Today is Thursday. Temperatures will be in the low 50s to low 60s from north to south, with mostly sunny skies throughout the state. Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus and Maine
Another two Mainers have died as 102 new coronavirus cases were reported across the state, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. There are 1,245 active confirmed and “probable” cases in the state, the highest yet, while the death toll has risen to 150. Check out our COVID-19 Tracker for more information.
An outbreak at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham has grown to 85, infecting inmates and prison staff alike. That’s up from 72 cases as reported earlier this week.
Susan Collins defied the polls. Here’s what they may have gotten wrong.
If you closely followed public polling in the race, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ resounding victory on Tuesday may have been a surprise. It was a surprise for campaigns and insiders as well.
Bangor didn’t count more than 1,500 ballots on election night
City officials will add the results from those ballots to the city’s existing totals for those races during a counting session at 10 a.m. Thursday in the City Council chambers at Bangor City Hall.
School board chair resigns after inflammatory posts about Trump supporters draw broad criticism
Caitlin Hills, who has served on the school board for nearly eight years, made the comments on Election Night in a public post on her own Facebook page. She deleted them, but screenshots of the post were widely shared.
Maine’s most interesting local races of 2020 were all over the map
Democratic and Republican splits played out in uneven ways in parts of the increasingly divided state. It led to fractured local elections won by fresh faces and marked by big changes in cities and more rural areas. Here are some of the state’s most interesting ones.
Portland referendums win by wider margins after initial miscalculation fixed
The revised figures don’t change the outcomes initially reported by the city clerk’s office about 1 a.m. Wednesday. Instead, they widened the margin of victory on five measures pushed by a progressive coalition that sought progressive reforms on wages, housing and policing issues.
CMP hydropower project wins key permit, likely to start construction soon
A controversial $1 billion hydropower project won its fourth key permit Wednesday from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the project’s sponsor said. Avangrid, the parent company of Central Maine Power, said the approval clears the way for construction on its proposed New England Clean Energy Connect project to start in the coming weeks.
‘Staggering’ criminal case backlog means Maine courts won’t take up civil matters until 2021
The delay in holding civil trials could help the court system chip away at the criminal case backlog that has grown 240 percent in less than a year. But some lawyers say delaying civil cases because they’re not considered emergency matters risks depriving Maine people of a legal forum for settling disputes.
Fisher family entertains Levant photographer for months in her own backyard
The fisher has quite the reputation of being a very fierce predator, and they are said to have a blood-curdling scream at night.
In other Maine news …
6 employees at Calais hospital test positive for COVID-19
Caribou, Limestone schools switch to remote learning after 2 positive COVID-19 cases
Taxi driver dies after hitting tree in Palmyra
Maine small businesses that won stimulus grants to start getting checks next week
Brewer senior jumps off motocross bike and makes successful debut season with girls soccer team