The public board that oversees Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft will vote Wednesday on whether to go forward with a proposed merger with Northern Light Health, the statewide health care system that’s based in Brewer and includes Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

On Wednesday night, Feb. 27, following months of due diligence, planning, and gathering public input, the board that oversees Mayo Regional Hospital (Hospital Administrative District 4) plans to vote on a non-binding merger agreement with Northern Light Health, a statewide health care system.

Plans for Atkinson to join the Unorganized Territory (UT) on July 1 -- the community voted 187-19 (nearly 91 percent) at the November referendum to deorganize -- are still on track.

If Maine lawmakers pass a bill endorsed by the Legislature’s judiciary committee, pay for jurors in state courts would more than triple, rising to $50 per day -- the same rate paid to jurors by the federal court system.

Directors from Dexter and the other dozen communities making up HAD 4 are awaiting negotiation details between officials with Mayo Regional Hospital and Northern Light Health on a potential merger of the Dover-Foxcroft facility serving the region with the statewide healthcare system, the town council learned during a Feb. 14 meeting.

Mayo Regional Hospital has been awarded participation in a remote, technical assistance program with the Texas A&M University Center for Optimizing Rural Health. Mayo Regional Hospital is one of five hospitals in the state to be selected for support and training through the year-long program. Technical assistance will begin this spring.

After some Foxcroft Academy seniors objected to a plan to eliminate the use of white graduation gowns for female students in favor of everyone wearing burgundy, the head of school said that members of the Class of 2019 will have input before a final decision is made. Graduation is scheduled for Sunday, June 9 and a decision on the attire could be made next month, a specific timeline and method are to be determined.

Sen.Paul Davis, R-Sangervlle has submitted LD 784 “An Act To Amend the Laws Governing Eligibility for Unemployment Benefits.” If passed, this legislation would require individuals who are collecting unemployment benefits to accept and attend interviews for jobs they are reasonably fitted for. Failure to attend would result in disqualification from benefits.

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.