Four hundred volunteers from around the country spent nearly a week in Dexter from July 22-26 working to fix 60 homes at no cost for residents who otherwise could not afford to have the needed repairs taken care of. The improvements were made through the Fort Collins, Colorado-based Group Workcamps Foundation’s Group Mission Trips organization, a non-profit, interdenominational Christian volunteer home-repair group.

Two of the nation’s top credit rating agencies have expressed growing confidence that Northern Light Health will be able to pay back $391 million in outstanding debts, a change that could help the hospital system borrow money more cheaply in the future.

The Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce will hold a Business After Hours event for Chamber members and local residents on Thursday, Aug. 8 from 5-7 p.m. This event is being hosted by Hibbard’s Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 1037 West Main Street.

A father and son from LaGrange have been accused of drug trafficking after drug agents say they seized nearly $15,000 worth of Oxycodone from their truck and home.

Autumn Finkle of Brownville, a graduate of Maine Connections Academy (MCA) the state’s first online public charter school, has graduated with a prestigious Mitchell Scholarship as well as a MELMAC scholarship. Finkle will be enrolled this fall as a freshman at Husson University in Bangor, where she plans to study nursing.

The selectmen set the tax commitment for the 2019-20 fiscal year during a July 22 meeting, with the mill rate rising 30 cents (1.41 percent) from last year to a rate of $21.50 per $1,000 in assessed property.

The Maine Appalachian Trail Club (MATC) was awarded $20,083 in grant funding by the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund (MOHF) to support critical trail maintenance projects on one of the most heavily-trafficked sections of the Appalachian Trail.

The Trebor Mansion Inn was destroyed in a fire during the early morning hours of Saturday, July 20. Investigators with The Office of State Fire Marshal have been on the scene since Saturday working to determine the cause of the blaze. The 19th century building located on a hilltop just off of Route 15 had been vacant for several years and is now bank-owned.

Maine DEP has announced funds for 29 projects across the state, including these local sites. Charleston: Bacon Road, $95,000, and Garland Road, $80,000. Cambridge: Bailey Road and Bridge Road, each $65,000. Dexter: Mill Street, $95,000.

A severe thunderstorm that swept through eastern Maine on Sunday afternoon left hundreds of Emera Maine customers without power. Amanda Cummings, a spokeswoman for Emera Maine, said that the storm toppled many trees, leading to the interruption of service to customers in northern Penobscot and Piscataquis counties.

Two videos compiled from home movies shot from 1939 into the 1950s around Brownville/Brownville Junction and Maine railroads are available on Youtube under “Michaud family home movies” and will be screened at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 30 at the Brownville-Brownville Junction Historical Society’s Parish House Museum on Church Street.

In the 11 months since their house in Milo exploded, Amanda and Ricky Badger have had to recover from their injuries, put their lives back together and deal with the explosion’s lasting impact. This week, they received a nearly $550,000 settlement to help.

The 13th Annual Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival will take place July 24-26 on the shores of East Cove, downtown Greenville. Adventures begin at The Center for Moosehead History, 6 Lakeview St., on all three days. They range from a Thoreau-style guided hike up Little Moose Mountain to a Native American cultural workshop with directors from the Abbe Museum and the Penobscot Nation.

The state of Maine is reminding residents that they can save ticks and send them for testing if they get bitten by the pesky arachnids. State officials say the testing can show whether the person bitten by the tick was exposed to anything. The UMaine Cooperative Extension Tick Lab tests for Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and babesia. The tests are $15 per tick for Maine residents.

An addition has been made to this year’s children’s free summer meals program at the SeDoMoCha School on Harrison Avenue. Under the "Take what you need boutique" there is an opportunity for anyone needing clothing items that may not be able to afford them.

More and more, it seems business owners from out of state are moving to central Maine to begin new business ventures here in Piscataquis County. Some credit the affordability of real-estate in the region, while others gush about the welcoming communities and quality of life they experienced here while visiting. Mike and Betsey Loomis are a perfect example of this.

With students away on summer vacation, the Penquis Valley School is a construction site with hallway ceiling tiles down and stacked on the floor as part of the work to make way for an upgrade to the heating system.

Baxter State Park was established with a goal of the land remaining “forever wild,” and one of the benefits of that focus is the wide variety of native animals a visitor might see on the park’s more than 200,000 acres. But one particular species -- the black bear -- has been a bit overly active this summer, prompting park officials to put a cautionary message up on its Facebook page.