From new industry to municipal unrest and stalled school budgets, 2025 was a year of big news in The County. Here are the highlights from January to June. July through August will appear next week.
January
Houlton region:
The three-day trial of 42-year-old Jayme Schnackenberg, charged with the murder of his live-in girlfriend Kimberly Hardy, took place in Aroostook County Superior Court in Houlton. Schnackenberg was arrested in 2023 after a Maine game warden found Hardy’s body wrapped in trash bags in the woods off Harvey Siding Road, according to Maine State Police.
Wolfden Resources Corp., the company trying to develop a metallic mineral mine in northern Penobscot County, sold just over half of its 6,826 acres to Altius Royalty Corp. in a $1.5 million cash deal, according to Wolfden.
The Houlton Town Council voted to appoint Cameron Clark as interim town manager following Jeremy Smith’s unexpected and immediate resignation on Jan. 13.
Central Aroostook:
Northern Maine Community College appointed Doug Binsfeld, the vice president for academic and student affairs at Upper Iowa University, as its next president, following the August 2024 retirement of Timothy Crowley, who served as president of the college for 22 years.
A Pennsylvania woman filed a lawsuit against the Jehovah’s Witnesses of Fort Kent and the New York-based headquarters of the church for alleged sexual abuse committed decades ago by church members.
Friends of the Nordic Heritage Center, a grassroots group founded in November 2024, formed a fundraising committee in a first step toward purchasing the 750-acre former Nordic Heritage Outdoor Center in Presque Isle.
St. John Valley:
The Long Lake Ice Fishing Derby, which is the largest ice fishing derby in Maine, shattered attendance records. The derby had a total of 2,184 registered participants, up more than 300 from the last derby.
The new Madawaska-Edmundston bridge, which connects the United States and Canada, received multiple accolades. It was ranked as the number one bridge in North America in 2024 by Roads & Bridges Magazine.
Fort Kent Public Works Director Tony Theriault, who helped the town through countless storms and staved off a major flood in 2008, officially retired. Theriault’s career lasted 17 years, and he was hired in 2007.
February
Houlton region:
Houlton temporarily turned off its townwide network of surveillance cameras, giving officials time to review their compliance with Maine law, according to the town’s interim manager, Cameron Clark.
A massive solar farm proposal alarmed Patten residents and the solar developer, Next Phase Energy Services, faced community blowback during an informational session on a proposed 5,000-acre solar farm in the northern Maine town of Hersey.
Allagash reversed a controversial land swap deal after two years, two lawsuits and a local crusade. A piece of Allagash town land that was lost in a controversial land swap deal was returned to the community.
Central Aroostook:
A Portage Lake man was killed by police following an hours-long standoff in which he shot an officer and shot and killed a police dog while holding his 4-week-old child captive.
Former Washburn Police Sergeant Chandler Cole pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of falsifying evidence in connection with the case of a missing man, after earlier pleading not guilty to all charges in the case.
Fort Fairfield town manager Tim Goff resigned after a year and a half in the position to take a job as the chief marketing and public relations officer at Cary Medical Center in Caribou.
St. John Valley:
Fish River Rural Health, a key health facility serving northern Maine, planned to triple in size. The move to the Madawaska Community Health Center on Main Street would give them 30,000 square feet compared to the 9,000 feet it was currently leasing.
Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent was ordered to pay $24,000 in labor violations after state officials found that the hospital violated multiple labor laws in 2023. The hospital committed a total of 77 violations, according to an October 24 citation by the Maine Department of Labor.
The Northern Maine Ice Busters, a St. John Valley Group that holds the current world record for building the largest ice carousel, set its sights on breaking two new records, including creating the first ice carousel with an international boundary running directly through the middle.
March
Houlton region:
Maine border officials began arresting more people under the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in the Houlton sector ramped up enforcement and arrests with the help of expanded surveillance tools.
Aroma Joe’s artisan roasted coffee blends and signature drinks were proposed to head north with a new drive-thru location planned along Route 1 in Houlton. The new Houlton location will be the only one north of the Bangor shop, which opened last year.
Flooding closed roads in southern Aroostook and locations in Reed Plantation, Bancroft and Wytopitlock were experiencing flooding, National Weather Service officials said. Additionally, ice moving along the east branch of the Mattawamkeag River at Route 2 near Smyrna Mills flooded the entire Oakfield flood plain, but no homes were threatened.
Central Aroostook:
Presque Isle City Manager Tyler Brown resigned from the position for the second time in a year, citing challenges in adjusting to the public sector.
Ashland hired Alicia Burby, a longtime resident who previously worked in the finance and insurance sectors, as its next town manager.
St. John Valley:
Over 1,000 watched as the Can-Am returned in 2025 after its 2024 cancellation. The Can-Am sled dog race is by far the town’s largest annual event, and requires hundreds of volunteers and over 90 sponsors to organize and fund it.
The Northern Maine Ice Busters’ most recent ice carousel may have shattered five unique world records. The group currently holds the world record for the world’s largest ever ice carousel, but its most recent carousel was the first to run directly through an international border.
April
Houlton region:
Nicholas D. McGuire, 21, of Linneus was arrested and charged with a Class A felony robbery after allegedly waking two residents on Court Street and demanding money while showing a weapon, Houlton police said.
The Houlton Town Council voted unanimously in favor of Cameron Clark’s permanent appointment to town manager with a salary of $131,000.
Maine Department of Environmental Protection opened an investigation into Patten’s unexpected and unannounced demolition of its historic rec center, an asbestos-containing building. Town officials allegedly skirted state regulations regarding the toxic materials.
Central Aroostook:
The U.S. Department of Labor halted student enrollment at the Loring Job Corps, a job training center within the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, amid a review of what it described as “rising costs” at Job Corps centers nationwide.
After numerous technical delays, crews broke ground on the $55 million Taste of Maine Potato Chip Co. plant on the former Loring Air Force Base, with plans to open for production in mid-2026.
A fire destroyed a single-family home on the Belanger Road in Caribou. Two men living in the home escaped without injuries.
St. John Valley:
Plans were announced for Maine’s first recovery high school, also known as a sober school, to come to the University of Maine at Fort Kent as part of a collaboration with MSAD 27. The Maine Recovery Council voted unanimously in March to award $616,000 to fund the program for the next two years.
Technical issues forced Maine to reapply for $3 million in federal funding that would have covered the costs of engineering studies for the Maine Department of Transportation’s Village Partnership Project in the communities of Fort Kent, Van Buren, Pittsfield and Norway.
Over 1,000 came out to see Madawaska’s “Top O’ Maine Trade Show” during its 36th year. The town’s multi-purpose center was packed just half an hour after doors opened, and the event featured businesses set up at 120 booths.
May
Houlton region:
An Aroostook couple, Dale Foley Sr., 66, and Donna Foley, 61, both of Orient, were killed in a Route 1 crash in Orient.
Raymond Brown, 65, formerly of Pembroke, was indicted on a charge of murder in the death of Linda Maxwell, who was last seen in the Calais area on Aug. 23, 1984, and whose body was later found on the shoreline of the St. Croix River. Brown pleaded not guilty in Calais District Court.
Houlton Regional Hospital nurses got 1,400 signatures in a plea to keep the Aroostook hospital’s birthing unit open. When hospital officials announced they were closing the unit in May, more than 200 people packed into a Houlton town hall meeting to voice concerns about the decision.
Central Aroostook:
Homeless Services of Aroostook, which runs The County’s only homeless shelter, sought a $150,000 loan from the city of Presque Isle to cover its expenses for three months until the anticipated passage of state legislation that would fund Maine’s emergency shelters.
The FBI arrested 27-year-old Joseph Maile of Presque Isle man for alleged attempted sex trafficking of a child. The arrest was a part of the bureau’s “Operation Restore Justice,” which targeted alleged sexual predators across the nation.
The city of Caribou was awarded $4 million in federal Brownfields grant funding to clean up the remains of a former power plant near the Aroostook River that contains metals, asbestos and other dangerous materials.
St. John Valley:
Madawaska and its biggest employer, Twin Rivers Paper Co., clashed after town officials denied a request to lower the assessed value of the mill’s real estate by $25.3 million to reduce its overall tax bill.
The Maine Department of Transportation announced plans to install 11 signs throughout the state welcoming Canadian visitors ahead of the summer tourism season. The installation is an effort to improve relations with the neighboring country amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war.
The Maine Department of Education named Van Buren educator Laurie Spooner as the 2025 Aroostook Teacher of the Year. Spooner teaches robotics, math, biology, human anatomy and chemistry at Van Buren District School, located in MSAD 24/RSU 88, which covers Van Buren, Cyr Plantation, and Hamlin.
June
Houlton region:
Reginald J. Dobbins, 28, serving 65 years in Maine State Prison, challenged his murder conviction in Aroostook County Court. He contended several legal missteps leading to his 2017 murder conviction in the 2015 bludgeoning death of Keith Suitter violated his constitutional rights.
For the second time in a month, immigration detainees were flown out of the Presque Isle International Airport. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Houlton sector, because of the high number of people the agency has detained in Maine, it had to transfer some of them to other states.
The April demolition of the Patten recreation center was found by Maine Department of Environmental Protection to have violated state regulations, in part because it should have been carried out by a state-licensed asbestos removal expert. The state agency also found that Selectboard Chairman Greg Smallwood’s company demolished the building without taking proper precautions.
Central Aroostook:
The National Collegiate Development Conference, a Tier II junior hockey league, announced an expansion team would be located in Presque Isle beginning in the fall.
The Presque Isle City Council appointed Sonja Eyler, the former city librarian and assistant city manager, as its next city manager. Eyler led the city on an interim basis following the resignation of Tyler Brown in March.
The Bangor Daily News and The County broke the news that Amazon was working toward opening its first facility in Maine, a delivery station in Caribou, as a part of its effort to expand the company’s rural footprint.
St. John Valley:
St. John Valley voters shot down the MSAD 27 school budget during the June 10 election. The budget would have represented an overall 6.4% increase from the previous year’s budget. The district includes the towns of Fort Kent, Wallagrass, St. Francis and St. John.
Van Buren’s historic Yacht Club, which had long been vacant, was demolished. A fixture for more than a century, the building was the town’s original post office. There were no actual yachts, but the bar and restaurant was a popular gathering place in the 1960s and beyond
Maine EMS presented Gloria Ouellette of Van Buren, who is 74 and still works for the town’s ambulance, with a lifetime achievement award. Ouellette is known for helping fellow employees outside of work and delivering meals to senior citizens during the holidays.
