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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Going into a fiscal year that is struggling … I think the commissioners ought to take a stand.”
— Waldo County Commissioner Kevin Kelley, when introducing a motion that would bar commissioners from benefits funded by the county, salary increases or biannual pay bumps on an experience-based scale.
TODAY’S TOP STORIES
Immigration authorities have rounded up Ecuadorian roofers from Aroostook to southern Maine since President Donald Trump took office. The trend provides a window into how his administration’s deportation agenda has targeted a community quietly shaping the region’s blue-collar economy.
An annual vigil honored the members of the Bangor homeless community who have died. This year’s ceremony fell on the eve of the deadline for a homeless encampment by the train tracks near the Penobscot River to disband.
A Scarborough-based drive-thru coffee chain is spreading across the state. Aroma Joe’s has been approved to open a new location in Bucksport, among other locations throughout central and northern Maine, in the new year.
Waldo County’s three elected commissioners have cut their own pay amid budget woes. The county doesn’t know exactly how much money it’s spent or has in its undesignated fund going back several years.
NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE
- Storm will hit Maine with gusts up to 65 mph and heavy rain
- Donald Trump endorses Paul LePage’s run to represent Maine in Congress
- Box truck crash snarls traffic on Broadway in Bangor
- Bangor Housing is closing its waitlist for public housing units
- $100K anonymous donation will fund emergency heating for hundreds of Maine families
- Woman accused of illegally growing 600 marijuana plants in Maine to plead guilty
- Howland man gets time served for passport fraud
- A legacy Aroostook lumberyard is back on the market for twice the price
- Disaster training classes will teach Aroostook residents emergency preparedness
- Aroostook finance director named interim administrator
- College of the Atlantic will provide full scholarships for 6 Maine students
- Video captures student assaulting freshman at Maine high school
- 14-year-old Maine boy allegedly was plotting attack
- Feds will investigate Maine bus crash that killed 5-year-old
- Cooper Flagg will turn 19 this weekend in rare NBA company
- Bangor Christian girls prove they are in the mix for Class D North basketball supremacy
MAINE IN PICTURES
FROM THE OPINION PAGES
“We cannot control what Washington does. But we can control what Maine does.”
Opinion: Maine can’t wait for Washington to fix our health care crisis
LIFE IN MAINE
A thoughtful hunter stopped and helped a doe to safety after she had gotten stuck in a river tributary.
With the winter solstice in just a few days, here’s some ideas on how to mark the seasonal transition.
Ice skating on Bangor ponds gives a spectacular view of the icy winter landscape.
