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#MaineMonitor

Hooked on heating oil
New wood heat options come with climate trade-offs
Wed, 05/31/2023 - 9:30am

At a paper mill warehouse near the University of Maine, engineer Ian Toal oversees a huge, intricate machine that turns sawdust into a key ingredient for a new kind of heating oil. Researchers at this pilot-scale plant in Old Town, part of UMaine's Forest Bioproducts Research Institute , have spent years developing alternatives to fossil fuels by using wood that might otherwise go to waste. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor , a nonprofit...
Should utility companies control energy storage?
Tue, 05/23/2023 - 11:00pm

Is storing energy — in batteries, or reservoirs, or fuel cells — considered generation or distribution? That was one of the major questions underlying lawmakers’ discussion during a hearing last week on LD 1850 , a bill aimed at increasing the amount of energy storage in Maine. Utility companies (Central Maine Power and Versant) used to own both the means to generate electricity (like hydroelectric, coal, nuclear and natural gas plants) and the poles and wires that brought that electricity to...
DEP proposes “risk-based” approach to metal mining
Sat, 05/20/2023 - 9:00am

A legislative committee tasked with evaluating a slate of mining-related bills made no recommendation on which one(s) to advance after a work session on last week, with members insisting they needed more time to weigh the proposals. The committee voted to table the bill backed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Natural Resources Council of Maine, LD 1363 . Committee Chair Stacy Brenner said it seemed that legislators were "coalescing" around the bill, which has been...
Portland says “we’re pushed to the brink” by mounting homeless crisis
Tue, 05/16/2023 - 8:30am

On a recent afternoon in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood, the after-work crowd began to trickle into one of the area’s many craft breweries and locally owned restaurants. Teams arrived at Bayside Bowl, the upscale bowling alley with a popular rooftop bar, for the Wednesday night league. Shoppers packed the parking lots at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. But a few hundred feet away on Somerset Street, sandwiched between the two grocery stories, was evidence of the mounting homeless crisis in...
Hooked on heating oil: Pushing for heat pumps and weatherization
Wed, 05/10/2023 - 10:30pm

Venus Nappi strolled through a community center in South Portland in early April, chatting with vendors at Maine's annual Green Home + Energy Show about electric heat pumps, solar power, and the discounts that aim to make these and other technologies affordable. A worker in an oversized plush heat pump costume waved a gloved hand nearby. Nappi heats her Gorham home with oil, as do 60% of Mainers — more than any other state, as The Maine Monitor reported in the first part of this series . She...
How is climate change affecting river flooding in Maine?
Mon, 05/08/2023 - 10:00am

The Kennebec River in Augusta and Hallowell saw near-record-high flooding earlier this week as inches of rain fell across Maine and New Hampshire. According to the National Weather Service , the Kennebec crested at just over 20 feet at the downtown Augusta gauge early Tuesday morning. Social media posts , like the one pictured above, show how the swollen river overtopped its banks and spilled onto adjacent roads before starting to recede. This story was originally published by The...
Lawmakers mull state-backed bill removing open-pit metal mine size limits
Thu, 04/27/2023 - 5:00am

A bill prompted by the discovery of a world-class lithium deposit in Newry would dramatically change Maine law to allow mining of metals in open pits of any size, with up to 100 acres actively mined at any time. Developers would have to prove they won’t generate acid mine drainage or harm water before mining begins. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor , a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from the Monitor, sign up...
Gun manufacturers have made a dramatic exodus from Maine
Wed, 04/19/2023 - 11:00pm

Between 2007 and 2021, commercial gun manufacturing in Maine plummeted 77% while national production shot up 250%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The number of guns produced annually by Maine manufacturers dropped from 104,552 to 23,226 during that time. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor , a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from the Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor...
New Census figures provide a county-by-county look at where Maine’s newcomers are relocating
Mon, 04/17/2023 - 9:30am

Your Data Monitor correspondents have written about the influx of new residents to Maine a few times in the past several months, but a new set of Census data caught our attention. The new numbers show us which of Maine’s counties saw the biggest jump in domestic and international newcomers between April 2020 and July 1, 2022. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor , a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from the...
Far from the varsity arena, college club teams toil to exist, and love every minute
Thu, 03/30/2023 - 11:15pm

When Olivia Bourque became president of the club women’s basketball team at the University of Maine, she was staring down a long to-do list. There was a team to build, a schedule to make, practices to hold. But unlike NCAA-level teams, she had little staff support — it was mostly her team’s responsibility. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor , a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from the Monitor, sign up for a...
ideal solution is recycling, but it isn’t that easy
What happens to the plastic when it’s removed from boats?
Thu, 03/30/2023 - 7:45pm

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and the shrink wrap is coming off. The boat shrink wrap, that is — low-density polyethylene plastic prized for its flexibility and ability to keep vessels safe from the sleet, snow and rain of Maine winters. And most of it is going in the trash. Maine has more than 100,000 registered boats. At an average of 15 pounds of shrink wrap per boat (a 30-foot boat requires about 30 pounds), that’s more than 1.5 million pounds of plastic coming off boats around...
Maine courts may take until 2028 to touch backlog of cases
Sat, 03/25/2023 - 11:15pm

Maine leaders estimate that state courts won’t begin to address their backlog of cases until 2028, even with the anticipated hiring of four new judges. The outlook is the best estimate available to the court from multiple studies, including one by the National Center for State Courts. The studies recommend approximately 10 new judicial officers to keep pace with cases being filed. Even those wouldn’t address the backlog, and the judicial branch hasn’t asked for that many. This story was...
Maine medical examiners face challenges amid need for autopsies
Sun, 03/19/2023 - 9:45pm

Amid an uptick in homicides and a spike in drug overdose fatalities, the Maine medical examiner’s staff is slowly ramping up the number of autopsies it conducts after years of lagging behind national averages. Annual autopsy rates in the state consistently hovered at well under 20 percent of death investigations for the past five years, an analysis of the Maine Office of Chief Medical Examiner annual reports shows. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor...
Foreign-trained health professionals could be part of the solution to a workforce shortage
Fri, 03/10/2023 - 10:30pm

Ghislaine Bola moved to Maine from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2015. Before then, she’d been a practicing physician for five years. In Maine she’s a medical assistant — which demands less education and training than her role as a physician in the Congo. To practice as a physician here, the state requires U.S. and state-based exams and residency. Her foreign training doesn’t meet the requirements. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor ...
Maine lawmakers consider making jail phone calls to lawyers free
Wed, 03/08/2023 - 9:45pm

Maine lawmakers are considering changes aimed at better protecting prisoners’ rights to private attorney-client communications in jails and prisons — including one proposal that would eliminate charges for phone calls that jailed defendants make to their lawyers. Two separate bills slated for review by the state’s Judiciary Committee this year address how jailed defendants can contact their lawyers and their expectation of privacy during those conversations. People in jail have a constitutional...
Abortion pill ruling could impact rural Mainers
Fri, 03/03/2023 - 9:15pm

Most abortion clinics in Maine offer medicinal abortions only, meaning a Texas lawsuit seeking to ban the most popular pill to end pregnancy could have a major impact on women in the state seeking abortion care. A group of conservative doctors is suing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in federal court over the use of mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in most medicinal abortions. Of the 21 abortion clinics in Maine, 18 offered only medicinal abortions using mifepristone in 2021,...
do sea walls and natural solutions really work?
The sea is rising, and so is the angst for coastal homeowners
Wed, 03/01/2023 - 11:15pm

Before Walt Dunlap moved in 2011 to the shores of Maquoit Bay, just south of Brunswick, he did his homework. A licensed land surveyor, Dunlap knew the steep banks sloping down to the ocean were unstable and prone to erosion. The house stood just 30 feet from the top of the bank, and Dunlap, who left South Carolina to escape a rising sea, “just wanted to make sure that we had something that was not going to disappear overnight.” Dunlap surveyed the Freeport property himself, using 1947 maps as a...
Canadian mining exploration company looks for metals in the midcoast
Sun, 02/26/2023 - 10:00pm

Representatives from Canadian mining company Exiro Mineral Corp were in Union and Warren last week to talk about their plans to look for nickel, copper and cobalt near Crawford Pond, a move has already rankled many residents , some of whom turned out to voice their displeasure at meetings last Wednesday and Thursday. “We need to get out there and put this thing to bed,” said Chris Fierro, who owns property in Warren and Union. This story was originally published by The Maine...
Justin Andrus will be second lawyer to leave MCILS this year
Executive director of Maine’s public defense agency will resign
Tue, 02/21/2023 - 10:45pm

The top official at Maine’s public defense agency has announced he will resign after two years of working to reform a state agency once embroiled in controversy. Justin Andrus, 48, will leave his role as executive director of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, or MCILS, no later than June 30, he announced this week. The commission and its parallel state agency are responsible for overseeing lawyers who provide legal service to adults and children charged with crimes who cannot...
A port in the storm: Eastport’s historic port navigates new challenges
Sat, 02/11/2023 - 5:30pm

After three of the slowest years in its 42-year history, the Eastport Port Authority is scrambling to find new business and continue operating in the black. Once the second-busiest port in the country, Eastport’s enduring legacy as a connecting point for overseas shipments was endangered by global affairs that changed the trade networks. The Covid pandemic, plus the war in Ukraine and resulting European instability, upset a steady stream of shipments that averaged 300,000 tons a year and...
As teacher departures rise, solutions could be a year or more away
Wed, 02/08/2023 - 1:00pm

It’s no secret the education field was burdened during the pandemic, with schools nationwide facing teacher workforce shortages. Now, the 2022-23 academic year is halfway done, and Maine school districts are struggling to fill the same gaps they were months ago. Newly released figures for 2022 show that record numbers of teachers and other educators retired or otherwise left their positions last year. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor , a...
There’s an ugly side to Maine harness racing
Mon, 02/06/2023 - 10:30am

Lurking beneath one of Maine’s iconic pastimes, harness racing at county fairs and commercial tracks, lies an ugly underside — scores of instances of illegal horse drugging and physical abuse. The Maine State Harness Racing Commission, which regulates the long-standing betting sport, has sanctioned licensed owners, drivers and trainers more than 600 times since 2016 for violating rules aimed in part at keeping horses fit and able to compete, MSHRC data shows. This story was originally...
Researchers seek statewide changes to save clam fishery from collapse
Fri, 02/03/2023 - 7:30pm

The Harraseeket River recedes slowly but steadily around Chad Coffin’s metal skiff, until the boat is beached on a partly exposed mudflat. Coffin and his daughter, Bailey Pennell, are already out of the skiff, rakes in hand and rubber boots sinking deep into the gray-brown muck. They begin to dig — but not for soft-shell clams, also known as steamers, belly clams or Ipswich clams, a prized Maine commodity that Coffin has harvested here in Freeport for decades. Instead, he and Pennell are...
Mills proposes revamp to intellectual and developmental disability services
Fri, 01/20/2023 - 12:30pm

After years of talking about it, Maine’s health department is proposing to spend millions to clear a backlog for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities who need state services, and to change the way those services are delivered. The changes, included in Gov. Janet Mills’ proposed $10.3 billion two-year budget plan, would represent a significant change for the programs that provide services for thousands of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and their...
New public defenders don’t alleviate court’s troubles finding enough attorneys
Sun, 01/15/2023 - 4:30pm

State officials say they’re barely keeping up with the demand for lawyers to represent the poor in criminal and family cases, even as Maine takes gradual steps to shed its status as the only state without a public defender system. Maine’s first five public defenders began working on criminal cases late last year, and Gov. Janet Mills last Wednesday proposed funding for 10 more lawyers. But Justin Andrus, who runs the agency that coordinates indigent legal services, said adding a few public...
Get ready, get set for bruising referendum campaigns in 2023
Mon, 01/09/2023 - 9:00am

By the time you get your spring tires put on, the waiting room of your local automotive shop might be decorated with political signage. You might not think who is allowed to repair a vehicle could be a political discussion, but it will be one of the four likely ideological skirmishes waged on the airwaves and roadside signs as Maine gears up for a referendum-heavy year. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor , a nonprofit civic news...
The long road to recovering PFAS damages
Fri, 12/30/2022 - 12:15pm

Shortly after hearing from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection that their well should be tested for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a Fairfield couple watched the movie “ Erin Brockovich ,” a true-life legal drama set in the 1990s. Julia Roberts portrays a struggling single mother of three young children who, in her newfound work as a legal aide, uncovers evidence that a Pacific Gas and Electric plant in Hinkley, Calif., was poisoning the community’s water source,...
Maine hospitals see lower readmission penalties after regulators relax certain metrics
Mon, 12/26/2022 - 12:00pm

Maine hospitals on average will see some of the lowest penalties for patient readmissions in a decade after federal regulators reduced the review period to acknowledge the challenges healthcare systems still face from the pandemic. Fines for readmissions and hospital-acquired conditions, two areas where hospitals can lose funding from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, are relatively small, but indicate hospitals where infections and potentially avoidable complications have...
‘We disagree with the decision and are considering our options, including an appeal’
Walmart weighs options as state board denies “dark store” tax appeal in Thomaston
Wed, 12/21/2022 - 8:30am

A state board has rejected Walmart’s attempt to avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes for its store in Thomaston, in a case that tested an argument by big-box chains that claim their stores’ value should be treated like that of a building for sale, not an active business. The Maine Board of Property Tax Review case covered Walmart’s appeals of the 2017 and 2018 valuations of its Thomaston store. Many other similar appeals — for Walmart and other chains, and for stores in...
The price of PFAS: ‘Forever chemicals’ generate boundless costs
Mon, 12/19/2022 - 2:45pm

Widespread contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) “has the potential to impose an unsustainable burden on state and private resources,” the Maine PFAS Task Force wrote three years ago. The weight of that burden from widely dispersed toxic chemicals is now becoming clear in multiplying expenses and costs that defy calculation. Governmental and utility funds committed to date for early-stage PFAS research and remediation in Maine are estimated to exceed $200 million,...
Maine’s decades-old flood maps don’t always factor in sea rise and climate change
Mon, 12/12/2022 - 8:30am

As Congress looks to reauthorize the chronically-underfunded National Flood Insurance Program next week, much of Maine is operating with flood maps that are decades old, if they exist at all. And the new maps that are being drawn are not designed for a changing climate. They don’t account for sea level rise or the kind of extreme rainfall events that are becoming increasingly common in Maine and elsewhere around the country. “The flood zone is wrong,” Charlie Colgan, a researcher and former...
alleges Maine AG has blocked reforms as court system collapses
Rep. Evangelos asks U.S. DOJ to investigate Maine criminal justice system
Mon, 12/05/2022 - 7:15pm

Retiring state Rep. Jeff Evangelos asked the U.S. Department of Justice on Sunday to place Maine’s criminal justice system under federal review and supervision for what he said are multiple attempts by the attorney general’s office to thwart reform during the past four years. Evangelos (I-Friendship) has been an outspoken supporter of progressive criminal justice reforms throughout his four terms in the state Legislature, which ends on Tuesday. He served on the legislative Judiciary Committee,...
Chief Justice says Maine’s justice system is “failing”
Sat, 11/12/2022 - 4:00pm

Maine’s top judge on Wednesday said the state’s justice system is failing people in the criminal and civil courts and implored lawyers to assist in the defense of the state’s poor. Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill and the director of indigent public defense, Justin Andrus, laid out an increasingly dire situation in Maine’s courts in a presentation to nearly 100 lawyers Wednesday at a meeting of the Maine State Bar Association. They asked lawyers to take cases and fill the gaps in representation...
Maine election officials cautious amid midterms
Mon, 11/07/2022 - 10:30pm

After more than three decades of working in municipal government, Bangor city clerk Lisa Goodwin is confident that Maine’s election system is safe. But with national tensions rising ahead of a potentially pivotal Election Day, she does not want to take chances. That was why Goodwin volunteered Bangor as one of the first municipalities to take part in an election systems assessment offered to Maine through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland...
Knox among courts recently struggling to find attorneys
Maine courts stretch to find available defense attorneys
Mon, 10/31/2022 - 8:30am

The crisis in Maine’s legal defense system for the poor is worsening, with jailed defendants waiting as long as six weeks to be assigned an attorney and some parents of children who have been removed from home lacking a lawyer days before scheduled hearings, emails obtained by The Maine Monitor show. Court clerks in nearly half of Maine’s counties — Aroostook, Kennebec, Knox, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Washington and York — couldn’t find an available lawyer who was qualified to work on cases for 34...
Planned Parenthood spends likely record amounts on Maine elections
Tue, 10/25/2022 - 9:00am

The state’s largest abortion rights advocacy group has spent a likely record amount of money on candidate races this year in the wake of the Supreme Court decision that overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England’s political action committee in Maine has spent $836,059 this year in independent expenditures, a category of campaign spending that allows groups to show support or opposition to candidates, according to Maine campaign finance records. It is the...
How they met economic challenges gives a glimpse into Mills, LePage
Thu, 10/13/2022 - 10:00pm

As the economy took center stage in Maine’s gubernatorial race, attention focused on how the two major party candidates responded to very different economic challenges that took place during their terms in office. The contrast emerged when former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, defended his economic record before the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, noting he had increased Maine’s economic reserves despite a multitude of economic challenges when he came into office in 2011. He...
Wild blueberry harvest suffered in this year’s drought
Sun, 10/09/2022 - 10:15am

ROQUE BLUFFS — Cool sea breezes off Englishman Bay graced the fields of Welch Farm on a piercing blue, mid-September day, revealing nothing of the heaving, dry summer months before. It was the third straight season of drought for the state’s midcoast and Down East coastal region — wild blueberry country. With the mighty harvester resting in the field, 52-year-old farm owner Lisa Hanscom drops into a chair in the boxing room, allowing herself a pause to consider the bleak tally of this year’s...
Legal protections of low-income mortgages at risk with appeal pending
Mon, 10/03/2022 - 10:15pm

A solicitation of briefs from Maine’s highest court has legal aid providers worried that long-standing rulings protecting the poor from repeat foreclosure attempts could be upended amid the housing crisis. For 25 years, Maine’s legal precedent has barred lenders from suing borrowers multiple times for defaulted loans when they ask for repayment all at once — called accelerating a note — if their case is dismissed with prejudice under state law . That precedent was upheld by the Maine Supreme...
‘zero tolerance for anything that would infringe upon somebody’s right to privacy’
Waldo County among those to adopt changes to prevent jail recording attorney-client calls
Sat, 10/01/2022 - 11:30am

Two-thirds of Maine county jails recorded phone calls between jailed clients and their attorneys at various times since 2014 and provided law enforcement with some recordings, which potentially violated defendants’ constitutional rights, an investigation by The Maine Monitor has found. As the recording of attorney calls became public in recent years, county sheriffs, a state agency and the company that runs most of the phone systems in Maine jails have taken steps to curb the practice. But they...
MCILS to send Mills, lawmakers letter requesting special session
Indigent defense commissioners seek emergency funding to raise lawyer pay amid defense lawyer shortage
Thu, 09/29/2022 - 8:15am

Maine’s shortage of lawyers accepting new cases is at a “crisis” stage and could collapse the statewide public defense system before spring if state lawmakers don’t make an emergency intervention, officials warned on Wednesday. Commissioners who oversee Maine’s public defense system unanimously endorsed a request for an additional $13.3 million to raise the hourly compensation rate to $150 an hour for attorneys before the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2023. They also voted to send Gov...
NRA endorses LePage, gives improved grade to Mills
Mills, LePage navigate tricky politics of gun rights
Wed, 09/28/2022 - 4:00pm

After a downgrade in her first campaign, Gov. Janet Mills’ ranking with one of the most prominent gun lobbying organizations increased this year without much fanfare — reflecting the changing political terrain on gun rights since her first campaign. The release of the National Rifle Association’s campaign scorecards last week saw Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Gov. Paul LePage earning the group’s endorsement, as he did in 2014 . The endorsement praised LePage for issues such as...
Maine vaping numbers down for students, work continues toward further bans
Mon, 09/26/2022 - 8:30am

When Mary Lou Warn discovered her teenager was vaping six years ago, he assured her it was safe. He had done his research, he said, and vaping was just flavored water. It was nothing like smoking. Warn tried to do her own research but there was little information available at the time about these new electronic cigarettes. “I couldn’t find anything to counter this message,” she said. “I didn’t have much of a leg to stand on.” By the time her son, Jake, went off to college, Warn said his vaping...
Maine to walk away from multi-million dollar Juul settlement
Fri, 09/23/2022 - 6:15pm

The Maine Attorney General’s Office on Friday decided to walk away from an $11 million agreement with electronic cigarette manufacturer Juul after objecting to certain conditions from the company. Maine was set to receive about $11 million over the next six to 10 years as part of a nearly $440 million settlement between the manufacturer and 33 states and territories. The investigation found that Juul had marketed its products to youth. However, as part of the agreement, Juul wanted states to...
40 percent of Maine high schoolers report mental health problems, survey finds
Thu, 09/22/2022 - 11:45pm

Nearly 43% of Maine high school students reported their mental health was not good “most of the time” or “always” during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results of a 2021 survey released Wednesday. Female high school students reported worse mental health than male students. Nearly 57% of female students said their mental health was not good “most of the time” or “always,” compared to nearly 29% of male students. The question stated that “poor mental health includes stress, anxiety, and...
Copy cat demands for data mirror those in other states
Elections clerks field ‘frivolous requests’ in apparent effort to sow distrust
Thu, 09/08/2022 - 12:45pm

Clerks across the state have just nine weeks until the pivotal 2022 elections. But their tasks increasingly include responding to misinformed election data requests rooted in national efforts to sow distrust in the process. The requests are part of a national trend that is slowing down clerks’ ability to do their jobs. Those efforts stem from skeptics who believe that former President Donald Trump should have won the November 2020 general election, despite officials in several states finding no...
Maine misses EPA deadline to submit pollution reduction plan
Wed, 09/07/2022 - 4:00pm

If you’ve lived here for any appreciable amount of time, you’ve probably heard Maine referred to as the “tailpipe of the nation.” Prevailing winds carry pollutants up from the Midwest and the rest of New England, periodically resulting in smoggy, hazy days, particularly in the hot summer months. On the east coast, that haze comes from power plants, industrial boilers, industrial processes, and emissions from cars and trucks. “Even if we had really great emission standards in Maine, the way that...
Half of Maine indigent cases are being defended by just 33 lawyers, analysis finds
Mon, 09/05/2022 - 12:00pm

Maine officials may ask lawyers handling large caseloads of indigent defendants to stop accepting new assignments from the courts, after finding that 11 lawyers each have more than 301 open cases and half of the open indigent cases are being managed by just 33 lawyers. The development is the latest sign that Maine’s network of lawyers who represent defendants unable to afford their own counsel are overwhelmed. Maine is unique among states in not employing public defenders. Instead, contracted...
DEP says developer of Washington County project built cabins without permits
Sun, 08/28/2022 - 9:30am

State environmental regulators issued a “Notice of Violation” against the developer of an ambitious, $1 billion project in Washington County, after inspectors found the company built several dozen cabins, a restaurant, roads and parking areas without obtaining necessary permits. Worcester Holdings was issued the notice in July after an inspection found apparent violations at their Flagpole View Cabins. Worcester officials said they are working with the Department of Environmental Protection to...
Abundance of openings, lack of qualified applicants burden school leaders
Tue, 08/16/2022 - 9:15am

One Maine school district is paying teachers an hourly stipend to act as custodial staff after work. Another is trying to recruit parents to work as educational technicians. A third has 12 teacher openings it needs to fill before school starts Aug. 31. Maine schools are struggling to fill openings after an unusual number of educators retired or quit in the past three years, leaving roles vacant as the school year approaches. Teachers and administrators blame the departures and resulting...

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