Observer photo/Stuart HedstromPULLING THEIR WEIGHT — Driver Mike Kirkpatrick of Whitefield and R&R Windows of Easthampton, Massachusetts guides Henry and Howie to a first-place performance in the 3,200 class of the horse pull at the 134th Piscataquis Valley Fair in Dover-Foxcroft on Aug.

ELLSWORTH & PORTLAND – The Belvedere Traditional Handcrafts Fund of the Maine Community Foundation has awarded $107,901 to 12 organizations across Maine that promote traditional handcrafts.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — On Wednesday, Sept.

Maine has the distinction of being the most forested state in the country, with 89 percent of its area covered by woods.

Community members from across Penobscot County will be given an opportunity to shape priorities for community health at a special forum aimed at providing input to the region’s public health and healthcare organizations.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Three girls will reign as Miss Maple in three respective age groups for the next year after being crowned during the sixth annual Miss Maple Pageant on Saturday morning, Aug.

By Beth Ranagan DEXTER — In 2019 Gatherings 4 Main Street, the site of Dexter’s Seventh Day Adventist Church, opened under the direction of Dawn Tritch, the then assistant minister.

By Judy Harrison, Bangor Daily News Staff Penobscot County Treasurer and former Bangor School Committee member John Hiatt was indicted Friday by the Penobscot County grand jury on charges related to his alleged harassment of a female friend.

By Judy Harrison, Bangor Daily News Staff A text alert issued Thursday morning that was among the first of its kind warned that there had been a spike in drug overdoses in Penobscot County over the past 24 hours.

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The Center Theatre in Dover-Foxcroft announced that it will be holding a Whoopie Pie Eating Contest as a fundraiser on Sunday, Sept.

By Alexander MacDougall, Houlton Pioneer Times Staff HOULTON — Some of Maine’s rivers have the lowest water levels they’ve seen in decades, and it would take more than a foot of rain to pull Maine out of the drought it has been in for the second straight summer.

By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff Mainers should now wear masks regardless of their vaccination status in all Maine counties because of rising COVID-19 infections.

By David Marino Jr.

This story will be updated.

DEXTER — The SAD 46 Board of Directors authorized Superintendent Kevin Jordan to enter into an agreement with Group Mission Trips — a non-profit, interdenominational Christian volunteer home-repair group — to host a summer workcamp again next summer.

DEXTER — SAD 46 will require masks or face shields in the schools only under certain circumstances guided by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s community transmission color code system.

By David Marino Jr.

By Lia Russell Piscataquis, Penobscot and Waldo counties have had the highest rates of new coronavirus cases in recent weeks as the highly contagious delta variant has taken hold and the counties’ lower-than-average vaccination rates have persisted.