For the fifth consecutive year a contingent -is hiking approximately 120 miles over a week and a half from downtown Monson to the summit of Mount Katahdin through the 100-Mile Wilderness along the northernmost section of the Appalachian Trail to raise funds through pledges. This year’s “Honor Rocks” hike supports the Wilderness Walk for Warriors, an organization that raises money for Maine veterans and service members and their families and honors the nation’s fallen heroes through a motto of “Assisting the Living, Honoring the Deceased.”

On July 5 the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a 21-year-old female hiking southbound on the Appalachian Trail (AT) complaining of nausea near the Wilson Valley Lean-to. Four game wardens from the Greenville area responded along with Greenville Fire Department, Monson Fire Department and C.A. Dean Memorial Hospital EMS personnel.

The fifth annual event is set for Saturday, July 7 with a pre-hike ceremony and American Legion Post 116 barbecue, live music by rock band Recall, a 50/50 raffle and door prizes to all start around noon. For more information, please see the Wilderness Walk for Warriors Facebook page.

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.

Foxcroft Academy is embarking on a fundraising campaign for the construction of a new field house on campus, boosted by a lead commitment of $2 million from the Libra Foundation.

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.

Results for Dover-Foxcroft, RSU 68 and SAD 46 referendums on June 12.

For the last year in-town Monson has been undergoing many changes through the Portland-based Libra Foundation. The organization has purchased more than 20 properties along Main Street and across town, including the former Monson Elementary School that most recently served as a community center, and many of the buildings have been torn down or are in the renovation process for the purpose of transforming the community into the Monson Arts artists’ colony as part of the foundation’s mission of making contributions to worthy causes across Maine to spur economic and creative growth.

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

A proposed $11,559,908 RSU 68 budget for the 2018-19 academic year was approved at the annual district meeting on May 29 at the SeDoMoCha School. The spending package will now go to a referendum in the towns of Charleston, Dover-Foxcroft, Monson and Sebec on Tuesday, June 12 with residents of the four communities voting either “yes” or “no” to make a district-wide decision.

The Bill and Joan Alfond Foundation has awarded Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine’s largest hunger-relief organization, a $200,000 grant to fund strategies for eliminating food insecurity in Piscataquis County and central Maine, including Dexter.

Mayo Regional Hospital has selected Cerner, a global leader in health care technology, to implement a new integrated electronic health record (HER) and revenue cycle solutions across it acute and ambulatory facilities. This agreement provides the hospital with sophisticated health care technology that will support Mayo doctors, nurses and staff as they work to streamline operations and improve patient care.

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.

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.

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.

Maine’s Libra Foundation, as part of its broader efforts to rekindle new activity and investment in Piscataquis County, is constructing a state-of-the-art ice arena on property adjacent to Foxcroft Academy.

A draft of the budget for the 2018-19 academic year is nearing completion, the RSU 68 school board heard during a March 6 meeting at the SeDoMoCha School.