2021 child deaths / Millinocket salmon farm / Hampden fire

Today is Wednesday. Temperatures will be in the 30s with cloudy skies throughout the state. Not even a week after a nor’easter buried Maine under as much as 22 inches of snow, another 10 inches are expected this week. Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.

The latest on the coronavirus in Maine

Thirteen more Mainers have died and another 1,534 coronavirus cases have been reported since Saturday, according to the Maine Center of Disease Control and Prevention. The statewide death toll now stands at 1,751. Check out our tracker for more information.

Mainers can now get free N95 masks at certain pharmacy locations across the state as the COVID-19 virus continues to spread here. Here is where you can go this week — and where masks will be added soon.

Gov. Janet Mills joined other governors in calling for “a much-needed sense of stability and normalcy” and pushing for more White House support to weather the COVID-19 pandemic after returning from a gathering of top state officials.

Falmouth town councilors voted down a motion to instate a mask mandate on Monday night. The motion failed after the council voted 4-3 against requiring masks in public buildings.

2021 was the worst year on record for child deaths in Maine

Twenty-five children died last year in incidents tracked by the state that were associated with abuse or neglect or after a history of family involvement with the child welfare system.

British firm delays plans for salmon farm at Millinocket mill site

Aquabanq said that other salmon farm operators have “poisoned the well” for the technology.

Lobstering will get more expensive for Maine fishermen

The price of mandated identification tags for Maine lobster traps has increased 50 percent.

3 displaced in Portland fire were lifelong friends from Millinocket

Molly Donley, Greg Hartley and Kylie Pinette were among those displaced by a weekend fire in a North Street apartment complex.

Hampden fire victim was a sculptor known for historical busts and love of cigars

Paul Spaulding’s sister said she’ll remember her brother as someone who was true to himself, and she hopes others will remember him that way, too.

Waldo County brothers in their ‘happy place’ training and racing sled dogs

Being on the trail with the dogs, even at night or in sub-zero temperatures, makes these Belfast teens happy. And more than that, it teaches them important life lessons about perseverance and dedication.

Anyone who needs a pair can take one at new Bangor ‘sock garden’

Those who work with the homeless say that socks are among the most needed, yet least seldom donated, items.

Piscataquis commissioners deny request for broadband funding in favor of radio upgrades

Internet access is spotty in rural parts of Piscataquis, an issue that limits how much growth in population and businesses the county can attract.

Angus King’s electoral count plan is big step for Democrats in talks with Susan Collins

The bill would make a range of changes to the Electoral College process, some of which would directly inhibit Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election.

PLUS: Trump attacks spur Congress to bolster electoral count law

An Orono man is being stalked by this ruffed grouse

You would think a ruffed grouse would know better. After all, just about every carnivore bigger than a shrew thinks they are tasty. So why is a grouse following Tyson McHatten around his yard?