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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We are being allowed to be a little bit more enforcement postured and enforcement minded in how we deploy and conduct day-to-day activities.”

— Juan Bernal, chief of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol’s Houlton Sector, on changes the northern Maine office has seen under the new administration of President Donald Trump.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

The Trump administration found that Maine’s transgender athlete rules violate Title IX. Federal investigators interviewed no state officials before reaching that finding, according to the Maine attorney general’s office. Read the letter here.

The Trump administration agreed to “renegotiate” Maine’s canceled Sea Grant funding. The announcement followed a meeting between U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Chellie Pingree talked about why she left Donald Trump’s speech early and what’s next for Democrats. Maine’s 1st District representative acknowledged the limits of the protests in a Wednesday interview, saying her party members can’t abandon their work.

Bangor is considering changes that could transform the downtown. Creating a waterfront park and removing a traffic light are among the recommendations in a new 267-page report.

A Rockland developer wants to build apartments to rent for less than $1,000 a month. The plan hinges on retrofitting an existing building rather than starting from scratch.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

MAINE IN PICTURES

BDN Outdoors contributor Catherine Gordon and Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife biologist Randy Cross pose with a live 350-pound boar. After tranquilizing the bear, they took health measurements and put a tattooed number on the inside of his lip to be able to track him later. Credit: Courtesy of Catherine Gordon

THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND

Don’t forget to change your clocks this weekend! Daylight saving time begins Sunday, so be sure to spring ahead. On Friday in Bangor, there’s the inaugural Downtown Bangor First Friday Art Walk of the season, and in Orono, jazz trumpeter Jason Palmer and his quartet perform at Minsky Recital Hall at UMaine. On Saturday and Sunday, the PBR Bull Riders return to the Cross Insurance Center, while on Saturday night, Nordic folk band Frigg plays at the Gracie Theatre at Husson University, and They Called Me Legion, Widow’s Club and Gunshot Glitter play at Hey Sailor! in Searsport.

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

The Statue of Liberty is shown on Aug. 14, 2019, in New York. Credit: Kathy Willens / AP

“The fabled American dream is an immigration story. It’s about coming here with nothing in your pockets and still having a shot at something more.”

Opinion: America’s immigration history is about the ‘golden door,’ not the golden visa

LIFE IN MAINE

Bangor’s oldest cold case still haunts a once-iconic former hotel. On March 18, 1965, a chambermaid walked into an unoccupied room to a horrifying sight. In the six decades since, police have been unable to answer the question: Who killed Effie MacDonald?

Ace Flagg’s basketball championships in three different states could be a first, but we may never know. The history here may be murky, but the impressiveness is clear. 

Outdoors contributor Catherine Gordon had an up-close encounter with a bear family. “They were the cutest little things,” she writes of the cubs, “but one look at the claws reminded me that these were wild animals and once grown would be a force.”