by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Machias Memorial High School’s seniors have weathered the coronavirus pandemic with a resilient, positive attitude, says principal Brian Leavitt, and it’s those qualities the school will celebrate with an unprecedented graduation ceremony set for June 7.

“The way they’re handling this whole shutdown has been great,” said Leavitt. “They’ve been really understanding, just really good to work with as a graduating class.”

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

A vacant space on Main Street will become a hub of activity when the Machias Valley Center For Entrepreneurship opens its doors next year in Machias.

The center will aim to help small Downeast businesses thrive by offering training, access to business advisors, shared workspaces, mentorship, conference rooms, fiber optic internet, and printers among other things. Membership in the center will be sold as a monthly subscription with day and week passes available.

by Ruth Leubecker

Following a near brush with death, George Eaton remains shaken but motivated to tell his story so that others might learn from his harrowing experience.

“On May 8 about 2:30 in the afternoon, my friend Craig McCaslin and I decided to go four-wheeling at Jameson Place in Whiting,” he explains. “Anyway, Craig’s carburetor blew up so he went to Gardner’s Lake to get it fixed. So I went on alone, and I made two mistakes right then. I went alone, and I didn’t wear a helmet.”

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Roque Bluffs is known today for its charming town center, picturesque cottages, and sweeping sandy beaches. But in another age, it was known for its farms, for its fishing, and for its canneries, including an early predecessor to B&M Baked Beans.

by Valdine Atwood

Upon hearing the news of a fire at San Francisco’s Pier 45, many area residents were filled with fear for the safety of the WWII Liberty ship SS Jeremiah O’Brien but were relieved to learn that more than 150 San Francisco firefighters had saved the historic vessel. But why would Machias residents, living across the country from that California city, be so interested in what had happened to a vessel so far away?

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Maine newspapers have filed multiple requests asking the state to release the de-identified location data of its positive COVID-19 cases. Currently, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports positive case data only at the county level, making Maine an outlier in New England where all other states report cases by town or zip code.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) urges Maine people to take precautions against ticks during May, Lyme Disease Awareness Month.

Porter Memorial Library invites you to join us as we reopen to the public. Now's the time to Get Your Browse Back On! with Porter Memorial Library's new curbside pickup service, new relaxed membership and return policies, and a socially-safe pop-up used book sale.

by Joseph Horn

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

Downtown Machias will soon have access to fiber optic high-speed internet thanks to a partnership between two mainstay Main Street businesses.

Machias Savings Bank (MSB) has paid for the installation of fiber optic cable which will allow many downtown businesses and residents to tie into the fastest available internet in the nation, with symmetrical upload and download speeds up to 1,000 Mbps. The network will be built and managed by Axiom Technologies, a Machias-based internet service provider.