The Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC), in partnership with Helping Hands with Heart (HHH), has received a $10,000 grant from a component fund of the Maine Community Foundation to investigate shared concerns about workforce development, youth aspirations, local youth and the barriers to successful employment in the towns served by five area school districts.

Each year, the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District (PCSWCD) honors an educator working in the county with the Outstanding Conservation Educator of the Year award. The awarded educator’s dedication to fostering students’ learning and understanding of natural resource ecology and related curriculum is why they were selected. This year, the PCSWCD staff and board of supervisors will present Alexandra Conover Bennett, Maine guide and professor at the College of the Atlantic.

Observer photo/Stuart HedstromTALES OF THE WATER — A mid-morning parade from outer Elm Street to the downtown athletic field helped celebrate Guilford’s annual Piscataquis River Festival on Saturday, July 28.

The 14th annual Piscataquis River Festival returns on Saturday, July 28 with a day of events in the downtown area.

As part of its Community Care Program, Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union recently presented a donation to the Valley Grange of Guilford. Employees contributed based on their “dress down” Fridays with the proceeds being distributed to local community organizations.

Two of the state’s busiest prosecutorial districts will have new district attorneys in November after long-serving chief prosecutors decided not to seek re-election. Both Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson, a Republican, and Penobscot and Piscataquis County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy, a Democrat, will step aside this winter.

Rep. Paul Stearns, R-Guilford is pleased to announce that he has recently received an endorsement from the Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund.

Last month three bids for constructing a Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) storage garage all came in multiple times more than the project budget. The structure now has gone out to bid again with some revisions to the specs.

Local solar energy entrepreneur Tyler Adkins announced his independent campaign to represent District 119 in the Maine House of Representatives. House District 119 includes Beaver Cove, Greenville, Shirley, Monson, Abbot, Parkman, Sangerville, Guilford, Willimantic, Bowerbank and Sebec, plus the unorganized territories of Blanchard Township, Northeast Piscataquis (including Barnard and Elliottsville Townships) and Northwest Piscataquis.

Nicki Greene will be the director of special education in SAD 4 for the 2018-19 academic year, after her nomination was approved by the school board during a June 12 meeting. Greene’s salary will be $60,000.

The final Students of the Month at Piscataquis Community Elementary School were honored in front of their peers during the June 15 morning meeting, the last day of school.

Grade 5 students at Piscataquis Community Elementary School recently took a journey back in time by studying American history and then applying what they earned through a play performed for their families and the community last month.

Piscataquis Community Elementary School second-grader Nandin Erdene, left, looks at design possibilities and fourth-grader Caleb McKusick paints his pet rock during the 2018 Arts Alive event at the Guilford school on June 8. Through the help of approximately 100 volunteers from the community, the 300 PCES students spent a day taking part in more than 30 different workshops.

A Superior Court judge has denied a new trial to a Guilford man serving two life sentences for the 1999 execution-style slayings of his ex-girlfriend and the toddler she was babysitting.

The region's five chapters of the National Honor Society.

More than 20 HERO honorees in kindergarten through grade 4 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School in Guilford were recognized during the June 1 morning meeting. Students are selected for exhibiting honesty, effort, respect or responsibility and/or showing concern and caring for others.

Mayo’s Rural Health Center in Guilford, also known as Guilford Medical Associates (GMA), wants patients to be aware of recent changes in the provider lineup

Students across Piscataquis Community Elementary School, including seventh- and eighth-graders for the first time with these grades moved up Campus Drive for 2017-18, spent several months reading as many books as possible in the hopes of winning a brand new bicycle and helmet.