Dexter Regional High School is proud to announce that the following students have been selected by the faculty as "Students of the Month" for December, from left, grade 9: Nathan Schobel, grade 10: Olivia Peakes, grade 11: Stephen Thomas, and grade 12: Hunter Speed.

Every morning at Piscataquis Community High School in Guilford, my colleagues and I can be found in the hallways at 10 minutes to 8 greeting every student who passes by while discussing school issues and activities for the upcoming day. While many of our students regularly walk this hallway on their way to first period, a growing subset of our population is often not in the hall in the morning, routinely missing classes, and falling further and further behind their peers. It is an existential and worsening problem in American schools.

The day before the Super Bowl this year, my oldest son -- who is going to be 12 this month -- and I were in the car, talking about the upcoming game. He mentioned to me that "nobody wanted the Patriots to win."

Gov. Janet Mills has set a blistering pace on a lot of big policy matters since taking office last month, including moving quickly to expand access to health care to more than 70,000 people.

Historically, hunting has always had its ceremonial aspects. The deer hunting club that I have enjoyed for almost 50 years has its unique rituals, mostly all-in-good-fun practices that, we like to think, set us apart from other deer camps from the mountains of Oregon and the Dismal Swamp of Virginia to the fir thickets of northern Maine.

I was listening to a President Donald Trump interview over the weekend. He said they’ve already started to build the wall -- big parts, it’s going to be beautiful -- with money they had on hand. So what I’d like to know is, why was there a shutdown? Or is that another lie?

More than two dozen mushers and their teams from across Maine, New England, and Quebec took to the trails for the annual 100-Mile Wilderness Sled Dog Race on Feb. 2. Entrants competed in 35- and 70-mile races, starting and finishing by the Leisure Life Resort.

Three tiny bear cubs are resting peacefully in new dens after their original winter home was disturbed by a logging operation on Jan. 31, and their startled mother fled.

Brook trout are among the state’s most treasured natural gifts, and Maine is lucky to have more places to catch wild brookies than any other state in the lower 48. And according to a state fisheries biologist, anglers on the state’s largest lake have been hauling in some huge brookies of late.

Dexter Family Practice has joined Mayo Regional Hospital to become the hospital’s fifth rural health center in the region.