Morning Update: What you need to know in Maine today

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“This feeling is like a heavy cloud hanging over me, making it hard to concentrate on anything else. I just want to be able to talk to her again and hear her voice.”

— Kiannah Soctomah, whose mother Sheena Soctomah-Rolfe died in a car crash along with Noah Mushero after a Bangor police chase. 

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

A small Maine town that built its own broadband network faces new competition. After national companies declined to extend internet service to the midcoast town, it built its own network.

Renting in Maine is unaffordable, but it’s the best option in New England. In order to be able to afford a two-bedroom unit in Maine, you’d need to make nearly double the state’s current minimum wage.

Answers are scarce a year after a couple died in a Bangor police chase. Noah Mushero, 39, of Bangor, and Sheena Soctomah-Rolfe, 39, of Orono died in a crash on Finson Road on July 22, 2024. 

The Bangor farmers market is eyeing expansion as federal funding hangs in the balance. The future of programs for low-income shoppers at Maine farmers’ markets is increasingly uncertain amid disruptions to federal support. 

A Christian homeschool academy wants to open in Gouldsboro. Schoodic Academy intends to operate three days a week for students from kindergarten through eighth grade, partnering with their parents.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

• Laurel Libby has already broken her own fundraising record for Maine lawmakers
• Brewer man allegedly led Bangor police on a chase in a stolen car
• Old Town council wary of imposing fees for vacant buildings
• Orono bridge construction ends ahead of schedule
• Jack Webb ‘really fired up’ to be new sports director at Bangor TV station
• 2 national aerospace companies could move to Loring
• Closure of courthouse in Penobscot County extended by months
• Caribou police investigating hit-and-run in front of fire station
• Why a Maine peninsula is preparing for major wildfires
• Searchers recover body from Maiden’s Cliff in Camden
• Driver flees scene after striking school bus carrying students
• Teen escaped Maine’s youth prison through a window, police records show
• UMaine men’s hockey schedule available but not officially released yet
• Maine soccer team hosting Canadian club for 1st international friendly

MAINE IN PICTURES

Riders hold on tight and enjoy a ride at the Bangor State Fair in July 2024. This year’s fair will be held Thursday through Sunday and July 31 through Aug. 2. Credit: Linda Coan O'Kresik / BDN

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

In this June 6, 2019, photo, Victory looks out the front door as she plays at home in Ogden, Utah. When doctors said her youngest child would be a girl, Amie Schofield chose the name Victoria. Then the prediction changed to boy, so she switched to Victor. It turned out neither was exactly right: The blue-eyed baby was intersex, with both male and female traits. She and her husband decided to call the infant Victory. The name is a hopeful promise for triumph over the secrecy and shame, the pain and discrimination suffered by intersex people. Credit: Rick Bowmer / AP

“Gender is a multifaceted concept encompassing a diverse range of social, psychological, cultural and behavioral traits associated with being male, female or many other gender identities.”

Opinion: We must move beyond misconceptions about sex and gender

LIFE IN MAINE

Gail Smith has her own private pond where she captures wildlife, and she was recently treated to a curious moose investigating the trail camera. 

Acadia National Park is urging visitors to be aware of bears as reported sightings on Mount Desert Island increase.