The Maine Technology Institute (MTI) recently awarded a $4,226,000 challenge grant from the Maine Technology Asset Fund 2.0 program to the Pleasant River Lumber Company. The $4.2 million will be used toward a $12 million expansion at Pleasant River Lumber’s mill on the Milo Road and a larger $20 million initiative between the Dover-Foxcroft location and the company’s Moose River Mill in Jackman.

They may not be as large or produce as much meat, milk or eggs as quickly as their mainstream counterparts, but for those farmers and homesteaders who love them, heritage breeds fill a unique niche in Maine.

For the third year in a row the Abbot-based JD Foundation invites the community to honor those who have died by suicide and support survivors and families impacted at the organization’s Walk/Run to Wake the Silence. The five kilometer event will start at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 28, with registration beforehand, at the Piscataquis Regional YMCA on Park Street.

The selectmen signed a seven-article warrant for the annual town meeting taking place at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 28 in the gymnasium at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building, during an April 9 meeting.

In keeping up with the changing educational world, Foxcroft Academy has big plans in the coming months regarding the science lab. A large scale renovation is planned for the third floor science center during the summer break. The overhauled lab will include new equipment and new workstations, all with science students’ needs and safety in mind.

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine and Angus King, I-Maine announced that Maine Superior Court Justice Lance Walker, a native of Piscataquis County, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine.

A look at the past four decades serving the region and a look to the future of helping the community were both features of the 40th anniversary celebration for Mayo Regional Hospital on the afternoon of Monday, April 9 in the Resource Center.

The current figures have the 2018-19 RSU budget totaling $11,559,907 for the 2018-19 academic year, Superintendent Stacy Shorey said during an April 3 school board meeting at the Harland A. Ladd Municipal Building.

Jacob Reed earned top honors at the annual SeDoMoCha Middle School Science Fair on April 5. Reed came in first for examining habitat influence on the behavior of the common shiner. Grade 7-8 students at the school in Dover-Foxcroft prepare their projects for an evening public exhibit.

On April 5 U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine visited students elementary and middle school students at the SeDoMoCha School.

On Saturday, April 28 residents will gather in the gymnasium at the Morton Avenue Municipal Building at 9 a.m. to vote on a seven-article warrant during the annual town meeting. Items approved on April 28 will then go to the referendum ballot set for Tuesday, June 12.

The town of Dover-Foxcroft will again observe Arbor Week in 2018 as the week will be from May 21-25, after the selectmen signed a proclamation during a March 26 meeting. The state recognizes Arbor Week during the third week of May.

SeDoMoCha Middle School eighth-grader Nathaneal Brown stands at the microphone during the 2018 Maine State Spelling Bee on March 24 at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.

The Libra Foundation investment in Piscataquis County, which includes revitalizing downtown Monson and the planned construction of an ice arena on West Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft, is continuing as the Portland-based organization is donating $20,000 to fund equipment to improve emergency communications for the Monson and Dover-Foxcroft fire departments.

The Butter Stick Bakery on East Main Street was formally welcomed to the area with a Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 24.

The Maine Warden Service was recently provided with a special gift, one that is at the heart of any outdoor enthusiast who loves a good Maine winter. Nine pair of genuine, Maine-made snowshoes were donated to the newest graduating class of game wardens to use in their missions that range from fish and wildlife conservation, search and rescue and public safety.

A snow storm may have moved the event back a week from the 14th day of the third month of the year to March 21, but the enthusiasm was not dampened as students and teachers at SeDoMoCha Middle School celebrated the sixth annual Pi Day with various events connecting to the dessert which is a homophone of the term for the non-terminating ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.

Five students artists will each have a hand in designing a new patch for the Dover-Foxcroft Police Department, town officials announced during a March 12 selectmen’s meeting.