Good morning. Temperatures throughout the state will range from the single digits in the north to the low-20s in the south, thanks to the fractured polar vortex.
Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.
The shutdown won’t stop volunteers from maintaining the trails at Acadia
–The non-profit Friends of Acadia has permission from the National Park Service to have volunteers groom and maintain cross-country ski trails in the park. The park’s furloughed staff generally takes care of the trails. The group also says it expects some plowing in the park to resume as Maine prepares for a snowy weekend.
Jared Golden will open an office in downtown Bangor
–A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Jared Golden confirmed the congressman’s staff have signed a lease for office space at 6 State St. in downtown Bangor, expected to open next month.
That’s good news for constituents who were angered when two years ago, former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin relocated the office to a space at 4 Union Plaza, near the Bangor waterfront, that was less physically accessible.
Maine could become a hotspot for the world’s most expensive spice
–Saffron is a spice with no parallel or substitute, with flavor hovering between honeyed, sweetly floral and ineffably earthy. It’s also the most expensive spice the world, retailing for about $5,000 per pound. And thanks to efforts to bring saffron from the Mediterranean to New England, Mainers soon may be cashing in on this golden spice.
A lobster processing company is moving some work to Gouldsboro
–Garbo Lobster, a subsidiary of East Coast Seafood Group, said this week that it will shift much of the work from the Groton, Connecticut, facility that it’s closing to its Maine Fair Trade Lobster processing plant in the Gouldsboro village of Prospect Harbor. The company did not indicate how many jobs it may add at the Gouldsboro site.
Alumni and students don’t like it, but name change will attract out-of-staters, USM says
–University of Southern Maine President Glenn Cummings was up front about a proposed name change Wednesday morning: Students and alumni don’t like it.
But he said by calling the school the University of Maine at Portland, research shows significantly more out-of-state guidance counselors will recommend it to students and more high school graduates will consider enrolling.
In a Waterville building where shirts for Union soldiers were once made, mouse parts are helping a biotech firm grow
–Using small pieces of tails and ears to identify the genetic makeup of mice and rats for research clients, a Waterville company expects to boost sales 60 percent, triple its production lab space and hire up to three more staffers this year.
Do this: See True North Theatre Company’s ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’
–Theatergoers looking for an imitation of the 1958 film starring Paul Newman as Brick and Elizabeth Taylor as his neglected wife Maggie will be sorely disappointed. This “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” includes the all four-letter words and sex talk the Motion Picture Production Code censored out of movies in the 1950s.
“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Cyrus Pavilion at the University of Maine in Orono.
In other news…
Maine
Former Belfast school where pot once grew moves closer to becoming rental housing
American killed in Kenya terrorist attack graduated from Maine high school
Missing Union man’s frozen body found in Montville yard
Bangor
Substitute mishandled 5th-grader’s question about racial slur, Bangor superintendent says
Joe Perry, a former state senator, wins Democratic nod to run for Bangor, Orono House seat
Clifton man charged with killing girlfriend makes 1st court appearance
Business
Craft brewers boost Maine economy by $260 million
Chick-fil-A food truck gets approval to come to Maine
How the shutdown is affecting small business loans in Maine
Politics
Mills’ vow not to raise taxes puts her at odds with some Maine Democrats and their allies
The big changes Randall Liberty would make as head of Maine’s prisons
Why Maine’s efforts to combat State House sexual harassment might not be enough
Opinion
Federal shutdown is not a vacation, it is a failure of leadership
Mainers are finding out they voted for tax and spend
A Skowhegan mascot name change proposal
Sports
Balanced scoring attack propels UMaine men’s hockey team past Boston College
Lewiston upends Bangor to remain unbeaten in Class A North hockey
Last-second free throws lift Hartford past UMaine men’s basketball team
