Morning update: What you need to know in Maine today

— Betsy Hallett, executive director of the Central Aroostook Humane Society in Presque Isle, on the uptick in surrendered dogs at the shelter.

What you can expect from the three biggest housing proposals in Bangor. If created, the projects could bring more than 600 units to a city that has grappled for years with a housing shortage.

Maine’s high court said the Legislature can’t see confidential child death files. The state’s embattled child welfare system has been a major area of focus for policymakers since two high-profile child deaths in 2018.

A new space is helping the Central Aroostook Humane Society handle more surrendered dogs. The shelter has served more dogs every year since the pandemic hit, largely because most local veterinarians aren’t taking new patients.

A Maine grower is changing the state’s fruit tree landscape. Fameuse, Black Oxford, Cherryfield and Chenango Strawberry apples almost disappeared but now thrive across Maine.

“A fundamental dynamic must change to make it clear to men that it is never OK to harass or abuse a woman or anyone else. Never.”

A tiny midcoast bakery was named one of the country’s best by The New York Times. The Place in Camden was heralded for having “ethereally flaky” croissants, cinnamon buns and French kouign-amanns.

Here are some ways to see new birds in Maine. “It’s easy for beginners,” Bob Duchesne writes. “Almost any bird beyond your backyard bird feeder might be new.”

A rare split-color lobster was saved from a Down East grocery store. The 1-in-50 million mutation happens when two fertilized eggs fuse together to form one lobster.