Morning Update: What you need to know in Maine today

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There’s nowhere for them to go. You’re telling someone to get off a sidewalk or get off of a property or get out of a park. Where do they go?”

— Bangor City Councilor Michael Beck, who initially supported the city’s Streetplus monitoring program and who is now concerned about homeless community members who feel they’re being “shoved along.”

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

The race between Janet Mills and Graham Platner shows a Democratic identity crisis. Seven months from the primary, the race between the 77-year-old governor and the 41-year-old Sullivan oyster farmer who is new to politics is becoming a battle over the future of the party.

Bangor is paying for a program to make downtown safer. Residents aren’t sure it’s working. Debates around the initiative point to larger issues of perceptions of safety in downtown Bangor, especially when it comes to the city’s homeless residents. 

Milford fire department has no full-time employees during staffing shortage. Old Town Fire Rescue has been assisting on Milford’s calls.

Food pantries in Maine’s most vulnerable regions brace for SNAP lapse. Unless the federal government shutdown — now in its 27th day — comes to a rapid end, more than 170,000 Mainers likely won’t receive the benefits that they use to buy groceries next month.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

• Maine could vote on stripping protections for transgender students in 2026
• A 240-year-old house is for sale in a historic Portland neighborhood
• Exodus of Houlton officials leaves voters with zombie referendum
• Despite recycling program, lithium batteries still sparking fires at Aroostook landfill
• A Castine woman is missing
• Hotelier has a history of stiffing contractors on MDI
• Sheriff seeks help finding missing 16-year-old last seen in Roque Bluffs
• Otisfield man charged after woman shot in hand
• Victim in Benton house fire identified as 62-year-old man
• Driver of stolen car starts chain-reaction crash on I-95

MAINE IN PICTURES

Ed Hawkes with a completed peregrine falcon carving. Each bird he carves can easily take more than 200 hours. Hawkes of Bar Harbor is one of fewer than 10 carvers who meet monthly through the Down East chapter of the Maine Wood Carvers Association. Their numbers are diminishing as they age, with little new interest from younger people. Credit: Elizabeth Walztoni / BDN

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to help combat human trafficking in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 31, 2020, in Washington. Credit: Evan Vucci / AP

“Declaring a commitment to end trafficking means nothing if it isn’t matched with sustained support for those who are doing the work on the ground.”

Opinion: Loss of funds disrupts work to end human trafficking, support survivors

LIFE IN MAINE

Why Stephen King chose Bangor as the model for the town of Derry in horror classic “IT.” Derry IS Bangor — or at least, a fictionalized version of it — and has been featured in several of the horror author’s books, including “IT.”

Haunted hikes in Maine for spooky fun this Halloween. For those who would like to mix recreation with spectral lore, here are a few haunted Maine trails that you can visit this Halloween season. 

Curse of the murdered Bangor fur trader. It was a frigid night in February 1791 when Joseph Junin was found on the floor of his home with a gunshot wound in the head. His death is a story of mystery, vengeance, curses and resurrection.

Wood carvers worry their historic Maine craft is in danger of dying out. Bird carving in particular has historically been popular among Mainers, but fewer people are taking up the pastime.