QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If we accept this, then we need to allow people to speed on High Street for two hours a day.”
— Ellsworth City Councilor Steve O’Halloran, on a proposal to allow the Maine Organics composting facility a two-hour window each day to emit bad smells. Halloran cast the lone dissenting vote.
TODAY’S TOP MAINE STORIES
Climate change is making allergy season more dangerous for children. A new report released today explains how.
Maine may not be able to offer public prekindergarten for all 4-year-olds. The state’s goal for 2026 is at odds with a flawed funding formula.
A state commission found many failures leading up to Maine’s deadliest mass shooting. But a report released last week doesn’t point to an easy path for gun-control bills.
Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office workers will get big raises. County officials signed the new contracts on Tuesday.
Bath may use eminent domain against downtown businesses. Planned sidewalk repairs depend on it.
MAINE IN PICTURES
This Creative Commons image shows 12P/Pons–Brooks, a periodic comet with an orbital period of 71 years which will be visible in the week leading up to the total solar eclipse on April 8. NASA said the bright comet will be visible during the eclipse due to the unusual coincidence that the comet’s return to the inner solar system places it by chance only 25 degrees away from the sun during that time.
NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE
- Maine farmers affected by PFAS contamination can now apply for state aid
- Maine meat producers frustrated by slaughterhouse backlogs
- Houlton police chief warns of traffic and closed roads during eclipse
- Caribou councilors approve increases to city budget for police incentives
- Bill to restore Loring’s arch hangar fails after conflicting votes
- As storms intensify, Machias debates future of its deteriorating dike
- Ellsworth reaches agreement with composting firm over bad smells
- Ellsworth schools look to buy former bank building for $1.2M
- Owner of sunken historic fishing boat leaking fuel off Maine’s coast has been charged
- Maine AG files civil rights complaint against men accused of midcoast hate graffiti spree
- The race is on to get a reservation at The Lost Kitchen
- Man allegedly brandished metal pipe when confronted during BJ’s robbery
- Man who threw coffee in clerk’s face during Maine convenience store robbery pleads guilty
- Lewiston establishes fund for memorial for shooting victims
- Westbrook man gets 18 years for sexually abusing child, taking video
FROM THE COMMUNITY
Local nonprofits Bangor Beautiful and Wabanaki Public Health & Wellness are teaming up to create a new piece of public art this summer that will serve the dual purpose of bringing color to downtown Bangor, while also making it a safer place to be a pedestrian. It’ll be located on the pavement at the intersection of Main and Hammond streets, near Wabanaki Public Health’s offices at 6 Central St. Though the mural’s design isn’t finalized yet, it will be created by Wabanaki artists and likely include images of waves, native animals and crops. Studies have shown that art on pavement helps slow traffic and reduce pedestrian crashes.
FROM THE OPINION PAGES
“State law and policy allows questions to appear on the ballot even though they may not later pass constitutional muster. This is a practice that lawmakers should strongly reconsider.”
Editorial: Answer constitutional questions before a referendum goes to voters
LIFE IN MAINE
The UMaine women’s basketball team made the NCAA tournament. But they face a tough first opponent in Ohio State.
Italian Renaissance-era noblewoman Lucrezia Borgia poisoned her lovers, the stories claim, when they were no longer useful to her. Maine had its own “Borgia.”
Poultry chicks practically beg to be cuddled, but nuzzling that fuzz can make you really sick.