Like many other venues of its kind, the Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft is closed these days due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some theater officials are still at work, but instead of showing movies and hosting live events they hope to collaborate with the local performing arts community in a unique effort to boost the spirits of local residents while still generating some income to support the nonprofit enterprise.

A pair of defensive linemen from the region were selected for the 31st annual Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl, scheduled for Saturday, July 18 at Thornton Academyin Saco (the coronavirus pandemic has the game questionable at the present time). Dexter Regional High School’s Haedyn Guenther and Isaac Weymouth of Foxcroft Academy were both named to the East squad.

Applications are now open for the Allagash Wilderness Waterway (AWW) Visiting Artist Program, which brings artists to the remote wilderness of Maine for two weeks of solitude. The program provides artists with the opportunity to immerse themselves in a remote, rustic wilderness, to interpret and share their experiences through their medium.

Gov. Janet Mills directed the Maine National Guard and the Maine Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to work with Maine’s health care systems to open two alternative care sites in Portland and Bangor as part of the state’s preparations to bolster Maine health system capacity in the face of COVID-19. 

The next Dover and Foxcroft Water District trustees meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 13 by video conference call.

Towns and cities whose usual polling locations have closed because of the coronavirus pandemic are waiting for guidance from the state on how or whether the June 9 primary will happen before they choose new locations and make other arrangements for voting.

Meanwhile, there are several Kiwanis-sponsored events that won't happen or will be postponed. First, as you probably assumed, due to state and federal mandates, our annual Piscataquis River Race scheduled for April 25 has been canceled. Nevertheless, we greatly appreciate the sponsors of this event, most of whom decided to donate their sponsorship amount anyway. They will be recognized when we have the final tally. But our fundraising raffle has not been canceled. Renamed our “Social Distancing Community Raffle,” you have three chances to win gas cards in the amount of $300, $200 or $100.  

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has spent a month modeling how the new coronavirus might spread. The scenarios are wide-ranging. 

More than three weeks after Maine confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus, the state has recorded cases in all but one of its 16 counties. As of Monday, Piscataquis County was the only one without a confirmed case of the fast-spreading infection that has caused a pandemic and shut down much of daily life. Two other counties, Aroostook and Washington, both recorded their first cases last week.

Tiegan Murray of Greenville High School has become the first player to commit to Husson University and head coach Amanda Cummings for the 2020 women’s soccer season.