Tuesday June 30

IF THE RAIN HAS YOU DOWN, IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE. . .

WCSH - Maine Department of Transportation officials say it will cost the state about half a million dollars to replace a washed-out bridge in Rumford. The South Rumford Road Bridge was washed away after days of heavy rain caused flood waters to rise. DOT was on the scene Monday surveying the damage. A pick-up truck was destroyed when the bridge gave way. The man inside the truck was able to get out safely before the bridge completely collapsed.

MAINE NOTES

The public has until July 27 to react to the language on four ballot initiatives. The questions will be there in some form thanks to citizen initiatives, but the language is debatable. The questions:

• Do you want to cut the rate of the excise tax on newer vehicles that owners pay to towns by about half and exempt some energy-efficient vehicles from the sales tax?
• Do you want to change the medical marijuana laws to allow treatment of more medical conditions and to expand the methods of distribution?
• Do you want to change Maine law to require voter approval for state and local tax and spending increases over certain limits?
• Do you want to repeal the 2007 law on school consolidation and restore the laws previously in effect?
  

TO RESPOND

Brunswick Times Record - Residents of Arrowsic are still calling for high-speed Internet access. But they're worried nobody's listening. They've heard about ambitious plans by the state to expand high-speed Internet to rural areas, and they've seen companies try to plug their town in with high-speed lines. . . Some residents have grown impatient with the slow, dial-up Internet access that utilizes telephone wires to connect computers to the World Wide Web. Sandy Weiss, for instance, has turned to a satellite Internet service, but paying the equipment and installation costs associated with that connection required a start-up expense of more than $500. Even then, the satellite connection can be inconsistent, slowing down or cutting off completely in bad weather, she said.

I WANT MY BROADBAND FROM FAIRPOINT FORM

Morning Sentinel - The Maine Public Utilities Commission has re-opened a program that provides cash rebates for the installation of some solar energy systems in Maine homes and small businesses. . . Residential and commercial thermal incentives are set at 25 percent of the cost of a qualifying system.

Politics 1 compares the campaign logo of GOP gubernatorial candidate Les Otten to that of Barack Obama. And then, of course, there's the Pepsi one. . .

The Maine Owl has a 24 minute video of the recent universal healthcare rally.

Casco Bay Boaters - A portable safe has been launched which promises to keep your mobile phone and keys safe as you take a dip in the sea. The Yelpie features a motion sensor alarm to protect your belongings on the beach meaning you don't have to hold your wallet above the water when paddling. Upon setting a pin code the box is locked and sensors are activated, after which an ear piercing 90dB alarm will be triggered if someone grabs it and tries to do a runner. However, if someone accidentally knocks it with a beach ball while you are off getting an ice cream you could find yourself the becoming the most disliked person on the beach.

Bangor Daily News, Vinalhaven - Hundreds of islanders gathered Monday morning at a 75-acre construction site in a misty spruce forest to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Fox Islands Wind project. By next Thanksgiving, developers said, three turbines here will take advantage of the high offshore winds to produce enough electricity to provide power to the 1,500 year-round residents of Vinalhaven and North Haven islands. And many think that when the windmills are whirring on Vinalhaven, other island communities will want turbines of their own.

Natural Resources Council - State, federal and local officials and conservation leaders gathered on the bank of the Kennebec River to celebrate one of our nation's most significant and successful river restoration projects. Ten years ago, the 160-year-old Edwards Dam was removed to restore a free-flowing Kennebec River. Its removal marked the first time the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled that the ecological value of a free-flowing river was greater than the economic value of a dam, and ordered the dam removed. Today, the river has come back to life. It has become a draw for local residents and businesses. Boaters, anglers, and birdwatchers are regular visitors to the restored rapids and islands of the Kennebec, as well as the walking trails, riverfront docks, parks, and boat launches. This year, two million alewives returned to the Kennebec- perhaps the largest migration on the eastern seaboard. The entire web of life - from eagles to osprey to bear - are benefiting from a healthier river.

MAINE ALMANAC

HISTORY OF MAINE GOVERNORS

Monday, June 29

KENNEBEC RIVER THIS MORNING
Coast & Geodesic Survey Web Cam

Kennebec Journal - Maine was one of 20 states to earn a failing grade on a recent report card that measures financial disclosure rules for state lawmakers. The Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan research organization based in Washington, D.C., ranked Maine 41st in the country for its disclosure practices.

The House has passed legislation that would require the Pentagon to transfer unwanted bases - such as the Brunswick Nala Air Station - to community use provided there is an economic benefit. For the past eight years, DOD has required communities to pay for such properties.

Fairpoint Communications is threatening the possilbity of bankruptcy if it doesn't get more time to pay the interest on $530 million in loans.

POLICE BLOTTER

Colin Hickey, Morning Sentinel, ME - Police early Sunday morning arrested a 20-year-old man after he allegedly broke into and vandalized a North Riverside Avenue home only to leave his pants, shirt, sneakers and wallet at the scene. Christopher Edgecomb, of Mariaville, faces charges of burglary, aggravated criminal mischief and possession of alcohol by a minor. Waterville Police Sgt. Jeffrey Bearce said Edgecomb, who was intoxicated and covered with a pink substance believed to be Pepto-Bismol, later tried to escape while being booked at Waterville Police Department. . .

Bearce said police were first alerted to troubles on North Riverside Drive when a resident of the street reported a young man dressed in only his underwear jumping on the hood of a Volkswagen car at 25 North Riverside Drive, where a party was taking place involving about 30 young people, all but a few them minors. . . "In the living room, they had set up a sawhorse with an eight-foot piece of plywood over it that was covered with (alcoholic beverages)," Bearce said. He described the party as out of control when police arrived. . . Bearce said when police initially entered the Sawyer home, many of those at the party were hiding in closets or bathrooms.

Sunday, June 28

Portland Press Herald - Three years after first winning seats on the Portland City Council, the Green Independent Party can claim some success in pushing its agenda through City Hall. Political observers say the three Greens on the council have proved to be effective consensus-builders on their core issues, such as reducing the city's energy usage and revamping land-use and transportation plans to encourage more housing downtown and less reliance on automobiles. "These are the guys who are moving and shaking," said Christopher O'Neil, the Portland Community Chamber's liaison to City Hall. "There is some question among Portlanders as to whether Portland should be moving or shaking, but the fact of the matter is ... they are the ones driving the agenda."

Maine is the state where the American Green Party began and which has the largest percentage of registered Greens in the country.

Brunswick Times Record - Maine Yankee plans to continue suing the federal government until it takes away the nuclear waste the company is storing in Wiscasset. With the Obama administration's plan to restart the lengthy search for a central dump site, Maine electric ratepayers might find themselves benefiting from hundreds of millions of dollars in judicial awards, if Maine Yankee eventually prevails in court. . . Maine Yankee was shut down in 1997 after 35 years of energy generation. Currently, the nuclear waste created during the nuclear plant's operation is stored on a 12-acre site on Bailey Point in Wiscasset.

Governor Baldacci has signed a bill that permits people to stand around liquor stores sniffing little cups, swilling the contents and then saying something like the old New Yorker cartoon, "It's a modest domestic but you will admire its pretensions." Agency liquor stores can now has 12 liquor tastings a year with each customer limited to 1.5 ounces.

Bangor Daily News - Six Peaks Island artists . . . spent the past four months designing six unique recycling barrels to be placed adjacent to already existing public trash cans around the island. "The idea behind the project is to promote recycling by using art to attract people to the receptacles," said Mary Anne Mitchell, the lead organizer of the project.

Boston Globe - Sales of organic milk have plunged and farmers who got lucrative deals from a dairy industry that was thirsty for the stuff now can't get rid of it. The volume of organic milk sold nationwide is projected to drop nearly 15 percent this year compared with 2008, according to some industry estimates. Already, one Vermont farm has closed its organic business and others are expected to follow, threatening what was one of the few bright spots in the state's struggling dairy industry. Some say the allure of organic milk - from cows that munch on expensive organic grain and aren't injected with hormones - evaporated when the financial crisis hit and the price of conventional milk sank. In some regions, organic milk is $7.50 per gallon compared with around $2.50 per gallon for nonorganic milk. Others blame the influx of organic farmers: Vermont, which supplies much of the organic milk for the Boston market, saw the number of organic dairy farmers grow to 201 from 114 in the past three years. Now, some farmers, many of whom incurred big debt to convert their farms to organic, can barely pay their bills.

Police Blotter - Todd Thomas is in Cumberland County jail after allegedly attempting to run down his wife with his Chevrolet dump truck. They both had been drinking at a friend's house and she had left to walk home after they had an argument. Thomas allegedly tried to hit her but ran off the road and into a tree instead.

Northern Mainers gathered in Bangor this weekend to rally for universal healthcare

It's the seventeenth year that a Maine summer camp has welcomed Israeli and Palestinian teenagers to talk peace and get to know each other. Nearly 4,000 teens have attended the program. . . Seeds for Peace - After camp, Seeds of Peace continues programming throughout the school year to assure that summer gains are not lost. Maine Seeds participants conduct presentations and outreach activities across Maine and other New England states, in addition to regularly attending group meetings.

Seeds for Peace - In 2000 Seeds of Peace developed a The Portland Project to address the violence erupting in its own backyard. Since then the program has expanded to include other cities in Maine and is now called Maine Seeds. Portland and Lewiston are now among the largest refugee resettlement cities in the United States. They have witnessed a sudden surge in racial and ethnic tension. Candidates are drawn from prominent middle schools in the city and are chosen with the consent of the local school board through a series of interviews and an essay contest.

Shop Talk

We're still getting this up to speed and we accidentally left restrictions on comments. These have been removed.

Friday, June 26

Only 9-30 percent of the voters showed up in Durham, Pownal and Freeport to vote on a consolidated budget which was rejected 661-582. Most striking, however, was the split: In Pownal, where nearly a third of the votes cast ballots, the vote was 382 against and 34 in favor; it was somewhat closer but still negative in Durham. In Freeport, however, a 9 percent turnout approved the budget by a 479 to 70 vote. . . Portland Press Herald - The budget needed to be operational by July 1 for the school district to comply with the state school-consolidation law. . . The district will operate under the defeated budget, which the board had backed, until residents approve a new one. . . Voters in Pownal, where the school system's budget would have meant a nearly 26 percent tax increase, were expected to reject the proposal, but the real story was the "no" vote in Durham, where the tax increase would have been just 7 percent. The increase would have been less than 1 percent for Freeport – which outraged residents of Pownal.

Portland Press Herald - Regional fishery managers voted in favor of a new system that will allow groups of fishermen - called sectors - to catch certain percentages of the ocean's cod, haddock, flounder and other groundfish, starting next year. For the past 15 years, fishermen have caught as many fish as they could under increasingly tight limits on fishing days and other rules. . . The number of active ground fish boats in Maine has dropped from about 350 to 70 in the past 15 years . . . Under the new rules, fishermen have a choice of whether to join one of 19 sectors in New England or work under day-at-sea limits. Most are expected to join sectors.

Litchfield is using park attendants to clean up after geese, filling two to three five gallon buckets a day with their feces. . . Morning Sentinel - Selectmen refused to sign a $992 contract to have employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture gather the geese and release them up north.
"We didn't think it was a permanent cure," said Glen Ridley, who was elected chairman of selectmen this week. "There are all kinds of geese at the golf course. If we relocate 10 or 20 or 50, we're spending $992 for something that may not work.". .One possibility, which we've thought about but haven't tried: a dead goose decoy. Birdbusters sells them, saying that it should be "placed in an 'agony' posture, convincing live geese that a predator has made a fresh kill, tapping into fear and flight response in the live geese, causing them to flee the area."

Big closure of clam flats because of the heavy rains. More

Casco Bay Boaters explains why the water is salty. You can blame the rocks on land for much of it.

Lesbians in Maine: some history

Thursday June 25

It's always fun when someone in power does something stupid to someone and the victim ends up the winner. Justin Denney has clearly joined the club after he didn't get his high school diploma because he blew a kiss to his mom from the stage and pointed to some friends. Already he's gone to Boston by limousine for an interview with Fox and gotten a call from Inside Edition. . . Portland Press Herald - Denny's father, Carl Hoffses, said he continues to get calls from media across the country wanting to talk to his son. He had a message Wednesday from a radio station in Davenport, Iowa, as well as some Internet sites and media outlets he had never heard of. . . Among the thousands of e-mails he's received, Denney said one was a marriage proposal. He didn't take it too seriously, and doesn't really remember the details. "I just said, 'Thank you,' " he said

Boston Globe - Hundreds of Bangor streetlights will be going high-tech now that city officials have given the go-ahead to replace them with energy-efficient light-emitting diodes. The 319 LEDs will cost $523,000 upfront, but they will save an estimated $34,000 a year in electricity costs."

Eighty-two used needles were found on a Harpswell beach

Is part of the problem with public schools that kids have to ride to classes on buses that announce in big letters that they are SAD?

The former UM student trustee convicted of pot smuggling had more than a few friends in Fort Kent, where his father was principal at local schools until 2002. . . Bangor Daily News: "More than 150 letters in support of Chad Marquis were sent to the judge. . . Marquis' attorney, Jay McCloskey of Bangor, filed a 28-page sentencing memorandum, which quoted many of them. "Chad confesses that he wanted to get out of the drug business because 'it was robbing my soul,'" the memorandum stated. "He was ashamed of his constant lying and at times he 'did not know who he was.' When he told his supplier that he wanted out of the trade, he gave in to the promise of 'one more time.'". . .

A planned tidal power project for Half Moon Cove came under criticism at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hearing.

Wednesday June 24

Three labor councils in Maine, Southern, Western and Central, have followed the lead of the Maine State AFL-CIO in calling on the national AFL-CIO September Convention to endorse HR 676 and educate and mobilize for its passage. The resolution passed by the 3 councils urges that the AFL-CIO Convention: "pursue the passage of HR 676, the 'United States National Health Care Act' to meet the needs of our members, our families, and all America, and not endorse or support any fallback program of mandated insurance which includes the wasteful, for-profit insurance industry. . . " Sample resolution and information on how to submit a resolution

The Natural Resources Council of Maine is 50 years old. . . Portland Press Herald: "If you stop and think about what the state of Maine could have looked like without the Natural Resources Council, it might have been a far different place," said Bill Townsend, who joined the organization as a young Skowhegan lawyer just after its founding in 1959. . . The council was formed as a collaboration of several other groups, including Maine Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, the Garden Club Federation and the Pine Tree Rifle and Pistol Society, according to Townsend. . . The organization now has 24 employees and eight lobbyists who are familiar faces, and voices, in legislative hearings and agency proceedings. The NRCM also has 12,000 members and supporters and receives more than $2 million a year in contributions to do its work.

The Portland Planning Board has approved rezoning to allow wind towers for research to be erected in most of Portland. They would be up for a maximum of two years. Already planned spots are Munjoy Hill and Peaks Island.

Portland Press Herald - Sales of single-family homes in Maine went down 9.5 percent in May 2009 as compared to the previous year, according to the Maine Association of Realtors. . . But, on the flip side, more homes sold in May 2009 than April 2009 - from 610 to 877. That's a 44 percent increase in sales over one month.

Tuesday June 23: Afternoon edition

PORTLAND TO TEST TASERS

Portland Press Herald - A handful of city police officers will be equipped with Taser electric stun guns for a three-month trial and evaluation period starting later this summer. . . [Chief] Craig says he will first seek to borrow the weapons, but if he cannot, he wants to buy 10 of them using federal stimulus [sic] grants . . . Tasers have critics, including Amnesty International. Nonviolent suspects have been targeted in some jurisdictions, and in other cases, use of the devices has immediately preceded a suspect's death. . . The tasers that the city will try out include a video and audio recorder that is activated whenever the devices are used.

Wikipedia - A report from a meeting of the United Nations Committee against Torture states that "The Committee was worried that the use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death, as shown by several reliable studies and by certain cases that had happened after practical use."

Taser International claims that Tasers are safe, but critics disagree, citing the number of deaths occurring after Taser use. Amnesty International has documented over 245 deaths that occurred after the use of Tasers. Amnesty International Canada and other civil liberties organizations have argued that a moratorium should be placed on Taser use until research can determine a way for them to be safely used. . .

Although tests on police and military volunteers have shown Tasers to function appropriately on a healthy, calm individual in a relaxed and controlled environment, Amnesty International says that they "do not take into account real life use of Tasers by law enforcement agencies, such as repeated or prolonged shocks and the use of restraints".

Police officers in at least five US states have filed lawsuits against Taser International claiming they suffered serious injuries after being shocked with the device during training classes.

While their intended purpose is to circumvent the use of lethal force such as guns, the actual deployment of Tasers by police in the years since Tasers came into widespread use is claimed to have resulted in more than 180 deaths as of 2006. It is still unclear whether the Taser was directly responsible for the cause of death.

In December 2008, in light of extensive testing of Tasers, many Canadian police agencies, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have suspended use of either all Tasers or just those manufactured before 2006.

Taser and its supporters in the police community regularly attribute the cause of deaths that follow Tasering to "excited delirium", a term for a phenomenon in which agitated or disturbed individuals respond in an irrational, bizarre, and hyperactive manner when confronted or apprehended by police. Critics argue that as this alleged condition exists only in relation to being apprehended by police, its existence is dubious. Grame Norton, director of the public safety project of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association argues that "Anytime you see a specific condition being referenced in only one context, it raises serious question." Other critics assert that the term is used to mask police brutality. While the term "excited delirium" has been accepted by the National Association of Medical Examiners, in the United States it has been rejected by the American Medical Association while the Canadian Medical Association Journal dismisses it as a "pop culture phenomenon". The condition is not recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Police psychologist Mike Webster testified at a British Columbia inquiry into Taser deaths that police have been "brainwashed" by Taser International to justify "ridiculously inappropriate" use of the electronic weapon. He called "excited delirium" a "dubious disorder" used by Taser International in its training of police.

Tasers and other electroshock weapons have been used at political protests such as those by the anti-globalization movement in the United States, France, Switzerland, Germany, and several other countries. Members of the movement, as well as world press are concerned that the technology, and other "less-lethal" weapons, are likely to become tools for suppressing legitimate protest associated with imposition of "neo-liberal economic policies". Thomas Gebauer, of the German non-governmental organization Medico International, describes "non-lethal weapons" as a symbol of "the growing repressive character of European and North American governments" willing to suppress protests against the spreading social injustice.

NOTES

Bangor Daily News - With the proposal to repeal the state's school consolidation law now dead in the Legislature, the group that initiated the repeal petition plans to work during the summer to develop a campaign strategy to rally support for overturning the law at the polls in November. "We'll be putting a group of people together to plan a strategy that will be implemented on September 1," said Lawrence "Skip" Greenlaw, chairman of the Maine Coalition to Save Schools, the group that collected 61,193 signatures on the citizen-initiated petition to repeal the school consolidation law passed in 2007. . . Gov. John Baldacci has promised to actively work to defeat the repeal effort. . . Greenlaw renewed his criticism that the law has not produced the $36 million in savings that the administration had promised. Although state education officials have said that reorganized districts are finding unanticipated savings as they reorganize, the total projected savings statewide has been calculated at about $1.6 million. . . . More than 120 school units, many in rural areas, have not complied with the law, many of them because voters rejected the reorganization plan developed by regional planning committees, despite the penalty of reduced state subsidy included in the law.

Bike Maine - The League of American Bicyclists has named Maine as the third most bike-friendly state in the country. Maine rose three spots in the 2009 ranking, based on a 75-item survey covering legislation, education, policies and programs, infrastructure, evaluation and planning, enforcement and efforts to encourage people to bike for transportation and recreation. . . Maine was number six in the League's initial ranking of Bicycle Friendly States last year. Washington and Wisconsin have held the number one and number two spots, respectively, for both years.

Portland Press Herald - Measurable rain has fallen 13 out of the first 21 days this month, thanks to a stalled weather pattern. . . "There is a ridge over the center of the country, with a trough on the northwest coast and a trough on the northeast coast. Unless that moves, we are stuck," said meteorologist Butch Roberts.

WSCH - Superintendent Suzanne Lukas of School Administrative District #6 addressed parents and students upset by administration's crackdown at the Bonny Eagle High School graduation. "What we experienced that evening as a community was a clash of values over what a commencement ceremony should or should not be," said Lukas. At the Bonny Eagle High School graduation on June 12th, Lukas refused to give Justin Denney his diploma after he displayed cords and bowed to the audience. . . Parents were critical of how the discipline was handled. Many of them felt the administration did not show the enough respect to many of the students. Lukas said she was simply applying the rules the school board had offered up students had agreed to. She did not apologize for the way she handled the situation. At the conclusion of the meeting, the school board voted to hold a performance appraisal of the superintendent. Includes video of Lukas

Bangor Daily News - More than 56,000 applicants signed up for last week's moose-permit lottery, and about 3,000 of those participants ended up earning their permits during the Fort Kent drawing. . . This year's lottery had about 12 percent fewer applicants than the 2008 lottery did.

1,051 adult salmon returned to the Veaie Dam this year, a little below last year's 1,096 but well above the ten year average of 497for the same date

This is news because it is news. The Maine Wildlife Park in Gray is urging people not to 'rescue' animals in the wild and leave them at the park. Says one official: "They literally have been kidnapped."

Along with the bill regulating the recycling of compact fluorescent bulbs, Governor Baldacci has signed legislation that "creates a statewide registry for those who want to be notified before local farmers apply pesticides using either aircraft or fanlike machines known as air carriers. . . Russell Libby, executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, said while the bill was less than what his organization had wanted, he was pleased the state was moving forward. Agricultural groups were successful in fighting a proposal that would have required annual notification of neighbors and dramatically tightened Maine's laws for pesticide drift."

Tuesday, June 23

Sun Journal - Gerard Caron walked into the Auburn Post Office and was met by a woman with a pair of clipboards. "This petition is against gay marriage and this other petition is to support gay marriage," she said, according to Caron. The Poland man said he asked her why there would be a petition to support something that already happened, referring to the petition "in support of" gay marriage. "She just kinda gave me a little grin and didn't say anything," he said. Then he looked at the two petitions and discovered they were identical, both were supporting the repeal of the same-sex marriage law, Caron said. . . Julie Flynn, deputy secretary of state, said her office has received calls from people concerned about the petitioning process, but not a surprising number. . . We don't have anything in law that allows us to monitor or enforce signature gatherers.". . . Petition gatherers must turn in 55,087 valid signatures by early August to get the repeal question on the ballot this November.

Heating prices in Maine are up 20 cents a gallon over the past two weeks, hitting $2.35 a gallon.

Big crowd in Portland for the Southern Maine Pride parade.

Maine has become the first state to set up recycling for compact fluorescent light bulbs in an effort to contain the mercury these bulbs contained. There are also limits on the amount of mercury allowed

Portland Press Herald - A team of University of New England researchers studying the reappearance of Atlantic sturgeon in the Saco River came up with an even more surprising find : a federally endangered shortnose sturgeon. While Atlantic sturgeon had seemingly disappeared for about 100 years, its more rare cousin had apparently never been seen in the Saco -- at least, not until researchers pulled one up Tuesday. . .

Sun Journal - A few hundred laid-back people of all ages and some jammin' jazz, funk, reggae and rock 'n' roll bands kept the rain gods at bay through midday Saturday during Harry's Hoe-Down at Harry Brown's Farm. . . Describing the festival, DA Butcha, 47, said, "It's a combination music festival and a gathering of folks who want to legalize marijuana. A lot of people here like smoking pot. It's an experiment in temporary community."
. . . Campfire smoke mingled with marijuana smoke around the edges of the hill, joining the heavier and pleasantly intoxicating scent of incense and oils burning around and in some of the homemade crafts and clothing vendor booths.

Friday June 19

Reports the Portland Press Herald - The Maine State Housing Authority has launched a program that will provide grants "up to $5,000 that first-time home buyers can put toward a down payment, closing costs or escrow funds. In addition, the program will provide coupons worth up to $500 to pay for energy audits that could reveal ways to cut heating and cooling costs, saving home buyers more money in the long run. The grants can be used in conjunction with an $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time buyers – and a buyer in Maine could convert that tax credit into cash toward a down payment under state legislation approved this spring, although details are still being worked out with the Internal Revenue Service.

You don't often get a story about something a seven year old has discovered that is too secret to tell you about, but your can be tantalized by it here. . . . "Quaid Guarino was playing with some Legos at the dining room table in March when an idea hit him. The 7-year-old - who has 32 bins of Lego products filling two rooms of his family's Falmouth home - was sure he had discovered something the Lego company would want to know about. . . Lego President Soren Torp Laursen sent the boy and his family a certified letter in April that included a release form for Quaid to sign before he and Lego could talk more about his idea. (If you're dying to know what Quaid's idea is - well, sorry. The release doesn't allow him to tell anyone else about it.)"

New Charter Commissioners during their organizational meeting elected former city mayors Pamela Plumb to serve as chairman and James Cohen to act as the vice chairman.

Boston Globe - Three wandering moose made their way down Lewiston's Main Street and onto a busy city bridge before fleeing to safety. . . The Sun Journal of Lewiston says vehicles sped past as the moose hung out for nearly an hour on a grassy island that separates the bridge on-ramp from the bridge lanes. The moose made several attempts to flee but were frightened by traffic before they eventually made their way to safety.

Bath Iron Works has notified its largest union of another 41 layoffs, part of a trend that'll continue for four to six months.

New York developer John Cacoulidis want to build a 30-story tower on the site of the Press Herlad's former printing press buiding. It would contain retial shops, a bank and pharmacy, hotel and office space. . . "'It will be a really classy building,' Cacoulidis said. City regulations now limit buildings on the site to 150 feet, the equivalent of about 15 stories. . . The tallest building in Maine is the 16-story Franklin Towers elderly housing complex in Portland.".

Maine is only one of 13 states whose personal income did not decline during the first quarter of 2009. On the other hand, it only went up 0.2 percent.

Sun Journal - Giant wind turbines cropping up across the nation are inadvertently creating problems for Doppler weather radar, because the turning blades are interpreted as precipitation. Tim Crum of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association's National Weather Service Radar Operations Center in Norman, Okla., said that the phenomenon known as wind turbine clutter can create false predictions of tornadoes or severe thunderstorms. It has even caused the Federal Aviation Administration to reroute aircraft due to false returns. Crum said they first learned three years ago about problems associated with wind turbine clutter from people seeing significantly different radar images.. . . Even though the proposed Record Hill Wind LLC project to site 22 wind turbines along two ridges in Roxbury is in the line of sight of the National Weather Service's Doppler radar in Portland, Crum believes there won't be any problems because the Roxbury site is about 50 miles distant.

The Portland police department is testing out a Segway and a threer-wheel T3

MAINE FACTS

Maine produces 395,000 gallons of maple syrup a year - 43% of what brand hog Vermont does.

Government figures show that about six in 10 Maine households can't afford to pay a mortgage on a median-priced home under current lending rules.

EVENTS

Sun Journal - Think you're the next American Idol? Show your stuff at the Auburn Mall next Saturday, June 27. The prize for the local "Make Me An Idol" contest is a guaranteed audition at American Idol's mass audition at the Amway Arena in Orlando., Fla., on July 9. FOX23 will provide the cost of travel and accommodations for the local winner and a friend to travel to that audition. . . Pinney said contestants will be heard on a first-come, first-served basis at the Center Court stage, and each will be allowed 30 seconds to sing. Those advancing to the semifinal will be allowed a full minute to perform, and performers chosen for the final top 10 round will be permitted to sing from one minute up to the length of the full song before a winner is announced. Contestants must be between 16 and 28 years old. . . Other restrictions

Thursday, June 18

The Maine Owl - Will the salmon clubs survive? Seasoned anglers say federal endangered status for species is a "kick in the teeth" and could spell the end of a storied Maine . . . On Monday, the federal government decided to list wild Atlantic salmon as endangered in the Penobscot, Kennebec and Androscoggin rivers while designating a large swath of nearby rivers and lakes as critical habitat. This is described in the [Bangor Daily News] as "another blow" to salmon anglers.. . . I visit the Veazie Salmon Club many times each week as an appreciative neighbor. I do not fish for salmon, though I do some lake fishing. I suppose without a local tradition of salmon fishing, this marvelous little spot on the river would not be there like it is. . . This is a clash between industrial society and the environmental conditions the salmon population needs to survive and build. Since the dams first went up, the salmon basically are the losers. Change in their favor will take a long, long time and will require a lot of different communities, stakeholders, government entities--including sport fishers--to understand this big picture and pull in the same direction.

A Robert Indiana show opens at the Rockland Farnsworth Museum this weekend. The famed creator of the LOVE work moved to Vinalhaven in 1978. Indiana also did the HOPE sculpture featured at last year's Democratic convention.

Brunswick Times Record - A tax reform bill introduced by Gov. John Baldacci took just a few hours to do what took a similar bill several months. . . By 7 p.m., both the Senate and House had given it initial approval, putting it on track toward Baldacci's signature. . . [The bill lowers] the state's top income tax rate from 8.5 percent to 6.5 percent and generally [broadens] the sales tax base in a range of areas.

Interview with Portland's new police chief in the Bollard: "His annual salary in Portland is $91,000, about half the $170,000 he made as a captain with the L.A.P.D. Granted, he's now in command of about half as many officers (160) than he oversaw in L.A.. And the risk of being run over by a drunken celebrity is considerably lower here.". . . Gun control: "I haven't made a decision. I know that there are a lot of folks here that get concealed weapons permits, and for probably all good reasons. I think it's important that the appropriate background [checks] are conducted on individuals applying for permits.". . . Medical marijuana: "Again, just like the death penalty, if in fact it's the law that there [is] lawful dispensing of marijuana, we, I, will follow the law.". . . Recreational marijuana: "There are a lot of things that I think police officers should not necessarily be engaged in [enforcing]. I'm not saying that's not one of them. Again, the law dictates that, and at this particular point in time, the use of marijuana is still a crime.

Morning Sentinel - Leaving aside his reputation as a crusader or a troublemaker -- depending on which side of the medical-marijuana issue people fall on -- Donald Christen says he was simply trying to follow the law when he grew 13 marijuana plants at his home in 2004. The Madison resident argues that he was the designated caregiver for at least four patients, which allowed him to grow up to 24 plants under the state's medical-marijuana law. Police and prosecutors didn't see it that way. They said the patients didn't have the medical paperwork required by the law. . . .
On Wednesday, Christen took his appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

Boston Globe - State officials say Maine's unemployment rate rose in May to 8.3 percent, up from 7.9 percent in April and 5.1 percent a year ago. That compares to a national unemployment rate for May of 9.4 percent, which is up from 8.9 percent in April and from 5.5 percent in May 2008.

Boston Globe - Gay marriage foes in Maine have hired the California firm that led the successful Prop 8 proposal to overturn same-sex marriage. The public relations firm Schubert Flint Public Affairs will manage the campaign to repeal Maine's gay marriage law. . . Meanwhile, supporters of Maine's gay marriage law have formed a new political action committee. Maine Freedom to Marry announced it has hired Jesse Connolly of South Portland, who is taking a leave of absence as chief of staff to House Speaker Hannah Pingree to manage the campaign. Connolly led the successful 2005 campaign to retain the state's gay rights law.

WMTW - Justin Denney's family watched on as he ascended the Cumberland County Civic Center stage during graduation Friday night to accept his diploma, but the superintendent told him to return to his seat.The Bonny Eagle High School senior's mother wants an apology, and her son wants his diploma. . . She said she and Justin both signed a code of conduct regarding the graduation when she picked up graduation tickets on Friday, but she doesn't think he violated it. "There was no misbehavior. Showboating is not misbehavior," Mary Denney said. "A bow, a kiss to your mom is not misbehavior. There was no need of my son not getting his diploma." Before the school began handing out diplomas, some students pulled out beach balls. One student was forced to sit away from his classmates with staff while police escorted another student behind the stage. . ."I said, 'What did she ask you?' And, he goes, 'She said, 'There's no fooling around up here,'' and he just kind of looked at her because he wasn't fooling around. He didn't consider that fooling around or misbehaving in any sense of the word, and she goes, 'Why do you feel you deserve your diploma?' He goes, 'Because I worked hard and I earned it,' and she goes, 'No go take your seat,'" Mary Denney said. The crowd booed, but Justin Denney still doesn't have his diploma. . . . Don't miss the video on this one.

Tuesday June 16

The new owners of the Portland Press Herald talk about what they're up to. . . "In March 2001, Press Herald circulation stood at 70,924 daily; the Telegram was at 115,313, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures. The daily number fell to 68,587 in September 2007, and to 59,009 in March of this year. Sunday circulation dropped from 105,872 two years ago to 90,524 in March, the audit bureau reported. . . Monthly page views for pressherald.com have roughly tripled since July 2007, when the newsroom took over management of the site from Maine Today, reaching 4.6 million in May"

An interesting article on the Maine Green Party in Down East

RECOVERED HISTORY

SOME NEW DEAL PROJECTS AROUND MAINE

From the Portland Press Herald

Acadia National Park (1933-42): Civilian Conservation Corps built roads, trails and Blackwoods and Seawall campgrounds.

Baxter State Park (1933-35): CCC built roads, trails, bridges and shelters on and around Mount Katahdin.

Appalachian Trail (1935-39): CCC built a 276-mile mountainous footpath through Maine, completing the end of the 2,139-mile trail.

Fort Williams (1935-39): CCC built stone walls, roads, bleachers and a lily pond at CCC state headquarters in Cape Elizabeth.

Androscoggin Swinging Bridge (1938): WPA helped replace the pedestrian bridge from Brunswick to Topsham that was damaged in a spring 1936 flood.

Portland Observatory (1939): WPA provided $6,000 to restore the tower, replacing beams, walls, ceilings and exterior shingles.

Deer Isle Bridge (1939): WPA built the suspension bridge from Sedgwick across Eggemoggin Reach to Little Deer Isle in Penobscot Bay.

Portland Municipal Jetport (1940): WPA built the airport’s first real terminal, a brick structure that’s now the general aviation terminal.

THE MAINE GREEN PARTY

John Rensenbrink & Jacqui Deveneau - There had been a snowstorm the day before and the roads were perilous. But 18 people came to a small church on King Street in Augusta the second Saturday in January, 1984. They came in response to phone calls from Alan Philbrook and John Rensenbrink. After a long discussion, the group decided to establish a Green Party/Green Movement organization for the state of Maine. It was later discovered that this was the first organizing meeting of the Green Party in the United States. It antedated the first national meeting of Greens in St. Paul, Minnesota by 8 months.

Philbrook and Rensenbrink had worked together on two campaigns to close Maine Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. Several more in the group of 18 had also been part of those campaigns. Some of the others had been active in local Democratic Party activity, some were Independents, and several were staunch back-to-the landers.

After the excitement of the first few months and the successful creation of a set of guiding principles, the group foundered as it headed into the spring of 1985. Those intent on growing a Green movement and those equally intent on growing a Green Party could not see eye to eye and both dropped out. At the scheduled July 1985 meeting, again at the church on King Street in Augusta, only Greg Gerritt, John Rensenbrink, and Matt Tilley came. The three decided to keep going as a statewide group, but they also decided to organize local Green groups with multiple aims (both Movement and Party) in their respective areas: Greg in the Western Mountains around Farmington, John in the Merrymeeting Bay area, and Matt in Penobscot County. They did so and developed flourishing groups that took up the fight on local issues. Greg ran for the state legislature in 1988, the first Green to run for partisan political office in the United States.

In early 1990, Nancy Allen, the Chair of the Hancock County Democratic Party, called a press conference to announce her resignation from the Democratic Party and that she was forming a local Green Party organization. This was a strong shot in the arm for the fledgling new Party.

By 1992, a renewed statewide group found a strong candidate for Congress in Maine's Second District, Jonathan Carter. Carter surprised the state by getting over 10% of the vote. It was widely felt that the size of the vote denied the Democratic candidate Patrick McGowan of victory and enabled the Republican Olympia Snowe to win the race.

Jonathan Carter ran for governor under the banner of the Green Party in 1994. His 6.5% surpassed the 5% threshold for official ballot status. . .

Much of the political energy of the Party in the next two years went into support for a statewide referendum to ban clear cutting in a campaign led by Carter. The effort provoked what the new governor, Angus King, described as the most intensely debated issue ever to take place in the state. The campaign lost, but the Green Party gained a great deal of notoriety, both positive and negative, and Carter survived an all-out personal attack on him by the paper companies. The Party seeded several new locals in the state. The number of registered voters in the Green Party grew to over 3000.

Rensenbrink ran for United States Senator in 1996 on the slogan "Don't eat the seed corn!", coupling this with a strong emphasis on campaign finance reform. He got 4% of the vote. He campaigned along with Ralph Nader, the Green Party's candidate for President, who received 2% with a minimal campaign. The Party continued to grow in numbers and was increasingly recognized as a political force in the state. However, the Party lost its ballot status.

The Secretary of State, a Democrat, ruled that a Party had to receive at least 5% of the vote in both the Gubernatorial and Presidential election. . . Since Nader did not get 5% for President, the Party could no longer qualify. The Green Party contested this interpretation of the relevant statute, pointing out that the . . . The case went as far as the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. That Court upheld the Secretary of State's ruling. Having lost official ballot status, the Party also lost all its enrolled members, which by 1998 had reached over 4000. For the same reason -- loss of official ballot staus -- the Party lost the $3000 to $4000 that had been accruing to it each year from the income tax check-off.

When Pat LaMarche declared her candidacy for Governor in January 1998, the Court had not yet handed down its decision, leaving the Party in limbo. She was forced to run as an Independent.

But she was prohibited from running as an Independent on behalf of the Green Party (since its status was legally in doubt). She opted to run as an Independent on behalf of the Green Independent Party, a name adopted on the spur of the moment.

LaMarche conducted an effective campaign and received over 7% of the vote, doing so with only $21,000. This gave official ballot status to the Party under its new name the Maine Green Independent Party.

In the Legislative session following LaMarche's vote, Nancy Allen and John Rensenbrink successfully lobbied the Maine legislature to clear up the apparent ambiguity in the statute governing Party status. New language was adopted by the legislature, clearly stating that 5% in the vote for Governor or for President qualifies a Party for official ballot status.

The Party received an anonymous donation of $5000 in 1999 and hired Ben Chipman on a part-time basis to raise money and to enroll voters in the Party. An organization was put in place that prepared the way to take maximum advantage of Ralph Nader's full-court run for President in 2000. Party registration zoomed past 10,000 in just a few years. Nader received over 6% of the vote and sustained the Party's official ballot status.

Party enrollment increased to 25,000 by 2006, the largest Green Party enrollment per capita in the United States. In 2002, John Eder, running as a Green for the state legislature, won a startling upset victory over the Democratic Party candidate in Portland's West End. Eder won again in 2004, in spite of gerrymandering efforts by the Democratic controlled legislature. During his four years in the Maine legislature he was the only elected Green to a state legislature in the United States.

That same year, 2002, Jonathan Carter renewed his bid for Governor of the state. Running as a Clean Election candidate (publicly financed), he received 10% of the vote.

The Green Party focused most of its political energy in 2004 on campaigns for state legislature, running a record 23 candidates. Several got over 30% of the vote and some came very close to winning. Beginning with this election cycle and continuing through the election cycles of 2006 and 2008, Ben Chipman played a leading role in helping to recruit and organize the campaigns of Greens running for local and state office.

Pat LaMarche was the Vice Presidential candidate for the United States Green Party in 2004. In 2006, Pat La Marche made her second run for Governor and received 10% of the vote. John Eder, making a bid for a third consecutive term in the House, lost by a handful of votes.

In 2008 the Party ran a strong group of candidates for state legislative seats, for Portland School Committee and City Council seats, and for County Treasurer in York County. In spite of an atmosphere of Democratic Party line voting, the party's candidates received votes in the 20%-30% range in three-way races and in the 40% range in two-way races. During the 2007-2008 election cycle, the Maine Green Independent Party increased the number of Maine citizens enrolled in the Party from 29,000 to over 31,000. . .

Currently, the State Party is led by a seven member Steering Committee. . .