PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) –
As 2023 is just getting started, we look back on 2022 as it was certainly a year of highs and lows. NewsSource 8′s Brian Bouchard gives us a look at some of the top stories we covered the first half of 2022.
2022 was an eventful year to say the least. We start off in January where WAGM unveiled our new updated set, and said goodbye to WAGM and Aroostook County Broadcasting legend Dewey Dewitt who passed away at age 99. United Airlines continued coverage at the Presque Isle International Airport. The community of Easton was rocked after inappropriate comments regarding the Easton Girls Basketball team were accidently aired during a WHOU live broadcast, and truckers joined convoys on both sides of the border to protest Covid-19 Mandates.
In February, the quick thinking of a Caribou Community School Ed tech saved a child from choking. The Maine CDC put an end to contact tracing of Covid-19 cases as the Omicron variant began it’s initial surge. Houlton Farms Dairy experienced a shortage of Chocolate milk due to shipping delays of a special chocolate powder. 99 Restaurants announced they would be serving Maine potatoes in all 103 locations. We learned of a plan to close the Maine Veterans Homes in Caribou and Machias, and watched as Russian forces began their invasion of Ukraine.
March brought our Operation Hunger Telethon, where more than 71,000 dollars was raised to help feed people in Aroostook County. Some school districts, like Presque Isle and Mars Hill decided to make the wearing of facemasks optional, and buffalo roamed around Presque Isle following a successful escape from their pen. A 4 year old child died in a horrific fire that leveled an apartment building in Houlton. A bill sponsored by Senate President Troy Jackson passed which saved the Maine Veterans Homes from being shutdown.
Pre Entry Testing Requirements to enter Canada were lifted in April and Aroostook County monitored several Ice jams along its rivers as they began to thaw. 850 dollar relief checks were approved with the signing of the state’s supplemental budget, which also provided two years of free community college tuition for pandemic high school graduates and multiple schools were sent into lockdown following bomb threats.
In May, the Supreme court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, and the state of maine started the process of reviewing and removing obscene license plates from use. Mail delivery for certain Dyer Brook residents was halted due to road conditions. Senator Susan Collins visited Ukraine to show support and gas prices reached record highs. The nation mourned the loss of life following the Uvalde School Shooting and a section of route 1 was closed following a washout in Cyr Plantation.
June saw the first of the 850 dollar stimulus checks being sent to folks mailboxes, and ACAP kicked off it’s 50th Anniversary celebration with the planting of ceremonial field of potatoes in Saint John. Evangelists from Korea traveled to Houlton to pray for America and the community of Presque Isle was torn following an officer involved shooting. An arrest was made in a 36 year old Aroostook county cold case, political primaries gave us our candidates for the Blaine House and a crew of versant line workers were hailed as heroes after saving a co-workers life on the job.
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