By Judy Harrison, Bangor Daily News Staff A text alert issued Thursday morning that was among the first of its kind warned that there had been a spike in drug overdoses in Penobscot County over the past 24 hours.

By Alexander MacDougall, Houlton Pioneer Times Staff HOULTON — Some of Maine’s rivers have the lowest water levels they’ve seen in decades, and it would take more than a foot of rain to pull Maine out of the drought it has been in for the second straight summer.

DEXTER — The SAD 46 Board of Directors authorized Superintendent Kevin Jordan to enter into an agreement with Group Mission Trips — a non-profit, interdenominational Christian volunteer home-repair group — to host a summer workcamp again next summer.

DEXTER — SAD 46 will require masks or face shields in the schools only under certain circumstances guided by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s community transmission color code system.

By David Marino Jr.

By Lia Russell Piscataquis, Penobscot and Waldo counties have had the highest rates of new coronavirus cases in recent weeks as the highly contagious delta variant has taken hold and the counties’ lower-than-average vaccination rates have persisted.

By Judy Harrison, Bangor Daily News Staff Penobscot County is considering leasing a 50-bed mobile jail unit that would sit in the current jail’s parking lot to ease chronic overcrowding at the facility, which is licensed to hold 157 inmates.

By Lori Valigra, Bangor Daily News Staff Existing home sales in Maine showed signs of cooling in July, even though sales outpaced pre-pandemic numbers, according to data from state and national real estate groups.

By Sawyer Loftus, Penobscot Times Staff The Maine Department of Corrections has issued a conditional license that will allow the Penobscot County Jail to continue operating while it works over the next 90 days to address overcrowding at the Bangor facility.

By Sawyer Loftus, Penobscot Times Staff Penobscot County Jail could lose its license after a biannual inspection found it to be over capacity.

The Maine Highlands region is a great place to live in many ways – fresh air, clean water, green spaces and friendly, small towns.

YARMOUTH — Maine Preservation is excited to announce the launch of Drive ME Historic Tours in commemoration of Maine’s bicentennial.

By Jessica Piper, Bangor Daily News Staff Maine will need to move roughly 23,000 people into the swing 2nd Congressional District from the reliably liberal 1st District after much of northern and western Maine lost population over the past decade.

HAMPDEN – Business Lending Solutions, LLC, announces the addition of another new credit union partner, bringing the company’s total number of partners to 15 credit unions across the state.

By Jessica Piper, Bangor Daily News Staff Maine’s meager population growth over the past decade was almost entirely driven by the southern part of the state, while much of northern and western Maine lost population, new data from the U.

Exeter — Bus #11 Steve Currie: Begins at approx.

By Judy Harrison, Bangor Daily News Staff An assistant U.

By Judy Harrison, Bangor Daily News Staff Penobscot County Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously called on Treasurer John Hiatt to resign immediately after his arrest last week on a possession of child pornography charge.