SAD 41 voters heading to the polls on Thursday, March 14 overwhelmingly approved -- via a combined count of 152 to 25 pending verification of voting results from the towns -- a referendum for a $2.4 million funding package to carry out a heating system upgrade converting from steam to hot water and energy efficiency project at the Penquis Valley School. The referendum was approved in each district community: 7-1 in Atkinson, 55-9 in Brownville, 19-5 in LaGrange and 71-10 in Milo.

Each month the SeDoMoCha School recognizes “Students in the Spotlight,” celebrating pupils from kindergarten to grade 8 who teachers and staff have determined best demonstrate a specific positive attribute or characteristic chosen for the timeframe from the Habits of Mind (a set of life skills for educators and parents). Following a snow day last month, the February and March Students in the Spotlight were honored together during an all-school assembly in the gym on the morning of March 14.

The 2019-20 academic year budget continues to be developed by district officials, but SAD 4 is scheduled to receive approximately $234,000 more in state subsidy than for the 2018-19 Superintendent Kelly MacFadyen reported during a March 12 meeting at Piscataquis Community High School.

A Dover-Foxcroft resident whose body was discovered on his front porch by a neighbor on New Year’s Day, after apparently being there for days, died of a heart attack, according to the state medical examiner.

With the HAD 4 board of directors voting 15-3 last month to start a merger with Northern Light Health, Mayo Regional Hospital officials are looking to hold four public information nights across the region to share details of the process and hear from residents and answer their questions. One session is tentatively scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2 in the Morton Avenue Municipal Building Gymnasium.

The Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office plans to keep its patrol division housed in Guilford at the former primary school building -- the law enforcement space more recently was the home of the SAD 4 administrative office suite -- for another three years after the county commissioners approved extending the space lease through the end of 2022 during a March 5 meeting. A formal document should be signed during an upcoming session.

A revised energy infrastructure upgrade project, which per an agreement between SAD 41 officials and the town will not result in any new debt for Atkinson now and after the town deorganizes at the end of June, will be voted on at the polls on Thursday, March 14.

After several budget committee meetings over the previous few months, RSU 68 officials are looking at a 1.5 percent increase in the spending plan for the 2019-20 academic year.

After discussion that day about issues facing young adults and what can be done, Mills encouraged those present to go back to their schools and form a Positive Action Team. “Our group thought if kids had more positive things to do then maybe they would not turn to drugs,” Keane said. The teams have caught on.

Following four weeks of budget advisory committee meetings, a public hearing on the proposed 2019-20 Dover-Foxcroft municipal budget is scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, March 27 -- potentially at 6:30 p.m. but a formal start time will be announced. The March 27 date was set by the selectmen during a Feb. 25 meeting, and the board will hold its annual joint session with the budget advisory committee on Wednesday, March 20.