Morning Update: What you need to know in Maine today

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“One thing about growing up in a unique culture is that you sort of don’t know how unique it is until you leave. You think everybody has the same childhood when you’re a kid.”

— Connie Voisine, an author who grew up in Fort Kent and has gone on to earn a Guggenheim Fellowship and, most recently, the 2025 New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. Her experiences growing up in northern Maine’s St. John Valley colored her writing.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Penobscot County’s budget crisis was “a freight train ready to crash,” according to a former official. Interviews and documents reveal for the first time the decisions that led to a $7 million shortfall.

A Bangor rental assistance program is in limbo after the federal government reversed on planned cuts. For now, HUD will not divert funding from permanent supportive housing to programs with work requirements or mandatory mental health and substance use treatment.

A dwindling central Maine community has scheduled a vote on whether to dissolve. Highland Plantation is a type of municipality that dates to colonial times and is not seen in any other state.

A nursing home chain used delays and bankruptcy to avoid paying settlements. In its Chapter 11 filing, Genesis HealthCare said it cared for about 15,000 residents in more than 170 facilities across the country, including 11 in Maine.
A huge Maine house is back on the market at a higher price. The 9,000-square-foot estate in Andover, listed for $2.2 million, has been owned by one family for more than 200 years.