Morning update: What you need to know in Maine today

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I saw how many people it gave hope to during COVID, and I said, ‘I got to do that again.’ My dog said, ‘Yeah you do, dad.’”

— Stott Carleton, a 77-year-old Vietnam veteran who has been marching across the Route 1 bridge between Wiscasset and Edgecomb holding aloft an American flag.

TODAY’S TOP MAINE STORIES

Maine hasn’t yet inspected out-of-state youth mental health programs after reports of rampant abuse . A federal report, released in June, detailed maltreatment, substandard care and poor oversight at programs operated by the country’s four largest for-profit behavioral health providers.

Bangor students showed up to the first day of school not knowing their teacher’s name . A chaotic morning capped weeks of parents receiving incomplete information from administrators after a teacher’s departure.

A surgical eye center in Bangor declared bankruptcy for the second time . The company operates the only surgical eye centers north of Augusta and south of Presque Isle.

Grocers reacted on Wednesday to the impending loss of milk from an Aroostook dairy . Houlton Farms Dairy, the only white milk processor north of Portland, is discontinuing its milk line at the end of the month. What happens after that is less clear.

A central Maine home for sale comes with a Christmas tree farm and rentals . The 27-acre property in Fayette, a small town in Kennebec County’s lakes region, listed for $755,000.

MAINE IN PICTURES

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

• Mainers can now apply online for home heating help
• Bret Michaels’ ‘Parti-Gras’ rolls through Bangor
• Bangor students help design new mural for their school
• Man arrested on drug charges at Bangor encampment
• Maine town wants to restore its working waterfront
• Neighbors worry about repeat rat infestations at a midcoast home
• A downtown Belfast candy shop and soda fountain is closing
• Why this man often crosses a Maine bridge with the stars and stripes
• Man who ran boat aground on Vinalhaven allegedly under the influence
• 1 killed and 4 hurt in midcoast Maine crash
• 20 Maine college students saved after bus begins sliding down ‘very steep’ bank
• Maine trooper and K9 escape cruiser before fiery explosion
• 2 people found dead in small Maine town
• 17-year-old Maine boy no longer considered missing
• Las Vegas billionaire has 2 megayachts docked in Maine at once
• Maine’s largest city passes resolution divesting from Israel over Gaza war
• 5 North schoolgirl soccer teams to watch this season

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

“By failing to secure that peace, leaders from all of the parties at the negotiating table continue to fail their people.”

Editorial: The path to peace is through diplomacy, not unrelenting military action

LIFE IN MAINE

These Mainers have found some seriously cool things at their town dump . It just goes to show that one man’s trash can be another’s treasure with creativity and TLC.

After signing a shoe endorsement deal with New Balance, Cooper Flagg has another new brand deal . Now he’s partnering with New Era, a manufacturer of sports-affiliated headwear and related merchandise.

Maine high school soccer players no longer have to wear mouthguards . Maine had been the only state in the country with a mouthguard mandate for middle and high school soccer.