On Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 1 p.m. at The Commons at Central Hall, a video presentation called “The Gut-Brain Connection: How to Heal Your Gut to Heal Your Brain” will be shown as part of the NAMI education program. It is free and open to all.

Last week the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s advisory council approved a rule that sounds ominous, but will actually change very little for the state’s anglers. Simply stated, in the state’s north zone, the general fishing law will ban the use of live fish as bait.

In my five years as your state representative the lack of high speed broadband has been a key issue and the citizens of Piscataquis County have demanded action. In response, I have worked to create a non-political broadband caucus to advocate for funding to stimulate investment in rural Maine. There have been dozens of bills introduced to include broadband in the two year budget, proposals to increase revenue and multiple bond proposals. This year the budget has included $4 million to address a multi-million dollar need.

I wanted to take a moment to respond to a recently published letter about the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) project written by Urgel Pomerleau. As anyone reading the letter can sense, he has true passion for the direction of our state, but I feel it is important to ensure Maine people understand the process that is in place to consider such a major climate change solution.

American Legion Post 29 would like to invite the general public to attend an open house on Monday, Sept. 9 beginning at 5:30 p.m. to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chadboune-Merrill Post 29 in Dover-Foxcroft.

On Tuesday, Aug. 27 15 members and three guests of the Piscataquis County Retired Educators were treated to an absolutely scrumptious luncheon at DKB Catering in Greenville. Guest speaker was Sandra Ryder, Greenville resident and volunteer extraordinaire, speaking on issues that citizens in our area are facing as they age.

New York City is frequently a place where bad policy is dreamed up, but I have to admit to occasionally still being shocked to see some of the things that are proposed under the watch of Mayor Bill de Blasio.

One of the tradition-laden high school football programs in eastern Maine will take a year off from varsity play this fall. Orono High School, citing low numbers and a lack of linemen, will forego its 2019 Little Ten Conference schedule and instead pursue a slate of junior varsity games for this fall.

My love for fishing brooks and streams started when I was a kid catching small trout in a tiny brook in the woods up the hill behind my house in Winthrop. After we purchased our camp on Nesowadnehunk Lake on the edge of Baxter Park, I started fishing Nesowadnehunk Stream – and eventually fished the entire 23 miles of the stream to where it flows into the west branch of the Penobscot River. There are pools full of brook trout the entire length of that stream.

Maine’s new fish and wildlife boss, Judy Camuso, who has been at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife helm since January, shared her views recently as a guest on my Sunday night statewide radio program Maine Outdoors (103.9, 101.3 and 95.1 FM).