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176,961 Cumulative vaccinations (An increase of 9,850 from Thursday)

130,551 First doses administered (An increase of 6,868 from Thursday)

46,410 Second doses administered (An increase of 2,982 from Thursday)

40,799 Total cases (An increase of 265 from Thursday)

632 Deaths (An increase of 2 from Thursday)

265 New daily cases (A decrease of 36 from Thursday)

131 Currently in hospital (A decrease of 26 from Thursday)

Another two Mainers have died as health officials on Friday reported 265 more coronavirus cases across the state.

The number of coronavirus cases diagnosed in the past 14 days statewide is 4,525. 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 4,896 on Thursday.

A Cumberland county and a Penobscot county resident succumbed to the virus, bringing the statewide death toll to 632.

Friday’s report brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Maine to 40,799, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s up from 40,534 on Thursday. READ MORE

In all of his 34 years as a funeral director, Jim Pate has never seen anything like this.

Shrouded in layers of personal protective equipment, he goes into nursing homes to remove the bodies of people who have died with COVID-19 without their families by their side. Later, at the funeral home, he tries to comfort families grieving the loss of a loved one while struggling to come to terms with a mourning period that will not include being surrounded by their community. READ MORE

Last summer, reports began surfacing on social media from dozens of current and former Portland Public School students alleging that they'd dealt with sexist and racist harassment and discrimination at several schools across the district.

The messages said that staff members told sexist jokes, didn't respect students' gender identity and made insensitive remarks to students of color. In total, they named 39 current and 19 former school staff members.

Now, district officials are vowing to make improvements and possibly create an ombudsman position, after Superintendent Xavier Botana encouraged any other students to come forward with claims and brought in the district's legal counsel to investigate them. LISTEN TO THIS REPORT

For 44 years, Libby Ranco ferried Old Town schoolchildren through good and bad weather. The coronavirus pandemic finally put a pause on the 83-year-old’s career.

She has not driven her bus since Christmastime because of health concerns and now misses the camaraderie of fellow drivers and talking to the children, some of whose parents and grandparents she also drove.

Ranco, of Alton, may be back in a bus soon after receiving her first dose of the Moderna vaccine on Thursday at Penobscot Community Health Care’s Bangor location. She was the first of 100 people expected for a shot at the center that day and one of the few Mainers to get one through a Federally Qualified Health Center, a provider that delivers care to underserved areas.

These centers have played a relatively small role in Maine’s statewide vaccine efforts so far, but they are providing some of the first doses in rural areas that have fallen into initial gaps in the state’s hospital-centered rollout. The smaller or mobile clinics are often closer to people who might have to otherwise travel hours to get shots or would have trouble navigating to larger sites. READ MORE