The Scarborough Academic Decathlon Team has brought home the state championship once again.

The team now has a little over five weeks to prepare for the national championship being held in Phoenix, Ariz. Scarborough’s decathlon team has won 15 of the last 18 state championships in Academic Decathlon. The team is coached by Scarborough High School science teacher, Ellen Ross.

The decathlon team dominated the state championship held March 2, earning 45,155 points out of a possible 60,000. The team also won 48 individual medals and broke six state records on their way to the win. Fifteen other high schools competed, including Monmouth Academy, which will represent the state at the Division III national championships. Scarborough is in Division II.

The Academic Decathlon teams compete in 10 academic areas including math, economics, science, music, language and literature, art, essay, speech, interview and super quiz. Scarborough’s team has five seniors, three juniors and one sophomore. Nathaniel Whittemore, a senior, won a medal in all 10 categories and was also the top overall scorer. Another senior, JeffVautin, won six medals and was the second overall scorer.

Junior Ryan Flint won a bronze medal in economics; junior Arin Bratt won four medals; senior Diana Price won five medals; senior James Concannon won six medals; senior Kyle Jackson won 10 medals and was the third highest overall scorer; junior Mike Mack won six medals; and sophomore Greg Clary won two medals.

When Shirley Barnhart was asked how video gambling has affected the tiny West Virginia town where she has spent most of her 76 years, she sighed.

“It’s still a nice town, but it’s a lot different,” said Barnhart.

As the Scarborough Town Council considers whether it wants to allow video gambling machines at Scarborough Downs, many supporters of the track have pointed to the economic benefits video gambling has brought to other areas of the country. Legislatures in Delaware and West Virginia have allowed horse racing tracks to bring in video gambling to save the struggling industry.

Barnhart is the town clerk in Chester, a small town of about 2,700 people in the West Virginia panhandle that reaches up into a crevice between Ohio and Pennsylvania. The local track, Waterford Downs, was near bankruptcy 10 years ago, until video slot machines came along and pumped life back into it in increments of 5 cents to $5.

A local band made up of teenagers from around the greater Portland area is fast gaining loyal fans and name recognition. The band is called, “That’s What She Said,” and performs somewhere in Southern Maine almost every Friday night.

The band has seven members, including Cape Elizabeth’s Adam Jackson on the alto saxophone. It was named by lead singer Dan Lohmeyer’s sister. “‘That’s what she said’is a catch phrase at Deering High School in Portland,” Lohmeyer said, after being asked about the name. On March 1, the band played at the Swedenborgian Church on Stevens Avenue. On Saturday, March 9, the band will be involved in a “battle of the bands” evening at the Maxx in Freeport. The band also will compete at the “Reindeer Rock-off” to be held at Catherine McAuley High School in April.

“That’s What She Said” plays ska music, “which is mostly defined by what it isn’t,” Lohmeyer said. “In essence ska is really fast reggae with rock-n-roll tones,” he added. When the band plays it earns a percentage of the take from the night’s attendance.

In the two years since a loosely organized group of people came together in a Scarborough residence to talk about the marsh, the Friends of Scarborough Marsh have rallied local, state and federal agencies in an effort to restore and preserve Scarborough’s largest natural asset.

The group, which is the only one of its kind in the state, has accelerated the incredibly complex job of restoring the marsh. The Friends of Scarborough Marsh just released its annual progress report touting the completion of the first restoration project on the marsh, two weeks after releasing a strategic plan for marsh restoration.

The Friends raised $37,000 to pay Normandeau Associates, an environmental firm, to compile a strategic plan, which outlines about 40 potential marsh restoration projects.

The first project at Seavey Landing has just been completed. The group is now beginning to look at other restoration projects at Cascade Brook and the Libby River Culvert.

Benjamin Schuyler of Scarborough High School and Daniel Shevenell of Cape Elizabeth High School, along with other DAR award students from the Portland area, were honored at the Daughters of the American Revolution meeting held March 2 at the Governors Restaurant in South Portland.

The Scarborough Rotary Club presented its Student of the Quarter Award to high school senior, Jennifer Ann Mills, at a Rotary breakfast at the Black Point Inn on Tuesday, March 5.

Mills is the daughter of Susan E. Neal and David W. Mills of Gunstock Road, Scarborough. Jennifer had the distinction of being nominated by two Scarborough High School faculty members, Carolyn Barstow and Martha Williams.

Scarborough-based photographer, Claudia Murray, was honored recently when she received seven print awards for her entries at the Maine Professional Photographer’s Association (MPPA) annual convention held in Augusta. Her awards included a prestigious blue ribbon for a color portrait of a newborn baby.

When Phil Campbell woke one morning more than 30 years ago and went to the bathroom mirror to shave, he saw a double chin sprouting from his 212-pound body. Today at 84 years old, Campbell has not only taken the weight off, but he has become one of the fastest runners in the state for his age group.

Without running, Campbell wouldn’t have gotten himself into such great shape. And without the New England 65 Plus Runners Club, he wouldn’t be able to call himself one of the top runners in the state. He would be just another runner trailing behind the pack of runners 40 to 50 years younger than him – not that Campbell can’t hold his own.

Campbell, a former president of the club, serves on the club’s board of directors and publishes the club’ s magazine, which comes out three times a year. He and his wife, Ginny, moved to Piper Shores from Lynnfield, Mass., in September.