BELGRADE — It’s been nearly three years since the state carried out a controversial plan to rid a cove in Salmon Lake of an aggressive, invasive milfoil, and the plant has yet to reappear.

If you’re one of those people who believes there are more mosquitoes and other insects this summer than in the past, their proliferation might be explained by another creature’s demise: In Maine and elsewhere in the United States and Canada, there are far fewer bats.

AUGUSTA — The following is a list of cases closed in Augusta District Court between July 12 and July 18, 2012.

WINTHROP — Preparations are under way to open Winthrop’s schools to students Aug. 29 even as school directors and administrators prepare to take another stab at reducing the school budget.

HALLOWELL — Coordinating with Farmingdale, seeking matching funds and breaking the debt into manageable amounts are some of the strategies that may help raise the money needed to pay off a bond for the construction of Hall-Dale Elementary School.

A column about Cynthia Dill’s U.S. Senate candidacy and other political topics that appeared on page A2 of Sunday’s paper was not written by the writer whose name accompanied it. The column was writen by State House Bureau writer Steve Mistler and Portland Press Herald writer John Richardson.

Conviction rates for operating-under-the-influence charges vary widely from county to county in Maine, with the 10-year average ranging from a low of 37 percent in York County to a high of 83 percent in Hancock and Penobscot counties, according to an analysis by The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.