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

“Their roads are in disrepair, and so just having a decent road that you can drive home on after a hard day’s work is probably beneficial in its own right.”

— Harold Jones, state fiscal administrator for the Unorganized Territory, on one of the benefits the town of Maxfield might get from dissolving. The Penobscot County town is one of two Maine municipalities with upcoming votes on deorganizing, after which the cost of local services would be split between the county and state.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Why central Aroostook County’s three largest high schools may combine. It’s a plan in its infancy with a long list of unknowns, but challenges are forcing districts to consider what the future of public education looks like.

Here’s what brings some Mainers to the point of wanting to dissolve their town. Two Maine municipalities will vote within the next week to continue the process of deorganizing.

Property taxes are hitting harder in certain parts of the state. And the hot spots aren’t confined to the pricey coast.

A new poll found Janet Mills and Graham Platner tied with Susan Collins in the 2026 race. The survey by Pan Atlantic Research is the first one released publicly so far in the campaign to show Mills well ahead of Platner in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.