Maine News Saturday September 12

Press Herald  -Freeport’s housing market is now among southern Maine’s priciest, with median sale prices topping $900,000 alongside other coastal hotspots. A new report shows York and Cumberland counties hitting record or near-record medians, with rising inventory but fewer sales, making it even tougher for local first-time buyers to stay in the region.

Press Herald - Maine began its annual fall foliage reporting season Sept. 9, but forests across the state remain overwhelmingly green. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry rated both color change and leaf drop as “very low” in all seven foliage zones. Maine Forest Service experts expect color to develop along its typical progression from north to south, with trees at higher elevations generally changing before those at lower elevations. When the change comes depends on daylight, temperature, moisture and local growing conditions, according to University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

As days shorten and temperatures cool, trees stop producing chlorophyll, the pigment that gives leaves their green color. As chlorophyll breaks down, yellow and orange pigments already present in the leaves become visible. Other chemical changes produce the reds and purples associated with some species….The timing can vary considerably across Maine.

Students from Maine and other New England states will be able to attend the University of Vermont at a discounted rate — for certain majors