When employees at Northern Light Health locations in the county arrived on Friday, April 17 they were greeted with signs featuring messages of encouragement amidst the coronavirus pandemic such as “heros work here” and “you are champions.” The healthcare workers soon learned the gratitude messages had been posted during the early morning hours by Makayla Goodrich, 12 of Monson.

Two local long-term care facilities now have the opportunity to connect residents and their families who have been restricted from visiting due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Thanks to a gift from The Commons, the Hibbard Skilled Nursing & Rehabilitation Center and Hilltop Manor have new iPad 4 tablets to help residents see and talk to family using Zoom or other technology platforms.

Piscataquis County may not be at the epicenter of Maine’s battle against the COVID-19  pandemic -- as of Sunday there is only one positive test among its 16,800 residents. That’s not to say the impact of the coronavirus stops at the county line, including the food insecurity that comes with rapidly expanding unemployment around the state.

All 16 of the state’s counties have confirmed cases with the first case confirmed in Piscataquis County on Sunday. It was last Maine county to report a case.

Harry Oakes started life as a shy, small town kid, growing up in the 1870s and 80s in the Piscataquis County towns of Sangerville and, later, Dover-Foxcroft, the third of five children. His life ended in 1943, as one of the wealthiest men in North America, and as the victim of a mysterious, violent murder that remains unsolved.

Gov. Janet Mills said on Friday that her administration was devising a plan to gradually reopen Maine’s economy, though she reiterated that stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus in Maine was the key to allowing business activities to resume.

The club’s Prevent Child Abuse America Chairman Minnie McCormick thought spinning pinwheels might brighten some spirits so she decided to take the old ones and put them on her lawn in Dover-Foxcroft.

The proposed RSU 68 budget for the 2020-21 academic year is up slightly to a figure of $11,970,877, as presented by Superintendent Stacy Shorey during an April 14 school board meeting at the SeDoMoCha School streamed live on Youtube. The $11.97 million figure represents an increase of 1.58 percent from the current year’s budget of $11,784,238.

That effort received a boost this month as The Commons was one of five historic Maine buildings -- two in Dover-Foxcroft --  to receive a Northeast Heritage Economy Program grant to continue the restoration of the 138-year-old edifice.

The U.S. Census Bureau would like to remind parents and families who are staying at home amid the COVID-19 crisis to remember that the 2020 Census is here, and it is important to count their children.

University of Maine Cooperative Extension is offering Maine farmers a chance to connect online from 7-8 p.m. on Fridays to ask questions, get answers and share information.

Pine Tree Hospice’s volunteers make up a large group of women and men in Piscataquis, Penobscot, and Somerset counties, giving 4,399 hours of their time last year. They come from every walk of life and bring with them life experiences that make them perfect matches for the many clients with life-limiting illnesses.

Take a moment to think of the things, activities and people who bring meaning to your life. Got them? Chances are that one or more of them have been threatened or lost during this pandemic.

Following last week’s recommendation by Maine Department of Education (MDOE) Commissioner of Education Pender Makin, with the support of Gov. Janet Mills, regional school districts are extending remote learning plans until the end of the academic year.

With public gatherings such as town meetings prohibited under an executive order from Gov. Janet Mills in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual town meeting in Dover-Foxcroft will not be taking place on Saturday morning, April 25. With the Governor also moving the state primary from June 9 to July 14 the Dover-Foxcroft referendum will not be held on the second Tuesday of June. Instead town officials are looking to push back the schedule for remaining work on the 2020-21 municipal budget, as they discussed this during an April 13 meeting held via Zoom. 

As part of the Keep In Touch Campaign, the Center Theatre is launching a service to send custom video messages via email or Facebook messenger. The videos, which can be requested for a $10 donation at centertheatre.org, can be sent to a friend, family member or even to yourself and can be to celebrate a birthday, anniversary or just to try to keep in touch while we're all keeping our distance.

More than 60,000 people across Maine are still waiting for their power to be restored as of Sunday morning after a nor’easter tore through the state late last week causing widespread outages. 

Given low testing rates for coronavirus across the country, it can be difficult to gauge from official numbers where outbreaks are actually happening. So researchers at the University of Texas at Austin ran simulations to calculate the risk in each U.S. county that there are sustained, undetected outbreaks -- epidemics -- already occurring.