Jessica Lowell

Kennebec Journal

Jessica Lowell covers business and economic development and general news in the Gardiner area. After short but intense aspirations to be an opera singer (age 4) and a deep-sea diver (age 6) her most enduring passion has been telling stories. A University of Maine graduate, she worked for newspapers in New Hampshire, upstate New York and Wyoming, where she has won awards for investigative and explanatory journalism. She’s a fellow of the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources. After several years out of journalism, she returned to Maine and to writing, where she spends her free time enjoying both trees and the ocean, two commodities that Wyoming lacks.

Latest

Published
May 25, 2023

Hallowell officer recounts tense fire rescue while identity of ‘civilian hero’ still a mystery

Officer Noah Lebel said his only thought when he arrived at the house fire on Franklin Street on Tuesday night was the report that people might still be inside.
Published
May 24, 2023

‘Civilian hero,’ officer help 2 escape uninjured from roof of burning Hallowell house

The fire, reported just before 10 p.m. Tuesday, destroyed the three-story house at 1 Franklin St., but not before a Hallowell police officer and an anonymous passerby helped two people on a porch roof escape the flames.
Published
May 22, 2023

Return of sturgeon art marks unofficial launch of downtown Augusta’s summer season

The reinstallation of 26 painted fiberglass sturgeon in downtown Augusta kicks off a summer season of events in the historic neighborhood of Maine’s capital city.
Published
May 19, 2023

Gardiner’s weekly classic car show continues to celebrate nostalgia, car culture despite relocating due to flooding

For more than two decades, Gardiner’s Thursday Night Cruise-In has drawn car lovers from across the state to swap stories and share their mutual love of antique, vintage and classic cars.
Published
May 12, 2023

Maine state employees speak out about hiring, pay as legislators consider review of compensation system

More than two-thirds of state legislators have sponsored a bill that would require the Mills administration to allocate $1 million to study the pay of state workers.
Published
May 10, 2023

Hallowell man arrested after allegedly stealing antique gramophone, coins

Court records say Jedediah Wasilewski, 44, was arrested after police linked him to several burglaries reported in Hallowell and Farmingdale.
Published
May 7, 2023

Maine Pottery Tour opens doors to pottery and ceramics studios across state

In West Gardiner, where Todd Jubinville is rebuilding his kiln, this year’s Maine Pottery Tour introduced people from near and far to the work he has been producing at his home studio for almost two decades.
Published
May 6, 2023

Across Maine, sewer rate payers are starting to see increases to cover the cost of the sludge crisis

Cities, towns and sewer districts are now starting to tally up the higher cost of sludge disposal and calculate what ratepayers will pay to cover those costs.
Published
May 3, 2023

Cleanup, damage assessment begin throughout central Maine after river flooding

Property and business owners were beginning to take stock Wednesday of the damage left behind as flood waters receded along the Kennebec River across the region after a storm dumped 3 to 6 inches of rain over a 24-hour period.
Published
May 1, 2023

Weekend storm brings power outages and flooding to central Maine

Across central Maine, where rainfall totals reached 5 inches in some areas from the strong weekend storm, high water levels in the Kennebec River watershed brought flood warnings and washed out roads, along with downed trees and power outages.