A DAILY DIGEST OF MAINE NEWS
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2021 — ISSUE #66
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
29,019 TOTAL CASES (An increase of 612 from Friday)
432 DEATHS (An increase of 6 from Friday)
617 NEW DAILY CASES (A decrease of 165 from Friday)
16,859 TOTAL ACTIVE CASES (An increase of 568 from Friday)
205 CURRENTLY IN HOSPITAL (Flat from Friday)
11,728 RECOVERIES (An increase of 38 from Friday)
52,324 MAINERS VACCINATED (An increrase of 5,691 from Friday)
TOP STORIES
Former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine said Saturday that President Donald Trump should resign to prepare for the administration of President-elect Joe Biden after a large group of outgoing president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

The 73-year-old Republican has kept a relatively low political profile since she left the Senate in 2013 months after announcing her retirement months earlier in a surprise move that upended Maine politics. U.S. Sen. Angus King, an independent, won the race to succeed the moderate.

“President Trump should resign from office now to allow our nation to begin to heal and prepare for the transition to the Biden presidency,” she said in a Saturday tweet.
Maine recorded six new deaths from the coronavirus on Saturday and 617 new cases.

Saturday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 29,019, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 28,407 on Friday.

Of those, 24,218 have been confirmed positive, while 4,801 were classified as “probable cases,” the Maine CDC reported.
Maine’s student-athletes are eager for next week, when high school hockey and basketball games can resume under the state’s COVID-19 protocols. But schools have been required to make major changes in an effort to keep the contests safe during the latest surge in cases.

Thursday night was a major milestone for the Orono-Old Town high school hockey team. Inside Bangor’s Sawyer Arena, pucks clanged and players crashed into the boards as the full team practiced together for the first time in months. While things look a little different — most notably the masks on the players’ faces — senior Tanner Evans says he’s glad to practice together after months of uncertainty about whether the season would actually happen.

“I think it feels like hockey. The only difference is a mask. It’s a little tougher to breathe. And you get gassed a little more quickly. But once it gets going, it’ll be the best as it can, even with the situation we’re in,” Evans says. “So I’m glad that high school hockey has got off the ground and going. ‘Cause I really wanted a senior season. I’m looking forward to it.”