Category Archives: Other numbers

See Maine’s worsening drug overdose problem

The rate of drug overdose deaths in Maine is getting worse along with the rest of the country, driven by addiction to opioids such as prescription painkillers and heroin. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control released an analysis of that data Tuesday, as the Maine Legislature and governor on Tuesday approved funding new investigators at the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and giving more money […]

Snowfall counter: Patten takes lead with 18 inches of new snow

The Penobscot County town of Patten overtook Amity — the snowfall leader as of Wednesday morning — for recorded snowfall during the storm from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning. Patten got 18 inches of new snow. Take a look below at snowfall totals by weather station for the storm started Tuesday night. Maine had the highest average reported snowfall across all stations reporting […]

Maine had more Powerball tickets than people on Saturday

With a $948 million jackpot (before applicable taxes) on the line, people in Maine bought more than one Powerball ticket per resident Saturday. Sound like a lot? Well, other states were far ahead. And there’s now a $1.4 billion jackpot on the horizon for Wednesday. Maine ranked 38th for per-capita Powerball ticket sales, according to sales figures compiled […]

Snowfall counter: Southern Maine puts points on the board

The storm Tuesday made sure all of Maine didn’t go without a sizable reminder that winter still happens. As the storm moves northward, the first snowfall totals for much of the southern half of the state came through weather stations in the region. The map below shows the latest 24-hour snowfall totals reported out of weather stations around the state. The reports are most current for […]

A bird’s eye view of Maine’s changing cities since 1984

Imagine you’ve been aboard a spacecraft, orbiting over Bangor at least once a year since 1984. That’s basically what Google’s satellite time lapse search is like, using images collected by Google Earth. You can have the basic orbiting experience without all the space miles. Just press play (click below the year to change the speed of the time lapse). […]

Maine’s drinking again like it’s 1970

Maine’s been drinking more lately. Per capita alcohol consumption (ages 21 and up) has been on the rise since the late 1990s, returning near levels of the early 1970s, according to annual reports from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The reports are based on state data, when available, and industry shipment data in other cases […]

Pike’s peak: Toll data signals better Maine tourism season

If you’ve felt the Maine Turnpike is more crowded than last year, it’s not just you. Traffic through the first two weekends of busiest August was up about 1.6 percent and passenger traffic (cars, motorcycles and buses with fewer than 13 passengers) was up more than 5 percent from January-July. The latest figures are one sign that Maine’s tourism season […]