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308,671 Cumulative vaccinations (An increase of 6,966 from Tuesday)

206,647 First doses administered (An increase of 3,886 from Tuesday)

102,024 Second doses administered (An increase of 3,080 from Tuesday)

43,900 Total cases (An increase of 164 from Tuesday)

677 Deaths (An increase of 17 from Tuesday)

164 New daily cases (An increase of 22 from Tuesday)

74 Currently in hospital (An increase of 7 from Tuesday)

Another 17 Mainers have died as health officials on Wednesday reported 164 more coronavirus cases across the state.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 2,017. This is an estimation of the current number of active cases in the state, as the Maine CDC is no longer tracking recoveries for all patients. That’s down from 2,106 on Tuesday.

An Androscoggin County resident, a Cumberland County resident, a Hancock County resident, two Oxford County residents, six Penobscot County residents, two Sagadahoc County residents, a Somerset County resident and three York County residents have succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 677. READ MORE

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins will introduce a bill in Congress on Wednesday that would provide $15 billion in matching federal grants to expand high-speed broadband to uncovered rural areas.

The first bill in the new Congress from the recently reelected Republican senator, which is co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, would provide matching grants to help states and state-approved entities build “last-mile” infrastructure to bring fast internet into homes and businesses in areas that lack it.

The coronavirus pandemic, which sent workers and students home for extended periods, highlighted the so-called digital divide between urban and rural areas of the country. It has stressed internet speeds as various household members vie for access time. READ MORE

Twice during his 19-year career as a law enforcement officer, Jeffrey Bishop has been accused of breaking the law while employed as a cop, but neither time was he fired.

In 2007, Bishop, 53, of Cherryfield was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of attempted criminal mischief while employed as a patrol deputy by the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, and now he is facing five felony drug furnishing and trafficking charges. He was arrested on the drug charges earlier this month less than a week after he worked his last shift as a patrol officer for the Calais Police Department.

Bishop was fired once, in 2015, while working as a part-time officer for the town of Winter Harbor, but the reasons for his firing there remain confidential. In response to a Freedom of Access Act request for Bishop’s employment records with that town, Winter Harbor Police Chief Danny Mitchell Jr. confirmed that Bishop had been fired but said there was nothing in his archived file that met the legal definition of a public document. READ MORE

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows will testify before Congress on Thursday afternoon on the Democrats’ high-profile electoral reform package, which seeks to reduce the role of money in politics while increasing access and voting rights. READ MORE

When the coronavirus ripped through Lewiston last summer, Abdulkerim Said and other health workers went door to door to recruit members of the city’s immigrant community to get tested for the virus. Within a few hours, they had more than 100.

Now Said and other community health workers are hoping to help the city’s immigrants access coronavirus vaccines and potentially bring an end to the pandemic in one of Maine’s hardest-hit cities. But the vaccine poses new challenges. Even if Said gathered hundreds of residents in a day, “we are not sure all the clinics in the Lewiston area have enough vaccines,” he said.

Shortages of vaccines have been a central theme since Maine extended vaccine eligibility to older residents last month. But the early rollout has also highlighted racial inequities, with Black Mainers accounting for only 1.1 percent of vaccinated patients who report racial data despite comprising about 1.6 percent of the state’s population. READ MORE