The Lincoln County News

After several months of budget workshops, the Wiscasset School Committee unanimously approved a 2016-2017 school budget of $8.99 million at its Thursday, April 28 meeting. The budget is a 6.32 percent increase from the previous year’s budget of $8.42 million.

At approximately 10:30 a.m., Monday, May 2, it became apparent that the town of Whitefield’s computer system was breached by an unknown hacker demanding the town to pay an undetermined amount of money through the internet. Fortunately, all information was backed up as of Friday, April 29, and there was no need for the town to either pay the ransom or re-create nine months of transactions.

Former Wiscasset School Resource Officer Perry Hatch will return to the role at 7 a.m., Monday, May 2, according to interim Police Chief Jerry Hinton.

Meeting Thursday, April 28 to finalize the warrant for the annual town meeting, the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen reversed its previous decision to present two Wiscasset Ambulance Service budgets to voters.

Wiscasset has named its next police chief. Jeff Lange, interim chief of the Paris Police Department in Paris, Maine, will head the Wiscasset Police Department beginning May 23, Town Manager Marian Anderson said.

The culture of the fire service needs to change to reduce firefighters’ exposure to carcinogens and combat climbing cancer rates in firefighters, according to advocates.

The question that split the house at Whitefield’s annual town meeting in March, whether the town should adopt an elderly tax deferral ordinance, will again be presented to voters, this time by ballot at the June 14 election.

Future staffing of the Wiscasset Ambulance Service will be determined at the annual town meeting by referendum in June, with residents to decide which of two proposed budgets to support. The Wiscasset Board of Selectmen voted 3-2 to present the budgets as two separate warrant articles during their final meeting with the Wiscasset Budget Committee on Tuesday, April 26.

Lobstermen plying the waters of the Gulf of Maine from the southern end of Maine’s coast to the Canadian border have seen historically high landings in recent years, offering a stark contrast to the lobster fishery in southern New England.

The Wiscasset Transfer Station has sent its garbage to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. since the town’s transfer station was built in the early 1990s, Superintendent Ron Lear said, but that relationship may be coming to an end.

The Damariscotta Police Department presented its first Officer of the Year Award on Wednesday, April 20.

The Ludwig Road gravel pit will soon appear on the Dresden Planning Board’s agenda once again, as the Dresden Board of Appeals found the board failed to produce the findings and conclusions used to approve the pit.

Andrew Lyndaker, 11, of Newcastle, was surprised by a call from his theatrical manager two weeks ago. He was asked to come to New York City to audition for a role in the new Broadway musical “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” based on the beloved tale by Roald Dahl.

“Our Town” opens Friday, April 29 at the Poe Theater in Newcastle. Heartwood’s production of the play, under the direction of Griff Braley, strives to bring the production directly into the audience. It has an inclusive quality that welcomes the attendees into the story.