Today is Monday. Temperatures will be in the high 40s to low 50s from north to south, with heavy rain and high winds moving in as the day progresses. Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.
Here’s the latest on the coronavirus in Maine
Another 224 coronavirus cases were reported across the state Sunday, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. There are now 2,365 active confirmed and “probable” cases in the state, while the death toll remains at 191. Check out our COVID-19 Tracker for more information.
Health care workers are again scared as the virus resurges in Maine, bringing record high numbers of hospitalizations and deaths across a much wider area. Their fears are similar this time around, but more rooted in the lessons they’ve learned about the virus since last spring — and just as important, the lessons that others seem to have missed.
A Maine sheriff resigned after sexting his officers. The full story is even darker.
There is evidence former Oxford County Sheriff Wayne Gallant sent graphic pictures or suggestive messages to at least five people, including two employees, one of whom was also in sheriff’s office custody. He was also under investigation by the FBI.
A Bangor Daily News investigation, supported by the Pulitzer Center, revealed how Maine’s system of oversight allowed the former sheriff’s behavior to go unchecked and unpunished for years.
76 years ago, a Hancock Boy Scout and his neighbor helped foil the plans of two Nazi spies
As it turns out, what both Mary Forni and Harvard Hodgkins had spotted were not two people simply lost in the snow. They’d seen two Nazi spies — William C. Colepaugh, a 26-year-old native of Niantic, Connecticut, and German native Erich Gimpel, 35, who around 11 p.m. on Nov. 29, 1944, made landfall in the U.S. after a two-month journey across the Atlantic Ocean in a German U-Boat.
Applications for public aid programs surge in Maine with pandemic worsening
New applications for food and cash assistance and Maine’s expanded Medicaid program have ticked upward in recent months after dropping over the summer. Demand for aid is likely to surge at the end of the year as most Mainers receiving unemployment stand to lose benefits, though the eligibility requirements for other programs are complicated and benefits are smaller.
Unable to keep up with demand, Maine charities may not survive 2020
The disparity between needs and resources is evident across the state right now, as Maine nonprofits and charitable organizations navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic. Ordinarily, this time of year is critical for fundraising — the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has even come to be known as “Giving Tuesday.”
Penobscot County administrator to retire 18 years after ‘big mistake’ of taking job
Bill Collins will retire next month after more than 18 years on the job. When Collins was hired, his professional history was in business, not government. Prior to 2000, county clerks oversaw the day-to-day operations in Maine’s 16 counties but they had little authority to make decisions without going to the commissioners for approval.
Aroostook man serving life for pot smuggling asks for release after getting COVID-19
Michael Pelletier, 64, of St. David first asked U.S. District Judge John Woodcock in August to release him so he could live with a brother in Florida because of his heightened risk for the virus.
In other Maine news …
60 mph winds and heavy rain will roar into Maine overnight
Belfast mourns death of gardener who made the city more beautiful
Piscataquis County man accused of killing father’s cat with frying pan on Thanksgiving
Man who killed Franky the dog begins sentence after losing appeal
Bangor middle school joins high school in move to online classes
AG’s office won’t reopen investigation into killing of 28-year-old Vinalhaven man