If you were to gauge what kind of year Mainers had in 2014, you might take a look back at some of the stories that made news.
Some years, those stories are spread out over 12 months. But some of Maine's biggest stories in 2014 all happened within a week of each other.
One involved a nurse from a small town in northern Maine. Kaci Hickox spent a month in Sierra Leon, treating Ebola patients. She flew back to the U.S. and was forced into quarantine in New Jersey, despite not having any symptoms of the disease. My colleague Patty Wight covered her return to Maine for MPBN and NPR.
Patty Wight reporting: "When Kaci Hickox was released early from her mandatory quarantine on Monday, she was expected to return to her home in Fort Kent. But Hickox wasn't seen at her house until Wednesday, when she spoke on the Today show via Skype. Hickox remained defiant against state protocols to isolate herself at home, calling the policy not scientifically or constitutionally just."
"I'm not just going to sit around and be bullied by politicians and be forced to sit in my home when I am not at risk to the American public," Hickox said.
Hickox's showdowns with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Maine Gov. Paul LePage dominated the national news during that last week in October. LePage ended up going to court to try to force Hickox to abide by a 21-day home quarantine.
"I just want to protect Maine from that. That's all," LePage said. "And if the court says not to worry, hey, don't worry!"
A judge did eventually side with Hickox, allowing her to leave her house. The confrontation with LePage took place as the governor's closely fought battle for re-election entered its final days. More on the election in a moment.
But first, less than 24 hours after the court ruling in the Hickox case, fire departments throughout the Portland area got called to an apartment building near the University of Southern Maine.
"On behalf of the mayor and the council, I would like to express our deepest sympathy. This is an enormous tragedy for our community," said Portland Fire Chief Jerome LaMoria, as he briefed reporters hours after the Saturday morning fire quickly consumed the building on Noyes St.
The blaze, Maine's deadliest in three decades, killed six people and led the city to begin a top-to-bottom review of all of its fire and code inspection policies.
An already busy week in Maine newsrooms, meantime, came to a head on the night of Nov. 4.
"Tonight, I'm very, very humbled. And I'm very proud. Very, very proud," said Maine Gov. Paul LePage, as he celebrated his re-election victory in his childhood home of Lewiston before a crowd of enthusiastic supporters.
For months, public opinion polls had showed a neck-and-neck race between LePage and Democrat Mike Michaud, with independent Eliot Cutler a distant third. But LePage won handily, thanks to overwhelming support in Maine's most rural counties, and better than expected results in urban areas.
Republicans, meantime, scored huge victories in U.S. Senate and House races nationwide - and here in Maine. "I'm going down there, not to become part of the soup! I'm going down there to fix the mess that's hurting our families," said Bruce Poliquin. Poliquin's victory in Maine's 2nd Congressional District makes him the first Republican to hold that seat since Olympia Snowe left office in January 1995.
Other big stories in the state, meantime, included the ongoing decline of the paper industry, with Great Northern Paper declaring bankruptcy and Verso closing its mill in Bucksport. Hundreds of Fairpoint Communications workers walked off the job, after months of stalled contract negotiations.
And Gov. LePage continued to clash with municipalities and the federal government over General Assistance payments to immigrants and efforts to curb fraud in Maine's welfare system - a story that is likely to continue well into 2015.
