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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Would we have turned down $1.3 million for our house if we weren’t environmentalists, if this hadn’t been about the environment?” 

— Judith Grace, owner of Belfast property that was at the center of a years-long battle over a proposed $500 million land-based salmon farm. 

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Gov. Janet Mills will be pitching her $11.6 billion two-year budget plan to lawmakers tonight. The plan includes cuts to health programs and higher fees for fishing licenses and concealed handgun permits. You can watch Mills’ State of the Budget Address at 7 p.m.

A Belfast couple at the center of the fight against a fish farm reflect on the years-long saga. For Judith Grace and Jeffrey Mabee, Nordic Aquafarms’ departure feels less like victory than an inevitable step in a bitter, David-and-Goliath battle they wish could have been avoided.

A hiring freeze could worsen a staff shortage at Acadia National Park this summer. Reports that President Donald Trump put a hold on hiring new federal employees come at a time when hiring has already been a challenge and visitation at Acadia is at historic highs.

Brewer is weighing “once-in-a-lifetime” changes to its downtown streets. With final recommendations in hand, the city’s next step is to get funding for design and construction.

An earthquake struck southern Maine on Monday morning. The magnitude 3.8 quake was centered about 8 miles southeast of York Harbor and nearly 12 miles deep in the earth’s crust. Here’s what causes earthquakes in Maine.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

MAINE IN PICTURES

The bell tower of the Old South Congregational Church in Hallowell is seen Friday. Credit: / BDN Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

With the U.S. Capitol in the background, a demonstrator waves an upside down American flag before a rally in Washington on Sept. 18, 2021. Credit: Jose Luis Magana / AP

“Forget everything that may bother you about President Trump … Focus on this one sole fact: Trump attacked the bedrock of our democracy by claiming the election of 2020 was fraudulent, and then directed his base to stop the transfer of power to the duly elected president.”

Opinion: I’m flying the US flag upside down as a sign of distress

LIFE IN MAINE

Monday’s earthquake off the coast of York jolted many Mainers in the morning, but it’s far from the strongest to have hit the state. Here are 12 of the strongest quakes ever felt in Maine. 

Sightings of snake worms have plummeted. After an apparent population explosion of the fast-reproducing, invasive “crazy worms” in 2023, scientists have a few theories about why so few were reported last year.

It seems that Maine sportsmen are fixated on hot sauce. “Not being into hot and spicy at all, I find this addiction to culinary fire perplexing, but also kind of intriguing,” V. Paul Reynolds writes.