By the way, mark your calendar. The moose lottery application process for the upcoming fall moose hunt is officially open. Online applications only.

RSU 68 officials are looking at an approximate 1.3 percent budget increase, in both the spending plan total and the tax commitment to the four district communities.

Connor DiAngelo of Greenville is this year’s Piscataquis County recipient of the Legislature’s $1,000 Memorial Scholarship. DiAngelo is majoring in finance and financial economics at the University of Maine. He also received the scholarship in 2019.

On Wednesday, March 11, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Sara Gideon will host a bean supper in Dover-Foxcroft beginning at 5 p.m. The event is open to the public and free to attend. The menu will include baked beans, hot dogs, brown bread, cole slaw, desserts and beverages for attendees. The event will be held at The Commons at Central Hall, 152 East Main St.

Today, after yet another report of a monster brook trout coming from the state’s largest lake, I’m changing my stance a bit and offering up some enthusiastic advice. If you want to catch the fish of a lifetime, you might want to consider Moosehead Lake.

The program can still reverse field and stay at the 11-player game, but Dexter Regional High School is looking to be among a number of Maine high school football teams -- including much of the Little Ten Conference (LTC)/Class  D North -- shifting to 8-man football when the 2020 season kicks off in August. The SAD 46 school board supported the transition with a formal motion during a March 4 meeting at the Ridge View Community School. A timeline would be determined by the superintendent and principal.

"I'd go, 'Well, we're going fishing this weekend. We can't do that,'" Brann said. For 11 years, that excuse worked. But this year, with an annual fishing vacation to Moosehead Lake with three other couples looming, Collins made Brann a deal he couldn't refuse.

Jim Young reached out to share his story and a photo of the impressive brookie he caught while fishing Moosehead Lake recently. The monster squaretail weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces and was 25 inches long. The fish was also 18 inches around at its widest point.

Should the need arise, the county has up to a $1.75 million line of credit, with a 2.45 percent interest rate, with Androscoggin Savings Bank after the Piscataquis County Commissioners and Treasurer Johanna Turner signed the paperwork during a March 3 meeting.

With the pending retirement of a Waterville hospital executive and the recent addition of a new hospital, Northern Light Health is shuffling around the leadership of its hospitals in central Maine and Piscataquis County.

The plan for Legislative District 119 includes work in seven of the district’s towns: Abbot, Greenville, Monson, Parkman, Sangerville, Sebec and Shirley. It includes 12 projects over the next three years, totaling over $12.88 million. Highlights include reconstruction of Route 6 in Abbot ($8,680,000) and work on Route 23 in Sangerville ($2,660,000).

Each month the SeDoMoCha School recognizes “Students in the Spotlight” celebrating pupils from kindergarten to grade 8 who teachers and staff have determined best demonstrate a specific positive attribute or characteristic chosen for the timeframe from the Habits of Mind (a set of life skills for educators and parents). The February students were honored for “Creating, Imagining and Innovating” on the morning of Monday, March 1.

The Bangor Savings Bank Foundation recently awarded $40,461 in grants to 13 nonprofit organizations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Among the recipients is the Code Maine Coding Academy in Dover-Foxcroft, to provide nine-month, tuition-free, software development and professional skills training to under-advantaged high school graduates in the Maine Highlands region.

The Clarks agreed to a $10,000 sale price with Friends of Community Fitness covering the $2,300 closing costs, allowing Friends of Community Fitness to officially become building owners as of Nov. 22. The now permanent home was recognized with a “Keys to the Building Celebration” on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 29 with Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Denise Buzzelli presenting a symbolic oversized key.

Two organizations with a shared vision to meet the health care needs of the people of Piscataquis County have officially come together. Northern Light Health and Mayo Regional Hospital completed their merger agreement on Sunday, March 1. On Monday morning, Michelle Hood, president and CEO of Northern Light Health, joined with Marie Vienneau, president and CEO of the newly named Northern Light Mayo Hospital, for a press conference and celebration at  the hospital with employees.

Our national bird, the American Bald Eagle, has been getting its fair share of media attention lately. Maine Game Wardens are still investigating the illegal shooting of one of our national symbols in western Maine. And, in a soon-to-be released story in the April issue of the Northwoods Sporting Journal, columnist and USFWS wildlife biologist Mark McCollough writes a most fascinating article about the eventual fate of a 36-year-old state resident bald eagle that had to be euthanized by wildlife officials.

Spectators gathered at the finish line at Lonesome Pine Trails in Fort Kent to cheer on mushers as they arrived at the end of their 30-mile trek through Fort Kent at the Can-Am Sled Dog Races on Feb. 29. Race winner was racer No. 25 Rico Portalatin of Milo with a time of 2:24:11; second place, No. 2 Julie Albert with a time of 2:49:19; and third place, No. 24, Alexander Theriault with a time of 2:52:21. 

Valley Grange of Guilford is sponsoring a blanket-making event from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, March 28 and volunteers are needed. Organizer Pat Engstrom notes “no sewing skills are needed. If you can measure, cut a straight line with scissors and tie a simple knot you can become a ‘blanketeer’ and help support Project Linus.”