Tropical Storm Elsa / Wakefield standoff / 'Floating White House'

Today is Friday. Temperatures will be in the high 60s to low 70s from north to south, with heavy rain throughout the state. Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.

Flooding, high winds expected across Maine as Tropical Storm Elsa approaches

This GOES-16 GeoColor satellite image taken Tuesday, July 6, 2021, at 5:50 p.m. EDT, and provided by NOAA, shows Tropical Storm Elsa in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. Credit: NOAA via AP

A flash flood warning has been issued for inland and Down East Maine as Tropical Storm Elsa travels up the East Coast, the National Weather Services in Caribou and Gray announced on Thursday evening.

Men who started standoff on Mass. highway had unregistered Maine license plates

Traffic on Interstate 95 is diverted Saturday in the area of an hours long standoff with a group of armed men that partially shut down the highway in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

The men, who belong to the group the Rise of the Moors, were on their way to Maine for “training,” and the license plates raise further questions about their ties to the state.

COVID testing swab manufacturer furloughs Pittsfield workers as demand falls

A sign for Puritan is on display outside the Pittsfield facility.

Puritan Medical Products furloughed 180 employees at its North Main Street plant in Pittsfield last month, and it will last for three more weeks as the company finalizes new orders from the federal government.

PLUS: Abbott Laboratories will lay off hundreds of employees at its facility in Westbrook amid declining demand for COVID-19 testing kits.

The ‘Floating White House’ is still waiting to be restored in Belfast

In this Sept. 6, 2013, file photo, the yacht Sequoia motors on the Anacostia River in Washington. Credit: Alex Brandon / AP

The Floating White House hosted many heads of state in its heyday. But it’s fallen on hard times, even being occupied by a family of raccoons at one point.

With new firefighter, someone will always be on duty at the Eddington fire station

Benjamin Rogers, of Holden, smiles at Eddington Fire Department. Rogers’ appointment to a third full-time position will allow the department to have a firefighter available at all times. Credit: Courtesy of Eddington Fire Department

It’s the first time in 47 years since Eddington had a firefighter on duty 24/7.

Hancock County playwright gives Shakespeare’s works some ‘wicked’ Maine flavor

Brent Hutchins (right) seen with co-star Robin Veysey, directs his play “Downeast Shakes and Shenanigans” for the Grand Theatre in Ellsworth. Credit: Emily Burnham / BDN

Brent Hutchins jettisoned some of Shakespeare’s Elizabethan language for Maine vernacular, both salty and sweet.

A year after fatal attack, Maine triples number of shark sensors in coastal waters

This photo, taken July 31, 2020, via a drone near Bailey Island in Harpswell, shows a great white shark, according to a Massachusetts shark expert. Credit: Courtesy of Maine Marine Patrol

The receivers, 11 in total, recorded pings from sharks that had been tagged with transmitters by researchers who are collecting data about the presence of sharks along the coast.

Police fatally shoot man in Presque Isle standoff

A Presque Isle Fire Department truck and a police vehicle block traffic Thursday at the intersection of Main and Maple streets during a standoff across from the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Credit: Paula Brewer / Presque Isle Star-Herald

Police killed a man who was shooting a handgun behind a business at 174 Main St. across from the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

UMaine football team gets its 1st new turf field in 13 years

Members of the University of Maine football team practice on the brand new artificial turf surface at Morse Field in Alfond Stadium in Orono. Credit: Larry Mahoney / BDN

The updated turf field is part of the $90 million Harold Alfond Foundation gift for sports facilities upgrades at the university, and plays a critical role for the team in its ability to recruit future players.