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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Lewiston is tight-knit and people showed up in droves when they heard about [the data center] … I’m 45 and I remember driving over the bridge and holding my breath because it smelled so bad. It felt like the data center plan was a contradiction to everything we had worked for.”

— Sarah Demarest, an independent project manager in Lewiston who helped spearhead protests against a proposed data center. 

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

A proposed data center in an old Lewiston mill building began to unravel before the public even got wind of it. City councilors were caught off guard after receiving the detailed proposal for a $300 million center inside the downtown Bates Mill only about a month before a meeting when they needed to vote on the project.

These are the towns hit the hardest by Penobscot County’s swelling tax bill. Thirteen towns have been hit with a tax hike of more than 20%, while the average increase across all 60 towns was about 16%.

Maine Democrats vying to succeed Janet Mills won’t embrace her relief checks. None of the five candidates has endorsed the $300 relief checks she is pushing for in her final state budget.

Inside Maine’s first use of its new “red flag” law. Police in the Oxford County town of Paris requested an extreme risk protection order for a 60-year-old man they said was a threat to the community.

This little island sells for more per square foot than Maine’s biggest mansions. Measuring only 487 square feet, the year-round, fully furnished home in Waterboro takes up most of the 0.09-acre island it sits on. 

Nonprofit arts group wants to partner with Belfast for new performance stage. The group is fundraising to cover most of the cost and plans to donate the stage to Belfast, but wants the city to chip in, too.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

MAINE IN PICTURES

Campers gather around a campfire in Baxter State Park during an annual family gathering. Aislinn Sarnacki encourages marking your planned summer outings on your calendar now, to ensure you’ll make time for them.  Credit: Courtesy of Aislinn Sarnacki

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

Registered nurse Sandra Younan sets up a new intravenous line for a patient under her care at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in the Tarzana neighborhood of Los Angeles on March 11, 2021. Credit: Damian Dovarganes / AP

“Americans spend two-and-a-half times more per person on health care as those from other wealthy countries, yet often get worse outcomes.”

Opinion: Reining in rising hospital prices is essential to controlling health care costs

LIFE IN MAINE

Maine could become the only state without Sunday hunting. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey wants to eliminate her state’s ban on Sunday hunting, leaving Maine as the only state  with a ban.

You say you’ll go camping in Maine this summer. Here’s why you won’t. “‘Adulting’ usually doesn’t equal fun. Yet in this case, it may lead to it,” Outdoors contributor Aislinn Sarnacki writes.

These new birds are changing how spring sounds in Maine. “A variety of southern birds have moved northward as the climate warms, forests rebound and bird-feeding becomes more popular,” Outdoors contributor Bob Duchesne explains.