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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“It seemed innocuous enough. I wasn’t planning on building anything. Then I started leafing through … I was shocked. I was angry at myself.”

— Ewan Allison of Castle Hill, who voted in favor of the town’s new land-use ordinance without realizing it banned schools, hospitals and libraries.

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Penalties pile up for poor Mainers facing stalled USDA foreclosures. Many already owed hundreds of thousands of dollars by the time the U.S. Department of Agriculture filed for foreclosure because it waited years to prosecute their cases.

A Bangor veteran with MS has found a safe place to live after the community rallied to help him. After an apartment fire, the Marine veteran was able to find ADA-compliant housing, thanks to community support.

Winterport keeps trying, and failing, to secure access to the Penobscot River. Every town on the lower stretch of the river has a public access point — except Winterport.

An Aroostook town’s land-use ordinance doesn’t allow hospitals, libraries and schools. Castle Hill residents will vote on lifting the ban at this week’s town meeting. 

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

MAINE IN PICTURES

Zack Carter and his father, Chuck Carter (left), talk about his new ADA-compliant apartment at Sunny Gables in Glenburn. Zack Carter, a Marine veteran, moved into his new home on Feb. 28, less than two weeks after the Bangor Daily News published a story about his family’s search for a better living arrangement. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

An MMR vaccine at the city of Lubbock Health Department in Lubbock, Texas, on Feb. 27, 2025. Credit: Annie Rice / Reuters

“Maine’s policy change eliminated non-medical exemptions entirely, leaving most families with a single option: comply or lose access to education and participation in public life.”

Opinion: Maine should re-examine vaccine exemptions

LIFE IN MAINE

The North Woods isn’t the same without this visitor. “To me and my family, Canada jays are as much a part of the North Woods experience as loons or any other wild creature that lives there,” Outdoors contributor Al Raychard writes. 

These are the owls that come to Maine and their hangouts. “The first clue you’re watching a short-eared owl is when you see a hawk-sized bird floating in air, drifting slowly over a frozen marsh or field, hunting,” according to birding master Bob Duchesne.

The Magalloway legend that still lives on in Maine. “Known as the Lone Indian of the Magalloway by white settlers, Metallak is reputed to have lived for 120 years,” Outdoors contributor Bob Romano writes.