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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“They were building a Viking longship today. I have absolutely no complaints about the education he’s received here.”

— Kayla Miller, parent to a third-grader at Kermit Nickerson Elementary School in Swanville, speaking at a meeting Wednesday night about a proposal to close the small school and send its students to neighboring Belfast. The closure is being considered to save money, but district administrators initially pitched it to parents as an opportunity to move their children to a “learning environment with expanded resources and supports.”

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

The crowded race to replace a Bangor-area lawmaker includes her husband. Four Republicans are already vying for the seat held by term-limited Republican Sen. Stacey Guerin.

A private education company that wants to lease a Swanville school building has a history of lawsuits. And parents, who just learned that their small elementary school might be closed, aren’t happy with how the district broke the news.

Presque Isle is going on offense to drive its economic growth. But the city might have had enough of new marijuana shops.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

MAINE IN PICTURES

A view of the northern end of Presque Isle’s Skyway Industrial Park from State Road on Jan. 28. The biggest city in Maine’s northernmost county has weathered steady population decline and loss of businesses for decades, but local leaders have an ambitious plan to change that. Credit: / BDN Credit: Cameron Levasseur / BDN

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

Members of the Ku Klux Klan march in their first New England parade in Milo on July 3, 1923. Credit: Courtesy of the Maine Historical Society

“We now must ask ourselves how Americans today compare to citizens here and abroad in the 1930s.”

Opinion: We must learn from difficult histories

LIFE IN MAINE

Before the statewide basketball tournament kicks off with small school games next week, the BDN’s Larry Mahoney and Matt Junker have predictions on which teams and players will have standout performances. 

— Looking at the new Class S teams, Maine’s smallest northern schools have clear favorites heading into the quarterfinals. 

— In the Class D faceoffs for the northern Maine teams, the undefeated Bangor Christian girls will be tough to stop, while three boy’s teams bring both captivating players and strong experience to the field.

A new production of “Almost Maine” in Bangor is a “love letter to northern Maine vividly and joyously brought to life,” Judy Harrison writes.