By Billy Kobin, Bangor Daily News Staff The year 2024 was a busy one for politics in Maine, with high-stakes elections, legislative responses to the Lewiston mass shooting and local housing debates among the many notable events.

By Elizabeth Walztoni, Bangor Daily News Staff A number of agriculture-related laws passed this year were geared toward farmers, such as new rules for salmonella prevention, and monitoring at commercial egg farms; support for well-drilling to respond to droughts; and a new task force finding ways to support the state’s dairy industry.

The Maine Department of Education and Educate Maine are excited to announce that nominations are officially open for the 2025 County Teachers of the Year and the 2026 State Teacher of the Year.

By Michael Shepherd, Bangor Daily News Staff Working Mainers will notice lighter paychecks starting Wednesday, when a tax funding the state’s new paid family and medical leave program goes into effect with the new year.

By Billy Kobin, Bangor Daily News Staff Maine has a small population and a part-time Legislature, but state leaders and lawmakers have plenty of big problems to tackle in 2025.

By Nicole Ogrysko, Maine Public In its first year of operation, Maine’s state-sponsored Roth IRA savings plan has enrolled nearly 12,000 workers.

By Marie Weidmayer, Bangor Daily News Staff More than a year after a leaked federal government memo connected illegal marijuana grow houses in Maine to Chinese organized crime, “well below” 100 such properties are believed to be left in the state, according to the U.

Jane Stitham of Dover-Foxcroft, Maria Wooten of Bowerbank, and Thomas Watt of Greenville have joined the Maine Community Foundation’s Piscataquis County Committee.

By Zara Norman, Bangor Daily News Staff Mainers consider the housing crisis to be a bigger problem than any of the others facing our state.

By Zara Norman, Bangor Daily News Staff Much of Maine is already lagging behind the goals set in two state-sponsored housing studies largely due to a hostile construction climate, planners warn.

By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff Money for trail systems, airboat noise limits and a push to fight aquatic invasive species are among the Maine Legislature’s 2024 decisions that will affect your outdoor experience in 2025.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — SeDoMoCha Stageworks, Jr.

Eastern Maine Development Corporation named Jennifer King, senior director of planning and development, as the recipient of the 2024 Tom Davis Employee of the Year Award.

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By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff Maine had near-record bear and deer seasons and a successful moose hunt in 2024, according to biologists from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife who manage the state’s big game animals.

Marking a transformative investment in northern New England’s forests, the U.

Eastern Maine Development Corporation recognized Commissioner Peter Baldacci as the 2024 Community Partner of the Year for his decades of service and commitment to Penobscot County.