By Pete Warner, Bangor Daily News Staff DEXTER — This has been a difficult and unpredictable winter with little safe ice on Maine’s lakes and ponds.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The first GFW Miosac Club meeting of the new year was held on Jan.

DEXTER — A project to replace the terminal building and improve the site at the Dexter Regional Airport should see completion, despite higher than anticipated construction costs.

By Samantha Hogan, Maine Monitor State officials said they’re barely keeping up with the demand for lawyers to represent the poor in criminal and family cases, even as Maine takes gradual steps to shed its status as the only state without a public defender system.

GREENVILLE  — After the only major child care center in Greenville announced it was closing in December 2021, area leaders and residents came together to renovate it and keep it running.

By Julia Bayly, Bangor Daily News Staff The first night in her new rural Maine home, shrill screams woke Lindsey Abbott from a sound sleep.

By Murray Carpenter, Maine Public The warm winter weather is not just a problem for snowmobilers and skiers, it’s also keeping loggers out of the woods.

MILO — With the new year underway, SAD 41 administrators have started to work on the district budget for the 2023-24 academic year.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Corinth family that has owned and operated Whitney’s Family Supermarket for nearly a decade is expanding with a convenience store and gas station in Dover-Foxcroft.

Ice conditions vary across the state, and the Maine Warden Service is urging everyone to check the ice before heading out onto any of Maine’s lakes, ponds, and rivers.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District is excited to kick off our sixth annual snowshoeing adventure at the Law Farm.

In 2020, nearly one in 10 drivers ages 15-20 involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted, the largest proportion for any age group.

Photo courtesy of Dexter Regional High School STUDENTS OF THE MONTH — Dexter Regional High School is pleased to announce the December Students of the Month as selected by the faculty and staff for being exemplary students.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — An interest in horses led to a dental practice that has been in operation for more than three and a half decades.

By Pete Warner, Bangor Daily News Staff Most of Maine barely has any snow to enjoy the outdoors — and adding insult to injury is the limited amount of safe ice on many of the state’s lakes and ponds forcing the cancellation of local ice fishing derbies.

By Leela Stockley, Bangor Daily News Staff An initial round of state testing showed that nearly 75 percent of the wells included in the study had what are considered safe levels of PFAS contamination.

CHARLESTON — The Maine Department of Corrections has received test results indicating that per- and  polyfluoroalkyl substances are present at levels above the state standard in three of the  five wells at the Mountain View Correctional Facility in Charleston.

Nominations are now open for the 2023 County Teachers of the Year and 2024 State Teacher of the Year.