Midcoast Rec will cut the ribbon for the new Camden National Bank Pickleball Center, January 29, 2026, at 5 p.m. 

University of Maine Cooperative Extension, in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire and University of Vermont Extension, will offer a 2026 Tri-State Dairy Exchange monthly webinar series beginning Wednesday, Jan. 28, from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. The series continues on the last Wednesday of each month and is held live online.

Waldo County republicans from all twenty-six towns in Waldo County will caucus on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026, beginning at 9 a.m., at Searsport High School, 24 Mortland Rd, Searsport.

Candidate presentations with Town Caucus to follow, according to the Waldo County Republican Committee, in a news release.

For details, check Waldo County GOP page on Facebook. 

University of Maine Cooperative Extension will host a webinar focused on identifying and managing weeds in greenhouse ornamental production, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, from 6 to 7:15 p.m. 

“Effective Weed Management in Greenhouse Ornamentals” will be led by Manjot Sidhu, assistant Extension professor of horticulture and ornamental horticulture specialist at UMaine.

The Northern Maine Chapter of SCORE has been selected to receive the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2026 National SCORE Chapter of the Year Award. Score provides free mentoring and business counseling services to startup, emerging, and established businesses in Maine.  

BELFAST and ROCKPORT — Three local ophthalmologists will officially join MaineHealth Pen Bay and Waldo hospitals early next month.

Hawthorne Arts Collaborative, the organization that owns and operates the Colonial Theatre in Belfast, has hired Cam Howard (they/them) as the organization’s new Program Director.

Ed Geis will lead an online presentation called Medical Marijuana, hosted by Merryspring Nature Center, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 12 p.m. 

Geis is a commercial hemp grower in Camden. He will discuss the biology, history, and uses of the hemp plant. He’ll also talk about his organic regenerative growing approach and the medicinal uses of hemp flower. 

ROCKLAND – Thirty years at Rockland Fire and EMS. Four months shy of forty years in the fire service.

City officials, former co-workers, family, and firefighters from surrounding towns joined Rockland Fire and EMS, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, to celebrate Adam Miceli’s retirement, just a few days over 30 years to the day when he first walked into the Park Street station as an employee. Miceli clocked out of his last shift at 7 a.m., Jan. 29, 2025.

MAINE – Winter often brings an increase in seasonal layoffs, with January traditionally being one of the busiest periods for unemployment insurance claims, according to the Maine Department of Labor, in a news release. Therefore, MDOL is providing the following information for people applying for unemployment insurance benefits.

If laid off, or furloughed, the Department encourages affected workers to do the following:

January 20, 5-7pm, American Flatbread in Rockport - Midcoast Climate, Energy + Green Building Meetup - Meet Midcoasters working in housing, energy, climate and resilience; share what you’re working on, jobs or other opportunities. Free, open to the public, all ages.

The Town of Appleton has provided a few updates to its January calendar:

The rabies clinic will now be January 17, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Appleton Fire Station. We apologize for the last-minute change. Please spread the word.

The Town office will be open for dog registrations at that time if you'd like to do that as well.

ROCKLAND — On January 6, 2026, the Stella Maris Apartments Tenants Association donated $200 to Pope Memorial Humane Society in recognition and appreciation for all they do in the community.

ROCKLAND — Rockland Planning Board members approved a motion to postpone, for up to one year, the full review of a site plan application proposal that would construct a second level of parking at the ferry terminal in Rockland. The representatives of Trillium Engineering and Maine Dept. of Transportation who attended the Jan.

The Maine Dept. of Labor reported Jan. 7 that the unemployment rate in the state remain unchanged in November at 3.2 percent and the number of nonfarm wage and salary jobs increased by 1,300 in from a 30-month low in October.

The number of jobs decreased by 4,400 from January 2025 and almost 6,000 from the peak in Fall 2024, the report said.

BELFAST — MaineHealth Waldo Hospital welcomes Carolyn Stwertka, MD, to its Pediatrics Belfast practice.

Dr. Stwertka comes to Waldo Hospital from Northern Light Pediatric Care, in Bangor, and Maine Coast Pediatrics, in Ellsworth, where she was a pediatrician at both locations.