The Bristol Board of Selectmen will decide whether to hire a full-time town office employee as it prepares the municipal budget for annual town meeting.

An earthquake registering 2.4 on the Richter scale hit Lincoln County at 1:20 p.m., according to Tod Hartung of the Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency (LCEMA) and other sources. There are conflicting reports regarding the earthquake’s epicenter. Two of those reports have placed the epicenter onshore between Edgecomb and Boothbay Harbor.

A meeting scheduled for Jan. 2 in Boothbay Harbor hosted by the Maine Dept. of Marine Resources to discuss the state of the lobster industry has been re-scheduled.

On a snowy day when most of Maine’s municipal and school administrative offices were closed, Gov. Paul LePage made good on his promise to curtail state spending. The Governor’s Dec. 27 order set limits on the amount of state subsidies for education and other services.

A group of South Bristol property owners who oppose a Department of Transportation-commissioned design for a new bridge over The Gut have proposed an alternative.

Sheriff Todd Brackett reports the following:

On Dec. 24, Deputy Mark Bridgham responded to a report of criminal mischief to a motor vehicle in the Somerville area. The complainant stated that someone flattened two tires of his older model Mazda. The value of replacement tires is approximately $100. Further investigation to follow if any leads develop.

The Lincoln Academy Board of Trustees will host the final two head-of-school candidates during a public forum on Tuesday, Jan. 29 and Friday, Feb. 1, at 3:15 p.m.

Among other improvements, three new traffic signals on Route 1 are in the works for the Wiscasset Village and Edgecomb, according to Gerry Audibert, a special projects engineer for the Department of Transportation.

Lincoln County Sheriff’s Detective Robert M. McFetridge received information from a Boothbay resident who received a scam call.

Operating a stand-alone school district could cost Wiscasset $1.4 million more than staying in Sheepscot Valley RSU 12, according to estimates prepared by educational consultants Raymond Poulin and Norm Higgins.

At 2:10 a.m. Christmas morning, Bert Corthell Butler was born at Miles Memorial Hospital to delighted parents Rhea and Oliver Butler of Nobleboro.

One woman was transported to Miles Memorial Hospital, after a two-vehicle accident on Rt. 220 in Waldoboro Jan. 1.

Bremen residents may find themselves receiving limited service, after the U.S. Postal Service completes an evaluation of the options for that town.

Mark A. Noyes, 60, Waldoboro, failure to comply with sex offender registration act, second offense, two years in prison, all suspended, two years probation.