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August is here and while our hot, humid weather may take a couple weeks to wise up, hopefully soon we should be enjoying some cooler nights and changing leaves across western Maine.

August isn't a month of holidays or the herald of a new season, but rather a time to savor the fruits of summer. We dig up our garlic and harvest our grape tomatoes, we chase around the last few fireflies, jars at hand, and tourists roll up Route 27 to catch the final precious days of a western Maine summer. It is time to take that last vacation and then reflect on a great season.

So in between reading this week's news roundup and checking out the latest from The Maine Monitor, I hope you get a chance to enjoy another wonderful August in Maine.

State denies initial request of Bucksport-area owner to give up dams

It was the second time within a week that the state Department of Environmental Protection identified deficiencies in the applications from dam owners Bucksport Mill, LLC and parent company AIM Demolition USA LLC, which filed to forfeit their dams on Alamoosook Lake, Silver Lake and Toddy Pond in early July. What happens if the forfeit requests are accepted has never been tested. 

Read this story by Emmett Gartner of The Maine Monitor.

While The Maine Monitor does not place its content behind paywalls, some newsrooms we link to in this newsletter may. 

ICYMI from The Monitor: Between 28 and 57 percent of the state’s coastal marshes could disappear by the end of the century, victims of a rising sea, coastal development and polluted runoff. Read the first story in this series, Sinking in Saltwater: Maine’s coastal marshes at risk as sea levels rise, published in collaboration with the Portland Press Herald and with generous support from The Pulitzer Center.

More from The Monitor: The Maine Supreme Court asked large law firms for help with the state's indigent defense crisis, but just two attorneys from the seven firms — which collectively employ more than 450 lawyers — took indigent defense cases in the year since Stanfill’s letter, according to the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services. “I think that the idea that fat cat lawyer law firms can send their trial lawyers into court to defend these criminal cases is not realistic. They’d be unqualified to do it.”

Graduates of Maine's community college programs will be guaranteed admission to the University of Maine System, thanks to a new transfer agreement approved this week. | Maine Public

West Paris post office to move into former nursing home on Route 26 | Advertiser Democrat

Livermore Falls is exploring applying for grant funding to pay for various energy efficiency improvements. | Livermore Falls Advertiser

More than $4 million in federal funding has been made available to small businesses, woodlots and farms in Maine. | Bangor Daily News

Law enforcement officials used surveillance cameras and tracking devices to investigate an illegal marijuana grow operation in Mexico. | WGME

The New Balance shoe company will close its Norridgewock factory and consolidate its manufacturing at its Skowhegan location. | Maine Public

Speed data collected in Farmington helps with planning patrol locations | Livermore Falls Advertiser 

It took two days to find the body of the man who committed the state's deadliest mass shooting, leading to questions about police training. | Portland Press Herald

Smoke from wildfires in the western portion of the U.S. and Canada led to hazy conditions this week. | WGME

Six wild birds from multiple counties in Maine tested positive for West Nile Virus. | Maine Public

Know of a story that we should be digging into? Send it to our newsroom. 

The Maine Monitor is a publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit news organization that produces investigative journalism. We believe news is a public good and keep our news free to access. We have no paywall and do not charge for our newsletters. If you value the reporting we do for Maine, please consider making a donation! We cannot do this reporting without your support.