AUGUSTA, Maine — Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Eliot, Sen. Joe Rafferty, D-Kennebunk, and Sen. Henry Ingwersen, D-Arundel, were sworn into the Maine Senate last week by Gov. Janet Mills.

Lawrence was elected to his fourth consecutive term in the Senate in November, Rafferty to his third and Ingwersen to his second.

“I’m grateful to the residents of southern York County for choosing me to serve as their voice for another term in Augusta,” said Lawrence. “Last session we accomplished a great deal including preserving access to York Hospital, standing up for workers, and codifying fundamental freedoms. I look forward to continuing our work and being an advocate for our region.”

Lawrence represents Senate District 35, which includes Eliot, Kittery, Ogunquit, South Berwick and York.

Lawrence is a practicing attorney from Southern Maine. He was first elected to the Maine House of Representatives during his second year of law school in the late 1980s. He is serving his eighth nonconsecutive term in the Maine Senate. Lawrence served as Senate President from 1998 to 2000 and as York County District Attorney from 2003 to 2010 before opening up a private practice in South Berwick.

He is one of the founding members of the Laudholm Trust in Wells and has worked to secure funding for Land for Maine’s Future.

Rafferty represents Senate District 34, which includes all of Berwick, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, North Berwick and Wells.

“I’m excited to be returning to continue my work in the Senate,” said Rafferty. “I am grateful to the people of York County for entrusting me to be your voice in the State House. I continue to be committed to passing and supporting meaningful legislation that will benefit Mainers and keep our state on the right track.”

Rafferty, better known to his neighbors as Coach Raff, graduated from Springfield College with a degree in physical education, making him the first person in his family to graduate from college. He went on to an extended career in education that continues to this day.

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Throughout his career, Rafferty worked diligently for fellow educators in local and state associations. From 1984 until his retirement in 2018, he was a strong advocate and voice for teachers, serving in various capacities: as president of the teachers’ union, building representative on the Executive Committee, and chief negotiator on the contract negotiation team.

Ingwersen represents Senate District 32, which includes Arundel, Biddeford, Dayton, Hollis & Lyman.

“I’m so humbled and honored to have been re-elected to serve the people of District 32,” said Ingwersen. “I look forward to continuing my work to address PFAS contamination, support local dairy farmers, tackle Maine’s housing crisis, support our local schools and teachers, and make sure all Mainers have access to affordable, quality health care. We have made great progress, but the work to support the people of York County is ongoing — l intend to hit the ground running in my second term.”

Ingwersen was a public school teacher for more than 25 years before retiring to work on his family farm in Arundel. Ingwersen serves as president of the Arundel Conservation Trust and is a member of the Kennebunk River Remediation Advisory Committee for the town of Arundel. He also serves on the board of Defend Our Health, a group working to ensure all people have access to safe food and drinking water.

Ingwersen and his wife Christine have been married for 47 years and are beekeepers on their farm in Arundel. They have three daughters and ten grandchildren – all of whom live close by. Along with raising bees and selling honey, they also enjoy helping to raise their growing crop of grandkids.

The swearing-in ceremony was held in the Senate Chamber, and was attended by family and friends of the senators, as well as the general public. A live stream of the event was made available to the general public and can be viewed online at http://legislature.maine.gov/senate/.

Of the 35 members of the Maine Senate, there are 20 Democrats and 15 Republicans. Fifteen are women and 20 are men. There are seven new members of the Senate, three of which have recently served in the House of Representatives. Twenty-eight members are incumbents.

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Snow guns blow a mist of snow over skiers as they make their way down Hayburner trail on opening day at Sugarloaf in 2022. Gregory Rec/Portland Press Herald

The ability to make snow has Maine’s ski areas optimistic about the winter season and confident they can bounce back from the heavy rain and warm temperatures predicted for later this week.

Many of Maine’s ski resorts are capable of making their own snow when Mother Nature fails to provide, Ski Maine Executive Director Dirk Gouwens said.

“Truthfully, we really don’t need a lot of natural snow. It’s really more to make people feel like it’s really winter,” Gouwens said in a phone call Monday evening. “We do need cold weather, obviously, in order to make (snow).”

They might need to, according to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, which says this winter could bring warmer-than-average temperatures and a limited amount of snow – though overall precipitation could be near-normal.

Some slopes have already opened and are reporting strong numbers for the early season and relatively high sales of season passes, Gouwens said. He said ski areas set a statewide attendance record two years ago, and last year’s numbers were slightly lower but still “well over our 10-year average.”

He said snowmaking machines are among the most significant expenses at most Maine mountains, but improvements in the technology have lowered energy needs and costs in the past 25 years. Meanwhile, pandemic-driven surges in attendance, as well as the availability of energy-minded grants, has enabled many of Maine’s peaks to install new and more efficient equipment in the last few years, he said.

Natural snow, however, can serve as a powerful marketing tool, especially when enticing out-of-state tourists to Maine, he said.

“If it doesn’t seem like winter, people don’t travel,” Gouwens said. “If you’re from Boston, for instance, and it’s green grass in your backyard, you might not think that it’s snowy on the mountains.”

But not every mountain has the luxury of artificial snow.

Chris Kilcollins, operations manager at the Quoggy Jo Ski Center in Presque Isle, which relies solely on natural snowfall, said his crew was “optimistically pessimistic” about the winter forecast.

“We’re hoping for a really good winter. We’re off to a pretty good start,” Kilcollins said on a phone call Monday evening. “As long as we don’t lose it all in the rainstorm.”

Rain is expected to fall over much of Maine later this week, and forecasters say it could melt away parts of the snowpack.

Workers at Quoggy Jo plan to shovel snow from open areas into larger piles Monday night and Tuesday morning, in hopes of insulating most of it from the rain, Kilcollins said. Once the rain passes, they will spread what they can back onto the slopes.

Quoggy Jo usually budgets for about 12 weeks of skiing each year, he said. Last season, they barely got half that, leaving a roughly $30,000 deficit operators hope to make up for this season, he said.

“It’s a nightmare, honestly, not having consistent snow,” Gouwens said.

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Lyme disease cases again set a new record in Maine this year, as the tickborne illness continues to spread and intensify, especially in the mid-coast and Down East regions.

Lyme rates in those regions are three times higher than the statewide average and have roughly tripled over the past decade.

The number of Lyme infections statewide stood at 3,035 on Dec. 3. That exceeds the total for 2023, which was the highest year on record with 2,943 cases. More cases will be added to this year’s total in the final weeks of December, although Lyme cases tend to slow down in the winter months as ticks are less active.

Much of the increase in Lyme cases in recent years has come Knox, Lincoln, Hancock and Waldo counties, while the rates have increased more gradually in the southern and interior counties, according to Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Scientists are not sure why Midcoast and Down East Maine have seen rapidly rising rates of Lyme disease, which is caused by a bacterial infection from the bite of a deer tick. Lyme is the most common tickborne illness, although Maine has also experienced increases in other tickborne diseases, such as anaplasmosis and babesiosis.

“The Midcoast has really become the epicenter of tick abundance,” said Griffin Dill, integrated pest management specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s ‘tick lab.’ “We’ve seen a shift in the focal point from Cumberland and York counties to the mid-coast range, where we’ve seen a drastic increase in tick density and corresponding human infections. We’re seeing ticks move further and further Down East.”

Indeed, the statewide average of Lyme case rates increased from 106 per 100,000 population in 2014 to 228.2 in 2024, slightly more than doubling. But many Midcoast counties have experienced a tripling of rates or more.

Waldo County, for instance, had a rate of 125.5 Lyme cases per 100,000 population in 2014, and a rate of 579 in 2024. In 2023, the rates were even higher, at 636.2. Knox went from 267.2 in 2014 to 675.3 in 2024.

And Washington County’s rates highlight the extent to which the range of the deer tick has expanded Down East, going from a rate of 44 cases per 100,000 in 2014, less than half the statewide average, to 292.6 in 2024, well above the state average.

Cumberland County, Maine’s most populous, meanwhile, has experience a much more gradual increase in rates, from 117.8 in 2014 to 124.6 in 2024. York County’s numbers have also increased slowly, going from 135.5 in 2014 to 125.5 in 2024, with a rate of 152.7 in 2023.

Interior and western counties have seen substantial increases as well, with Oxford County going from a rate of 75.1 in 2014 to 203.4 in 2024. Only Aroostook County has bucked the trend, with rates remaining close to zero for the entire 10-year period.

Dill said the spike in the Midcoast remains a mystery. Midcoast and Down East have coastal climates that are hospitable to ticks, with wet, humid weather and winters that don’t get as cold as the interior. But southern coastal Maine also has near-ideal habitat for ticks, and the region has not seen the same explosion in cases over the past 10-20 years.

“We don’t have a good reason,” Dill said. “The Midoast is perfect for tick proliferation, but why it’s directly translating to these really significantly higher case rates is a question that’s still trying to be figured out.”

Dill said it’s possible people in southern Maine have been taking tick precautions since the 1980s and 1990s and are better at avoiding tick bites.

Morgan Porter, public health educator at the Maine CDC, said it’s unclear why the Midcoast is such a hot spot for Lyme, but people who live in the region may be more likely to be in wooded areas or other tick habitats compared to residents of southern Maine.

“We really don’t have any slam dunk answers on why this is happening in the Midcoast and Down East,” Porter said. “We do know that right along the coast it’s a more constant mild climate, ideal from the perspective of a tick.”

Overall, climate change is contributing to increases in deer tick populations and the tick’s ever-extending range, Porter said.

“We’ve had some really mild winters recently,” Porter said. “With temperatures generally warmer, that helps the ticks get a running start into spring.”

Lyme disease is a year-round threat and ticks can still be active enough in the winter to spread the disease.

“When we get a nice February thaw, the ticks come out and are looking for a host,” Porter said.

Dill said extended warm weather in autumn is also likely a contributing factor in more Lyme cases, as people are outside more in the fall while ticks are more active. The University of Maine is researching how climate conditions affect tick survivability, and has set up 15 sites across Maine to measure tick density, soil temperature, soil moisture, air humidity, wildlife presence and other factors.

Symptoms of Lyme disease include a rash, although not everyone who contracts Lyme will develop a rash. Other symptoms could include joint pain, achiness, headache, fever, fatigue and swollen lymph nodes. A tick typically has to be attached for more than 24 hours before transmitting Lyme disease, according to the U.S. CDC.

Treatment is a course of antibiotics, but it’s important to diagnose as quickly as possible.

Angéle Rice of Bath contracted Lyme disease many years ago, and she suffered from long-term symptoms. About 5% to 20% of Lyme cases can result in chronic symptoms that can last years. MaineHealth is participating in a national study about chronic Lyme.

Rice said Mainers should realize they are living in “Tickville” and take precautions.

“If you live in Maine you should have it in the forefront of your brain that the ticks are here year-round,” said Rice, who was one of the leaders of the now-defunct Mid-Coast Lyme Disease Support and Education advocacy group.

To minimize exposure to ticks, wear long sleeves and pants when hiking, use tick repellant, remove leaves and brush from your property and be careful when handling wood. Shower when returning from extended time in tick habitat, and perform frequent tick checks.

A Lyme vaccine is being developed – and is currently in late-stage clinical trials – by Pfizer and Valneva. Approval by federal regulators will probably take about two more years, according to news reports.

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