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Crews responding to fire on shores of Moosehead Lake

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 9, 2026

Emergency crews were responding to a structure fire Sunday evening near the Rockwood town landing on the shores of Moosehead Lake. It’s the second major fire in the region in as many days.

13 cars derail on CSX train between Veazie and Orono

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 9, 2026

Thirteen cars derailed from a CSX train Saturday afternoon between Veazie and the Penobscot County Country Club. No leaks, spills or hazards to the public were reported, and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection confirmed no release and no impact to the Penobscot River.

Fire crews battle blaze at old Moosehead Mill

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 9, 2026

Multiple fire departments from both Piscataquis and Penobscot counties battled a blaze at the Moosehead Mill in Monson on Saturday night. Monson Deputy Fire Chief Terry Gaudet told Newscenter Maine that mill owners had a permit to burn debris, but the fire got out of control and spread to buildings, at least three of which were a total loss. [The Moosehead Manufacturing Company was founded in 1948. In its 23 years of operation, Moosehead became famous for its design and craftsmanship of Early American furniture.]

Maine paper mill employees asked for safety monitors for decades. It took 2 deaths to get them.

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 9, 2026

Most toilet paper, tissues, paper towels and napkins start out as woodchips. At mills like Woodland Pulp in Washington County they get cooked to a brown mush. The employees are regularly exposed to several toxic chemicals. A common practice in paper mills is to wear a personal monitor that detects hydrogen sulfide. Shawn Howland has lobbied four different superintendents for the monitors over his 27 years in the bleach plant. His requests were denied by various corporate owners. A toxic gas leak that killed two men in January has cost the investment firm that owns the plant, International Grand Investment Corporation, $16 million in property damage plus nearly $800,000 in proposed fines, and any penalties that may result from future lawsuits by the families of the victims. The personal gas monitors for the employees who needed them cost about $100 each.

Maine’s mountain bike scene getting big lift from ski resorts

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 9, 2026

Mountain biking in Maine is coming of age, as the state becomes a destination for riders from the rest of New England and Canada. The Greater Portland chapter of the New England Mountain Bike Association serves a mountain bike community of more than 10,000 riders, which is enough to support four full-time bike shops. The biggest concentration of trails built specifically for mountain biking can be found in Carrabassett Valley, Bethel and Greenville. In greater Portland, there is a 55-mile network of trails in Gorham, with more coming to the Falmouth-Windham corridor. In all, Maine has nearly 600 miles of mountain bike trails.

Lisbon Street study highlights good and bad of roadway

SUN JOURNAL • August 9, 2026

Outer Lisbon Street is good for drivers, but not so much for pedestrians and bicyclists. That’s the main takeaway from the Lisbon Street Safety and Mobility Plan. There’s too much speeding, it’s unsafe to cross, there’s no way to bicycle. It’s hard for some people to imagine it with what’s out there today, but we’re trying to provide a vision for a roadway that could be so much more than it is today.”

This Maine wild blueberry industry pioneer is still growing and promoting at age 91

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 9, 2026

Dell Emerson sat watching a conveyor belt run at Wescogus Wild Blueberry on Thursday. All around him was evidence of a lifetime growing not just blueberries, but the state’s wild blueberry industry. Emerson, 91, designed and built the equipment used here and by other small growers. He spent 53 years working nearby at the University of Maine’s wild blueberry research station, 30 as its manager, during a period that roughly nearly quadrupled yields of Washington County’s iconic crop. With his wife, Marie, he built Wild Blueberry Land, a blueberry-colored geodesic dome with a shop and museum on Route 1 in Columbia Falls that’s become a popular attraction for travelers. “His goal was to save small farms, and he’s done it in many, many ways,” Marie Emerson said.

Protesters gather to oppose Amazon facility on proposed site in Gorham

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 8, 2026

A ‘Day on the Land’ event brought about 50 people to the undeveloped site on Main Street to rally against the megaretailer’s plans to build a warehouse and distribution center. “It’s a way of symbolically, even just for one day, reclaiming the land as the property of the people of Gorham,” said Josh Trombley, a leader of Gorham United, the group that organized the event. “We think that this project is going to bring a lot of negative impact without significant benefits.” Impacts on traffic in a town already struggling with crammed roads, environmental damage, low-value job creation and incompatibility with the town’s comprehensive plan were the main concerns.

Study in Saco Bay aims to fill data gaps about juvenile white sharks

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 8, 2026

A biology professor from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth is studying juvenile white sharks who come close to Maine’s coast, at a time when there have been multiple sightings near a beach in Scarborough. “Is this an anomaly, or are these animals becoming residents of your coastal waters?” Diego Bernal said in an interview Friday. His study is focused on Saco Bay, working primarily from Old Orchard Beach and Scarborough. “Our goal is to tag 30 juvenile white sharks in that area to see what they do, where they go, how long they stay and do they come back next year,” Bernal said.

Opinion: Right whales can’t wait 7 more years for lobstermen to make changes to protect them

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 8, 2026

There are only about 380 North Atlantic right whales alive now. They’re slow to reproduce and one of the biggest threats to their survival is getting entangled in fishing gear. A pause on new protections is set to expire in 2028. Rep. Jared Golden’s Northeast Lobstermen Protection Act would push the current moratorium on new right whale protections from 2028 to 2035. Congress set a six-year limit on this pause in 2022. This bill would make it last 13 years. Right whales cannot simply wait another seven years. A federal court already ruled that fishery limits have to stand to comply with the Endangered Species Act. We need a version of this bill that includes funding for gear that doesn’t kill whales and a public accounting of what’s already been spent buying “more time.” ~ Cindy Lowry, Maine-based environmental advocate with the International Marine Mammal Project

Column: Follow Thoreau journey to Mount Kineo for one of Maine finest mountaintop vistas

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 8, 2026

The historic steamboat “Katahdin” cruises steadily northwest toward the unmistakable profile of Mount Kineo. I lean on the railing and drink in the glorious sight, one of many beautiful scenes to behold amid the sprawling waters of Moosehead Lake. Henry David Thoreau, the famed naturalist, essayist and philosopher, traveled this same route. In 1857, he and his companions negotiated the big lake in birch bark canoes and climbed Kineo. Mount Kineo State Park encompasses 800 acres on the peninsula, purchased in 1990 using funds from the Land for Maine’s Future program. The park, managed by the Bureau of Parks and Lands, features four hiking trails and several primitive campsites. ~ Carey Kish

Boil water order in effect for some Jay neighborhoods

SUN JOURNAL • August 8, 2026

The Jay Water District issued a boil water order Saturday morning for customers in the North Jay Water District. Because of the possibility of unsafe water, the North Jay Water District said residents who live south of Look Brook Circle on Route 4, Route 17, Jerry Street, Old Jay Hill Road, Purrington Road and Mountain View Road should boil water for at least one minute before use.

At Central Maine’s Cobbossee Lake, local groups fight off infestation of invasive aquatic plants

CENTRAL MAINE • August 8, 2026

Cobbossee Lake is the ideal picture of summertime lake life in Maine — lake houses dot the waterfront, pontoon boats coast around with families on board and loon calls echo from shore to shore. But under the surface of the water, a battle is ongoing. The Cobbosseecontee Lake Association and Watershed Friends have been fighting to control and remove an aquatic invasive species, Eurasian watermilfoil, since it was first discovered in the lake in 2018. While this year marks the first year the central Maine lake is not part of the state DEP’s “Rapid Response” program, in which herbicides are applied to try to eradicate the plant completely, Eurasian watermilfoil has continued to spread in the lake.

8 coastal Maine hikes that aren’t in Acadia

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 8, 2026

When you think coastal Maine hiking, you probably think Acadia National Park. Here are eight other hikes you’ll find along the coast with gorgeous views of creeks, coves, bays and the ocean beyond.
• Cliff Trail in Harpswell
• Morse Mountain in Phippsburg
• Reid State Park in Georgetown
• Mount Megunticook in Camden
• Bald Rock Mountain in Lincolnville
• John B. Mountain in Brooksville
• Pigeon Hill in Steuben 
• Cutler Coast Public Reserved Land in Cutler

Column: These nearly identical birds fool even experienced birders

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 8, 2026

Identifying a bird is easy. Misidentifying a bird is even easier. The real trouble comes from troublesome pairs — two or more species that are almost identical. To avoid trouble, it helps to remember the key distinguishing features that separate these most challenging birds. Late summer is full of trouble. Shorebirds move through in big numbers over the next three weeks, and the little ones all look alike. Semipalmated sandpipers are slightly larger than least sandpipers, but slightly smaller than western sandpipers. Least sandpipers are browner with yellowish legs. Semipalmated sandpipers are brownish gray with dark legs. Western sandpipers are uncommon in the east but appear sporadically among the other peeps. They are about the same color as the others, with dark legs, but show a tiny bit of redness in the shoulders and on the crest. ~ Bob Duchesne

The Maine fishing legend known as ‘Mr. Trout’ has died at 96

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 7, 2026

Maine fishing writer Robert “Bob” Leeman, known to many as “Mr. Trout,” passed away Aug. 5 at a Bangor elder care facility. He was 96. Leeman wrote a fishing column for the Northwoods Sporting Journal for nearly two decades. Over the years , Bob and I fished together, shared family times together, and hosted a weekly Sunday night radio program Maine Outdoors together. I also helped him produce his three wonderful fishing books, “Trolling Flies for Trout & Salmon,” “The Salesman Angler” and “Fishing Brooks and Streams.” Tight lines, Mr. Leeman. ~ V. Paul Reynolds

UMaine researchers seek better ways to turn forest materials into energy

UMAINE NEWS• August 7, 2026

Researchers from the University of Maine and the University of Maine at Fort Kent are studying how new technologies could make that process more efficient and environmentally sustainable. The five-year study focuses on woody biomass — wood and other forest materials used to produce energy — and how it can be produced, harvested and transported more efficiently. The $649,836 project is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

‘The gap is gone!’ New stretch of Eastern Trail opens 15 months early

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 7, 2026

Finally, the gap is closed. After over a decade of planning, setbacks, fundraising and permitting, the “Close the Gap” project opening a key segment of the Eastern Trail is finished, 15 months ahead of schedule. The 1.6-mile section of the Eastern Trail connecting Scarborough and South Portland opened Thursday. Closing the gap — between the Wainwright Sports Complex in South Portland and the Nonesuch River in Scarborough — created a continuous 16-mile trail without on-road gaps from Bug Light Park to downtown Saco. It was a long-awaited step to fully connecting the Eastern Trail, a 65-mile off-road trail from South Portland to Kittery.

White shark sightings draw attention to coastal waters

MAINE PUBLIC • August 7, 2026

Half a dozen recent shark sightings off the coast of southern Maine have some beach communities concerned for public safety. The Scarborough Police Department posted footage of what researchers have identified as two juvenile white sharks near Pine Point beach, and urged beachgoers to remain vigilant. Matt Davis, a scientist with the Department of Marine Resources, and University of Maine assistant professor Walter Golet, were out tagging sharks Friday about 20 miles offshore. Davis says while caution is always a good idea, there is no need for widespread fear and the white sharks were identified as juveniles.