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Welcome to Wednesday.

We’re well on our way into a major warmup for the remainder of the week. Highs will peak in the 90s on Friday before falling over the weekend. But the National Weather Service reports that the humidity will spike as temperatures fall, meaning, as far as the heat index is concerned, we’ll get no relief.

Thanks to this year’s El Nino, 2026 has a shot at becoming the hottest year on record — until 2027 in all likelihood knocks it off that pedestal.

More than a third of Bangor’s pandemic relief funds still haven’t been spent

Bangor city councilors meet during their regular session on July 13, 2026. From left are Councilor Carolyn Fish, Council Chair Susan Hawes and Councilor Joe Leonard. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

Bangor took its time distributing federal funding meant to offset the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and now the clock is ticking to spend it.

About $7.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act hadn’t been used by the end of June. Anything left at the end of the year will have to be returned to the federal government.

How difficult that will be remains to be seen. 

City Manager Carollynn Lear said city staff are “working diligently” to make sure the money is spent, and heads of six nonprofits that received shares of the funding have assured her they’ll get it done.

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From the Opinion Page

This and other signs outlining the impacts of climate change were removed from Acadia National Park last year under orders by the Trump administration. In June, a judge ordered the signs restored. Credit: Courtesy of Jay Elhard / Bar Harbor Story

“We are not as helpless, and things are not as hopeless, as many feel.”

Opinion: We can reclaim control of the climate change fight