By Lor Valigra, Bangor Daily News Staff NORWAY  — A 1-megawatt solar farm that will provide electricity to 15 local businesses opened here on June 29, a day after lawmakers debated whether to scale back the incentives that led to it.

The towns of Sebec, Dexter, Greenville, and Rockwood will each be celebrating Independence Day with events on and leading up to Tuesday July 4.

BREWER — John Ryan, Esq.

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff Bangor Savings Bank announced Michael O’Connor will assume the role of chief financial officer and treasurer when the company’s current CFO and certified public accountant, Kenneth Colpritt, retires later this fiscal year.

AUGUSTA — This holiday weekend, the Maine Warden Service will be actively patrolling Maine’s waterways, keeping Maine boaters safe, and enforcing Maine’s boating laws in order to raise awareness about operating under the influence during Operation Dry Water.

By Billy Kobin, Bangor Daily News Staff AUGUSTA, Maine — Both chambers of the Legislature have approved a measure aimed at curtailing Maine’s practice of keeping excess proceeds from the sale of foreclosed homes in response to a U.

Partners for Peace, Maine’s first domestic violence resource center, is celebrating 50 years of advocating on behalf of people affected by domestic violence in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.

SKOWHEGAN — Skowhegan Savings Bank is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2023 Skowhegan Savings College Scholarship awards.

By Bill Trotter, Bangor Daily News Staff The number of wildfires in Maine is on the rise, but it is not just Maine’s vast forests that are at risk, according to fire officials.

WATERVILLE — Thomas College hosted Class of 2023 graduates and their guests on Saturday, May 13 in the Alfond Athletic Center at Thomas College in Waterville.

By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff Maine still has the oldest population in the nation.

The local Masonic Lodge in Dexter presented a generous donation, with the help of the Widows Sons Masonic Motorcycle Riders Association and the Grand Lodge of Maine, that would directly affect students at the Tri-County Technical Center.

A Dexter woman was hospitalized after rear-ending a cement truck in a Monday morning crash in Newburgh.

AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Education announced the return of “Hot Lunch Summer,” the state’s summer food service program which provides free meals to children beyond the school year.

Photo courtesy of Dexter Regional High School STUDENTS OF THE YEAR — Dexter Regional High School honors students monthly throughout the school year to recognize their outstanding effort and achievements day in and day out in the classroom.

By Emily Burnham, Bangor Daily News Staff Long before he made his name as a saxophone player in both his own projects and as a member of the Dave Matthews Band, Jeff Coffin was a 9-year-old kid in Dexter, Maine, trying to pick out which instrument he was going to play in elementary school band.

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff The question of whether to build an entirely new Penobscot County Jail has been on the minds of the county officials pushing for it and the activists fighting it for years.

By Billy Kobin, Bangor Daily News Staff AUGUSTA — The fight over changes to Maine’s generous solar incentives is coming down to two rival bills and moneyed interests making their cases either by targeting Democratic lawmakers or invoking the era of former Gov.