By Marie Weidmayer, Bangor Daily News Staff BANGOR — A public defender in Bangor is representing her first clients, a step toward reducing the number of people who are waiting weeks or even months for a lawyer.

By Emmett Gartner, The Maine Monitor A recently announced $450 million federal grant aimed at reducing climate pollution across New England could help Maine meet its ambitious goal to place thousands of heat pumps in low-income homes and expand a critical subset of HVAC technicians trained to install them.

By Zara Norman, Bangor Daily News Staff There are only six Maine counties in which the typical family can afford the average home, and one stands far above the rest in more ways than one.

PORTLAND – Residents of Maine’s most rural areas will soon have access to ultra-high-capacity, high-speed broadband technology, thanks to the launch of Trailrunner Broadband Internet’s first high-speed wireless broadband network.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The construction process to move the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch Center from cramped conditions in the county jail in Dover-Foxcroft into the administrative unit of the sheriff’s office on the first floor of the same building has been proceeding and is nearing completion.

BREWER — Northern Light Health has eliminated the use of the anesthetic gas desflurane throughout its hospitals.

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff Floating camps are popping up more and more in Maine’s lakes, ponds and rivers.

By Paul Koenig, Bangor Daily News Staff U.

By Billy Kobin, Bangor Daily News Staff and Paula Brewer, The Star-Herald Staff MADAWASKA — U.

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff Maine’s deer herd is healthy and is one of the largest the state’s ever had, according to a deer biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

By Nick Song, Maine Public Mainers can now request their absentee ballots for November’s general election.

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff Instability caused by the pandemic continues to force one of Maine’s largest health care providers to scale back or cut services — and there are likely more “painful” changes on the horizon.

Observer photo/Stuart HedstromEVERYONE’S A WEINER – The seventh edition of the Maine Red Hot Dog Festival was held in downtown Dexter on Saturday, Aug.

By Billy Kobin, Bangor Daily News Staff Mainers tired of relying on paid tax preparers will soon have a new free option, with the state saying it will opt in to the Internal Revenue Service’s Direct File system by next year.

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff From the effects of development and predation to skewed bull-cow ratios and suggestions about the annual hunt, Mainers recorded their observations about changes in the population of the state’s most iconic animal — the moose — in a management survey.

By Michael Shepherd, Bangor Daily News Staff AUGUSTA — More than five weeks of political turmoil, including the replacement of President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket, is putting presidential politics at the center of the election in Maine’s swing 2nd Congressional District.

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff The group that runs Greater Bangor’s meal delivery program for older residents is still facing a six-figure funding gap despite months of fundraising — and the waitlist for the service has only grown.

The Maine Community Foundation is accepting applications for its fall grant programs.