QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s hard to describe. When it starts, you can’t believe it. Then, whoosh, it’s over.”
— Cece English, trying to explain her and her husband’s previous eclipse experience — and perhaps life itself. The pair booked their lodging for Maine’s solar eclipse seven years ago.
TODAY’S TOP MAINE STORIES
It’s going to be a beautiful day to see the total eclipse. With highs in the 60s across much of the state and little cloud cover in sight, it’ll be a perfect day to watch the moon occlude the sun for up to 3 ½ minutes. Thanks to that propitious forecast, more people are hitting the road for Houlton.
A new wave of young folks are going into the building trades. However, experts and policymakers say that Maine needs many more of them.
A mobile syringe provider has ignited the debate over handing out needles in Bangor. The debate reveals a disconnect between those who advocate for syringe providers and residents who view it as a danger to the community.
The Legislature’s budget panel isn’t backing an early proposal from Gov. Janet Mills to boost milk prices. That disappointed struggling Maine farmers.
It’s not the only looming budget fight, with the current Democratic spending plan proposing to raid transportation funding. Democrats are risking a showdown with Gov. Janet Mills and Republicans.
MAINE IN PICTURES
NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE
- Former Maine Gov. Joseph Brennan dies at 89
- Woman joked about pulling trigger before fatally shooting Bangor man, prosecutor says
- Attorney general clears Bangor police officer who shot at woman armed with knife
- Bangor’s former Shriner temple is home to pot, alcohol and tattoo businesses
- Hundreds wait in rain and snow for grand opening of Bangor Renys
- Aroostook agency branches out to help older residents where they live
- Eclipse party gets started in Houlton as hundreds attend brewfest
- Filmmakers focus on Houlton for eclipse documentary
- Northern Maine beverage makers take inspiration from the eclipse
- Belfast’s colorful ‘Coffeeman’ dies at age 78
- Camden to send proposed short-term rental rules to voters in June
- Lewiston shooter’s autopsy fails to answer open question in case
- Maine middle schoolers welcome new citizens to the ‘American salad bowl’
- UMaine hockey’s Bradly Nadeau signs with Hurricanes
- UMaine baseball splits Sunday doubleheader after rally by NJIT
- UMaine field hockey loses leading scorer
INSIDE THE NEWSROOM
Last week, I returned to my usual job at the Bangor Daily News after a year-long fellowship with The New York Times examining our state’s juvenile justice system at a pivotal moment. The biggest luxury of the fellowship was time: time to interview dozens and dozens of parents, police, lawyers, teachers, social workers, nurses, corrections officers and, of course, teenagers, about their experience with the state’s corrections system for youth.
Initially, I worried that getting kids to talk to me would be my biggest challenge. I was wrong. The first time I interviewed a pair of 16-year-old best friends about their run-ins with the police, I barely got a word in. They moved at such a high conversational velocity, twisting weird rationales for their actions, circling deeper feelings of sadness and regret, excited that people might be interested in what they had to say.
— Callie Ferguson
FROM THE OPINION PAGES
“Maine, as the oldest state in the nation, isn’t just on the brink of a crisis; the crisis is here.”
Opinion: Nursing homes need more state support
LIFE IN MAINE
Sometimes, life doesn’t give you lemons. Instead, you get baby squirrels in your chicken coop. Nicole Murchison of Lincoln is hosting a mother and three baby gray squirrels in her coop.
In July, Pat Gallant-Charette of Westbrook will attempt to swim the nearly 10 miles of open water separating Washington’s Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver, British Columbia. Since 1955, only 10 swimmers have completed the challenging crossing.
Another sign of the arrival of spring is the vernal pool. Vernal pools will dry out by summer, but they play an essential role as a breeding ground for wood frogs, spotted salamanders and fairy shrimp.