Last month three bids for constructing a Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) storage garage all came in multiple times more than the project budget. The structure now has gone out to bid again with some revisions to the specs.

A proposed 2018-19 SAD 41 budget of $9,077,841 was approved with all 15 articles passing with minimal discussion over 20 minutes during the annual district budget meeting on June 21 at the Penquis Valley School. The near $9.08 million total is now moved to a referendum in the district towns of Atkinson, Brownville, LaGrange and Mlo on Thursday, June 28 for a “yes” or “no” vote.

A brand new 1,700-square foot showroom for the kitchen, bath and flooring offerings at Dave’s World was formally revealed to the public during a grand opening celebration with the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce on the evening of June 14.

Nicki Greene will be the director of special education in SAD 4 for the 2018-19 academic year, after her nomination was approved by the school board during a June 12 meeting. Greene’s salary will be $60,000.

The dates for the annual district budget meeting and referendum on the 2018-19 SAD 41 budget were both scheduled by the school board during a June 13 meeting at the Penquis Valley School. The annual district budget meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 21 in the Walter E. Oakes Gymnasium at Penquis Valley, with an informational meeting before at 5:30 p.m. The total budget approved across the warrant items then will be moved to a referendum one week later on Thursday, June 28.

In three consecutive innings from the bottom of the fourth to the home half of the sixth South top seed Greenville High School softball escaped bases loaded jams against North No. 2 Penobscot Valley High School of Howland in the 2018 Class D championship on the afternoon of June 16 at Brewer High School’s Coffin Field. The defending state champion Howlers would cut a 4-1 deficit to 4-3 in the seventh, but Greenville kept the potential tying run stranded at third to win the first state championship in program history

Older students at the SeDoMoCha Elementary School put their art skills to the test while thinking about the proper way to travel to and from classes by taking part in the National School Bus Safety Poster Contest.

The final Students of the Month at Piscataquis Community Elementary School were honored in front of their peers during the June 15 morning meeting, the last day of school.

Grade 5 students at Piscataquis Community Elementary School recently took a journey back in time by studying American history and then applying what they earned through a play performed for their families and the community last month.

For the last year in-town Monson has been undergoing many changes through the Portland-based Libra Foundation. The organization has purchased more than 20 properties along Main Street and across town, including the former Monson Elementary School that most recently served as a community center, and many of the buildings have been torn down or are in the renovation process for the purpose of transforming the community into the Monson Arts artists’ colony as part of the foundation’s mission of making contributions to worthy causes across Maine to spur economic and creative growth.