Morning Update: What you need to know in Maine today
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I think that we could have done some more building.”
— Bangor City Councilor Michael Beck reflecting on 2025, which the city had declared the “year of building.”
TODAY’S TOP STORIES
Bangor named building its top priority of 2025. Here’s how that went. The city doled out a record number of building permits, but available data shows there’s more to the story.
Here’s what Penobscot County’s budget crisis means for Bangor. Out of a nearly $4 million jump in the 2026 Penobscot County budget, $1.2 million will be borne by the city’s residents.
New housing in rural Maine is coming from an unlikely source. The Northern Forest Center historically helped rural communities with downtown revitalization, outdoor recreation and forest conservation.
What Donald Trump’s latest move on Somalia means for Maine immigrants. Many in Maine’s Somali community were born in the U.S. or have become citizens, muting the initial impact of Trump’s move.
Last year’s federal food program cuts are threatening Maine farms. Programs that allowed purchases directly from farmers had paid growers on a steady upward trend between 2022 and 2024. But that changed last year.
NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE
- Former midcoast state rep who resigned after campaign violations plans to run again
- Signature-gatherers are allegedly lying to Mainers about cannabis repeal petition
- Maine State Library Commission to start rulemaking process for new standards
- 4-foot-wide sinkhole closes portion of Bangor’s Main Street
- Man allegedly was stealing and pleasuring himself at Bangor supermarket
- Orono approves plan that could make it ‘one of the greatest small college towns in America’
- Houlton’s 2025 chaos generates $200K budget deficit
- Madawaska Hannaford recalls ground beef sold on Tuesday
- Eliot Cutler arrested for latest alleged probation violation
- Northern Light is moving its Castine primary care practice
- 50th Common Ground Country Fair poster to feature border collie
- Liberty will take over former Walker Elementary School building
- 2 state road workers die after minivan hits them in I-95 construction zone
- Maine man who bought an island home while evading taxes gets 3 years probation
- Nolan Ames takes over with 19 points in final quarter to keep Camden Hills unbeaten
- Hampden Academy girls basketball use 10-0 start to subdue Bangor
- Adrianna Smith is about to make UMaine women’s basketball history
- From Bangor to the Ivy League, Landon Clark keeps getting it done on the court
- Cooper Flagg steps up for Mavs amid team inconsistency and injuries
- Ricky Craven having ‘time of my life,’ offering record money in Hermon speedway race
MAINE IN PICTURES
Common Ground Country Fair Director April Boucher, left, unveils the fair’s 2026 poster Tuesday as winning artist Brenda McGuinness looks on. This was McGuinness’ third time entering the organization’s annual poster contest. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN
FROM THE OPINION PAGES
President Donald Trump gestures past Vice President JD Vance on May 6, 2025, during a FIFA task force meeting on the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Credit: Mark Schiefelbein / AP
“Serious racial justice leaders took to the internet to answer back to JD Vance that they never — not once — asked for him to apologize about who he is.”
Opinion: You don’t have to apologize for being white. But championing white power is abusive.
LIFE IN MAINE
Aroostook baker Olivia Cyr’s artistic small-batch cookies have traveled to aficionados from Maine to Hawaii.
Read about an ice fishing misadventure on MDI’s Jordan Pond.
More articles from the BDN
Source: Bangor Daily News
Locations: Portland, Bangor, Waterville, Camden, Orono, Brewer
Region: Central