By Phil Stuart

The regular season is winding down, and several area teams will be extending their season into the playoffs.

In Class B girls, Washington Academy is currently seeded ninth. If that position holds up, the Raiders will be on the road for a preliminary matchup. 

The Machias Lady Bulldogs are sixth in Class C with a 13-1 record and could possibly move up a notch. If Machias stays in the sixth spot, they would have a home preliminary contest against the 11th-seed.

By Will Tuell

Each of the eleven towns that make up a confederation of local school systems known as AOS 96 has received subsidy projections from the Department of Education. The figures, based on a combination of student enrolment and local property valuation, give school budgeters an idea of what they will have to work with as they prepare school budgets for the upcoming fiscal year, set to begin July 1. 

By Nancy Beal 

Jonesport selectmen met on Jan. 31, finalized their budget, and, that evening, presented their suggestions to the town’s budget committee. Retired bank manager Wendy Beal was chosen chairman. Joining her were business owner and Union 103 infrastructure manager John Church, realtor and builder Paul Iossa, and assessor and former high school secretary Barbie Cirone. Shane Farris was absent.

The Washington County Republican Committee has completed three of its four regional caucus meetings in Washington County. The purpose of town caucuses is to elect officers of each town committee, to elect Delegates and Alternates to the State Convention, to elect members to the Washington County Republican Committee, and to organize for the upcoming elections. 

By Will Tuell

Nurses Working Since October Without a Contract

By Paul Sylvain

Bone-chilling cold on Jan. 27 failed to deter at least 22 nurses and techs employed at Down East Community Hospital in Machias from rallying on the Jeremiah O’Brien Bridge. The nurses have been working without a contract since October and are trying to leverage public support for what they call “safe staffing” levels as part of their new contract. 

Public Hearing set for Feb. 5

By Paul Sylvain

For Machiasport’s selectmen, their Jan. 26 meeting must have seemed like deja vu all over again.

For the second time in six weeks, Machiasport’s three-member board, along with town attorney Stephen Wagner of Bangor, met to consider five legal motions aimed at taking by condemnation and eminent domain portions of private property at 1755 and 1759 Port Road in Starboard to build a public access road to the Point of Maine and a pair of islands accessible only at low tide.

The Lubec Community Outreach Center (LCOC) is pleased to announce a Knot Tying Workshop on Saturday, Feb. 3, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. 

This is a repeat of an earlier knot tying workshop, which proved to be extremely well attended and much enjoyed. The LCOC is happy to bring back the workshop and its co-leaders, Captain John “Jack” Lynskey and retired fisherman Nathan Dunford, for a second round!

by Jonathan Reisman

With an eleven-point victory in the Granite State GOP primary over last woman standing, Nikki Haley, Donald Trump is the almost-certain-to-be Republican presidential nominee. I think he is a riskier choice than almost all the alternatives, especially Ron DeSantis. Riskier means potential variance in outcomes. 

EAC's Sunday Afternoons at the Arts Center series continues on Feb. 4 at 3 p.m., when Donald Soctomah will present a screening of Ntolonapemk: Our Ancestors’ Place, a 2006 film, which documents the cleanup of one of the most contaminated sites in Maine. In earlier times, Ntolonapemk was one of the sites of a Passamaquoddy village. For thousands of years, people would come to this spot to harvest great numbers of fish on their annual run up the Dennys River. A true success story, the film chronicles the site’s cleaning and return to the Passamaquoddy people.

By Steve Robinson

Five months after telling its staff and readers that it planned to disclose “the funders” behind the purchase of five Maine daily newspapers, the nonprofit trust now controlling several of Maine’s oldest news brands hasn’t kept the promise.

The sale of the Portland Press Herald, Lewiston Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal, and other Maine news brands to the “National Trust for Local News” was completed last summer.

By Will Tuell

It’s a common refrain in law enforcement circles that the number of applicants for open police and corrections officer positions is dwindling while the demand for qualified officers continues to rise. Whether it’s the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, any one of Downeast Maine’s small-town police departments, or state law enforcement agencies, the demand for officers is high while interest is sagging. 

By Wayne Smith

I caught up with Amity Chipman of Chipman’s Wharf in Milbridge and Charles Kelley of Kelley’s Lobster Pound in Steuben last week, and their stories of the Jan. 10 storm illustrate just how bad it was in our area. They tell the story of heartache and survival, of picking up the pieces and going forward, as it had a direct impact on their businesses.  

by Jonathan Reisman

Fort O’Brien Elementary School in Machiasport has begun a new program to recognize students at the school who truly shine like stars as peer role models for other students at the school to aspire to. In fact, the school is even calling it the “Star Students” program.

“Students were chosen based on academic performance, kindness, and willingness to help in their own classroom and in the school,” said Suzanne Reynolds, who teaches combined first and second grades at Fort O’Brien. “These students are all ‘well rounded’ and show excellence in all aspects of school and community.”

By Paul Sylvain

When you think of winter storms in Downeast Maine, most people think of a good, old-fashioned nor'easter with a foot or two of snow and telephone pole-high drifts. But as Mother Nature proved last week, the destructive might and power of winter storms can come in many different forms.

The Washington County coast was assaulted last week by the full brunt of two such storms three days apart. The first arrived on Jan. 10 and the second on Jan. 13. They could have been named Winter Storm “Peat” and “Repeat”. 

By Wayne Smith

Johnny Brooks Jr. of Steuben brought some of the best musical talent to the stage at The Franklin Vets Club recently to raise $3,700 for the Machias Veterans Home activities fund. The music was amazing, and for many, including several residents from the home itself, the “Johnny Dream Show” came true. 

By Paul Sylvain

It wasn’t that long ago that the working relationship between the Machias Police Department and town officials was contentious at best. Selectboard meetings with past police chiefs and former board members were often confrontational and punctuated by fiery exchanges between both sides.

The Machias community at large was usually supportive of whoever the chief and the department’s officers were at the time; however, the same could not be said of the selectmen. 

The first baby born in 2024 at Down East Community Hospital in Machias arrived at 6:02 a.m, Sunday, Jan. 14.

Pierce Pineo, third son of Colin and Karmen Pineo of Jonesboro, weighed in at 9 lbs, 1 oz. and measured 21 inches.

This healthy, beautiful baby boy is the little brother of Bentlee, age 5, and Kiegan, age 2.

By Paul Sylvain

There was a chorus of excited “oohs” and “ahs” heard in Elm Street School’s music room on Jan. 8. However the students’ awestruck reaction had nothing to do with music and everything to do with meeting exotic critters that turned the school’s music room into a makeshift zoo for the day.

Developer Drafting Plans for New 8-Unit Apartment Building in Machias

By Paul Sylvain

Come April, new construction, now going up just inside Machias town limits on Outer Dublin Street/Route 1, will be the new home office for IMK Properties and King Construction, both owned by Northfield developer Justin King.

By Nancy Beal