Are you ready to escape from your quarantine lair and start having some fun outdoors? After 11 weeks of pandemic isolation, I bet you are. And this is your lucky day: This weekend, you're invited to find a spot to go fishing. And you won't even need a license.

Seeking to bolster the workforce and provide additional support for employers, Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC) is implementing a unique approach to the job search and placement process. Aiming to increase employment opportunities for job seekers and meet the needs of employers, EMDC’s new Young Mainer’s Workforce Academy promises benefits to the region’s economy by preparing young people to succeed in the labor market, while assisting businesses and organizations in filling job vacancies with motivated and capable new workers.

Tong “Edward” Wu, a John Bapst Memorial High School junior who recently won first place in the 2020 Penobscot County Bar Association (PCBA) Law Day Contest for his artwork commemorating the women’s rights movement, has donated his $500 cash prize to Partners for Peace -- a Maine organization focused on assisting members of the community affected by domestic abuse.

If you’re thinking of hitting the Appalachian Trail anytime soon, there are a few things you should consider first. As the longest hiking-only footpath in the world, the trail has potential to be a place where the coronavirus is spread to different communities and across state lines. To address this problem, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy recently released updated guidance for visitors.

In a recent letter, Paul LePage all of a sudden says that he cares about poverty and domestic violence and substance abuse: "Excessive, lengthy closures are having a devastating effect. Increased unemployment leads to poverty, hunger, domestic violence and substance abuse."

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Maine has the highest number of registered voters as a percentage of the state’s population (77%) when compared to all of the other states. We also earn high marks for voter participation in primary and general elections. Yet, in the 2018 midterm election, statewide voter turnout was only 59%. Is that considered a good turnout?! What does it say about us as citizens when more than a third of us won’t even weigh in on the shaping of our State and Federal governments?

During the morning of Friday, June 5 staff from the SeDoMoCha School will be traveling throughout the RSU 68 district towns, waving to students and families as a way to say thank you for all their hard work --  staff miss them very much.

Maine courts will return slowly to normal operations over the next three months, but it will be September before activities fully return, provided there isn’t another outbreak of the coronavirus.

In this unusual time of restrictions on schools, churches, public meetings and gatherings, and of rural reopening, the Parkman Grange is announcing plans to award 2020 Minnie Welts Bridge Memorial Scholarships to one or more deserving Parkman students continuing their education beyond high school. There will be no Memorial Grange Supper this year, but scholarships will be awarded anyway.

Upcoming events around the region.