Marcus Mrowka and I have served together for the last six years on the Five Town CSD and Camden-Rockport Schools school boards. We have served through COVID, major facilities projects, leadership transitions, and difficult budget conversations. Through all of this, Marcus has been a steadfast and level headed leader.

Marcus’ great strength is that he values people – those with whom he serves on the Board, educators and staff in our schools, parents, and the students. He shows up, taking time to sit in on classes, attend events, listen, collaborate, and balance the needs of our students and

Around noon Friday, during that brief reprieve I have built into my work day, when I go for a quick walk or otherwise get out of the office, I received a text from my daughter, who was up at UMaine for the All-State Choir. “If y’all do prayer stuff ever, a quick one for Alden’s brother is needed.”

Her boyfriend’s brother is a deputy chief with the Hope Volunteer Fire Department. This is the first I learned of the horror unfolding at Robbins Lumber, just over the Camden Hills. Rushing back to the office, I remained glued for much of the afternoon, between clients, to the news reports and social

Since the founding of the United States, it is estimated that 558 million Americans and immigrants have lived in this country. More than 1.1 million of them have died defending the United States in wars and combat actions since the American Revolution. They each have stories to tell. The crosses at Normandy. The graves at Arlington. The markers at Punchbowl. The fallen heroes who rest in places unknown.

We are here for them. We do not forget. We are here for the 2,341 American servicemembers who lost their lives during the attack on Pearl Harbor 85 years ago.

We are here for the 3,100 combat

For us, spring birding this year has been marked by a new species arriving just about every day, making us very aware of that deep pulse of life on Earth called migration. Eastern kingbirds arrived last week, a house wren a few days ago, and today, our first prairie warblers and brown thrashers. Right in the backyard, a flock of warblers flitted through—a black-throated green singing “Zee-zee-zoo-zee” to alert us that it was there. After a few minutes of scanning the newly green maples, we’d seen black-and-white warbler, northern parula, yellow warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, and

I’m glad Maine has ranked-choice voting this year. Know who fought hard for this citizen-initiative back in 2017? Hannah Pingree.

I’ve known the Pingree family since the 1990s when Chellie Pingree was publishing her popular Maine Island Classic knitting books with Yankee Publishing, where I worked. Hannah, like her mother, is one of the smartest, most productive, community-oriented women you’ll ever meet. Hannah’s solutions are innovative, far-reaching and sustainable—not quick fixes.

For the past six years, she has worked with the Governor’s Office on housing, economic development, and

On June 9, Camden residents have an important opportunity: to elect new members to our Select Board and to reflect, as a community, on how we want our town to be governed.

We are proud to cast our votes for Christopher Nolan and Bobbi Oxton Blake. They will bring to the Select Board something our town government sorely needs — stronger fiscal oversight, a genuine commitment to transparency, and a willingness to listen. They understand that good governance is not just about making decisions; it is about making decisions with the community, not for it.

Camden has always been a place defined by

Healthcare is often discussed in terms of hospitals, clinics, insurance systems, and policy, but at its heart, community health is built through people working together.

Recently, the Knox Clinic witnessed a powerful example of what that collaboration can look like. A patient came to us with a serious knee injury and was in urgent need of orthopedic care.

Through a close partnership with MaineHealth Pen Bay Orthopedics, the patient was scheduled for an appointment the very next morning, with one of their providers graciously coming in early specifically to ensure this individual could be seen

May 15, 2026 is the 78th “anniversary” of NAKBA — translated it means “The Catastrophe”.

On that day, 750,00 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and their land, never to be allowed to return. Families lost everything that they could not load into a car to take with them — gardens, orchards, family burial grounds, homes, businesses, schools—mass displacement of people and destruction of hundreds of communities. I try to imagine being one of them. I can’t.

And now, May 15, 2026, we are witnessing not only displacement of a people, but the intentional starvation and murder of families and

Last week, I sat in a room with Bobbi Oxton Blake, a lifelong Camden resident, who wants to be elected to the Camden Select Board. She’s running on a two-pronged platform of transparency and fiscal responsibility. She had a lot of questions. As did Chris Nolan who was also in the same room, is running for re-election to the Camden Select Board and is concerned about the town possibly phasing out the Camden Police Department. 

 How, Oxton Blake asked, did the town of Rockport manage to lower its proposed 2027 fiscal year budget from the previous year as opposed to Camden, which didn’t?  What’s

In case you missed it, two ospreys were found electrocuted last week in a nest near the Camden-Rockport Middle School. The pictures you may have seen on the evening news are mine, but the official reports you’ve read are missing a lot.

In case you don’t have the energy to read all of this, here’s the quick takeaway. Power lines kill millions of birds a year and the bigger they are the more likely they are to be electrocuted. It may be about to get a lot worse in Maine because we have no laws requiring modern design standards for avian protection.

Maine’s sailing tradition, of course, goes back to the beginning of European settlement, being the only way to get here. Those early explorers and colonizers, making their way up our rocky coasts, I can only imagine how many ended up at the bottom of the sea, victim to rocks and winds.

It was in 1608 when the first English-built ocean going vessel was launched from Fort George at the ill-fated Popham Colony. Family lore says that I have an ancestor who attempted to settle at the Popham Colony, but I am not sure of the veracity of this legend. Regardless, that ship, The Virginia, was originally

A common sight after leaving New England is grain storage. 

In Kansas, grain elevators can be monumental. The pyramids have nothing on some of these structures. Grain storage comes in all sizes and shapes with different uses.

It took me a while to figure out what the giant white plastic slugs stretched out in cornfields were. They’re called silage bags and are where moist freshly cut corn stalks are stored without oxygen to ferment for cow fodder. There are the fat silver rocket shaped silos of all sizes holding different grains to mix for animal feed.

The wheat fields here were just turning

Warm air doesn’t mean warm water. Across Maine, water temperatures remain dangerously cold—even on the hottest spring and early summer days—and that mismatch can turn a fun outing into a life-threatening situation in minutes.

Boating safely and being prepared isn’t just a recommendation, it an essential responsibility. A few simple precautions can make all the difference for you, your passengers, and everyone sharing the water. Before you launch, here are some important reminders to help ensure your adventure is fun and memorable—for all the right reasons:

• Always wear a life jacket. If you

Maine State Senator Pinny Beebe-Center announced today her endorsement of Rhiannon Hampson in the race for Maine House District 43, citing Hampson’s deep commitment to public service, her extensive policy experience, and her proven record of delivering results for Maine communities.

“Rhiannon Hampson is exactly the kind of leader we need serving Knox County in Augusta,” said Senator Beebe-Center. “She understands the everyday struggles of working families because she has lived them, and she has spent her career fighting to make government more responsive, more effective, and more accountable

I am happy to endorse an experienced organic farmer seeking to represent local towns in the State Legislature. Her name is Rhiannon Hampson, a Mainer with a passion for public service who is hoping to represent House District 43, an open seat in the November election. The District includes her home town of Thomaston, plus Cushing, South Thomaston, St.George and part of Owls Head.

A Maine native, Rhiannon has worked in public policy, helping high school students with nutrition, and worked with adults experiencing mental and physical challenges. She supports small farmers, the coastal fishing

My young family and I moved to Camden specifically for the school system. We truly value education, community and the natural world. I have a third grader at Camden-Rockport Elementary School and a fifth grader at the Camden-Rockport Middle School. My third grader attended CRES’s first Nature Based Pre-K class (lottery enrollment) and we really did feel like we won the lotto! We feel so lucky to live in Camden and have built a special community in our short time here. 

As the daughter of a Cuban refugee, I understand how important it is to protect our public institutions and freedoms. I grew up

ROCKPORT — Margaret Kilpatrick’s first donation of breast milk totaled 500 fluid ounces, roughly the weight of a three-year-old child.

The new mother and MaineHealth employee dropped off her milk earlier this month to the Family Birth Center at MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital to be sent to Mother’s Milk Bank Northeast, an organization that provides equitable access to safe, lifesaving pasteurized human donor milk to help nourish babies in NICUs and hospitals throughout the northeast. MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital serves as a depot for the milk bank, storing donations until they can be shipped out

Camden residents have been feeling the brunt of recent changes to our governing process, to wit the change to the town’s charter that we voted in in the wake of Covid, in June 2022.

Earlier, in 2021, the town had approved, by a non-binding referendum (made binding by the June 2022 vote) to move the budget voting, which had been in person, to secret ballot on the town’s June election days.

There were other changes to our governance over the last 10 years that have impacted the ways citizens’ voices have been heard. Here are some of the changes we’ve seen:

Budget committee: This was a large

I have posted this to the Maine Public Utilities Commission site and I suggest that everyone in our area take the time to do the same. Strength in numbers.  Aren't our bills from Maine Water high enough already without giving them another 10 million dollars in profit?
I am a residential customer of Maine Water in Rockport, and I am writing to strongly oppose the proposed 29.7% rate increase.

This request represents an extraordinary and disproportionate burden on customers, particularly given that there has been no corresponding improvement in service quality, reliability, or infrastructure