By Annie Rupertus, Bangor Daily News Staff Connie Kousman’s Medicare plan with Anthem has gotten her through open heart surgery, breast cancer surgery and many stage four cancer scans without any out-of-pocket expenses.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Kristen Wortman, executive director for Pine Tree Hospice, announced that Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union has become the major sponsor of their Annual Charity Golf Tournament.

Observer photo/Stuart HedstromGRAND MARSHAL — The annual Piscataquis River Festival returned to Guilford on Saturday and the day included a mid-morning parade.

By Cameron Levasseur, The County Staff More than three weeks into July and the start of the fiscal year for Maine’s nearly 200 school districts, at least 16 are without a new budget after facing rejection from voters in June referendums.

By Steve Mistler, Maine Public Maine’s federal defender and court-appointed attorneys are sounding the alarm about a dire funding shortfall that they say could mean delayed trials for indigent clients.

GUILFORD – For the second time in as many months, SAD 4 residents voted down a proposed 2025-26 budget.

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff Someone earning minimum wage needs to work 61 hours a week to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment in Maine.

GUILFORD — Organizers have released the schedule for this year’s Piscataquis River Festival on Saturday, July 26 with events at and around the downtown athletic fields on the banks of the river.

RANDOLPH CENTER, Vermont — Vermont State University is proud to congratulate Maia Shahin of Guilford for being named to the dean’s list for the spring 2025 semester.

By Rose Lundy, The Maine Monitor A new law expands who is eligible for charity care in Maine while federal Medicaid cuts are expected to push tens of thousands off public insurance.

Grade 12, highest honors: Timothy MacNeil; high honors: Jordan Brown, Abbigail Burgess, Gavyn Gilbert, Khloe Kimball, Gabriella Koscielny, Sevren Lenihan, Jonathan MacNeil, Rylee White-Chabot; honors: Baylynn Grant, Alaska Maloon, Aurora Page, Ashur Rowell.

GUILFORD – A month after SAD 4 residents turned down a proposed 2025-26 budget of $9,752,463 — via a count of 282-187 on the ballot across its half dozen communities — a revised spending plan totaling $9,531,320 was approved at a district budget meeting on Tuesday evening at Piscataquis Community Elementary School.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Four enthusiastic direct care volunteers have completed the four-week training program and have entered the “ranks” of the Pine Tree Hospice corps of volunteer non-medical care providers.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The new fiscal year has just begun, but Piscataquis County officials have started preliminary work on the 2026 Piscataquis County budget and the 2026-27 Unorganized Territory budget.

By Annie Rupertus, Bangor Daily News Staff Despite seeming to be in free fall for months, Northern Light Health insists it’s not looking to sell its hospitals — and experts say the health care system can avoid that drastic step if it acts quickly.

By Marie Weidmayer, Bangor Daily News Staff The “nerdy” changes within Penobscot County’s criminal justice system are what District Defender Logan Perkins is most proud of during her first year on the job.

By Leela Stockley, Bangor Daily News Staff Seven people have been charged in connection with what prosecutors describe as a multimillion-dollar illegal marijuana growing, human trafficking and money laundering operation in Maine and Massachusetts.

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff While the number of homes for sale in Maine is growing, real estate agents from across the state aren’t seeing that trend extend to rustic waterfront camps.