The current figures have the 2018-19 RSU budget totaling $11,559,907 for the 2018-19 academic year, Superintendent Stacy Shorey said during an April 3 school board meeting at the Harland A. Ladd Municipal Building.

Bridges in Blanchard and Williamsburg townships are both set to be repaired later in the year as the bids were opened and approved by the Piscataquis County Commissioners during an April 3 meeting.

Well over a dozen students in the younger grades at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are now HEROs for their outstanding conduct during the month of March. The HERO honorees were recognized with the presentation of certificates during the school-wide morning meeting on April 6.

In 2015 Stephen and Rita Shiman of Saco received a phone call that no grandparent would ever want to experience. The caller claimed to be their grandson, who said he had been arrested after being involved in a car accident in Georgia. The caller told the Shimans not to tell anyone and directed them to immediately contact his public defender, who demanded $1,250 for their grandson’s bail.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine announced the awarding of $10,836,220 in federal funds to replace the three bridges in what she called “the Penquis Region Rural Bridges Project” and on the morning of April 5 she had the opportunity to tour the Pleasant River Bridge on outer Pleasant Street with MDOT Commissioner David Bernhardt.

Piscataquis Community Elementary School third-graders had the chance to be a little messy at their desks as the students each put together or birth a “dirt baby” -- seeds in a paper cup -- on April 3 during a GrowMe Project day at the school with activities held for the four younger grades.

On Saturday, April 28 residents will gather in the gymnasium at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building at 9 a.m. to vote on a seven-article warrant during the annual town meeting. Items approved on April 28 will then go to the referendum ballot set for Tuesday, June 12.

The town of Dover-Foxcroft will again observe Arbor Week in 2018 as the week will be from May 21-25, after the selectmen signed a proclamation during a March 26 meeting. The state recognizes Arbor Week during the third week of May.

Applications for the superintendent position were submitted at the start of the month and interviews with the leading candidates have been scheduled, the full SAD 4 school board learned during a March 20 meeting at Piscataquis Community High School.

The Libra Foundation investment in Piscataquis County, which includes revitalizing downtown Monson and the planned construction of an ice arena on West Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft, is continuing as the Portland-based organization is donating $20,000 to fund equipment to improve emergency communications for the Monson and Dover-Foxcroft fire departments.