An incumbent Republican state senator barely held off a challenge from an incendiary lawmaker in one of three Tuesday legislative primaries won by candidates backed by Senate Republicans over those preferred by former Gov.

Maine voters on Tuesday, July 14  overwhelmingly backed $120 million in bonds for transportation and broadband systems that have been stressed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Maine Credit Unions’ Campaign for Ending Hunger is pleased to announce that its month-long $100,000 Challenge raised over $227,000 to support Good Shepherd Food Bank’s COVID-19 response and community food pantries across the state.

For years, the common question among hunters has been, “Got your deer yet?” Thanks to a pilot program aimed at helping management efforts, this summer’s refrain might change to “Seen any deer yet?”   Nathan Bieber, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s deer biologist, explained that the agency is trying to gather more data by asking Mainers to take part in the Maine Deer Spy project.

The Bangor and Brewer school departments, like many others in the state, are putting together three separate plans for reopening public schools in fall, including a full return to in-person schooling, a combination of in-person and online learning and a fully online semester.

Every year, several thousand adventurous souls set out to hike all 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail.

Gov.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Golfers, you have waited long enough.

MACHIAS — The National Digital Equity Center is pleased to announce that it is now offering digital literacy and computer skills classes online statewide.

AUGUSTA — Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF) is partnering with the Maine Department of Education (DOE) to ensure that adult learners have the technology they need to continue their studies.

AUGUSTA — The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) is reminding the public about the risk of spreading tree-killing invasive species while moving firewood.

MONSON — What do you have when you combine your passion and your dreams and create a new reality for yourself? For Joy and Tim Bueschen, it was the creation of their new home in the woods of the Central Maine Highlands, Turning Page Farm Brewery.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Piscataquis County Commissioners awarded bids for paving and road work projects on the Elliotsville Road during a July 7 meeting.

GUILFORD — Thanks to the generosity of the Maine Highlands Federal Credit Union, the patrol and investigation divisions of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office will have a new home in downtown Guilford at the former Key Bank building.

DOVER-FOXCROFT —  A proposed $11,970,877 RSU 68 budget for the 2020-21 academic year was approved at the annual district budget meeting on June 23 at the SeDoMoCha School.

It’s a familiar story for Maine — a once-thriving manufacturing town suddenly in search of a new identity.

The RSU 68 school board approved a proposed budget totaling  $11,970,877 for the 2020-21 academic year, during a May 12 meeting at the SeDoMoCha School streamed live via YouTube. The directors also scheduled the annual district budget meeting for Tuesday, June 23.

The proposed RSU 68 budget for the 2020-21 academic year is up slightly to a figure of $11,970,877, as presented by Superintendent Stacy Shorey during an April 14 school board meeting at the SeDoMoCha School streamed live on Youtube. The $11.97 million figure represents an increase of 1.58 percent from the current year’s budget of $11,784,238.