Spectrum Generations, in partnership with the Rockland Public Library, presents a Medicare 101 class, taught by Medicare certified volunteers on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 1 p.m., in the Library’s Community Room. 

Topics covered include: Medicare Parts A and B, drug coverage, Medigaps, Medicare Advantage plans, eligibility, avoiding penalties, Medicare Savings Programs, and more. The Medicare 101 class includes a copy of the presentation used and additional resources for participants to take home. 

The Maine Department of Labor offers free workplace safety and labor law training to help employers, managers, supervisors, human resources professionals and others understand workplace safety requirements and Maine labor laws. The Department has announced its schedule of October classes, with trainings offered through SafetyWorks! and the Bureau of Labor Standards.

MaineHealth will expand its research into the health impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, with funding from a five-year, $4.5 million grant by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.

The Maine State Library will hold community listening sessions around the state during the week of September 28 to gather feedback for the creation of a Maine Artificial Intelligence (AI) Literacy Framework. One of those listening sessions will be held at Belfast Free Library, Sept. 29, from 12 - 1:30 p.m.

Colton Butler, 8th grade student, and his mother, Heather Butler, 5th grade teacher and team lead, both from Camden-Rockport Middle School (CRMS), gave a talk on the Camden-Rockport Wabanaki Sign Project at the September 19 meeting of Lady Knox Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

BANGOR/HAMPDEN — The Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) will be closing the on-ramp from northbound Route 202 to westbound I-395 on September 25, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., for placing curb in the median.

Drivers heading northbound on Route 202 towards I-395 should use Exit 3B on I-395 onto Main Street in Bangor and take the next on-ramp to get onto I-395 westbound, according to MaineDot, in a news release.

Message boards are in place advising of the upcoming closure and there are detour signs along the detour route.

ROCKLAND — With local students back at school, Funding Our Future (FOF) is looking back over a successful summer of building community awareness and fundraising for the upcoming renovation of Oceanside High School’s auditorium. 

United Midcoast Charities (UMC) awarded a record-setting $686,300 in grants to 40 nonprofit organizations serving Knox and Waldo counties during its Annual Grantee Breakfast, sponsored by the Samoset Resort in Rockport. 

The annual event brought together nonprofit leaders, community partners, and UMC’s Community Grant Reader volunteers to celebrate the impact of local philanthropy and the organizations working every day to strengthen the Midcoast region through services focused on food security, housing, health and safety, and economic security.

Island Institute is one of five Maine organizations receiving donations from Bar Harbor Bank & Trust's "Casual for a Cause" second quarter 2026 employee-driven charitable giving program. Eleven organizations serving communities in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont will share more than $26,000 in donations.

WOOLWICH — On September 22, the Maine Department of Transportation will perform work on Route 1 in Woolwich.

Drivers will encounter one-way alternating traffic from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

This work is weather dependent, and the backup date is September 23, according to MaineDOT, in a news release.

The project location is near the southern end of Pleasant Cove Bridge in front of the former southern entrance to George Wright Road.

The Children’s House Montessori School (CHMS), in Camden, welcomes four new educators this fall. 

Ingrid Mangiardi joins Children’s House as Aftercare Coordinator and Classroom Assistant. Originally from Peru, Mangiardi studied advertising in Lima and has spent the past five years working in early childhood education programs in Maine. She moved to the Midcoast with her family this spring and especially enjoys sharing art and hands-on activities with children.

The Maine Center for Entrepreneurs (MCE), a leading statewide entrepreneurship development organization since 1997, according to the University of Maine System, in a news release, will move its programs to the UMS Graduate and Professional Center (Maine Center) effective Oct. 1.

The transition will sustain MCE’s proven programs while strengthening the statewide impact of the entrepreneurship, innovation and workforce development efforts of Maine’s public universities, according to UMS. 

First National Bank has launched the Dream First Community Grant, a new $5,000 funding opportunity supporting food security-related programming in the Maine communities the Bank serves. 

One eligible registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, municipality, or school will receive funding to launch a new initiative, expand a promising program, or strengthen an existing service. Applicants must serve residents in Lincoln, Knox, Waldo, Hancock, Penobscot, or Washington County.

SOUTH THOMASTON — Join Georges River Land Trust and Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District to learn about the diverse native plant species occupying Maine’s shorelines. Riverview Hayfields Preserve offers both saline and freshwater wetland habitats for exploring a variety of native plant species, how to identify them, and the unique ecological roles they play in our environment, according to GRLT, in a news release.