Photos of the region’s National Honor Society chapter members.

President Donald Trump will hold a roundtable discussion with parties involved in the commercial fishing industry during his visit to Maine on Friday, according to a White House official. The president is slated to come to the Pine Tree State to visit the Puritan Medical Products facility in Guilford, which manufactures medical swabs used in coronavirus testing. The Guilford company is one of the two largest swab manufacturers in the world and is opening a new swab manufacturing facility in Pittsfield this summer to meet the surging demand for swabs.

The 133rd edition of the Piscataquis Valley Fair in Dover-Foxcroft has been postponed until next year due to factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fair, originally scheduled for Aug. 27-30, will be held next on Aug. 26-29, 2021.

Extension staff will have seedlings available at several other locations while supplies last: Tradewinds in Milo, 7 to 11 a.m. on Friday, June 5; Smith’s Grocery and Lunch in Brownville, noon to 3 p.m. on June 5; Whitney’s Supermarket in Guilford, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 6; and the Piscataquis County Extension Office in Dover-Foxcroft, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, June 8.

Maine police agencies are planning for President Donald Trump’s planned Friday visit to a medical swab manufacturer that could involve a complex and costly transfer from the Bangor airport to the Piscataquis County town roughly 45 miles away.

Next month citizens of the region will be voting on the $145,000 -- plus interest -- purchase of the former Key Bank location in downtown Guilford to be the new home of the sheriff’s office patrol and investigation divisions when they head to the polls on Tuesday, July 14. Before the referendum, county officials will be holding several late June information meetings across the region on the bond question.

Penquis Valley High School Spanish Club students and parents are going to be counting bottles at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 2 between Trask Insurance and the little red warehouse on the Sebec River in Milo.

President Donald Trump will visit a medical swab manufacturer in Guilford on Friday despite pushback from Gov. Janet Mills, who told the president his trip could create unrest and later said he is failing to assert leadership as protests rage across the country.

Maine's top election official is encouraging people to vote via absentee ballot during the July primary election to limit the exposure voters and polling workers have to the coronavirus. The state will still hold in-person balloting July 14 with new social distancing protocols, but it's easier -- and safer -- to vote via absentee ballot, Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said this week.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the previously scheduled Relay For Life live events across Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire through June have suspended their live events, and many now are participating on Sunday, June 7 in a virtual online experience called Hope From Home. Participants should register for their local event at http://RelayForLife.org and then on June 7 join the activities at https://bit.ly/RelayHopeFromHome.

Memorial Day Weekend marks the beginning of the boating season in Maine for many, and the Maine Warden Service is urging all boaters to wear your life jacket, boat safely and maintain proper social distancing while out on the water.

The state's wildlife biologists have proposed a 61.2 percent increase in the number of any-deer permits allotted this year. If the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife's advisory council approves the plan, 109,890 hunters will be allowed to shoot deer without antlers during the firearms hunting season.

Maine recorded its worst year for Lyme disease in 2019, with 2,079 reported cases statewide. Experts in infectious disease weren’t surprised. And there’s no indication that the upward trend won’t continue this year.

Piscataquis County residents will be asked to vote on the purchase of the former Key Bank location in downtown Guilford to be the new home of the sheriff’s office patrol and investigation divisions when they head to the polls on Tuesday, July 14.

Maine reached a milestone in its pandemic response on Monday by opening up COVID-19 testing to a greater range of people. 

A new bill in the U.S. Senate could provide more than $2 billion to state and local governments in Maine to help offset lost revenues due to coronavirus-related economic shutdowns. The proposal, co-sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, includes $500 billion for state and local governments nationally and also frees up $1.25 billion previously allocated as part of a stimulus package that passed at the end of March.

This spring, tick experts at the University of Maine Tick Lab have noticed a big increase in the number of ticks that the public is submitting for testing. They think this upward trend might be linked to people spending more time outdoors than usual during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now that the coronavirus has been circulating around Maine for more than two months, the ever-growing mass of numbers, anecdotes and other information about the pandemic may be dizzying to anyone without a very strong interest in biology or disease surveillance. So the BDN has reached out to a few public experts for their advice on the best metrics to pay attention to that demonstrate the severity of the coronavirus pandemic.