Five rural Maine hospitals, including one that recently filed for bankruptcy protection and others that have cut key services in recent years, will receive expert help in stabilizing their business models after winning a rare federal award.

The precise wording is still being finalized, but when Dover-Foxcroft residents head to the polls in June they will be voting on an amended shoreland zoning ordinance after the selectmen passed a motion to put the final version of the document on the ballot during a Feb. 11 meeting.

MONSON — Once upon a time many years ago, when horses pulled carts and carriages, winter transportation required sleighs to get around.

Four snowmobilers encountered thin ice on Sebec Lake early Saturday morning, Feb. 9. Shortly after midnight the four men encountered thin ice on the lake, Carignan and Smith escaped going in but Lynch and Taylor became completely submerged along with their snowmobiles. Both men managed to get out of the water and onto the ice. Taylor drove one of the two remaining snowmobiles to an unoccupied camp to find warmth.

RSU 68 officials are in the midst of putting together the components that will make up the 2019-20 academic year budget.

During a Feb. 5 meeting of the county commissioners, County Manager Tom Lizotte said the final Atkinson annual town meeting before deorganization would be held on the evening of Monday, Feb. 11. “I don’t anticipate any issues,” Lizotte said.

Dexter Family Practice has joined Mayo Regional Hospital to become the hospital’s fifth rural health center in the region.

Gabrielle Heuttener and Susannah Heuttener of Monson, Tyler Libby of Parkman, Ingrid Halvorsen of Guilford, and Tyler Judd of Athens served as honorary pages in the Maine Senate on Jan. 31. They were visiting the Statehouse with the 4-H Youth Development Program and they met with Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville.

Kelli Black, a member of Foxcroft Academy’s Class of 2021 and president of the Key Club, has been elected lieutenant governor for Division 2 of the New England & Bermuda District of Key Clubs for 2019-20. She is the seventh student from Foxcroft Academy to be elected to this prestigious position.

The meeting schedule is still to be finalized -- last year the group met weekly from late February across four sessions leading up to a public hearing the last Wednesday in March -- but the 2019-20 Dover-Foxcroft budget advisory committee is in place with four positions set by the selectmen during a Jan. 28 meeting.

The Dover-Foxcroft Police Department did not have to look very far to fill the sergeant vacancy with the hiring of retired Maine State Police corporal and town resident Matt Grant.

Mayo Regional Hospital has announced the closing of its primary care office in Guilford. The official closure date for Guilford Medical Associates, which is housed via lease from the town at the C.H. Lightbody Medical Center on Park Street, will be Friday, April 5.

Kim Cavanagh, a local lawyer and Foxcroft Academy alum, was celebrated recently at the Center Theatre for the Performing Arts Board of Director's annual meeting. The meeting was Cavanagh's last after being on the Center Theatre board since 2012.

In an effort to help recruit and retain quality officers for several positions within the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office, the Piscataquis County Commissioners approved a request from Sheriff Robert Young to adjust hourly pay rates for part-time patrol deputies, dispatchers, and corrections officers during a Jan. 22 meeting.

Each month the SeDoMoCha School recognizes its “Students in the Spotlight,” celebrating pupils from kindergarten to grade 8 who teachers and staff have determined best demonstrate a specific positive attribute or characteristic chosen for the timeframe from the Habits of the Mind (a set of life skills for educators and parents). Following a snow day last month, the December and January Students in the Spotlight were honored during an all-school assembly on the morning of Jan. 18.

A problem at an electrical substation in Corinth caused thousands of Emera Maine customers to lose power in central Penobscot and southern Piscataquis counties early Thursday morning.

A brief vacancy at sergeant in the Dover-Foxcroft Police Department created when Todd Lyford departed at the start of the new year to become the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office chief deputy has been filled with the appointment of retired Maine State Police Cpl. Matt Grant. Grant was officially appointed by the selectmen during a Jan. 14 meeting for a term to expire on June 30.

The sound of skates cutting into the ice, pucks bouncing off the boards and glass, and more will be heard starting this summer according to the plan for opening the Piscataquis County Ice Arena on West Main Street at the former Brothers Chevrolet property. The $5 million project is being funded by the Libra Foundation, and the arena will be managed day-to-day by Foxcroft Academy.