Portland
Maine native and tech entrepreneur David Roux and his wife, Barbara, gave $100 million to Boston’s Northeastern University to start a graduate research center in Portland with a focus on applied artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Bangor
Stephen King tweeted that he decided to quit Facebook because he was aghast at “the flood of false information that’s allowed in its political advertising” and leery of “its ability to protect its users’ privacy.”
Rangeley
After five years of disuse, Saddleback Mountain resort sold to Boston-based Arctaris Impact Fund for $6.5 million. The new ownership group plans to reopen the slopes of Maine’s third-largest ski area in December.
Freeport
L.L.Bean apparel made its first runway walk in the company’s 108-year history when couture designer Todd Snyder premiered his Bean collaborations — boots, bomber hats, slim-cut red-flannel suits — at New York Fashion Week.
Brunswick
Elementary students elected the chickadee as mascot of the district’s new grade school. The school board rejected the result, preferring the dragonfly, then caved to parental protest. “It’s important to teach the children that their vote matters,” parent Abbie Morin told the Bangor Daily News.
Hallowell
The Maine Public Utilities Commission predicted it would run out of phone numbers with area code 207 within four years and, citing the code’s importance to Maine’s brand, opened an investigation into how the state might avoid needing a second code.
The state of Maine is running out of its iconic “207” area code: https://t.co/b5qMxBUKXt
— CBS 13 News (@WGME) February 6, 2020