Eighth-grader Nathanael Brown emerged as the last speller standing during the eighth annual SeDoMoCha Middle School District Spelling Bee on the evening of Jan. 9.

When it comes to Maine’s fabled outdoor heritage, you don’t have to be a social scientist or a statistician to sense what is going on.

Results from the ninth annual Maine Highlands Sled Dog Club and the town of Brownville’s Brownville-KI and Beyond Sled Dog Race held on Jan. 27-28 are as follows starting with Saturday’s events:

During a Jan. 22 meeting of the Dover-Foxcroft selectmen, PCEDC Executive Director Chris Winstead said about a year before he met with them prior to the survey.

Destination Moosehead Lake has been awarded a pair of grants to provide for the hiring of professional photographers and video production staff to create images and clips for organization marketing materials showcasing the summer, fall and winter seasons throughout the region.

Rep. Norman Higgins, I-Dover-Foxcroft, announced that the Maine Department of Transportation has included a major rehabilitation and paving project on Route 7 in its upcoming work schedule. The 4.13-mile section from the Shaw Road to Black Stream will be placed for bid on March 14.

I don't like waiting in lines. I have no gripe waiting a reasonable amount of time. Fifteen minutes; 20 minutes at the outside. Mostly, I don't like private or public entities acting as if my time doesn’t matter.

Through its mission of providing information and support to people of all ages affected by abuse and domestic violence throughout the region, staff at Partners for Peace work closely with area law enforcement. Often Partners for Peace personnel and police officers are together during times of crisis, so the organization hosted members of the various law enforcement agencies for a pancake breakfast at the Mechanic Street location on Jan. 26.

With prolonged cold spells and bone-chilling sub-zero temperatures, the ice this year on Maine lakes and ponds is solid and safe for people and snowmobiles, right? Wrong.

Dozens of Democrats gathered on Saturday, Jan. 20 for the grand opening of the Piscataquis County Democrats Headquarters at 25 North Street. Dr. Richard Evans of Dover-Foxcroft announced his candidacy for the Maine House of Representatives District 120 and addressed the enthusiastic crowd.

Each month outstanding pupils in grades 5-8 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are honored by being named Students of the Month. On the third Friday of the month the honorees are presented with certificates in front of their peers during the morning meeting.

Food cupboards around the region, large and small, may be able to better serve residents in need once the Piscataquis Regional Food Center is up and running. The center, located in the former home of Foxcroft Agway on North Street, would help the distribution of items across the area, the Piscataquis County Commissioners learned during a Jan. 16 meeting.

In 2016 the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC) was awarded $120,000 for broadband internet planning from the Office of the Maine Attorney General, with the funds coming from consumer settlements the office reached with several wireless carriers. The monies helped the PCEDC work with Axiom Technologies of Machias to conduct a survey of the region to help develop a regional technology plan aimed at economic and community development.

Game wardens are urging anyone accessing Maine’s lake and ponds to exercise extreme caution. Following the Jan. 17 rescue of three people from Long Pond in Southwest Harbor, at least nine more people reported breaking through thin ice on snowmobiles in a 24-hour period.

Before either taking or publishing photographs or movies of them, should we show our children the same courtesy we show Maine prisoners? Should we give our children the right to say, “No"?

One notable ice fishing event is the Moosehead Lake Togue Derby scheduled this year for Jan. 26-28 in Greenville. This derby has been around for a number of years and began really as a fisheries management tool, a way to cut down on the Moosehead Lake togue population and, in so doing, helping preserve the forage base for landlocked salmon survival.

An escaped prisoner who left his home confinement on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 16 was reportedly captured later that night, according to police.

Once a month students in kindergarten through grade 4 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School are honored with the presentation of HERO awards during the school-wide morning meeting on the first Friday of each month.