{"id":1623,"date":"2026-06-18T05:15:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/?p=1623"},"modified":"2026-06-18T05:15:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:15:31","slug":"local-news-june-18-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/18\/local-news-june-18-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Local News – June 18, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ranked Choice Counting<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Augusta) \u2013 We still don\u2019t know which Democrat and Republican will appear on the ballot for Maine Governor in November.\u00a0 We should, later today.\u00a0 The Secretary of State\u2019s Office suspended the ranked choice ballot counting for the day yesterday afternoon as workers painstakingly accounted for all the ballots cast.\u00a0 No candidate in the two gubernatorial primaries last week garnered more than 50-percent of the vote, nor did any candidate in the Democratic primary for the 2nd<\/sup> congressional district.<\/p>\n

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EPEC Fire<\/strong><\/p>\n

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(Orrington) \u2013 The future of trash disposal for dozens of Maine towns took a hit when the Eagle Point Energy Center in Orrington caught fire Tuesday night.\u00a0 Firefighters remained on scene for most of yesterday, cooling hot spots in the pile of trash that had built up as the incinerator was preparing to get back into operation nearly 2-years after it closed due to financial problems and then a major fire struck shortly after the current owners purchased the facility at a bankruptcy auction.\u00a0 The DEP issued an air quality alert over a wide area due to the smoke from the burning trash.<\/p>\n

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Unity College Sold (BDN)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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(Unity) \u2013 The former campus of Unity College has sold after the environmental school first started marketing it for sale 6-years ago.\u00a0 The 225-acre campus in Unity sold for $6-million dollars according to the Bangor Daily News.\u00a0 Unity Environmental University is now based at a campus in New Gloucester and serves about 10-thousand students across the nation; many of them attending on line.\u00a0 The new owners were not identified but reportedly will convert the Waldo County facility into an upscale summer camp.<\/p>\n

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Searsmont Asst Chief Memorial<\/strong><\/p>\n

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(Belfast) \u2013 Searsmont\u2019s Assistant Fire Chief Wayne Woodbury\u2019s memorial service is set for next Wednesday. The 76-year old firefighter was the 2nd<\/sup> to perish after the explosion at Robbins Lumber in Searsmont a month ago.\u00a0 A procession escorted his body from Augusta to Belfast this week, and firefighters have planned to stand vigil until Wednesday\u2019s 1PM service at Belfast High School.<\/p>\n

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Tremont Police Contract<\/strong><\/p>\n

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(Tremont) \u2013 Saying things have worked out well, Select Board members in Tremont have approved contracting for police service with neighboring Southwest Harbor for another year for $435-thousand dollars.\u00a0 The Bar Harbor Story reports the vote was unanimous.\u00a0 The Southwest Harbor PD has offered to take over animal control duties as well, at no additional cost.\u00a0 The town currently budgets $10-thousand dollars a year for resident Heath Higgins to perform the ACO Work.<\/p>\n

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Kayaker Rescued<\/strong><\/p>\n

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(Orrington) \u2013 Quick response and technology led to a rescue in Orrington yesterday.\u00a0 WABI-TV reports a woman fell from a kayak on Fields Pond and used her cell phone to call for help from the water.\u00a0 Dispatchers used the GPS location from the phone and guided responding rescuers from the Orrington and Brewer Fire Departments to her location in the water quickly. \u00a0She was unhurt and wearing a life jacket.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ranked Choice Counting \u00a0 (Augusta) \u2013 We still don\u2019t know which Democrat and Republican will appear on the ballot for Maine Governor in November.\u00a0 We should, later today.\u00a0 The Secretary of State\u2019s Office suspended the ranked choice ballot counting for the day yesterday afternoon as workers painstakingly accounted for all the ballots cast.\u00a0 No candidate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/star977fm.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}