Jayna Smith

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Calais City Councilor Kevin Niles, first elected in 2022, has resigned from his seat effective immediately, delivering a pointed rebuke of the council’s current direction and warning of a lack of urgency in addressing the city’s economic challenges.

A rare piebald deer was recently spotted downtown, displaying its striking mix of white and brown fur. The unusual coloration is caused by a genetic mutation found in fewer than 2% of white-tailed deer. (Photo by Jayna Smith)

Jayna Smith

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The Woodland Dragons ended the week 7-3 on the season after a four-game win streak. 

They outscored the Shead Tigers by a combined 24-2 across the two games, taking the first contest 13-1 on Monday, May 12, and following it up with an 11-1 win on Wednesday, May 14.

Calais High School is proud to announce Kate McPhee as the Valedictorian of the Class of 2025. She is the daughter of Bradley and Julie McPhee, of Calais. In the fall, Kate will attend Husson University, where she plans to pursue a degree in nursing. In addition to her academic pursuits, she will be a member of the university’s volleyball team. Kate aspires to become a travel nurse following graduation and intends to further her education to become a certified nurse anesthetist.

From UMaine News

Alexandria Banou Morgan, of Perry, a 2021 high school graduate of Washington Academy, is a 2025 co-salutatorian and the outstanding graduating student in the Honors College and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS). She is majoring in psychology with minors in neuroscience and philosophy.

Four members of Calais Fire-EMS were each recently presented with Maine EMS’s prestigious Phoenix Award, a distinction given to emergency medical professionals who are directly involved in the successful resuscitation of a patient suffering a non-traumatic cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting. The award recognizes not only the critical medical skills required in such high-pressure situations, but also the teamwork, quick decision-making, and dedication that result in patients returning to their lives neurologically intact.

Zachary Wentworth, a 2022 graduate of Calais High School, is the Outstanding Graduating Student in the College of Education and Human Development (COEHD) at the University of Maine, Orono. He is a secondary education major with a concentration in social studies and a minor in history. 

A Maine Top Scholar, a Maine Seacoast Mission scholar, and a Galen Cole Family Foundation scholar, Wentworth served as president of the University of Maine chapter of the Student Maine Education Association for the past two years. 

Jayna Smith

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The Calais Blue Devils rode a strong pitching performance from sophomore Noah White to secure a 6–1 victory over Houlton on Friday in the first of a doubleheader.

White tossed six complete innings while allowing only three hits, one earned run, and striking out nine without issuing a single walk. He threw just 67 pitches, 50 of them for strikes, and faced only 21 batters.

Jayna Smith

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On Thursday, May 8, 2025, the Calais City Council met for its regular meeting, with Mayor Marcia Rogers presiding over Councilors Kevin Niles, Mike Sherrard, Elery Beale, Bill Quinn, and Jame Macdonald. Councilor Pete Foster was absent from the meeting.

What follows is a brief summary of the meeting, with the full meeting available for viewing on the City of Calais’s Facebook page.

Jayna Smith

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Fiddleheads — the young, coiled fronds of the ostrich fern — are a treasured spring delicacy in Maine, New Brunswick, and across the Northeast and Maritime provinces. According to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, although many ferns have fiddleheads, not all are edible. Only the ostrich fern is recommended for safe consumption.

Jon Reisman

Higher Education in America is in for some change. The change process is not pretty or pleasant, but it is necessary because American higher education is the source of quite a bit of the toxic ideology and idiocy that has poisoned America in recent years, including identity/oppression politics, critical race theory, equity, and climate alarmism. DEI divas and defenders were created and trained on America’s campuses. 

Phil Stuart

One of the best-known players in the Quoddy Baseball League has passed away at the age of 84. Richard “Dickie” Norton of Addison played in four different decades and was one of the most productive hitters that the league produced during the 30 years of its existence. 

Jayna Smith

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Every second Saturday in May marks the annual Stamp Out Hunger National Food Drive, a nationwide event hosted by the National Association of Letter Carriers.

This Saturday, May 12, 2025, letter carriers across the country will once again take part in this massive one-day food collection effort – the largest of its kind in the nation. Now in its 32nd year, the initiative has contributed over a billion pounds of food to local pantries and shelters.

Pierre Little

OTTAWA — As the dust settles on the 2025 federal election, analysts say a convergence of U.S. influence, pocket-book concerns, and strategic vote-splitting helped deliver the Liberals a minority victory while consigning the Conservatives to opposition.

Last week’s Storytime at Lincoln Memorial Public Library was very busy with students from Pembroke and Dennysville, two of the 13 being new to the group and particularly delighted with the hand puppets that they discovered in a box! The story of the day was When Will It Be Spring? by Catherine Walters, a question many had been asking, I’m sure. The wondering baby bear, however, had fallen back to sleep when spring finally did arrive!

Cooke USA organized or participated in shoreline cleanups in six municipalities over five days in April, in and around Earth Day on April 22. The cleanups were coordinated by Cooke USA's fish health team, which includes fish health technicians Jessica Lindsay, Jaelynn Matthews, and Susana DeFrank. 

One of those cleanup events took place earlier in April and was coordinated by the town of Machiasport and its harbormaster, David Cale. About a dozen employees from Cooke’s operation in Machiasport’s Bucks Harbor district participated in that effort. 

Linda Maxwell, age 18, was last seen in the Calais area on August 23, 1984, after spending the evening with friends. Two days later her body was recovered along the shoreline of the St. Croix River in Robbinston, in Washington County. Despite an extensive investigation at the time, the case remained unsolved.

On Thursday May 1, 2025, over 40 years later, the Maine State Police made an arrest in Linda Maxwell’s murder.

Jayna Smith

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Calais Downtown Revitalization Coalition (CDRC) is excited to announce the return of the popular summer concert series, once again lighting up Tuesday evenings downtown at Flat Iron Park.

This year, CDRC is taking a large role in organizing the concerts, working alongside longtime organizer Brittani Holloway. Local businesses will continue to sponsor the concerts, helping to bring great music and vibrant energy to the heart of the community.

Washington County Sheriff Barry Curtis is seen after checking out work on the nearly completed Sheriff’s Office building on Court Street on April 24. Curtis said a May ribbon cutting ceremony is still possible, but there are still many details to be addressed, the least of which is making the physical move from the aging sheriff’s office building directly across the street.

First National Bank recently announced that it has made donations totaling $38,250 to organizations fighting food insecurity, including 35 food pantries in the bank’s market area. “First National Bank deeply values the essential services that our local food pantries offer to our neighbors in need,” acknowledged Tony C. McKim, President and CEO. “As a Maine community bank, we are dedicated to supporting these vital organizations as they work to help families put food on the table.”

Incident Remains Under Coast Guard, State Police Investigation

Paul Sylvain

For the second time in four months, families and friends of Washington County scallop fishermen are mourning the loss of a loved one taken much too soon, while a second man remains hospitalized with broken ribs and other injuries.

Jayna Smith

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On Thursday, April 24, 2025, the Calais City Council met for its regular meeting, with Mayor Marcia Rogers presiding over Councilors Kevin Niles, Mike Sherrard, Elery Beale, Pete Foster, and Bill Quinn. Council James Macdonald was absent from the meeting.

What follows is a brief summary of the meeting, with the full meeting available for viewing on the City of Calais’s Facebook page.