Spotlight Pilot

Total potential fiscal impact of $82.9 million
Question 5 on the Maine State Ballot appearing before voters Nov. 5 asks for approval of a new flag design created by Adam Lemire, of Gardiner.

Maine voters will consider five state questions on the Nov. 5 ballot. Three of them ask that Maine borrow money to fund various proposals, all totaling $82,875,000. Question 1 relates to political…

Halloween Rundown 2024

As we approach The Midnight Hour in the Midcoast, here is a comprehensive list of Halloween-themed events everyone can enjoy. From parties to movies, poetry to theater, here are the color-coded…

Elise S. Brown

PenBayPilot.com has circulated questions to the two candidates, Elise S. Brown, D-Liberty, and Timothy Allen Parker, Jr., R-Unity, who are competing for one open seat on the Waldo County…

Marc Ratner

PenBayPilot.com has circulated questions to the two candidates, Gordon Page, I-Owls Head, and…

Downtown Camden, July 4, 2024. (Photo by Lynda Clancy)

CAMDEN—Camden, with its picturesque small town and harbor, has been the backdrop to multiple films over the last several decades, including Stephen King's horror drama, Thinner, and the…

William D. Pluecker, I-Warren

PenBayPilot.com has circulated questions to candidates seeking office in Midcoast Senate and House District. As candidates return their responses, we are posting them on the Pilot's front page,…

Elections 2024
Stephen J. Hemenway

PenBayPilot.com has circulated questions to candidates seeking office in Midcoast Senate and House District. As candidates return their responses, we are posting them on the Pilot's front page,…

Rob Martell, co-owner of Maineport Brewing

SEARSPORT—At the site of the old Captain Tinkham's Emporium, a new brewery has quietly opened, becoming a new "third place" for locals and visitors to sit down at the wooden benches, talk, and…

Major milestone reached
The Rockport Community Park site plan

ROCKPORT — With a turning of the page, conceptualizing a park at the former elementary school site on West Street in Rockport has moved from conversation to design and engineering.

On Sept.…

‘Winnie’ the raccoon is now thriving at Wilderness Miracles Wildlife Rehab in Bowdoin

WINSLOW—Living in Maine, it’s a fact of life that wildlife will cross the roads and in the most unfortunate circumstances, sometimes will get hit by cars.

Kristen Linscott, 32, was…

Named after Penobscot Nation World War II and Korean War battle hero
The Charles Norman Shay, at sea in June. (Photo courtesy Maine Dept. of Transportation)

ROCKLAND - The Maine Department of Transportation and Maine State Ferry Service commissioned the

Surprise Update: she got adopted on September 7 and now lives in an animal sanctuary

CAMDEN—In one room set aside for PAWS Animal Adoption Center, more than 12 cats— mostly tuxedo and black-haired breeds hang out in their comfortable beds and boxy houses staring warily at anyone…

UMaine’s RFP, review processes was ‘illogical, opaque, and approach the cynical’

Last week, the University of Maine said it was sticking with its decision to sell the Hutchinson Center to Calvary Hope Belfast church,…

Appellants say they offered $1.9 million in value to UMaine, while church offered $1 million

BELFAST — A group of Midcoast residents organized as the Future of the Hutchinson Center Steering Committee/Waterfall Arts (FHC-WA) are…

PENOBSCOT BAY — Over the past weekend, the U.S. Coast Guard celebrated its 234th birthday, while Rockland was equally jubilant in…

HOPE — It was supposed to be a regular monthly meeting of the Hope Fire Department, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024. But mysterious asides kept entering the picture.

For the first jeans-and-T-shirts…

Amended Maine statute requires name on mailers

AUGUSTA — Following a brief discussion July 24, the Maine Commission of Government Ethics and Elections Practices – more familiarly known…

THOMASTON — In the summer, if anyone is there, the Fire and EMS station’s garage doors are open. Dirt from the street incessantly piles up on the furniture. Yet, to close the doors means to suffer…

Thomaston Fire Department officially appointed an interim Fire Chief, June 24, 2024, to be held until a search and nomination for a new leader can be fulfilled. On the police side, 14 applicants…

repurposed industrial site or undeveloped waterfront

SEARSPORT — The geographical distance between Mack Point and Sears Island on the northern end of Penobscot Bay is but a slingshot apart,…

parking lot of the Country Inn is now a food truck court

ROCKPORT—You know what Maine can never see enough of? Great Mexican food.

Joe Simko, owner/chef of the new Taco Joe’s food truck, opened quietly last week in the parking lot of The Country…

Open to the public on weekends and offering the road stand all season

LINCOLNVILLE—It’s always exciting to see someone’s hobby bloom into a full entrepreneurial business as we’ve seen in past PenBay Pilot stories, from…

Contract dispute between van delivery vendors behind the delay

MAINE—On Tuesday, June 4, libraries around the state put out notices on their websites and social media platforms informing patrons that the Interlibrary Loan delivery service had been disrupted…

On Thursday, June 6, Regional School Unit 40’s regular school board

Knight’s Store, Bill’s Store, The Center General. The building smack in the center of the Center has long been the place to get all manner of goods. In the old days it was a true General Store,…

In business

ROCKLAND—It was Anthony Bourdain’s first book, Kitchen Confidential that first introduced me to the chef’s term, mise en place, a French expression for…

6 to 8 p.m., French Conference Room, Camden Town Office

CAMDEN — PenBayPilot.com will host a Camden Select Board Candidates’ Forum Tuesday, May 14, from 6 to 8 p.m., in the French Meeting Room at the Camden Town Office on Washington Street.

Schools in Maine benefited from free weekend program

OWLS HEAD—Owls Head Transportation Museum held its second annual STEM Fest 2024 on April 26  and 27— this time expanding over a full…

Celebrating Independent Bookstore Day across Maine April 27

MAINE—I have a theory about books you were meant to find and those which were meant to find you—treat a bookstore like the open road and…

ROCKPORT — Nothing has to be decided in the near term, and there is room to adjust course; but either way, Rockport has to make progress…

Modified ordinance amendments to appear as warrant articles at June Town Meeting

CAMDEN — More than three hours were dedicated Tuesday evening, April 2, to a hearing on proposed new regulations governing short-term…

UPDATE: The Rockport Select Board moved its discussion to its April meeting concerning the matter of winter boat storage, citing the March 10 storm, and need to assess damage at the harbor.

Privately-owned working waterfront often not covered by federal disaster assistance

ROCKPORT – Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher opened a seminar on working waterfront at the…

MIDCOAST — The March 10 storm picked up intensity soon after daybreak Sunday morning, and by high tide at 11:30 a.m., the ocean was sweeping over the land, just as it had done during the Jan. 10  …

Results from the March 5, 2024 presidential primaries began rolling in quickly soon after polls closed at 8 p.m. The results here are being updated as municipalities finish their tallies.

Voters in Waldo County weighed in at the polls with their preference for party candidates to compete for the national election in November. Here is how voters in each municipality in Waldo County…

‘This was not an easy decision, nor is it one that I made lightly’

SEARSPORT — The announcement made Feb. 20 by the State of Maine that is has chosen Sears Island and not Mack Point in Searsport as its preferred site for a port facility to support the floating…

Mid-Coast Forum makes audio recording of the evening available

CAMDEN — Any era in human history can be fraught with social and political tension, but these days we are on overload, not just with…

Goal is 2027 occupancy

CAMDEN — A shortage of workforce housing prompted School Administrative District 28 to convert the Elm Street School, located on the…

TENANTS HARBOR — A stokes basket carrying a fisherman was passed hand over hand across an island Sunday evening, Jan. 28, 2024, after search and rescuers tracked the overdue man to the treacherous…

In the past year and month, record-breaking weather extremes in line with the expected impacts of a warming world have brought disruption, destruction and even death to all corners of Maine.…

Sturdy ash tree helped keep Jeep from landing in deep, icy water

ROCKPORT – Just as dusk settled into Saturday evening, Jan. 20, a woman driving a Jeep careened over four-foot tall chain link fence and…

Knox County administrators are taking a moment to celebrate some positive news this weekend. Though work is still required in returning the County to a fully staffed and self-supporting district,…

ROCKLAND — The Rockland Police Department posted the following news release to its Facebook page:

Wednesday evening (01/10/2024), Rockland Police were called to the Ferry Terminal Parking…

Power out in multiple counties

The coastline suffered major damage with high tide occurring around 9:30 a.m., Jan. 10, 2024. The ocean was washing over all infrastructure, ripping and tearing property and sending surf to the…

Waldoboro hopes house removed by July
Waldoboro Hoffses House on Friendship Road

WALDOBORO — The Town of Waldoboro is trying again to spark interest in salvaging and relocating an historic old home, the Hoffses House,…

No new commercial developments over 4,000 square feet in size pending land use ordinance review

LINCOLNVILLE — In a town where citizens are known to speak up and debate issues, they surprised even themselves Dec. 11 when they voted…