Five Maine parishes have been named recipients of the 2017 Matthew 25 Awards, including the Holy Family Parish in Greenville and Rockwood. The Holy Family Parish will receive $3,000 to assist in purchasing and installing a generator for the new church being constructed in Greenville.

FairPoint Communications1 has announced the completion of broadband expansion projects in Piscataquis County that extend and enhance FairPoint’s approximately 18,000-mile fiber optic network.

Since the passage of Question 2 on last November's ballot, the debate over it has centered around the question of taxes. Does Maine want to have, depending on how you count it, the highest or second-highest income tax rate in the country? Is that what Maine people voted for, or were they just trying to vote for some vague concept of "better schools"? Just how bad will the flight of wealth from Maine to other states be? How many people will decide to never move here because of the new tax rate? What will be the impact on jobs?

The Husson University women's basketball recently added some depth to the front and back courts, receiving a commitment from Emma Alley and Abby Simpson. Simpson is a forward from Foxcroft Academy, while Alley is a guard from Stearns High School in Millinocket.

From the Maine fisheries biologists, who candidly concede that early April fishing can be an angling challenge, here are some early fishing spot ideas released by IF&W the last week in April.:

On Saturday, May 6 the Piscataquis Regional YMCA is holding a free community event to inspire more kids to keep their minds and bodies active at the annual YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day, the Y’s national initiative to improve health and wellbeing for kids and families.

Dexter Dover Area Towns in Transition (DDATT) will host its monthly free public discussion group at the Abbott Memorial Library from 6 to 8 p.m. on May 5. Palmyra’s Pegg Gannon and St Alban’s Liz Breault, both long-time DDATT supporters and plant growers, will lead the group in three requested areas “Gardening as We Get Older”, “New Garden Pests” and “Growing Berries.”

At the Central Conference (Zone 3) on April 20 at the Penquis Valley School in Milo, Rowell’s Garage bus driver Mike Chargin took home the second-place trophy.

They called him “The Junk Man” because his hobby was to pick up junk and restore it. For Robert Godwin Sr., the satisfaction of restoring all things junk was married into the life of leisure that retirement brings,

Hearings were held at the State House Monday on a number of bills that would make changes to Maine’s social services programs, particularly Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. There were at least 10 bills related to TANF on the public hearing docket and they covered a broad spectrum of proposals.