Tourists return / State House mask standoff / Climate change

Today is Tuesday. Temperatures will be in the 70s with mostly sunny skies throughout the state and a chance for scattered or isolated showers in the north. Here’s what we’re talking about in Maine today.

Here’s the latest on the coronavirus in Maine

Another 42 coronavirus cases were reported across the state on Monday and no new deaths, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s the lowest single-day increase since Oct. 26, when only 43 were reported. The statewide death remains at 825. Check out our COVID-19 Tracker for more information.

Maine’s high vaccination rate put out-of-state visitors at ease over the Memorial Day weekend, which marks the beginning of the state’s tourist season.

Tourists, and optimism, return to Bar Harbor as pandemic restrictions fade away

A group of tourists walk past an empty mask dispenser Sunday after getting treats at a local ice cream shop. The number of tourists in Bar Harbor for Memorial Day weekend this year was far higher than in 2020, when much of the town’s tourism businesses remained closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

If not for the face masks many people wore as they roamed the streets of Bar Harbor, it would have looked like a Memorial Day weekend like any other.

Climate change threatens to displace Bangor residents who rely on affordable housing

Bangor Waterworks Apartments on State Street juts out partially into the Penobscot River.

Nearly 50 affordable housing units in those counties are projected to be vulnerable to annual coastal flooding by the end of this decade, with that number quadrupling by the end of the century.

Ellsworth Memorial Day parade marks a return to normal, despite the rain

Marchers in Ellsworth’s Memorial Day parade walk up State Street on Monday morning while en route to City Hall for a wreath-laying ceremony. The parade, which was not held in 2020, was fairly short this year due to rain and because COVID-19 prevention measures kept area school bands from being able to prepare for and participate in the annual event.

It was important and gratifying to many in attendance to be able to gather again to remember military veterans who have passed away.

PLUS: Memorial Day was created because Civil War veterans fought for it

AND: George W. Bush honors veterans at Kennebunkport Memorial Day service

In this Dec 2, 2020, file photo, members of the Maine House take the oath of office at the Augusta Civic Center.

The standoff threatens to upend State House business and underscores the lingering political tension around COVID-19 policies.

Bangor man appealing his 42-year sentence for 2018 Second Street murder

In this Sept. 30, 2019, file photo, F “Frank” Daly of Bangor enters the courtroom to hear the jury’s verdict at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.

F “Frank” Daly is serving a 42-year sentence for the Jan. 7, 2018, shooting death of 51-year-old Israel Lewis. He is one of three convicted murders asking the Maine Supreme Judicial Court to either grant them new trials or reconsider their sentences.