Morning Update: What you need to know in Maine today

A version of this story first appeared in the Morning Update newsletter. Sign up here to receive the Morning Update and other BDN newsletters directly in your inbox.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“People that used to eat in three different places might say ‘Well, we want to tighten up a little bit. Now we can only eat in two different places.’”

— Sanjeeva Abeyasekera, owner of Serendib, a staple of the Ellsworth restaurant scene for a decade that is closing later this year — the latest in a wave of closures among eastern Maine eateries.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Fears have intensified as the list of missing northern Maine women has grown. The three young women disappeared from a concentrated area, miles from the Canadian border.

A new wave of restaurant closures is rocking eastern Maine. Ellsworth’s Serendib, Evenrood’s in Bangor, My Buddy’s Place in Bucksport and MeMe G’s in Old Town all announced within the last week that they are closing soon.

Construction has started on a 50-unit affordable senior housing complex in Bangor. The building will become home to some of the “thousands” of seniors who have been on the Bangor Housing Authority’s waitlists for years, according to the group’s executive director.

President Donald Trump is targeting visas that struggling Maine hospitals and schools rely on. Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor has about 120 H-1B visa employees at any given time, and the University of Maine also sees a number of H-1B employees each year.