Today is Friday. Temperatures will be in the 70s with cloudy skies throughout the state. Here's what we're talking about in Maine today.

At Black Lives Matter protests, Dillon Murray sees what he didn’t growing up in Bangor: people who look like him

• Seeing other African-Americans was rare when Murray was growing up in a white family in Bangor. He had role models to follow for community service and activism. But he had no role models to help him shape his identity as a Black man in the U.S. And he experienced racism along the way. Today, he sees a turning point in Maine and across the country as the Black Lives Matter movement gains traction.

• An unprecedented 163,000 Maine voters have requested absentee ballots ahead of the July 14 primary election complicated by the coronavirus. Here is the breakdown of who has been requesting absentee ballots so far.
   
• Maine has no-excuse-needed absentee voting, meaning anyone can request an absentee ballot for any reason. Here is your guide to voting absentee, from requesting your ballot to making sure it is counted.

Sara Gideon expands fundraising lead over Susan Collins in Maine U.S. Senate race

• House Speaker Sara Gideon, the frontrunner in an upcoming Democratic primary to challenge U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, raised $8.1 million during the pre-primary period, extending her fundraising lead over the incumbent Republican. The U.S. Senate race is already the most expensive in Maine’s history.
   
• PLUS: All three Republicans in a wide-open primary in Maine’s 2nd District spent more they raised in the past three months, with former state Sen. Eric Brakey leading the pack in fundraising.

• When it is hot and humid outside, many people’s first instinct is to take refuge inside and crank their air conditioners up. However, this method of beating the heat may exacerbate the problem in the long run, and air conditioning is harmful to the environment and expensive. Whether you’re trying to save money, save the planet or just don’t want to keep the air conditioning on all day, here are a few ways Mainers can keep cool in an eco-friendly, budget-friendly way.

In other Maine news...

• Many still find it difficult to get tested for the coronavirus in Maine
   
• Former Maine Democratic senator charged after dog bites two people
   
• Susan Collins defends Kavanaugh vote and thinks she will be re-elected