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 Thursday!
Central Maine Medical Center’s nurses begin voting today on whether to join the statewide nurses union, the Maine State Nurses Association.
Looming over that vote is the recent firing and suspension of 20 nurses over what the Lewiston hospital’s parent company, Prime Healthcare Foundation, said were policy and standards violations.
That explanation received a skeptical reception from Gov. Janet Mills, who said in a Wednesday letter to the hospital’s president and CEO that the timing “raises serious questions about retaliation.”
Mills castigated hospital administrators for the firings and suspensions when the state already faces a shortage of nurses. She implored the hospital to rehire them, saying that the failure to do so would make clear that Prime prioritizes “corporate interests” over “quality health care” for Mainers.
Today, we’ll see the highs creep back up into the 70s in parts of the state. A storm is churning up the Eastern Seaboard, which may bring beneficial rain to the parched Down East this weekend.
Maine’s giant wild blueberry dome is endangered and for sale
Of the four buildings added this year to Maine Preservation’s list of most endangered historic places, just one resembles a blueberry.
The blue geodesic dome in Columbia Falls is home to Wild Blueberry Land — part roadside attraction, part education center for the county’s iconic crop. The Route 1 landmark is the passion project of blueberry farmers Dell and Marie Emerson, who built it in 1999, making it an unusually young candidate for historical preservation.
The dome is structurally sound, but with the center’s board recently dissolved and tourism declining in Washington County, its endangered status lies in what Maine Preservation calls a “transition of stewardship.” Put differently, a blueberry-shaped building isn’t for every buyer, even if it feels like it ought to be.
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From the Opinion Page
“Because the FBI was reportedly not allowed to complete this investigation, political operatives have taken over the narrative, with speculation and political attacks replacing factual information from government investigators.”
Editorial: Shutting down FBI investigation shortchanged Maine voters