When her classmates put on their caps and gowns to march in commencement on Sunday, May 13, KwiNam Park will not be with them. Instead, she will lace up her shoes and run her twentieth marathon. Her goal is to raise money for food security in Downeast Maine. 

Maine’s motto is “The Way Life Should Be”, but unfortunately that is not always the case for Maine veterans. Hundreds of veterans, our hometown heroes who served this country, live on the street or in shelters. For some veterans who are homeless, their life is a struggle - to find a job, maintain family connections and to find permanent housing.

Volunteers of America Northern New England has been working to change that.

In addition to the transitional living services provided to male and female veterans, we are building permanent homes called Cabin in the Woods.

Dear Savvy Senior,

My husband and I are approaching retirement and are interested in learning more about volunteer vacations. Can you give us some information on this travel option, and refer us to some good organizations that offer these types of trips.

Love to Travel

Dear Love,

Michael Kenneth Hanley of Baileyville, Maine:  Terrorizing on 9/18/2017 in Calais.  SNTC date 1/17/2018, fine $300. Washington County Jail 48 hours, stayed 1/24/2018.  GLTY

Billie Jean Bonness of Baring, Maine.  OUI (Drugs or combo) on 9/16/2017 in Crawford.  SNTC date 1/17/2018, Fine $500, license suspended 150 days.  GLTY

by V. Paul Reynolds

If you have followed national issues at all, you may have learned somewhere along the way that even the hallowed U.S. Supreme Court Justices are not immune to all of the foibles, personal biases and character flaws that are the hallmark of the human condition.

by Valdine Atwood

by Sarah Craighead Dedmon

The latest in a series of Machias marijuana meetings was held at the town’s telebusiness center on Thursday, April 26. Nearly 30 residents and non-residents attended the board’s workshop, and therein lay one of the evening’s hot-button issues. 

“I would like to see workshops where it is [just] residents,” said Ginny Brown of Machias. “The last one was a fiasco and nothing got done. Tonight’s going to be the very same thing cause I’m already looking around the room noticing most people are not residents.”

by Ruth Leubecker

Forging ahead with forbearance and impressive results, the Maine Women’s Fund, the vision of a handful of women in 1988, is a standout as a public foundation in 2018.

Last week’s leadership luncheon -- an annual and much-anticipated occasion -- honored three women of variegated strengths and diverse accomplishments. Mufalo Chitam, a native of Zambia and recently hired director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, has lived in Maine for 18 years and is a focused champion of the immigrant woman.