GUILFORD – Chairperson Paul Zimmerman announced that one of Maine’s great  summer traditions, the popular Piscataquis River Festival, will be back this year following a two-year hiatus due to the COVID pandemic.

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff Nearly 1,000 volunteers were a key part of the effort last year to set up and staff COVID-19 vaccination clinics across the 10-hospital Northern Light Health network.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Piscataquis residents in rural areas who don’t have internet could soon be connected under a new county program.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Piscataquis County Commissioners, frustrated with the county’s economic development council’s former leader and his focus on broadband, debated this week whether to cut the group’s funding.

By Emily Burnham, Bangor Daily News Staff Pan Am Railways, Maine’s largest rail operator, will merge with Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX Transportation, the fourth-largest rail transportation company in the U.

HAMPDEN – CUSO Home Lending, a licensed mortgage company owned by credit unions and The Maine Credit Union League, has announced that they have signed a contract with MaineStream Finance to manage the servicing of their current portfolio of loans and take on servicing of any new loans they close going forward.

Photo courtesy of Maine Highlands FCU FOOD CENTER CONTRIBUTION – Kelly Sirimoglu, left, of the Piscataquis Regional Food Center received a check from Danielle Mailloux with Maine Highlands FCU.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The annual Whoopie Pie Festival, which draws thousands to downtown Dover-Foxcroft each summer, is returning on June 25 — and yes, that includes a whoopie pie eating contest.

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff Three major hospital construction projects will cost 40 percent more than initially thought as Northern Light Health encounters steep increases to the cost of labor and building materials.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Dover-Foxcroft Select Board voted this week to table a proposed moratorium that would temporarily halt permitting and construction of manufactured housing in the town’s historic district.

Photo courtesy of Center Theatre SUNFLOWER WINNER – Artist Laurie Sproul of Brownville gives her hand-carved sunflower to Clayton Cole from Corinth.

Photo courtesy of Maine Highlands FCU BODY CAMERA FUNDING – Executive VP of Maine Highlands FCU Maria Wooten presented a check for the purchase of two body cameras to Milo Police Department Officers Dave Boxwell, center, and Trevor Duby in Milo on Monday.

Photo courtesy of Maine Highlands FCU ENDING HUNGER DONATION – Darcie Burch with Maine Highlands FCU presented a donation to John Cram with Dyer’s Hope House in Milo on April 8.

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff The National Guard members brought in as reinforcements while Maine hospitals buckled under a surge in COVID-19 cases and staff absences have departed, and the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients statewide is at less than a quarter of its mid-January peak.

MONSON – Frontline Arts,’ a New Jersey based veteran-led art program, is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Frontline Paper project with an exhibition at the Monson Arts Gallery through May 8.

DOVER-FOXCROFT – The show must go on! After a two-year hiatus, Pine Tree Hospice’s 26th annual Variety Show is back on Saturday, April 30 at 2 p.

By Valerie Royzman, Staff Writer and Judy Harrison, Bangor Daily News Staff A former treasurer of the Greenville Firefighters Association who was serving a sentence for stealing money from the group and the town was recently pardoned by Gov.

In December the State of Maine was recognized for its success in patient safety measures by The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit watchdog organization focused on health care safety and quality.