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.
Happy Friday!
You made it through another workweek. The next couple days feature fair fall weather, just what you need to recharge before you get back to the grind.
Yesterday’s heat has given way to more seasonable weather, with highs in the low 60s to low 70s, sunny skies and gusty winds.
A soaking rain is on tap for Sunday, but the National Weather Service doesn’t think it will provide any drought relief.
That’s not great news, because the drought has spread to all corners of the state. The severe drought afflicting the coast from Portland to MDI now has the Penobscot Valley in its grip.
And it looks more and more like we may not see any relief from the parcher until possibly next spring.
Rick Bennett vows to fix Maine’s reading crisis. His rivals aren’t as specific.
The day after a new report revealed that many Maine school districts aren’t teaching reading in a way that is backed by the science of how students learn, the Bangor Daily News asked the three candidates for governor what they plan to do about it.
The two major-party candidates either had goals without specifics or hadn’t engaged with the question at all. Only independent Rick Bennett vowed to take it on, calling it “exactly the job of the next governor and the next education commissioner.”
“It will be the first thing I fix, not the last thing I promise,” Bennett, a state senator, said.
That’s exactly what the group behind the report says is needed, and it will be a big job. Since 1992, Maine’s fourth graders have fallen from second in the nation in reading to 44th, with low proficiency even by the most lenient definitions.
Latest Stories
- New owners revamp a 50-year-old store into a local hub
- Hancock County’s new $5.5M emergency operations center to open in November
- Baxter State Park sues owner of historic cabins on Katahdin Lake
- Outgoing Bangor official plans to start municipal consulting firm
- UMaine football linebacker tied for solo tackle lead in FCS
- Maine high school football weekend slate includes playoff rematches
- Bobby Charles brushes off polling deficit, says there is ‘no reason’ he can’t win governor’s race
- An industry-loving Maine town splits on regulating data centers
- Maine House speaker touts clean energy in stop at former Loring Air Force Base
From the Opinion Page
“We can’t let differences of opinion drive us so far apart that we have forgotten the sense of unity and common purpose we felt in the days and months after Sept. 11, 2001.”