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.

SANGERVILLE — A special town meeting to set the due date for Sangerville’s property taxes may be held at 6 p.

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.

Observer photo/Stuart HedstromFIRE TRUCKS IN THE LEAD — The second annual Two Knights Festival in Sangerville on Saturday, July 19 began with a morning parade from the village cemetery to the Veterans Memorial Park along Main Street, with Sangerville Fire Department trucks leading the way heading up the hill.

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.

SANGERVILLE – The Town of Sangerville will be hosting a day of events during the second annual Two Knights Festival on Saturday, July 19.

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 — 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.

GUILFORD — Friends of Community Fitness is proud to announce the successful completion of a member-driven fundraising campaign that raised $84,355 to establish an  endowment fund.

By Stuart Hedstrom, Staff Writer DOVER-FOXCROFT — While property owners in the Unorganized Territory await their tax bills for the 2025-26 fiscal year, Piscataquis County officials are doing likewise.

By Ethan Andrews, Bangor Daily News Staff New rates for Central Maine Power and Versant Power customers went into effect July 1.

PARKMAN — The Parkman Historical Society has plans for a new home at the Four Corners.