Morning update: What you need to know in Maine today

TODAY’S TOP MAINE STORIES

Here are three things to know about illegal voting claims Maine Republicans want investigated. The claims hinge on leaked health records that the Maine secretary of state’s office is barred from accessing.

Maine’s early voting figures show neither party with clear momentum. Democrats have been dominating absentee voting in Maine, but Republicans have a narrower gap in the crucial 2nd Congressional District.

Bangor must house homeless residents if it closes camp, resource providers say. A team of outreach workers wants to find shelter for the 73 people living behind the Hope House Health and Living Center.

Bar Harbor asked voters to loosen the town’s cruise ship limits. Voters will have to agree to repeal the limits they approved in November 2022 for that to happen.

Rockland is going to hire a consultant to help sort out its housing crisis. Councilor Adam Lachman, who is sponsoring the order, said the city has made changes to its code but needs new ideas.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE STATE

MAINE IN PICTURES

THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND

It’s Homecoming Weekend at both the University of Maine and Husson University, so there’s lots going on for the next three days in both Bangor and Orono. Elsewhere, in Bangor improv comedy troupe The Focus Group does its last show at the soon-to-close Bangor Arts Exchange at 8 p.m. Friday. For Halloween fun, Maniac Manor in the Bangor Mall is open all weekend, and for little ghoulies, United Cerebral Palsy hosts Pumpkins in the Park again at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Anah Shrine Temple on Broadway. And in Waldo County, it’s the 19th annual Belfast Poetry Festival, which has lots of neat community poetry events, including a Haiku Death Match at 7 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre in Belfast. 

FROM THE OPINION PAGES

LIFE IN MAINE

A new show in Bangor is turning a Stephen King book into musical improv. The show will follow the story of King’s novel “Salem’s Lot” but be different each night based on suggestions from the audience. 

Is your hay Maine’s best? You can prove it in a new contest. With a shorter window to produce livestock feed here than in warmer parts of the country, quality matters.