Good morning. Temperatures will be in the 30s with showers in the morning and a snowy mix in the afternoon.
Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.
Old Town police officer returns to work after fatal shooting of New Hampshire man
–Authorities still haven’t released many details about the death of 37-year-old Adrian Bunker, who was killed early the morning of Nov. 29, 2018, after Officer Joseph Decoteau stopped his pickup truck on Stillwater Avenue. But Decoteau is back to work, and investigations into the shooting are ongoing.
A steep ferry fee hike has changed the way of life for many people who live on a Maine island
–Last year’s Maine State Ferry Service rate overhaul continues to create hardships for Islesboro residents, who say that the added cost has forced them to curtail trips to the mainland, pick up added work and otherwise change their way of life. They continue to press state transportation officials to adjust a rate structure that they say is unfair to them in ways that don’t apply to residents of other islands that rely on the ferry service.
A cheese-shaped building, a missing giant mouse and the Maine town that fondly recalls both
–Today, the building is home to a Harley-Davidson clothing store that opens during the tourist season and is closed the rest of the year. But back in the 1970s, the store was best known for three things: It was shaped like a great big yellow cheese wheel with a chunk cut out of it, it had a giant mouse atop its roof, and Ellsworth High School students would steal the mouse every year and put it on the roof of their school as a prank.
The Catholic church wants more UMaine students to worship
–The biggest part of a $3.5 million fundraising campaign would pay for a remodel at the University of Maine’s Newman Center, which was built in 1972 and needs several changes to make it more energy efficient and “to ensure a Catholic presence in Orono for years to come,” according to the pastor for the local Catholic parish.
The story behind Bangor’s most expensive house
–The historical connections at 900 State St. extend to the University of Maine hockey team, a major downtown Bangor retailer, Mount Desert Island and New York City’s Central Park.
The head of an illegal sports gambling ring in Portland will go to prison
–Stephen Mardigan, 62, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in U.S. District Court in Portland Monday afternoon.
Mardigan had pled guilty to gambling, money laundering and tax evasion. Federal investigators claim he made between $9 million and $12 million over more than two decades running an illegal sports betting syndicate in Maine’s largest city.
Do this: Hike Weinland Nature Study Area in Penobscot
–A quiet place for a walk in the woods, The Richard and Virginia Weinland Nature Study Area covers 40 acres in the coastal town of Penobscot, and features a 1-mile loop trail that is open to foot traffic year round. Heavily forested in the 1970s, the property is a good example of how a forest can regenerate with a wide variety of trees, some of which are labeled with signs stating their common and scientific names.
In other news…
Maine
Inmate dies at Maine State Prison
This large Victorian house in Ellsworth is being renovated for homeless families
How Maine plans to block offshore oil drilling
Bangor
Tennessee company didn’t sign contract to run Bangor psychiatric facility at Mills’ request
UMaine football team’s historic season results in highest-ever national poll finish
Business
A surprising victim of the government shutdown: Craft breweries and their new brews
Regulators to move forward with full investigation into high CMP bills
Madawaska Kmart evacuated because of smoke on its final day in business
Politics
Mills remains cautious as lawmakers propose changes to Maine’s gun laws
Sorting through the more than 2,000 bills Maine lawmakers submitted
Trump pleads on TV for wall funding to fix border ‘crisis’
Opinion
Maine deserves a more open pardon process
Public charge laws and the immigrant fiscal deficit
Hydroelectric dams are destroying the Gulf of Maine fishery
Sports
Top-ranked Bowdoin women’s basketball team cruises past Husson
UMaine men’s basketball team faces Vermont in league home opener; women at Vermont
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