January
January 20, 2023: Yiying Kim, her son Walter Churchill, 3, and their friend Fiona Helmboldt, 5, smile for a picture taken by Katie Helmboldt, holding her 1-year-old daughter Minna, during their play day on the Union Street hill in Bangor. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
Feb. 4, 2023: A photographer lines up a shot near Willard Beach in South Portland while sea smoke obscures the harbor behind it. At dawn, the temperature hovered around -13 degrees. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN
Feb. 4: Mainers hunker down, pipes freeze and trees crack during -50-degree wind chills
A person walks past a large banner with a heart on the Portland Public Library, Feb. 14, 2020. The identity of the so-called Valentine’s Day bandit, responsible for posting hundreds of simple red hearts for decades in Maine’s largest city, has been revealed. Family and friends say Kevin Fahrman of Falmouth was chief instigator of the annual effort before his death on Friday at 67.
Feb. 14, 2023: A pedestrian, reflected in a shop window, walks by a paper hear in Portland. A “Valentine’s Day Bandit” hangs hearts all over the city on the holiday each year. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN
Feb. 14: Valentine’s Day bandit festoons Portland with red paper hearts
FEBRUARY
MARCH
March 3, 2023: Prudence Mabaya and his nephew Pius Ilunga, 2, share a moment at a naturalization ceremony in Bangor on March 3. Pius’ mother, Angel Mabaya, was sworn in as a United States citizen with 24 other people during the first naturalization ceremony conducted in three years in Bangor. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
March 3: 25 people become US citizens at 1st Bangor naturalization ceremony in 3 years
“It has been a journey to this day,” Waterville business owner Churchill Elangwe-Preston said after the citizenship ceremony. “It was not always a smooth ride. There have been bumps in the road, but Americans have been so nice to me.”
Elangwe-Preston, 45, of Waterville; Cameroon native and naturalized citizen
March 4, 2023: Musher David Boyer of Sint-liguori, Quebec and his team of eager sled dogs take off from the starting gate on Main Street in Fort Kent during the Can-Am 100 mile race. Credit: Jessica Potila / St. John Valley Times
March 6: Katherine Langlais becomes 1st woman to win Can-Am 250
March 6, 2023: Southern Aroostook’s Drake Weston (#0) and Camden Porter (#14) celebrate after winning the Class D boys state championship game against Forest Hills at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
March 6: Southern Aroostook boys defeat Forest Hills for 2nd straight Class D state title
“We just came out to play and we got the win. The points just came with it. We just came out and played, kept the intensity all game. We have been playing together since we were kids, have great chemistry and we just play together.”
Dylan Burpee, guard, Southern Aroostook High School
March 17, 2023: The Maine State Police Honor Guard salute the casket of Holden Police chief Chris Greeley at the end of a Celebration of Life ceremony at the Anah Shriners Hall in Bangor. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
March 17: Hundreds gather to honor the kindness of Holden Police Chief Chris Greeley
April 20, 2023: Flowers and a stuffed animal sit at the end of a driveway in Bowdoin on Thursday, April 20, 2023, where police said Joseph Eaton shot his parents, two of their friends, and a dog to death before firing shots at cars on a Yarmouth highway on Tuesday, injuring three people. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN
April. 18-20: 34-year-old with long criminal record charged in 4 Bowdoin shooting deaths
Our coverage of the Bowdoin shooting
The victims are;
- Cynthia R. Eaton, 63, of Ocala, Florida
- David Lee Eaton, 66, both of Ocala, Florida,
- Robert C. Eger Jr., 72
- Patricia Deraps Eger, 62
Read all our coverage of the shooting here.
APRIL
MAY
May 4, 2023: Eliot Cutler sits in a courtroom at the Hancock County Unified Criminal Court in Ellsworth. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
May 4: Former independent gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler to serve 9 months for child porn
May 6, 2023: Ralph David Waite celebrates on stage after receiving his Bachelor of Science in Sports Management during Husson University’s commencement ceremony at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
May 7: Husson graduates more than 850 students at commencement
May 11, 2023: Laura Casey, whose body is a roadmap of scars from dozens of surgeries, including a double mastectomy, enjoys hiking naked to feel the air on her exposed skin and to celebrate her body and health. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
May 15: Why this Maine woman hikes naked
“I have people tell me I should be ashamed to be naked because of all my scars and because I am fat. I tell those kind of people, ‘If you can’t appreciate what this body does for me, then shame on you.'”
Laura Casey, breast cancer survivor and double-mastectomy recipient
May 29, 2023: Harold Furrow salutes as the 2023 Memorial Day parade passes by him on Main Street in Bangor. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
June 11, 2023: Members of the Bangor High School Class of 2023 march into the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine, for graduation ceremonies. Credit: Kim Higgins / BDN
June 11: ‘Resilient’ Bangor High School pandemic class of 2023 graduates
“Overnight, we were propelled into the unknown. Sophomore year brought about a whirlwind of change. Living in a constant state of fear and stress was surely one the most difficult situations many of us have ever experienced, parents and teachers included.”
Bangor High School Class of 2023 Class President Taylor Coombs
June 20, 2023: The York wildcats celebrate their 2-1 victory over Nokomis in the Class B softball championship game at Coffin Field in Brewer. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
June 20: York softball edges Nokomis for Class B state title on freshman’s pinch-hit single
June 27, 2023: Protestors, both for and against LD 1619, which would expand abortion protections, gather in the halls of the Maine State House.
June 27: Maine House and Senate endorse Janet Mills’ abortion bill
Our coverage of abortion rights in Maine
- July 19: Janet Mills signs off on 1 of nation’s most permissive abortion laws
- Aug. 24: Maine abortion providers don’t expect big changes under new law
- Sept. 8: Maine’s post-Dobbs abortion bump stands out for being small
Read all our coverage of abortion rights here.
JUNE
JULY
July 5: World swelters to unofficial hottest day on record, UMaine scientists find
July 28: Joe Biden hits ‘trickle-down economics’ while speaking at Maine textile company
Aug. 2, 2023: U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, visits children at the Bangor Region YMCA. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
Aug. 2: Susan Collins: Bangor has ‘a long way to go’ in addressing homeless population
“Obviously not every problem has been solved, but city officials have told me that without the assistance they got from [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development], they would not have been successful in dismantling some of the encampments and finding safe housing for the homeless individuals who were there.”
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine
Aug. 3, 2023: Griffin Averill, 10, of L.A. Farm in Litchfield, holds the head of a sheep while being shown at the Bangor State Fair. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
Aug. 3: Animals return to the Bangor State Fair for the 1st time in 3 years
Aug. 23, 2023: A tagged monarch butterfly perches on a cluster of flowers at Charlotte Rhoades Park and Butterfly Garden in Southwest Harbor. The small sticker will allow Monarch Watch to track the butterfly if found. Credit: Courtesy of Aislinn Sarnacki
Aug. 23: A Southwest Harbor preserve is a haven for the elusive monarch butterfly
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
Sept. 6: Portland clears another large homeless encampment
Sept. 17: Atlantic storm Lee delivered high winds and rain but retreated from Maine quickly
Sept. 25: Bangor family fights to keep its emotional support chickens
“We’re very relieved, like a huge burden has been lifted,” Amy Martin said following the Bangor Board of Appeals unanimous decision to allow the family to keep the chickens. “We’re just happy C-Jay gets to keep his chickens.”
Amy Martin, mother of C-Jay Martin, who was born with a number of physical and developmental disabilities
Oct. 19, 2023: The mural created by Bangor High School student Jaeda Grosjean is on the back of 170 Park St. and can be viewed from Center Street. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
Oct. 22: A local student is the artist behind Bangor’s newest mural
OCTOBER
LEWISTON MASS SHOOTING
Oct. 25-27: 18 killed, 13 injured in Maine mass shooting; Robert Card found dead
Oct. 29, 2023: Flowers, photographs and candles adorn a makeshift shrine outside Schemengees Bar and Grille in Lewiston Sunday night, Oct. 29, 2023. A gunman opened fire on Oct. 25, killing eight people inside. Credit: Troy R. Bennett / BDN
remembering the victims
Oct. 28, 2023: Bill Brackett, who’s son Billy was killed at the mass shooting at Schemengees Bar and Grille speaks during an interview in front of a makeshift memorial in Lewiston, Maine. Credit: Matt Rourke / AP
shooting timeline
Oct. 29, 2023: People sign “I love you” while gathered at a vigil for the victims of Wednesday’s mass shootings, Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023, outside the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston, Maine. Credit: Matt Rourke / AP
Our full coverage of the lewiston mass shooting
November
Nov. 1: James Taylor helps Lewiston kick off 1st football game after mass shooting
Nov. 1: Lewiston and its football team rebound on a special night
Nov. 3: Joe Biden tells Lewiston ‘you’re not alone’ 9 days after mass shooting
“Jill and I are here on behalf of the American people to grieve with you and make sure you know that you’re not alone.”
President Joe Biden, at Schemengees Bar and Grille, nine days after the Lewiston shooting
Nov. 17: This Maine family has been farming since before the US was a country
Dec. 7, 2023: Retired Electronics Technician Chief Dale Brownie salutes during the playing of the National Anthem at the annual Pearl Harbor Memorial Ceremony in Bangor. Participants and guests gathered on the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Kenduskeag Stream and is named after Willard Carleton Orr, a 1939 Bangor High School graduate who died in the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Thursday marks the 82nd anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack that killed 2,403 U.S. personnel and thrust the United States into WWII. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
Dec. 7: Bangor ceremony honors Pearl Harbor victims on anniversary of attack
Dec. 19, 2023: Cars are flooded in a parking lot at the Hathaway Creative Center alongside the Kennebec River. Credit: Robert F. Bukaty / AP
Dec. 19: Inland Maine communities swamped by flood waters from rain storm
