Maine stands at the crossroads again of individual liberty and choice or government control and subjugation. Will we choose liberty or bend to out-of-state interests again? For the sake of freedom, let Maine's independence rise up and vote yes on Question 1!

A lawsuit seeking to block the merger of Mayo Regional Hospital with Northern Light Health is heading to court late next month after the Maine attorney general’s office and both health care organizations all filed motions seeking to dismiss the case.

Most of us who hunt for wild meat or pick wild berries and mushrooms, and take profound pleasure from the hunter-gatherer act, recognize that there is an ancestral or antediluvian connection. Your caveman lineage is likely to take on a new focus if you spend some time with a book titled “The Man in the Ice” by Konrad Spindler. Dr Spindler is an Austrian archaeologist. 

A Wiscasset man died on Sunday, Feb. 23 following a fatal snowmobile crash on Moosehead Lake. Gregory Lemar, 59 from Wiscasset, was operating a late model Arctic Cat 800 snowmobile toward Rockwood from Greenville shortly after 5 p.m.

Parker Parker Ponte’s controversial 3-pointer from the left wing as time expired lifted undefeated Dexter past top-ranked Central Aroostook of Mars Hill 50-48 in the Class C North boys basketball final on Saturday night, Feb. 22 at the Cross Insurance Center.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has relaxed the ice fishing rules at Allagash Lake. For the first time in many years, the lake will be open to ice fishing for three months: January, February and March. Ice anglers will also be allowed to use five lines instead of the two-line restriction that has been in effect since as long as I can remember.

Join the Community Climate Conversation potluck from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28 at The Commons at Central Hall. The Citizens' Climate Lobby will then meet at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 1 at the Mayo Regional Hospital Resource Center.

Junior guard Parker Ponte took a feed from Nathan Richards and buried a 3-pointer from the right wing with 2.7 seconds left, helping No. 2 Dexter escape with a 55-52 victory at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. “It’s one of those moments where if you’re open, you’ve got to shoot it,” Ponte said. “It was quite an experience. I don’t really know how to put it into words.”

Wells High School, which recently captured its fourth consecutive Class B wrestling state championship, added a new piece of hardware Friday, Feb. 21 by winning the inaugural Class B state dual-meet competition at Penobscot Valley High School in Howland.

Central Aroostook junior guard Maci Beals lobbed an inbounds pass from midcourt to a wide-open Breann Bradbury for a crucial layup with 26 seconds remaining and the sixth-seeded Panthers upset No. 2 Dexter 35-32 in a Class C North girls semifinal at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor Friday, Feb. 21.