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QUOTE OF THE DAY
— Maine Rep. Steven Foster, R-Dexter, who serves on Penobscot County’s budget advisory committee. The committee on Thursday cut another $1 million from the county’s 2026 bottom line in a bid to minimize the hit to property taxes.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES
State police are going to take over Maine’s Capitol Police force. Michael Sauschuck, commissioner of the department that oversees both agencies, broke the news to Capitol police officers in an email Wednesday.
An advisory committee cut another $1 million from Penobscot County’s 2026 budget. The ball is now in the court of the county commissioners who have the final say.
Two groups want a chance to revive a vacant Old Town community center. The Herbert Sargent Community Center, a former school, has gone unused since this summer when the nonprofit Old Town Recreation Center dissolved.
Rising electric bills are leading to state scrutiny but little relief for residents. Many state leaders are considering rate freezes, additional energy assistance or new rates targeting large energy users such as data centers. But states only have so much control.
A fight between neighbors over $1,600 in cut trees went before Maine’s highest court. At the heart of arguments before the Law Court Thursday was whether an insurer could settle “in bad faith.”
NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE
Mexican brothers working on Calais paving crew indicted on illegal re-entry charges
Multiple Subway franchise locations in Maine shut down
32nd HIV case detected in Penobscot County outbreak
Corinth man arrested after ‘serious’ domestic violence incident
Cable giant lays off 176 workers from Maine call center
Alton school locked down over report of man walking with gun
Shifting river complicates efforts to halt erosion at Popham Beach
UMaine asks departments to cut budgets by 7%
Jared Golden forces vote on collective bargaining bill in effort to protect labor unions
New England shrimp fishery will be closed for another 3 years
Venezuelan opposition leader in hiding flew from Bangor to Norway for Nobel Peace Prize
MAINE IN PICTURES
A technician operates a large snowblower in a parking lot by the Sargent Family Community Center in Presque Isle on Thursday. Snow started falling late Wednesday afternoon and totaled more than 8 inches in some parts of The County. Credit: Paula Brewer / BDN
FROM THE OPINION PAGES
“No American ambassador should signal sympathy toward someone whose actions inflicted such profound harm on the United States.”
LIFE IN MAINE
Try these practical tips for photographing snowflakes this winter.
After 23 years, a Maine guide is still catching trophy fish and finding new adventures.
Aroostook saw its earliest major snowfall in three years, a welcome surprise for some businesses.