At the March 18 meeting of Guilford American Legion Post 119 Collin Bickford of Abbot, center, was presented a certificate for his 50 years of continuous membership in the American Legion.

Penobscot County’s longtime Democratic district attorney will not run for re-election, leaving an open path for one of his colleagues to replace him. R. Christopher Almy, D-Charleston, indicated he would run for re-election when he filed signed nomination papers to the Maine secretary of state earlier this month.

The Piscataquis Community High School Drama Club won a second-place trophy at the Maine Drama Festival on March 10 in Skowhegan. The name of the club’s production was “TATTERED,” a student-written play on the effects of bullying cyberbullying and suicide with the message … words hurt.

In an effort to alleviate cramped conditions at the current facility, the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department is looking to lease space at the former Guilford Primary School -- which more recently was the home of the SAD 4 administrative office suite -- to house its patrol division

Learning is a family affair for students in the pre-kindergarten morning and afternoon sessions at Piscataquis Community Elementary School. After the end of each of the half dozen units across the school year, parents/guardians are invited in to the classroom for a “Family Wrap Up.”

“The list was published late yesterday, there were three finalists and we were the third-ranked finalist,” SAD 46/AOS 94 Superintendent Kevin Jordan said on Feb. 15.

In September the Category 5 Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico. The recovery effort is continuing five months later and Piscataquis Community Elementary School grade 5-6 teacher Grace McGeehan will be spending a portion of her February vacation helping a school on the island in the Caribbean Sea.

Month by month outstanding pupils in grades 5-8 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are honored by being named Students of the Month. On the third Friday of the month the honorees are presented with certificates in front of their peers during the morning meeting.

Last month Gov. Paul LePage’s administration unveiled a restructuring proposal to hand oversight of the state’s 15 county jails to a new state commission and potentially close five jails -- including Piscataquis County’s -- while regionalizing the system.

When the doctor tells you to open up and say, “Ahhh,” pretty much anywhere in the world, there’s a chance that the wooden stick pressing on your tongue was made in Maine. And the wooden stick in that Creamsicle? Probably also from Maine. Hardwood Products Co. in Guilford has something of a split personality. The company is divided into two operations, one right across the road from the other.

Over a dozen students in the younger grades at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are now HEROs for their outstanding conduct during the month of the January. The HERO honorees were recognized with certificates during the school-wide morning meeting on Feb. 2.

Fifth- and sixth-graders at Piscataquis Community Elementary School have been having science, technology, engineering, art and math lessons incorporated into the classroom, utilizing their newly-gained knowledge in a recent ecology unit.

Sen. Paul Davis, R-Sangerville has announced local transportation projects included in the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) work plan for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 calendar years.

Through its mission of providing information and support to people of all ages affected by abuse and domestic violence throughout the region, staff at Partners for Peace work closely with area law enforcement. Often Partners for Peace personnel and police officers are together during times of crisis, so the organization hosted members of the various law enforcement agencies for a pancake breakfast at the Mechanic Street location on Jan. 26.

Each month outstanding pupils in grades 5-8 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are honored by being named Students of the Month. On the third Friday of the month the honorees are presented with certificates in front of their peers during the morning meeting.

In 2016 the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) was awarded $120,000 for broadband internet planning from the Office of the Maine Attorney General, with the funds coming from consumer settlements the office reached with several wireless carriers. The monies helped the PCEDC work with Axiom Technologies of Machias to conduct a survey of the region to help develop a regional technology plan aimed at economic and community development.

Game wardens are urging anyone accessing Maine’s lake and ponds to exercise extreme caution. Following the Jan. 17 rescue of three people from Long Pond in Southwest Harbor, at least nine more people reported breaking through thin ice on snowmobiles in a 24-hour period.

Once a month students in kindergarten through grade 4 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are honored with the presentation of HERO awards during the school-wide morning meeting on the first Friday of each month.