SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Hundreds of prospective students and their families visited Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) on Saturday, Oct. 25, for the College’s annual Fall Open House, where visitors explored academic programs, toured the scenic oceanfront campus, and met the faculty and staff who help students launch rewarding careers. 

The event showcased SMCC’s more than 40 degree and certificate programs, flexible course schedules, and hands-on learning opportunities that prepare students for success in Maine’s workforce. Attendees had the opportunity to speak with faculty members

Announcing more great news for walkers:  you can now safely navigate Camden’s Ames Terrace, from Rawson Avenue to Washington Street, on a brand-new sidewalk Camden Public Works just installed as they top off the summer’s projects.

Local residents are so much safer now as they walk to and from Megunticook Market, and so are the students walking to the Camden-Rockport Middle School and running on the cross country team. No more dodging cars or ducking into roadside bushes or drainage ditches as cars race around the blind curve on that heavily-used shortcut through town.

The Camden-Rockport

Ah, the spooky old house. That Halloween icon — the abandoned home, once a place where a family lived, now just the dwelling of ghosts. Every neighborhood needs a haunted house.

I have written often about ghosts in this column. On at least one occasion, actual ghosts — the spirits of the dead that purportedly have haunted my old farmhouse, but mostly about ghosts in the sense of old memories. My home is far more haunted these days by my brothers and my younger selves than it has ever been by the poor dead boys of Vonnie and Nat Frohock.

Isn’t that what ghosts are, just the memories of people

The federal government has announced they will not be issuing November’s food stamps (SNAP)--for everyone in the entire country in November. This is a crisis, an emergency, a deliberate starvation disaster. It impacts 12.5% of Mainers—170,000 Mainers!. In Knox County, the AIO Food Pantry says it affects about 5,000 people. This especially harms kids, elders, and people with disabilities.

I am writing in Madison Cook for RSU 71 School Board and you should too! 

Madison Cook is the fresh, forward-thinking voice our community needs on the RSU 71 School Board.

As a Director at Maine Youth Power, I spend my days building social power with high school and college-aged students, working for a just and livable future for young Mainers. We need leaders like Madison, who are committed to including the next generation in shaping decisions that affect them.

I’ve been inspired by the campaign Madison has built as a write-in candidate. Her work shows how young people can step up, organize

BELFAST — Belfast’s beloved vintage Broke Neck Santa lights have hung along High Street from Macleod’s Furniture to the Belfast Free Library for more than 50 years. They are a staple to the historic downtown holiday atmosphere and for many their arrival is the first signs of the oncoming holidays.

Before they light up this year, they need wiring and hardware to hang from. We need your help to make it happen. In collaboration with the City of Belfast, the Belfast Area Chamber of Commerce, and Our Town Belfast have created a community GoFundMe to raise the $10,000 to cover the costs. This will

The Maine State Legislature voted to request permission to replace Maine’s statues of William King and Hannibal Hamlin with statues of Joshua Chamberlain and Margaret Chase Smith in Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capital. Statuary Hall displays statues of two important leaders from each of the 50 states, except for Virginia which displays only George Washington.

In 2020, Virginia removed its statue of Robert E. Lee and will replace it with a statue of a civil rights activist. As a lover of history, I hope the Maine Legislature will reconsider its request and maintain Hannibal Hamlin in Statuary

International student exchange programs are a great example of soft power in U.S. foreign policy, influencing global perceptions and fostering international cooperation through cultural diplomacy rather than coercion or military might. In an increasingly interconnected world, traditional hard power approaches—such as military interventions or economic sanctions—often generate resentment or resistance.

Conversely, soft power relies on attraction, dialogue, and mutual understanding to shape foreign attitudes and behaviors. Student exchange programs are among the most potent tools in this arsenal

My name is Alva Philbrook, I am a 1985 graduate of  Belfast Area High School and I proudly served in the U.S. Army. I have been married to my wife, Kristi, for 35 years. Together we have raised four children and are currently working to make a difference as foster parents to two children.

I am blessed to own and operate a drywall business where I’ve had the opportunity to employ many great people over the years, and have the added bonus of working alongside my own sons.

After living in this beautiful town for 35 years I would love to have the opportunity to serve here.

I believe that as a

As I wrote this, I am returning by train and bus from New York City, where I and tens of thousands of others marched in the October 18 worldwide, anti-fascist No Kings Day protests. 

Fittingly, I had the day before attended a memorial service for my friend and world-renowned mathematician Peter Lax, who, as a teenager fled fascism in Hungary and played a key role in the Manhattan Project. Peter was Jewish, and his father, a prominent physician, was slow to recognize the dangers of the fascism growing in Hungary in the 1930s and early 1940s. But not Peter's mother. She saw the growing threat

The “No Kings Demonstration,” a vast nationwide protest targeting executive overreach, offers a stark paradox: its impressive size and passionate dissent ultimately became an unexpected political advantage for President Trump.

This decentralized movement’s tactical deficiencies—primarily its ambiguous message and susceptibility to negative framing—paradoxically converted massive mobilization into an “ace of trump” for its intended target.

The primary weakness of the "No Kings Demonstration" was its fundamental ambiguity. Unlike successful historical movements that demanded a singular

 After ample debate in Parliament, Greece, the cradle of democracy, introduced in 2024 a well-thought-out system of mail-in ballots for Greek citizens abroad including the many resident in the U.S. It includes a Greek Government online portal, and, in the U.S., assistance and encouragement to vote from the Greek Embassy and Consulates in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. It is designed to serve all citizens and make it easy for them to vote.

As a new resident of Rockland, after 23 years in diplomacy and education in Greece, I am appalled to find Mainers considering

The Rotary Club of Damariscotta-Newcastle held it’s Annual Karl’s Kids BBQ/CORNHOLE/DANCE on October 19th at Duck Puddle Campground and it was a huge success. Karl’s Kids helps kids and teens in Lincoln County with financial need who want to participate in sports or enjoy outdoor physical activities. Karl’s Kids helps with equipment needs and in many other ways that will give kids and teens access to physical activities.

The weekend’s festivities were highlighted by a great Cornhole tournament organized by Mike Prentice and Carmen Reed of Bayside Plumbing & Heating, 50/50 Raffle, BBQ Pig Roast

Rockland's Emergency Warming Center is embarking on its third year of providing a safe and comfortable overnight space for all community members during the worst nights of this coming winter. We provide every guest with a quiet place to sleep, two warm meals, a warm shower, clean and comfortable bedding, and a variety of useful supplies to take with them upon leaving - and there are no barriers to entry.

We've opened our doors up at the Flanagan Community Center for 16 nights so far, serving 24 different guests for a total of 76 bed-nights so far. The most consistent feedback we receive from

The distinctive buzz and tiny, high-note sputters of the juncos are now everywhere when we walk the neighborhood. That and the high “seet” notes of the white-throated sparrows that emanate from every bush at dawn are clear signals that we are in the latter half of the fall bird migration season.

Listening at night, we also hear mostly those same white-throated sparrow “seet” notes as the birds flow south in night migration.

Yellow-bellied sapsuckers have been appearing here and there around town on our walks as well. They too tend to be later-fall migrants. Out on Monhegan Island, there

The  Rockport Budget Committee has been actively working with the Rockport Select Board to review and plan the financial plans for the upcoming fiscal year [FY 2026-2027]. A primary concern of the committee is the hardship placed on many residents with Rockport’s municipal expense budget increases of 9.75% in 2022, 16.5% in 2023, 13.23% in 2024, and 26.65% in 2025.

The committee’s primary focus has been on ensuring that proposed budgets align with organizational goals, maintaining fiscal responsibility, and identifying areas for cost reduction.

Recent Activities

Political signs along our roadsides say "Secure Elections," and urge a "yes" vote on Question 1. But our elections are already secure. I urge you to vote "no," as the opposing signs say, and ensure that those who can't get to the polls can still vote.

Don't be misled. Question 1 on the November 4th referendum is an attempt to limit the ways you can cast your ballot. Read it carefully. If passed it would "eliminate two days of absentee voting, prohibit requests for absentee ballots by phone or family members, end ongoing absentee voter status for seniors and people with disabilities..." That's

When talking with my older grandchildren about how they weigh the truthfulness of facts they read or hear, they all agree that “considering the source” is one of the most important and helpful tools a person can use.

On the holiday Monday, my wife and I set off to purchase a new dishwasher. Ours, only seven years old, had stopped working, defying all Tracee’s attempts to fix it. For the last several weeks, it has served as a drainer for the hand washed dishes, a surprisingly time consuming task in a family of five. 

During the process of selecting and ordering the new appliance, the woman selling it to us mentioned how her husband had successfully repaired their dishwasher. Then she asked if I, the guy already bored of the process and who had wandered off to check out the latest in refrigerator technology

Riley School hosted prolific author and Midcoast resident Tess Gerritsen at its Theater on Tuesday. Tess has a grandchild who attends Riley and spent some time Tuesday afternoon sharing with the community the many joys and challenges of being a writer. A highlight was viewing the same book with four different covers, depending on the publisher’s location in the world. Children asked questions about editing, where Tess’s ideas come from, and what it’s like to go on a book tour.

Tess is set to publish her thirty-third book very soon, and a TV series will also be launched based on her writing