President Donald Trump will visit a medical swab manufacturer in Guilford on Friday despite pushback from Gov. Janet Mills, who told the president his trip could create unrest and later said he is failing to assert leadership as protests rage across the country.

There will be a graduate parade immediately following the ceremony. The parade, to be led by Dexter police and fire departments, will begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. leaving from the high school, proceeding down Lincoln Street, on to Main Street to the lights, then turning left and ending by the fire department.

After much consideration the Dexter Revitalization Committee has decided that due to the uncertainty in planning with the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Maine Red Hot Dog Festival originally scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 15 in downtown Dexter has been canceled.

Maine's top election official is encouraging people to vote via absentee ballot during the July primary election to limit the exposure voters and polling workers have to the coronavirus. The state will still hold in-person balloting July 14 with new social distancing protocols, but it's easier -- and safer -- to vote via absentee ballot, Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said this week.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the previously scheduled Relay For Life live events across Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire through June have suspended their live events, and many now are participating on Sunday, June 7 in a virtual online experience called Hope From Home. Participants should register for their local event at http://RelayForLife.org and then on June 7 join the activities at https://bit.ly/RelayHopeFromHome.

Memorial Day Weekend marks the beginning of the boating season in Maine for many, and the Maine Warden Service is urging all boaters to wear your life jacket, boat safely and maintain proper social distancing while out on the water.

The state's wildlife biologists have proposed a 61.2 percent increase in the number of any-deer permits allotted this year. If the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife's advisory council approves the plan, 109,890 hunters will be allowed to shoot deer without antlers during the firearms hunting season.

Maine recorded its worst year for Lyme disease in 2019, with 2,079 reported cases statewide. Experts in infectious disease weren’t surprised. And there’s no indication that the upward trend won’t continue this year.

Maine reached a milestone in its pandemic response on Monday by opening up COVID-19 testing to a greater range of people. 

A new bill in the U.S. Senate could provide more than $2 billion to state and local governments in Maine to help offset lost revenues due to coronavirus-related economic shutdowns. The proposal, co-sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, includes $500 billion for state and local governments nationally and also frees up $1.25 billion previously allocated as part of a stimulus package that passed at the end of March.

This spring, tick experts at the University of Maine Tick Lab have noticed a big increase in the number of ticks that the public is submitting for testing. They think this upward trend might be linked to people spending more time outdoors than usual during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now that the coronavirus has been circulating around Maine for more than two months, the ever-growing mass of numbers, anecdotes and other information about the pandemic may be dizzying to anyone without a very strong interest in biology or disease surveillance. So the BDN has reached out to a few public experts for their advice on the best metrics to pay attention to that demonstrate the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Janet Mills and Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin announced that the Maine Department of Education has secured internet access and devices to facilitate at home learning for 100% of Maine school children for whom there was a reported need.

Penobscot County will ask voters on July 14 to approve a $6 million bond to upgrade equipment on towers that relay signals to emergency responders and in the Penobscot County Communications Center. The current equipment on the towers is more than 20 years old and parts are no longer available when it breaks down, director Christopher Lavoie said Friday.

On the list of "least welcome critters," many Mainers would put the porcupine somewhere between ticks and skunks. Dan Crocker of Exeter said he's never had much use for them, either. That's beginning to change, at least a little bit for him though, thanks to a baby albino porcupine that he's been seeing on his property.

The administration of Gov. Janet Mills announced that, effective immediately, Maine lodging providers can begin accepting future reservations for stays with an arrival date of June 1 and beyond for Maine residents and for non-residents who comply with the state’s 14-day quarantine requirement.

Maintaining your health is about more than just not contracting a deadly disease — even during the pandemic. But as the stay-at-home orders have dragged on, many of us have let our daily physical activity slide, which compromises our physical health in other ways. It’s time to change that.

For the second time, Gov. Janet Mills extended her civil state of emergency proclamation for another month on Wednesday, giving her more time to access federal funding and use certain powers to slow the spread of the coronavirus.