Good morning. Temperatures will be in the mid-30s throughout the state. It will be breezy with gusts exceeding 30 mph.
Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.
Debate rages on as state prepares to break ground on I-395 connector
–For two decades, the state has been laying the groundwork for a six-mile extension of I-395. With construction anticipated in the next two to three years, the state has been marking properties in Brewer, Holden and Eddington and acquiring some. Even though some have resigned themselves to the prospect of a new interstate highway cutting through or near their properties, resistance to the new road is alive and well — and a new legislative effort aims to pause the project.
A Maine family got some pets back even though 152 animal cruelty counts are still pending
–Members of a Brunswick family who had dozens of animals seized last year amid concerns about poor care and treatment won the right to regain custody of some pets as a result of civil lawsuit settlements. Criminal charges against some family members are still pending.
Church that wants to get bikers into the Bible brings a warming center to downtown Bangor
–The Biker Church USA’s Bangor congregation has made the prominent Union Street Brick Church in downtown Bangor into more of a service center for those who are homeless or otherwise in need of a helping hand.
A Bangor-area program uses coaches to help people recover from addiction
–The recovery coach model to help people overcome opioid addiction is getting increased attention at the state level these days, and a Bangor group that employs recovery coaches recently got a special — and very public — shoutout from the governor as she discussed her response to the opioid crisis.
What happens when death kills the dream of farming together
–When Susan Hunter and her husband Alan started their Unity dairy farm in 2008, it was with an eye toward a shared future of raising animals and living a life close to the land. An hour and a half away in Penobscot, Jo Barrett and her husband Dennis King were living a similar dream on their diversified farm and making plans to turn it over to a younger couple and retire.
What neither couple had planned were how illness and death would leave the two widows left to figure out what was next for their respective farms.
This old collection at UMaine could save the future of at-risk dog breeds
–Laurie Connell, a professor with the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine, doesn’t study dogs in her day-to-day work at the university. But over the past year, her lifelong passion for canines has led UMaine to acquire the largest publicly accessible collection of dog pedigrees in the world. Breeders and researchers can now use it to help improve the genetic diversity of breeds suffering from abnormalities that have resulted from generations of inbreeding.
In other news …
Maine
High winds will buffet Maine after winter storm leaves fresh layer of snow
Slain Owls Head woman ‘did not deserve this,’ son says
Maine man looking for a steady hand to help him finish one last World War II diorama
Bangor
Science festival asks Mainers to get excited about salmon
4 escape safely after fire consumes Hampden home
Leader of regional waste processing group resigns ahead of Hampden facility debut
Business
Dover-Foxcroft hospital board will take a first vote on merging with Northern Light system
Feds set hearings on plan to protect bait fish vital to lobster industry
New controls in Maine to prevent poaching of valuable eels
Politics
It looks like Janet Mills has to keep raising money to pay her inaugural bill
Maine child welfare workers are overworked and don’t see things getting better, report says
Maine Family Planning to sue over new Trump abortion ‘gag rule’
Opinion
Maine should plan for energy independence by 2030
Congress has let presidents do its job. Now Trump has taken advantage of that.
Sports
UMaine men’s hockey team rolls past Boston College in overtime
Caribou ends Hermon’s winning streak, wins Class B North title
Houlton dethrones three-time defending state champion George Stevens in ‘C’ North final
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