A DAILY DIGEST OF MAINE NEWS
MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2021 — ISSUE #68
EDITOR'S NOTE: Welcome to the Daily Monitor, an evening email newsletter that recaps the most relevant news and information from our editorial team and from our media partners around the state. The Daily Monitor is a product of The Maine Monitor and the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting.

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CORONAVIRUS IN MAINE
29,611 TOTAL CASES (An increase of 313 from Sunday)
438 DEATHS (An increase of 6 from Sunday)
313 NEW DAILY CASES (An increase of 34 from Sunday)
17,421 TOTAL ACTIVE CASES (An increase of 290 from Sunday)
195 CURRENTLY IN HOSPITAL (An increase of 5 from Sunday)
11,752 RECOVERIES (An increase of 17 from Sunday)
55,775 MAINERS VACCINATED (An increase of 1,218 from Sunday)
TOP STORIES
Another six Mainers have died as health officials on Monday reported 313 more coronavirus cases across the state.

Monday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 29,611, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 29,298 on Sunday.

Of those, 24,679 have been confirmed positive, while 4,932 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.

Two Aroostook County residents, a Kennebec County resident, a Waldo County resident and two York County residents have succumbed to the virus. The statewide toll stands at 438. Nearly all deaths have been in Mainers over age 60.
U.S. Sen. Angus King told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that Republican objections to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory were “profoundly unpatriotic” and helped foment the Capitol insurrection by supporters of President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

The prime-time interview with King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, had been in the works since December but aired on Sunday, four days after Congress was besieged by a group of the outgoing president’s backers as it gathered to affirm Biden’s November win.

Five people died in the attack, which delayed the certification of the results until the early morning.

Earlier in the day, the president gave a speech to supporters in which he repeated false claims that the election was “stolen” and said he and his backers would “never concede.” Maine’s delegation said Trump was responsible for the riot and King has said Trump’s Cabinet should consider removing him, but he has stopped short of backing Democratic impeachment efforts.
Small Maine financial institutions can start taking applications for a new round of federal business loans starting Monday, and while they expect fewer takers than earlier rounds last year, they anticipate many still-struggling businesses will opt for a second loan.

The $900 billion stimulus bill signed by President Donald Trump in December included $284 billion for a new round of federal Paycheck Protection Program loans, which have been a lifeline for businesses. Last year, Maine small businesses applied for more than 28,000 loans totaling close to $2.3 billion by August in the forgivable loan program championed by Maine Sen. Susan Collins in the first pandemic stimulus package in March.

Need has only increased for most businesses since the summer. More than 44 percent of Maine small businesses saw decreased revenues during the week between Dec. 28 and Jan. 3, a share that was higher than the national average amid a normally slower winter season and nearly double what it was in the second week of August, according to a Census survey.

New borrowers can apply starting Monday and those with current loans can apply starting Wednesday for a second loan. But new applications only became available on Saturday, and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Maine office notified lenders Friday afternoon that only community financial institutions with less than $1 billion in average total assets over the previous three years could offer loans starting Monday. 
A Portland woman said she has struggled to understand why someone mailed an anonymous homophophic letter to her home — one of several received by area residents last week that police are calling a hate crime.

She and her partner, who moved here in 2019, aren’t exactly obvious targets. They identify as queer but don’t outwardly display LGBTQ signs or emblems on their house or car, while neighbors who post Pride emblems publicly did not receive hate mail.

“We’re pretty freaked out,” said the woman, who didn’t want to be identified.

The Brighton Avenue victim was one of at least seven in Portland and South Portland who received targeted anti-LGBTQ letters last week, according to police. The letters included a homophobic death threat and a rendering of the Satanic Temple logo over a rainbow Pride flag.

Police are investigating the letters as criminal terrorizing, which rises to the level of a hate crime. There were 19 federal hate crimes in Maine in 2019, seven of those related to sexual orientation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Vandals damage gravestones in York County cemetery (By Gillian Graham of the Portland Press Herald)
‘What would Patrick want?’ (By Megan Gray of the Portland Press Herald)
Corie’s Rides helps community with personal taxi service (By Kay Stephens of the Penobscot Bay Pilot)