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What a start to the summer! A ten-day trip visiting family, 28 hours in the Subaru with hubby and our senior Great Pyr Kashmir, not counting my plane hop to Boston.  In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t wise as soon as I got home to jump on an invitation for a two-mile group paddle on the Orange River Water Trail.

But it was a glorious day! I’ll be writing more soon about that and conservation Downeast.

No more detours! The DOT re-opened the upper Machias Bay section of the Down East Sunrise Trail – ahead of schedule. Town officials breathed a sigh of relief.  Machias’ second annual ATV jamboree in late June is a major boon to area businesses.  

Riders will need to cozy-up to find parking though. The dike’s vendor and parking area is still under repair. DOT officials say a decision about the dike’s replacement won’t come until, at the earliest, sometime this summer.  

For now, it’s back to work. There’s always something stirring Downeast — this week it was an online furor over plans by the Worcester Wreath Company to use drones to spray aerial pesticides over 190 acres of their land in Columbia Falls. We'll have the full story next week.

Hope to meet you on the trails!

Mainers unable to find caregivers for all authorized home care hours

This week, Maine Monitor reporter Rose Lundy looked at shortages in the home care industry, finding that many Mainers are unable to find caregivers for all of their authorized home care hours. 

One care coordination agency had more than 750 people approved for home care who had no help at all, with demand expected to grow, especially as Maine nursing homes continue to close — such as the recent closure of Narraguagus Bay Health Care Facility.

Read this story by Rose Lundy of The Maine Monitor.

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

Maine households are the worst offenders on food waste, according to a DEP study. In fact, we waste the equivalent of more than 9,000 fully loaded semi-trailer trucks every year. | The Maine Monitor

A community solar project in Eastport expects to be online this fall | Quoddy Tides

Check out this story for a snapshot of the paddling event that brought multiple conservation groups together to mark the opening of the new recreational water trail in Washington County | WABI

Oversized shipments of massive wind turbines soon will be headed Downeast.  The Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy plans to erect 30 turbines spread out among various locations in the town of Columbia and in Unorganized Territory townships 18 and 24. | Bangor Daily News

Republicans in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District selected Austin Theriault on Tuesday as their candidate to run against U.S. Rep. Jared Golden in November’s election. | Portland Press Herald

Hancock County Republicans in District 1 appear to have chosen former longtime sheriff and incumbent County Commissioner Bill Clark as their candidate in the November election. | The Ellsworth American

A former Maine Maritime Academy student was sentenced for the 2022 drunk driving crash, which claimed the lives of four students and injured two others in addition to the defendant. | The Ellsworth American

A story by veteran reporter Bill Trotter explains how Bar Harbor’s raging cruise ship debate is shaping local elections. | Bangor Daily News

Southwest Harbor will continue with Eastern Maine Recycling for the town's waste disposal, the Select Board agreed on Tuesday. | Mount Desert Islander

The central office of AOS 77 will be relocating at a cost more than seven times the current annual amount being paid for office space. | Quoddy Tides

A resident of York County has died from a rare virus caused by a tick bite, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. | Portland Press Herald

Buck’s Harbor Marina in Brooksville, closed last year during a long-running dispute between the town and former owner Jon Buck over mooring violations and town regulations, is set to reopen under new owners later this month. | The Ellsworth American

Plans to build a 36-unit condominium complex of mixed-income housing off Beals Avenue in Ellsworth received final approval from the Planning Board on June 5. Many neighboring residents aren’t happy about the decision. | The Ellsworth American

Brothers Jason and Matt Duff were featured on an episode of the Disney network’s “Building Off The Grid,” which showcased their journey building a 20-foot-in-diameter yurt in a wooded area along a stream in Gouldsboro. | The Ellsworth American

A new broadband Internet service will soon be offered in Eastport and parts of Perry and Sipayik | Quoddy Tides

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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.