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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I don’t want to have to live with my daughter … She should be able to do the things she wants to do and not have to worry about me. There may come a time when I can’t live by myself, but I’d like to think I have a few years left before that.”

— Barbara, 78, who has been waiting three years for a Housing Choice Voucher that would cut her $718 rent by more than a third, helping to stretch her $1,200 Social Security check to cover more expenses.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Would Graham Platner make a good senator? His neighbors have ideas. Platner’s record in Sullivan — as Planning Board chair and harbormaster — offers a glimpse of his approach to the U.S. Senate race.

The U.S. Senate has advanced a set of bills that could end the weeks-old government shutdown. Maine’s Angus King was among the group of senators who came together to broker the deal, which is angering some Democrats because it doesn’t extend expiring health insurance subsidies.

In Bangor, 1,400 people are waiting for housing vouchers as rents soar. The average wait times for those BangorHousing prioritizes to receive a voucher can stretch two to four years.

Maine farmers plagued by destructive deer get a new option to hunt them. The new Deer Management Assistance Program extra offers permits to farmers suffering crop damage to thin out deer densities around their fields.

From Narcan to gun silencers, opioid settlement cash pays law enforcement tabs. Nationwide, more than $61 million in opioid settlement funds were spent on law enforcement-related efforts in 2024, according to a yearlong investigation.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

MAINE IN PICTURES

A fishing boat is anchored in Taunton Bay in Sullivan on Thursday. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, walks down a hallway before addressing the media on Nov. 6, 2024, at his campaign office in Lewiston. Credit: Russ Dillingham / Sun Journal via AP

“Mainers are tired of the rancor. They want solutions, not soundbites. And they are ready to lead by example.”

Opinion: Jared Golden’s departure shows why we must fix our broken politics, starting in Maine.

LIFE IN MAINE

Pure chaos chasing muskies on an annual Maine fishing trip. “In five and a half hours, we had 25 follows and landed four muskies, an incredible day in the musky world,” Outdoors contributor Kevin McKay writes.

The secret streams in western Maine where trout still play. Discover the beauty of fly-fishing in the Rangeley Lakes, where brook trout and landlocked salmon thrive in pristine waters.

Many hunters have no problem shooting a white deer. Some people pointed out that the meat from an albino deer is not any different from the meat from a regular deer.