Towns have the ability to opt out of the retail aspect of recreational marijuana -- residents can still use recreational and medicinal marijuana within the law -- but questions pertaining to unorganized territories remain.

After jumping out to a 12-point lead in the first quarter of the 2018 Class D South championship on Feb. 24 at the Augusta Civic Center against Arthur R. Gould High School of South Portland, the Greenville High School boys saw the team’s advantage slowly shrink and then disappear in the third quarter. But the Lakers responded in a big way during the fourth quarter with a 13-1 run and 16-3 advantage in the final 8-minute session to win the regional title for the second year in a row against the Bears.

Learning is a family affair for students in the pre-kindergarten morning and afternoon sessions at Piscataquis Community Elementary School. After the end of each of the half dozen units across the school year, parents/guardians are invited in to the classroom for a “Family Wrap Up.”

“The list was published late yesterday, there were three finalists and we were the third-ranked finalist,” SAD 46/AOS 94 Superintendent Kevin Jordan said on Feb. 15.

Students across the region will have opportunities to take part in new emergency medical technician (EMT) and multimedia videography programs at the Tri-County Technical Center (TCT) next year, with the programs being funded with state monies.

In September the Category 5 Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico. The recovery effort is continuing five months later and Piscataquis Community Elementary School grade 5-6 teacher Grace McGeehan will be spending a portion of her February vacation helping a school on the island in the Caribbean Sea.

Selectmen reviewed the the first draft of the 2018-19 municipal budget during a Feb. 12 meeting, with the amount to be raised up by $126,040 or 4.66 percent from the current figure of just under $2,718,000, which is part of the total $5,074,820 approved by residents at the town meeting referendum last June.

Month by month outstanding pupils in grades 5-8 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are honored by being named Students of the Month. On the third Friday of the month the honorees are presented with certificates in front of their peers during the morning meeting.

At a Feb. 6 select meeting of the Milo selectmen, PCEDC Executive Director Chris Winstead said a year prior he met with the county commissioners and then the dozen-plus selectboards. “We worked our way to each of the communities asking if you would like to be part of a broadband initiative,” he said.

Last month Gov. Paul LePage’s administration unveiled a restructuring proposal to hand oversight of the state’s 15 county jails to a new state commission and potentially close five jails -- including Piscataquis County’s -- while regionalizing the system.