 million Mainers have now received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, a milestone that came after a rush early in the year and a summer lull with cases now raging mostly among the state’s unvaccinated population.

Nearly two dozen staff and inmates at the Penobscot County Jail have tested positive for COVID-19, Sheriff Troy Morton said Tuesday.

A distrust for authority a significant factor for low vaccination rates in rural Maine

The divides have seemingly never been more present as Maine tries to address its worst health crisis in a century.

Your guide to Maine’s new health insurance marketplace

The centralization of the marketplace should make it easier for Mainers to see options easier.

Spending in CMP corridor referendum tops $50 million

That includes both direct and in-kind contributions to several political committees and other groups.

It wasn’t invented here, but the lobster roll could become Maine’s ‘state sandwich’

The Maine State Law and Legislative Reference Library found no similar attempt to establish a state sandwich since 1985.

Maine potatoes are coming out of the ground covered in ‘scabby’ growths

Potato scab is caused by a bacteria found in most soils in Maine. Other root crops including carrots, beets, radishes and parsnips are also susceptible to the pathogen.

Orono OKs new concrete base in park with no idea of what’s going on top

All they know is that the installation in Webster Park by the Stillwater River is part of what’s being billed as an economic development project.

This Belfast glassblowing studio runs on recycled doughnut fryer oil

As crafters across Maine look for ways to be more sustainable, studios are getting in on the action, too.

The state can’t get people to kill enough Maine deer

In parts of Maine, hunters are not harvesting enough female deer to achieve population management goals.

Farm that lost 8 cows in lightning storm is replacing the livestock after outpouring of support

Those eight angus heifers represented 10 percent of the Fortin Farm’s herd and was a huge economic and emotional blow to the four-generation farm.

Portland’s fire alarm boxes are working links to the Great Fire of 1866

They’re still out there, scattered around Portland. Some have seen better days but those still working remain standing in vigilant defense against the next Great Fire.

In other Maine news …

Senate confirms Caribou native as Maine’s top federal prosecutor

Maine woman convicted of killing 4-year-old in 2017 is seeking new sentence

Plan to clean Penobscot River gets universal praise as end of 20-year battle nears

Supreme Court allows Maine woman’s lawsuit against troopers to proceed

Anonymous donor gives $10K to save Nathaniel Hawthorne’s childhood Maine home

Presque Isle airport welcomes new 1st class jet amid pre-pandemic flight trends

Rotating solar array could come online in Brewer as soon as 2023

USM president to step down in 2022