With school closed through at least Friday, March 27 due to the coronavirus pandemic, RSU 68 students will be learning via distance rather than in the classroom. The RSU 68 school board approved a formal motion to change the manner of instruction to distance learning while school is not in session, during an emergency meeting on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 17 at the SeDoMoCha School.

All five of the region’s school districts will be closed through at least late in the month in response to the coronavirus.

As the state and nation copes with the coronavirus and works to limit its spread, officials in Piscataquis County are handling conditions the best they can.

RSU 68 officials are looking at an approximate 1.3 percent budget increase, in both the spending plan total and the tax commitment to the four district communities.

The program can still reverse field and stay at the 11-player game, but Dexter Regional High School is looking to be among a number of Maine high school football teams -- including much of the Little Ten Conference (LTC)/Class  D North -- shifting to 8-man football when the 2020 season kicks off in August. The SAD 46 school board supported the transition with a formal motion during a March 4 meeting at the Ridge View Community School. A timeline would be determined by the superintendent and principal.

Should the need arise, the county has up to a $1.75 million line of credit, with a 2.45 percent interest rate, with Androscoggin Savings Bank after the Piscataquis County Commissioners and Treasurer Johanna Turner signed the paperwork during a March 3 meeting.

The Clarks agreed to a $10,000 sale price with Friends of Community Fitness covering the $2,300 closing costs, allowing Friends of Community Fitness to officially become building owners as of Nov. 22. The now permanent home was recognized with a “Keys to the Building Celebration” on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 29 with Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Denise Buzzelli presenting a symbolic oversized key.

Sometimes, a day of ice fishing ends with nothing more than an unsolved mystery, as fish steal bait without getting hooked, and a frustrated angler heads home empty-handed.

“We have current conditions drafted,” Town Manager Jack Clukey said about a Dover-Foxcroft Urban Area Transportation Study during a Feb. 24 selectmen’s meeting. “Now Gorrill Palmer is working on the future alternate analysis.”

Despite having won the team’s semifinal game, 54-39 vs. No. 4 Temple Academy of Waterville three days earlier, players and coaches of the top-seeded Forest Hills Consolidated School of Jackman felt the squad did not play its best. This turned out to be bad news for No. 3 Greenville High School in the 2020 Class D South championship on Feb. 22 at the Augusta Civic Center as Forest Hills won 74-44 at the Augusta Civic Center.