QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I have seen sane scientists lose their minds during totality. It is a cathartic reaction.”
— Ralph Chou, a retired professor at the University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science in Canada, on how protecting your eyes during a total solar eclipse is harder than it seems.
TODAY’S TOP MAINE STORIES
If you look at the weather trends in Maine in recent years, you see a clear pattern of warming, especially in winter, especially in the Northeast, according to the latest National Climate Assessment and many other sources.
As a result of that warming, a rice-sized beetle that has killed millions of acres of pines in southern forests is munching its way north, and new research suggests its tree-killing prowess could be magnified in cooler climes.
Brunswick is considering spending $380,000 on a new armored vehicle that police say is needed for incidents like last year’s mass shooting in Lewiston. Opponents object to the military bearing and the cost.
The parents of a man killed in a 2021 crash in Hampden are suing the company that engineered the guardrail they say failed to keep their son’s car from plunging into a stream where he drowned.
When a child showed up at a Bangor-area hospital with life-threatening injuries and died during the night, the hospital called not only the police but the Department of Health and Human Services. Details were scant on Monday, but more are likely to emerge in the coming days.
MAINE IN PICTURES
CREATURE FEATURE
The story of Timber Bear, the rare silver fox that escaped from its owners’ home in Waldoboro earlier this month only to be reunited last weekend, captivated BDN readers.
Well, as it turns out, owner Danielle Brann wasn’t entirely clear with reporters from the Lincoln County News about the status of her permit to keep a wild animal like a fox — she didn’t actually have one.
Late last week, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife seized Timber Bear. He’s now in custody with the state.
Let’s hope Timber Bear’s story ends happily, wherever he ends up living.
MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE
Read the latest on Maine’s high school basketball tournament
Chronic absenteeism isn’t falling enough at this Maine school district
It’s unclear how affirmative action ruling will affect Maine higher education
Texas soldier gets 10 years for exploiting Maine child for sex
Fire destroys a log cabin in Winn
1 dead and 1 injured after Waterville shooting
Man accused of setting fire to Buckfield home
Driver killed in New Sharon collision
Man arrested after Portland stabbing
FROM THE OPINION PAGES
“If anyone is waiting on Putin’s decency, as he continues to invade a neighbor and his government criminalizes things like journalism or protesting, they may be waiting a long time. The recent death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was being held at a prison in the Arctic, underscores this.”
Editorial: Bring wrongfully detained Americans home from Russia
LIFE IN MAINE
Four new part-time purveyors are set to start serving up diverse international cuisines in the coming weeks, in the Veazie space also known as Korean Dad, Lee’s Korean food kitchen.
An Old Town 22-year-old hooked a winning togue and got it on the scale two minutes before the end of the Schoodic Lake Ice Fishing Derby over the weekend.
And finally, BDN Outdoors contributor V. Paul Reynolds does a post-mortem on the fall game hunting season, with statistics.