This morning’s tv news story about a “dire forecast” for brick-and-mortar New England colleges has me thinking again about learning alternatives to colleges. WMTW-TV’s reporter said two New England colleges shut down recently, and four more New England colleges are closing their doors this month. The tv reporter said an “alarming number of schools are going out of business, affecting thousands of students.”

Aside from the fact that watching thousands of fish come gushing out of a tube and landing in a river is just plain cool, April 24’s uncommon stocking effort on the Piscataquis River was one worth noticing.

Ritchie, of Greenville, was a slugging outfielder for the Guilford Advertisers, one of Maine’s storied semi-pro teams during the heyday of town team baseball.

Baxter State Park is pleased to announce that Hunter Law, who is a graduate of Foxcroft Academy, has been selected as this year's Visiting Artist. Law's submission was selected from an extremely competitive field of very talented artists.

There was plenty of food and conversation and some rousing tunes at the free community luncheon offered at the Brownville Junction American Legion Building on Thursday, April 25. The event was sponsored by the members of St. John’s Episcopal Church and supported by the Brownville Junction American Legion and the Ladies Auxiliary.

“Where you look affects how you feel,” discovered Dr. David Grand, PhD. in 2003 when he developed his psychotherapeutic technique called Brainspotting. It is used to help a client access unprocessed trauma by using eye gaze and subcortical brain activity to locate the spot deep within the subcortex where emotional pain is experienced.

The impaired driving simulation event “Every 15 Minutes” comes to the Penquis Valley School on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 7-8. Every 15 Minutes is a two-day program which demonstrates to high school students the impact drinking and driving (as well as distracted driving) has on friends, family and their community.

Maine has not had a spring bear hunt for many years. Although a re-institution of a spring bear hunt in the Pine Tree State has been talked about on and off as a way of dealing with our ever-increasing population of bears, many stakeholders – including bear guides and outfitters – have opposed the spring hunt for a host of reasons.

Just two days after marijuana enthusiasts celebrated their favorite vice on 4/20, the Maine Office of Marijuana Policy posted draft rules for the state’s coming regulated cannabis market.

The Wassabec Genealogical Society will meet at 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 28 in the Piscataquis Room at Mayo Regional Hospital. Speaker will be Carol McCoy, past president of the Maine Genealogical Society, and she will discuss finding a Mayflower ancestor.