At $23.05 per $1,000 in assessed valuation, the new tax represents an 85-cent increase to the previous rate, and will add $170 to the tax bill for a property valued at $200,000.

Several upgrades are nearing completion as the synagogue, which opened in 1958 at 291 Main St., is set to begin a new chapter serving the region's Jewish community.

Water tables have risen and drainage systems are overwhelmed by this wet summer, resulting in costly cleanup headaches for homeowners.

As they prepare to begin a challenging new school year, we asked five Maine teachers to share their thoughts and their goals. Here's what they had to say.

Special-education teachers are in especially short supply.

Maine's tribes were celebrated Saturday as artists showed off speciality foods, hand-crafted baskets, jewelry, and a performance of drumming, song and dance.

The celebration of local wineries seeks to encourage people to visit local wineries and try different products made with ingredients sourced from within the state.

Marine Mammals of Maine reports that the whale appears to be healthy and cautions the public to view the whale safely from a distance.

A preliminary investigation has determined the pickup was traveling too fast Friday when the 18-year-old driver lost control and the truck veered off Dudley Brook Road, according to the Somerset County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies arrested Shane Murphy Sr., 48, of Fairfield and Travis Clement, 44, of Norridgewock after seizing 169 grams of fentanyl, according to information provided by Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster.

Denise Ducharme is fresh in her role as the town's top administrator and has an ambitious agenda that includes recruiting new businesses to Madison, adding housing and expanding recreational opportunities.

The late U.S. senator's car will be auctioned Sunday with a starting bid of $7,500, but Thomaston Place Auction Galleries estimates it will sell for at least twice that amount.

Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill said in a letter to seven large law firms that the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services is considering rule changes for lawyers willing to take child custody appeals.

Xavier J. Pelkey was indicted this week in Somerset County on a count of aggravated assault and authorities say he used a chair to injure another inmate at the county jail, where he was being held prior to pleading guilty to a federal conspiracy charge.

Town Manager Ella Bowman said she was notified Friday in a letter sent by Town Council Chairman Michael Perkins that she was placed on administrative leave earlier this week because of a complaint filed by municipal worker.

Augusta officials will travel Down East to see the ship put into service in September.

Town officials met this week to consider the next chapter of the 104-year-old venue and considered the possibility of separating the venue from the municipal building, as Waterville did, to broaden funding opportunities.

Mark Cardilli Jr., who admitted to shooting his sister’s boyfriend, 22-year-old Isahak Muse, in 2019, was freed on $20,000 cash bail Friday and will get a new trial if the state's appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court is rejected.

Here are some of our favorite Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel photos from the past week.

Born with only one kidney that is now failing, Mike Snow, 60, is asking folks to get screened to see if they can be a living donor, not only for himself but for others waiting for an organ transplant, Amy Calder writes.

Officer Anthony Verville fatally shot Christapher Dodge, 47, after responding to a domestic violence shooting at the Summit Terrace apartments early Friday.

In Freeport and Sanford, schools have hired English instructors and made other adjustments needed to welcome dozens of new students.

A lobsterman discovered the body floating in the ocean near Addison exactly a month after Michaud was last seen in the area.

The Rangeley Heritage Land Trust will have two years to secure deeded public access or it will lose $1.7 million to protect thousands of acres along the Kennebago River.

New rules that allow unenrolled voters to participate in either party's presidential primaries, coupled with ranked-choice voting, could complicate former President Donald Trump's odds of winning Maine's Republican nomination, despite continued strong support in his party.

Officials with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife attended the meeting, shared information and made suggestions about reducing the deer population.

Nicholas Kennard, 39, was charged Monday following a month-long investigation into illegal drug sales, according to the Somerset County Sheriff's Office.

Police launched the search in collaboration with the Maine Warden Service and other agencies after receiving a report Monday that John Lessard, 42, had entered the water at the RiverWalk.

The pole fell across both lanes blocking traffic near the Canadian-Maine border for about four hours Thursday morning.

The threats were quickly deemed not credible, according to police in Portland and Windham.

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree was joined Thursday by the chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Maria Rosario Jackson, for a stop at the Schupf Art Center before heading to Colby College.

The pilot of the Wiggins Airways plane has been identified as James Shepard-Kegl, 69, of North Yarmouth, the student pilot was Jumaane Omari Stanley Melville, 37, of St. Petersburg, Florida. 

Town Manager Ella Bowman was placed on leave Wednesday after an executive session that was not publicized on the Town Council agenda, and she says she was given no explanation for the move.

A new report last week cited an internal government memo suggesting there are as many as 270 illegal Chinese marijuana growing operations in Maine that are worth more than $4 billion.

Wet weather has prevented farmers from harvesting hay, leaving them with costly or unappealing options to feed their livestock.

Researchers say this kind of algae does not produce harmful toxins, but they worry its eventual die-off could lead to low oxygen levels that have preceded large fish and shellfish kills in other areas.

Nina Interlandi Bell was eliminated Wednesday night on the Fox television show.

The University of Maine will get $1 million to establish a new green energy and materials manufacturing center.

Medical marijuana entrepreneur Clayton Sulak has opened a dispensary in one of Richmond's oldest buildings and plans to add a barbecue smokehouse this October.

Kailie Brackett, 39, was charged with murder in April 2022 in the death of Kimberly Neptune, who was found stabbed more than 480 times at her apartment in Pleasant Point.

Tom DuBois of Salem Township was appointed to the Maine Land Use Planning Commission.

The victims, who were not identified publicly Wednesday, were the only people aboard the Beechcraft turboprop, which was destroyed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

A 911 call indicated a man had been shot early Wednesday during a burglary attempt, but it was later determined the man was injured when a gun discharged accidentally, according to the Somerset County Sheriff's Office.

Mark Cardilli Jr., who confessed to shooting 22-year-old Isahak Muse in 2019, will get a new trial after a judge ruled Tuesday that Cardilli's attorneys failed to properly make a self-defense argument.

Maine – which banned lead pipes earlier than most states – said other funds would be used to create inventories.

A U.S. District Court jury in Bangor on Friday convicted an 86-year-old Etna man of charges including mail fraud, Social Security fraud, passport fraud and identity theft.

Emergency responders at the scene said body parts were found in the wreckage of the twin-engine Beechcraft BE99 that went down near Buker Road.

With a swing set dedicated in memory of late World War II Veteran John Gee, Selectperson Eric Hilton said the playground was for the adults as much as it was for the kids on Saturday, Aug. 19.

In a rare decision, Maine's highest court said officials wrongfully withheld records about a settlement payment to a Black inmate who alleged he had been assaulted by guards while awaiting trial.

Waste Management Disposal Services is working to secure approval for the treatment plant at the Crossroads Landfill it operates in Norridgewock.

Christopher Manigat, 21, was taken into custody over the weekend and is being held without bail at the Kennebec County Jail in Augusta.

The Western Avenue restaurant that closed in 2019 was torn down this week to make room for a new Aspen Dental office.