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Good morning from the shores of Gouldsboro, where town meeting season is in full swing. Some, such as in Beals and Steuben, have come and gone, while others, among them Sullivan and Winter Harbor, lie ahead. 

In Machias, voters decided to upend their usual schedule by extending the fiscal year from June 30 to sometime in September, when they will hold their town meeting. Town officials are not allowed to spend more than an additional three months of the budget approved the prior year.

Machias Town Manager Bill Kitchen says the town meeting had to be moved once due to unforeseen circumstances, and it worked so well they opted to make it a permanent change. Kitchen says it allows the town to see a full year of spending before finalizing the next budget.

Note that the state primary is next week, on Tuesday, June 11. You can look up your polling place and view a sample ballot here. See you all at the polls!

A place for women in recovery, and their kids: About 15 years ago, Caroline (not her real name) was studying to be a nurse when she broke her ankle. She started taking prescription painkillers, and soon developed an addiction.

Now she's in recovery and lives at Safe Harbor, which opened in August 2020 in Machias. It's a home for women in recovery from substance use disorder: a place where they can live full-time and get help arranging appropriate treatment services. And they can bring their children with them.

Read this story by Emily Bader of The Maine Monitor.

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

Judge tosses trash-bin DNA evidence in decades-old Maine rape case | Bangor Daily News

Groups file second injunction to delay cruise ship ordinance enforcement pending appeal | Mount Desert Islander 

Blue Hill water to be tested for PFAS starting this month | The Weekly Packet

Buck’s Harbor Marina to reopen under new ownership | The Weekly Packet

Land transactions clear way for public access to Wight Pond | Castine Patriot

A show shot in Eastport 20 years ago became the first in a new reality TV genre | Bangor Daily News

Blue Hill revaluation alarms some residents | Ellsworth American

AMHC offers new treatment for opioid use disorder | Ellsworth American

Walk the Bridge for 85th anniversary celebration | Island Ad-Vantages

MDOT meeting on Seawall Road is June 27 | Mount Desert Islander

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.