Good morning. Temperatures will be in the high 50s throughout the state.
Here’s what’s happening in Maine today.
Ranked-choice voting poses greater threat to Pingree than either of her opponents
–Maine’s 1st Congressional District has been held by Democrats for 21 years, it isn’t being targeted by national party groups and it has a five-term Democratic incumbent whose vote shares only once have slipped below 55 percent.
Still, there are Republicans who see a path to knocking off U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree in Maine’s most compelling political science experiment of the 2018 cycle. Their hope relies on the state’s new ranked-choice voting system — and not necessarily by getting a Republican elected.
One way to reduce Bangor evictions, at $132K
–Bangor has seen a higher eviction rate than the rest of the state for nearly two decades. And for the past decade, the city has had the dubious distinction of having an eviction rate that exceeds the nation’s, according to data from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University.
But when residents are being evicted, they have no right to a lawyer in court, and Pine Tree Legal’s budget allows it to handle only a small portion of eviction cases. If Bangor wanted the same percentage of tenants to have legal representation in eviction cases as landlords, it would cost about $132,000 per year for Pine Tree Legal to provide it.
A man spent $100,000 on a better way to harvest shellfish. But it could soon become illegal.
–Raymond “Bucky” Alexander figures he has at least $100,000 and several years invested in rebuilding his boat and crafting, by hand, the iron dredger he’s used this summer for quahogs in the New Meadows River. It has allowed him to harvest far more of the hard-shell clams than competitors who use rakes. Some of those competitors, joined by others concerned about dredging’s impact on the environment and quahog population, are asking the state to ban or limit the practice.
Maine film fest to feature documentary on ‘Lobster War’ border dispute
–A centuries-old land dispute between Canada and the United States has been getting more heated as a wave of increased lobster catches has moved east along the Maine coast.
And now that a documentary film on the topic has been released, it’s about to get more public attention, too.
A real-life John and the beanstalk tale grows in Brewer
–A mass of vines clinging to the side of his house, the string beans grown by John Gonya in Brewer this summer are a sight to behold, reminiscent of the age-old fairytale “Jack and the Beanstalk.”
Starting at the ground, the bean plant has snaked its way up to Gonya’s second-story balcony. Soon, he’ll be picking beans from that height.
Bucksport’s latest energy saver, a solar array, comes online
–A new $173,000 solar array in Bucksport will save almost $400,000 over the next 40 years, officials said Friday. The 79.8-kilowatt panels — installed on the Public Works Department building — follow the installation of LED lighting in the Town Office, along the town’s waterfront walkway and an electric-car charger on Main Street, said Richard Rotella, the town’s economic development director.
“It’s clean. It’s green. It’s using a natural resource and the savings over time will benefit the taxpayers of the town,” Rotella said. “It makes strong environmental and fiscal sense.”
Do this: Go find an alpaca to watch and smile
–As far as Anne Gobes is concerned, nothing can brighten a day as much as gazing at a herd of alpacas.
“When people come to our farm and take pictures of the alpacas or just stand and look at them, they are just smiling and ecstatic,” Gobes, president of the Maine Alpaca Association, said.
In other news…
Maine
Maine schools consider later start times to let students sleep
Restaurant that sedates lobsters with marijuana under investigation
Car-moose collisions down by half over last decade in Maine
Bangor
EMMC nurses union approves new 3-year contract
NC man guilty of failing to pay support for Maine child now 27
Former Bangor housing worker sues, alleging sexual harassment
Business
Maine city gives go-ahead to build one of country’s largest lobster processing plants
Pro-solar coalition sues, says new metering rules violate Maine law
Crowd overwhelms, forces postponement of hearing on shellfish farm expansion
Politics
Moody declines to release tax returns
Council: No projecting political messages onto State House
Group suing LePage administration wants Medicaid expansion taken over by third party
Opinion
Don’t weaken protections for New England’s marine monument
Kavanaugh will respect and safeguard our constitution
We’re asking the wrong question about Medicare for all
Sports
What Maine is doing to prevent and treat head injuries in youth athletes
Lions dominate, hand Patriots second straight loss
Allen’s RBI single in 11th lifts Indians past Red Sox
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