1. Active duty members of the U.S. Coast Guard stationed in Maine will not receive their paycheck next week if, as expected, Congress and President Donald Trump fail to pass a continuing resolution by Friday to end the government shutdown. (BDN)
2. Police are looking for a thief who broke into the Salvation Army office in Sanford over Christmas and made off with cash donations intended to help those in need. The burglar damaged a wooden door inside the building and went to the second floor, where a safe was kept. About $1,700 in cash collected in Salvation Army kettles that day was taken from the safe. Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call Sanford police at 324-3644. (Press Herald)
3. Richard Overton, America’s oldest World War II veteran and the oldest man in the United States, died Thursday afternoon at the age of 112. He told CNN in 2013 that he credited God for living so long but said he didn’t take any medicine and enjoyed his vices. “I drink whiskey in my coffee. Sometimes I drink it straight,” he said when he was 107. “I smoke my cigars, blow the smoke out; I don’t swallow it.” (CNN)
4. Federal Spice, a casual Jamaican restaurant on Federal Street in Portland, has closed after more than 20 years. A typed note that hangs on the door and on a sandwich board out front from chef Eric Martin says that “with deep regret” he closed the restaurant for good on Christmas Eve because he was “unable to reach an amicable lease renewal.” (Press Herald)
5. Instagram introduced an update Thursday morning that forced users to tap or swipe horizontally to view their feeds. But it was apparently a false alarm! After swift backlash, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, quickly tweeted a series of apologies. (Washington Post)
Made Hot in Maine by Camden National Bank. Recently named the 2018 Customer Experience Leader in U.S. Retail Banking by Greenwich Associates. Member FDIC.