The longtime national journal, Progressive Review, has moved its headquarters from Washington DC to Freeport, Maine, where its editor, Sam Smith, has long ties. This is a local edition dealing with Maine news and progressive politics.
For free email updates of the Coastal Packet, write news@prorev.com with COASTAL in the subject line.
Portland Press Herald -At 1,165 feet, MountHarris is little more than a broad hill in a small town along Route 9, southwest of Bangor. And as residents debated an ordinance to regulate wind power development here, it seemed like a local matter. That changed Nov. 19. By a wide margin - 229-78 - voters approved an ordinance that's being called one of the most restrictive in New England. It requires a one-mile setback between turbines and homes, a standard that likely will have the effect of banning grid-scale wind power on MountHarris and other wooded ridges in town. Now developers, environmentalists and state officials are wondering whether growing public backlash against wind power will prompt more towns to use ordinances similar to Dixmont's to restrict similar proposals. Mainers have a long history of craving economic development in general, but fighting it in their backyards. Does Dixmont's vote signal that the apparent public support for renewable energy extends only to wind projects that are very far from where people live?
Kennebec Journal - Maine is on the verge of losing scientifically important specimens throughout the state because they are not being stored properly and funding is in short supply, according to a report from the MaineStateMuseum. Paula Work, registrar and curator of zoology for the museum, said that during the past 30 months, museum staff have visited more than 40 collections stored at 11 state agencies or university campuses. Among the findings: an irreplaceable early 19th-century bird egg collection "dangerously stacked in boxes in an attic". . . insect collections stored in an attic that has temperature and humidity extremes; and a freshwater mussel shell collection stored in basements and attics at several locations across the state.
Maine Public Broadcasting - State wildlife authorities say there's been a sighting of a rare butterfly that was thought to have disappeared from Maine 75 years ago. Scientists say the spicebush swallowtail hasn't been seen here since a single adult was spotted in 1934.
31 year old Brian Andrews of Old Orchard Beach was arrested while driving a stolen truck. More interesting, however, was what was in it: an ATM machine ripped out of a convenience store.
Boston Globe - Volunteer weather observers are being sought to take precipitation measurements across Maine. The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network is offering six training sessions between Dec. 1 and 9 for weather enthusiasts who want to take part. Backyard weather observers will take precipitation measurements, which are then recorded on the network's Web site. Maine joined the nationwide volunteer weather network in August. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a major sponsor of the network.
A journalist goes out on the flats with a clammer: By the time I had dug for 20 minutes, with two or three breaks, I was exhausted, I hurt all over, and I had sand in my teeth. Some summer days, Downs does this for 10 or 11 hours. He has collected more than 300 pounds of clams in a day. Just thinking about that makes me ache all over.
Kennebec Journal -Maine real estate agents say sales of single-family homes in the state are up for the fifth consecutive month. The Maine Real Estate Information System says realtors sold 1,257 existing homes in October - a 39 percent increase since October of last year. Over the same period, the median sales price dropped 3.51 percent in the last 12 months to $165,000. The activity in Maine is similar to the national trend, although the price drop nationally has been more severe.
Maine's insurance chief says that despite new controversial recommendations about mammograms, under Maine law insurers most still cover annual screenings for women 40 years and older.
Maine Public Broadcasting - At the state Ethics Commission -- there's growing concern that Maine's publicly-financed politicians may have to be allowed to raise more money privately. That's because the fund may not be able to keep up with the number of qualifying gubernatorial candidates. If there were just two candidates, each might potentially draw down $1.2 million dollars from the fund. But what if there are three -- or five? And what if the demand for additional funds arrives at a time when the governor is facing a budget shortfall of more than a half billion dollars over the next 20 months?
"Obviously the Maine Legislature and the governor are in a very tough position, given the economic climate," says Alison Smith, of Maine Citizens for Clean Elections. Smith has some advice for the state Ethics Commission, which is trying to develop some kind of a contingency plan for public funding of candidates.
Smith says that despite the current economic situation, the Legislature should find the money next year to fully fund all Clean Election candidates. "We continue to believe that there's a lot of value in the clean election system, that elections are a public good," Smith says. "Who runs, how they run, how they fund their campaigns makes a difference to Maine people, it makes a difference in the policies that are passed in the Legislature and whether those policies serve Maine people or whether they serve other interests."
A study by the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy finds that Maine's lower income taxpayers pay a 19% higher tax rate than the top one percent when all taxes of aggregated. For example, while upper income residents pay a higher rate for income taxes, they pay less for sales and property. :
Bangor Daily News - According to a survey conducted by the Maine Housing Authority in January 2009, there were 871 people identified as homeless in Maine. The largest concentrations were in CumberlandCounty (203) and PenobscotCounty (101). . . . Despite rumors to the contrary, homeless shelters in Bangor are not plentiful. The Bangor Area Homeless Shelter has 33 beds and plans to add another handful of cots soon. The Acadia Recovery Community now has 64 beds at its emergency shelter and about 20 more for transitional housing. Manna Ministries has a small number of emergency beds.
State ethics commission staff will soon begin an investigation into the fundraising practices of a group that contributed at least $1.6 million to defeat gay marriage in Maine.
WCSH -Westbrook police have arrested a man they say stole money out of a Bruce Roberts Toy Fund donation jar. Police say Zackary Locke went to a Dunkin Donuts in Westbrook and filled out a job application using his real name, date of birth and address.When the staff was busy with customers, police say Locke removed the donation jar, put it under his coat and went to the bathroom with it. He then emerged from the bathroom with an empty jar and put it back on the counter. The entire episode was caught on the shop's surveillance cameras. Using the information on Locke's job application, police caught up with him a short time later and charged him with theft.He will be arraigned next month.
Although the Portland jetport's passenger totals are down this year, they rebounded to a level slightly over the previous high for a third quarter
According to the Detroit News, Maine sold 3,886 cars as part of the cash for clunkers program, but 57% of the domestic trade-ins were echanged for foreign care As were 83% of the foreign trade-in. Most common trade-in: Explorer FWD. Most common purchase: Focus FWD
Daily Beast - The deepening hunger crisis revealed this week by a U.S. Department of Agriculture report has largely been attributed to the recession. But an exclusive analysis by The Daily Beast finds several states with hunger problems that far outpace their poverty rates, an indication that it isn't just the fragile economy that's to blame.
The worst 10 offenders for disproportionate hunger are: 1. Colorado 2. Alaska 3. Oregon 4. Connecticut 5. Utah 6. Nevada 7. Vermont 8. Maine 9. Missouri 10. Oklahoma
"The bottom line is always political will," says Kathy Underhill, executive director of the Colorado Coalition to End Hunger. "As a state, it's where you put your resources."
Mariana Chilton, a professor of public health at Drexel University who specializes in hunger issues, agrees that political leaders across the country need to step up to improve the situation in anti-hunger and other relief programs. "These programs have been neglected," she says. "It doesn't mean that they're not good programs, but they need to be updated."
Morning Sentinel, Rumford - The New England Seismic Network says a small earthquake shook parts of western Maine early Thursday morning. According to Weston Observatory at Boston College, the earthquake happened at 2 a.m. and had a magnitude of 2.5. It was centered about 7 miles northwest of downtown Rumford. Police in Rumford said they didn't get any calls about the quake from residents.
For the second year in a row, Portland city councilors ignored their own tradition of picking a mostly honorary mayor based on seniority because the persons in those slots were Green.
Augusta Insider - Although it is still only 2009 on the calendar, in the budget world, 2010 has already begun: with a deficit. Initial projections pegged the shortfall at around $200 million, but expectations now are that it will be much more. When the Legislature reconvenes in January it may be asked to pass a supplemental budget to fill as much as a $400-$500 million shortfall
Maine View - Congresswoman Chellie Pingree secured $473,000 for developing video conferencing in Maine schools. Twelvevocational schools and technical centers in 11 counties will receive part of the grant.The video conferencing technology allows a class to be broadcast to anyone over the network.
ECONOMISTS NOT TOO EXCITED ABOUT NEW ENGLAND GREEN JOBS
Providence Journal - Green technology may help drive an economic recovery in New England but the fledgling industry will not be a major engine of growth for the region in the foreseeable future, economists said at a recent conference. . . Economists said there is hope for green industries in New England, and the country as a whole. They pointed to a study issued in June by a Washington nonprofit that determined between 1998 and 2007 green-collar jobs in the United States grew at a faster rate than overall jobs.
The difference -- 9.1 percent compared to 3.7 percent -- was significant, but the total number of green jobs is still tiny. The same is true in New England, where the study by the Pew Charitable Trusts counted 51,000 green jobs -- or 0.66 percent of total employment in the region.
The only New England states with high rates of growth in green jobs are Maine (23 percent) and Vermont (15 percent). Maine has achieved its growth by developing land-based wind projects, including the 38-turbine Stetson Wind, the largest wind farm in New England.
Bangor Daily News - The University of Maine System board of trustees is hoping the introduction of a three-year baccalaureate program, an increase in online students, and other measures meant to raise revenues and cut costs can help overcome a projected $42.8 million shortfall in the next four years. The program will include regular courses, an expanded summer course schedule and online classes. The target date for implementation is next fall.
USA Today - At the American Council on Education's annual meeting earlier this month, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. and a former university president, pressed college presidents to offer three-year degrees. In Rhode Island, legislators are considering a bill that would create a standard set of college-level classes for high schools, so all students could have an opportunity to finish college in three years.
Three years is the norm for undergraduate degrees in Europe, and a handful of U.S. colleges offer variants of a three-year program, including JudsonCollege in Alabama, ManchesterCollege in Indiana, and SeattleUniversity. Others, such as BatesCollege in Maine, offer highly qualified students some three-year options. . .
Still, the idea has hardly caught fire, despite rising college costs. Students seem to like spending at least four years in college.
When Upper Iowa University offered the option a few years ago, just five students took it - but all decided to stay four years after all. Nobody has signed up since.
A three-year degree "would be attractive to someone who knows right now what they want to do with the rest of their lives," said Lincoln Morris, Upper Iowa's vice president for enrollment management. "Most students don't have it all figured out right now, and that's fine."
Also in Iowa, WaldorfCollege has graduated several hundred in three-year programs over the years, but is now phasing out its last one. Most students wanted the full four-year experience - academically, socially, athletically.
"What we're finding they're saying is, 'Why did I want to grow up so fast?"' said spokeswoman Joy Newcom.
Sun Journal - A disagreement over [Auburn] City Council decorum and attire has two councilors angry at the incoming mayor. Mayor-elect Dick Gleason said he stands by statements he made last month calling for neater dress at City Council meetings.
"I'm not asking for a jacket and tie," Gleason said. "All I'm saying is that I've seen instances where councilors came to meetings in jeans and shorts. I think it's up to us as city leaders to set an example, especially for children who watch us."
Councilors on Monday later voted to downsize the Dec. 7 inauguration, a move one councilor said was being done to punish the mayor-elect.
Councilors Dan Herrick and Mike Farrell said they were offended by some pre-election comments Gleason made to the Danville Grange last month. . . . "I think there have been times when they've come directly from the barn to the City Council meeting, and I don't think that's how it should be," Gleason told Grange members. "I think they should take a shower and at least put on a shirt."
Herrick, a contractor by trade, took offense at that. "I have never come here without taking a shower," Herrick said Monday night."Believe it or not, I have hot water, too. I even have floors in my home."
Clothes don't make the man, Herrick said.
"I had a mind tonight to come here in bib overalls and straw hat, and just walk out of the barn without taking a shower," Herrick said. . . And if anybody out there feels they want me to wear a suit, coat and tie, in the next election in two more years, please come forward in a suit, coat and a tie and run against me."
Paula Gibbs, Wiscasset Newspaper - Shacks on the dock? Or not. One selectman wants to know why the subject keeps coming up, the town manager says the whole thing has gotten out of hand, and a waterfront committee member says it's nothing but a tempest in a teapot.
During the public comment section of Tuesday night's Wiscasset selectmen's meeting, a discussion of whether to allow vendors to keep their sheds on the Main Street pier year-round lasted nearly a half hour.
Finally, chairman Bob Blagden suggested the issue be put on the November 24 agenda. But before the discussion ended, harbor master Peter Dalton said the vendors should be allowed to stay there because the town needs the fees they pay to maintain the pier. However, Bryan Buck, a member of the waterfront committee said, "I don't think it should be an open-ended thing, where they're allowed to stay there year in and year out. Then they become almost like squatters.". . .
One argument for not allowing the sheds to remain year-round is it doesn't allow inspection of some parts of the pier to see if the structure is sound. Dunning said she would like to hear from the town's road commissioner on this. "I would like to interrupt," Dalton said. "I inspect it every year – I don't need any help. It's my job, not the road commissioner's."
"The road crew historically has done the work on the pier in the past," Dunning said.
Faucher said he would put the subject on the November 24 agenda.
Matthew Gagnon, Pine Tree Politics - Recovery.gov has started posting detailed accounts of stimulus money, and how it has been spent. We are now able to go to the site and view the amount of money spent and the number of jobs that money has produced in each congressional district.
Looking at the data from Maine, we find some troubling information. In the first congressional district (Chellie Pingree's), the Federal government has allocated $491,144,080 (that is about $770.48 per resident of the district, which of course includes tens of thousands of children who don't pay income taxes, as well as those who are unemployed or elderly – the cost per member of the workforce is much higher). What has Maine gotten for that 491 million dollar investment?
Visits to Maine's state parks and historic sites was up nearly 7 percent last year, despite the summer bad weather.
Southwest Maine was the heaviest hit with rain last weekend - 4 to 6 inches. Portland got 5 inches, breaking a 1887 record of 1.75 inches. We heard reports of 7 inches in Brunswick.
Portland Press Herald - Three giant wind turbines rise from the interior of the island, visible from miles away, above pines, above homes, above Vinalhaven's granite bones. And on Tuesday, the $14.5 million Fox Islands Wind project officially goes on line with a ribbon-cutting event, marking the completion of Maine's first island wind project. It's also the largest community-owned wind project on East Coast. . . The island has long generated its own power. Tidal waters flow under the Tidewater Motel, through the remains of a mill system that once used hydropower to run a granite cutting operation and a blacksmith's bellows with a network of belts. At one time, a coal-fueled power plant operated near where the ferry landing sits today. But now the island is an outpost for renewable energy. . .
Maine Politics' selection for best 2009 campaign slogan: Oliver Outerbridge, the Portland pizza shop owner who ran for Water District Board of Trustees on an anti-fluoridation platform: "Today's mighty oak is yesterday's nut that held its ground. Elect the nut." Outerbridge lost by an almost two-to-one margin. . . Maine Politics also figures that with former House speaker John Richardson entering the governor's race, he becomes the 2,354th candidate for that post.
Village Soup - In a year when good fishing has been all but offset by low prices, many Belfast lobstermen are calling it quits early. Fisherman Mike Dassatt said he caught about twice as many lobsters this year as in 2008 - he figured he caught as many lobsters in August as he did all last year - but he made only about $1,000 more over the course of the season. . .
A fisherman might gross between $4 and $8 for two one-pound lobsters. The same lobsters sold as a "twin lobster" dish at a waterside restaurant might cost $25. "That's a damned expensive dish of coleslaw and a roll," Dassatt said. . .
Seventy to 80 percent of Maine lobsters go to a half-dozen large processors in Canada. The reasoning goes that there are fewer buyers, making it easier for them to offer consistent prices. . .
Maine Public Broadcasting - For the fourth time in seven years, it looks like Maine voters will get to decide on another casino proposal. Black Bear Entertainment, a group of western MaineOxford, says it's collected nearly 100,000 signatures -- almost twice the number required -- to get the question on next year's fall ballot. Backers say the casino will bring much-needed jobs to western Maine. But gambling opponents say casinos are not a good strategy for achieving true economic development.
Governor Baldacci has publicly objected to the Massachusetts Air National Guard doing low level training flights over western Maine. The National Guard is taking public comments on the issue until January 1. Our own view is that this is not only an environmental and public tranquility issue, but a state security one as well. Does Massachusetts have eyes on Maine again after all these years? investors that wants to build a gambling complex in the town of Are we the Afghanistan of New England?
Bangor Daily News - Tidal energy, solar power and the future installation of a wind turbine will make the Eastport U.S. Coast Guard Station one of the "greenest" in the nation. . . The tidal power project, a small underwater turbine that will generate additional electricity for the Coast Guard station, is the first to be used by the Coast Guard but one of several already under way and testing on both sides of the border Down East. The $100,000 project in Eastport will be used to test tidal technology in CobscookBay, home to some of the largest tidal variations in North America.
Busy summer in Portland public works reports the Daily Sun: Along with major bike lane projects, city crews tackled crack sealing on more than 80 streets and replaced a host of sidewalks. There was an estimated $61 million in upgrades to the Portland sewer systems along streets. And motorists and pedestrians encountered construction work on a host of streets
Maine Public Broadcasting - For eight years now, the Stone Soup Institute in Harpswell has been teaching sustainable living techniques to students from all over the world. . . . Until last summer the institute used to operate on over 20 acres, renting most of that land from a nearby farm. That land has now been sold, leaving it without the space it needs to teach many of its courses. "What we need is land right now," Cornish says. "We had been leasing a farm for the last six years, and that's where we were teaching our workshops, we had a big woodworking shop in a large barn, had an old farmhouse with a large kitchen so we could put a number of students in there at once, and do some fairly large workshops, a dozen people at a time."
WMTW- Revenues continue to fall below projections, with the state now looking at a possible $300 million to $400 million shortfall for the current two-year budget. . . Gov. John Baldacci is preparing an executive order to curtail state spending.
WGME -A new survey shows that nearly half of Mainers believe they are worse off than a year ago. Market Decisions' poll of 400 Mainers [found that] 48 percent saw themselves as worse off, only 27 percent expect to be better off in the next year.
Times Record -BaileyIsland residents have averted the closure of the Bailey Island Post Office, raising $100,000 to purchase the building and cajoling a five-year commitment by the U.S. Postal Service to continue to operate the post office. . .
Bangor Daily News - Feuding TenantsHarbor lobstermen were told Friday morning at Knox County District Court to stay away from each other for a year. Ty Babb, 36, and Craig C. Hupper, 58, and his son Joshua B. Hupper, 27, agreed to a mutual order for protection from harassment after Judge Michael Westcott had them work the details out among themselves. "The court can't be very innovative, but the parties can," Westcott said. "It seems to me that in this type of case, you ought to see if you can resolve it.". . . Attorney Philip Cohen of Waldoboro represented the Huppers in court. "I guess they're satisfied," he said of his clients' reaction to the mutual protection from harassment order.
Maine Public Broadcasting - The price of college has been creeping up for decades, faster than household incomes or inflation. This year, though, marks a milestone for dozens of private schools that started charging more than $50,000. This club includes Maine's most elite colleges, Colby, Bates and Bowdoin. . . The Maine schools are among 58 that have crossed the $50,000 threshold, according to an analysis by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Sarah Lawrence College in New York leads the pack, with total costs nearing $56,000.
Christopher Ketcham, Time - In early October, the Second Maine Militia opened its meeting with the traditional shooting of the televisions. The 50 or so "members" (there are no rolls and no one pays dues) chatted quietly as the blasts rang out. A small cannon was fired into the woods, parting the trees and shaking the windows of the house nearby. But no real televisions were harmed. The sets were just cardboard boxes painted with inane smiley faces and decorated with slogans like "Feel good!" "Proud to be USA!" "Safe in the homeland!" The aluminum-foil antennas, however, did collapse miserably from the real gunfire.
The purpose of the annual meeting, the same as it has been since the militia started in 1995, was to bring together the politics of left and right over speeches, food, live music, and, of course, live ammo. The attendees were a wildly diverse group: young activists and anarchists in black, old beat-up Maine woodsmen with beards to their bellies, retired white-haired college professors, Second Amendment zealots, conservatives, libertarians, Marxists. But they all shared the belief that the U.S. government has lost its moral authority, that both political parties had "degenerated," as one attendee put it, "into whores for wealth and arbiters of empire."
"From the beginning, we were the No-Wing Militia," said Michael Chute, 54, who served as range officer for the slaughter of the televisions. "We ain't right wing, we ain't left wing. We're trying to get the folks to see the problem ain't left versus right, it's up versus down." He uses a tool analogy. "A Republican is a standard screw," said Chute. "A Democrat is a Philips screws. So whichever way you vote you get the screw." . . .
Earlier in the festivities, a few people had made speeches. One of the presenters, a retired professor of economics from Duke University named Thomas Naylor, 73, who heads up a secessionist movement in Vermont, suggested that Maine secede from the union. I asked Naylor, who doesn't own or particularly like guns, what he thought of the Second Maine Militia. "It's a variation on the Swiss shooting club, with social and political overlays," he explained. "It's a fairly benign way of confronting one's powerlessness.". . .
Michael Chute kindled a fire as night fell and the party was ending, and I sat down with his wife, who wore big boots and a blue bandanna that tied back long kinky hair. "We should secede," she said, almost to herself. Over her jungle-camo jacket she strung a bandolier that held what looked like the 7.62 mm rounds for her AK-47, the rifle she calls "my baby" because "it kicks just a little bit and has a deep sound." But there was nothing deadly about her ammo: the shell casings were affixed with pencil points. "The point being," the novelist explained, "that we should make our pencils our bullets."
Maine Public Broadcasting - Maine has come in first in the race to reduce its carbon footprint, according to a report. Between 2004 and 2007 Maine reduced carbon emissions by a greater proportion than any other state.
"Maine's pollution reduced by 15 percent since 2004, which is the year that in most states, pollution levels began to peak," said Katie Kokkinos of the advocacy group Environment Maine at a news conference this morning outside Portland City Hall. . .
The report she's referring to was a state-by-state study released by Environment Maine's parent organization, Environment America. It goes back to 1990, and finds that overall emissions nationally increased by 19 percent between 1990 and 2007. Maine, meanwhile, saw its emissions rise by five percent over this period.
Between '04 and '07, however, things improved, and 17 states saw declines in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel use. Texas reported the largest drop in emissions, but Maine experienced the biggest percentage decline. "More than one third of the state succeeded in cutting pollution from 2004 to 2007, and this is right before the onset of the economic recession, Kokkinos says.
This, she says, proves that robust economic growth and emissions reductions can occur side by side. "For example, four northeast states -- Connecticut, Massachusetts, Delaware, and New York -- all since the year 1997, decreased their global warming pollution by 5 percent while increasing their gross state product by 65 percent."
"I think we're finally at the point where people seem to get the concept of energy efficiency -- it's no longer reserved just for people wearing Birkenstocks and pony tails," says Adam Lee, President of Lee Automalls and Chairman of the Efficiency Maine Trust, a quasi-governmental agency created last year by the state Legislature to try and meet the state's energy problems and challenges, he says.
"In the past year alone, the Efficiency Maine business program has helped 690 Maine businesses complete more than 900 energy efficiency projects, with a total savings of over $54 million in electricity not used," Lee says.
Maine Public Broadcasting - The U.S. Department of Education is meting out shares of a $4 billion grant called "Race to the Top," which rewards states that can show that their reforms have improved student performance. California and Florida could each receive up to $700 million this next year, but Maine won't be included in the first phase of the two-year program -- largely because it failed to meet criteria laid out by the Obama administration. . .
To bring more schools up to par on educational standards, the Obama administration created the Race to the Top grant to reward states that have expanded curricula offered in charter schools, turned around their lowest performing schools with innovative programs, and that can tie teacher and principal salary increases to student test scores. . .
Teacher contracts in Maine are determined by local school districts -- not the state -- and Maine, like 10 other states, doesn't have a charter school program, and that means an automatic deduction of 32 points under the rules of the grant. . . WE DIDN'T MISS ANYTHING. . .
Schools Matter - Since last fall, Bush and Obama have handed over 3 trillion dollars (give or take a few hundred billion) in taxpayer money to save American business from the ruin that corporate greed and profligate behavior would have otherwise guaranteed the entire country, except for those with foreign bank accounts, of course.
In comparison, 2.5 percent of that $3 trillion, or $100 billion, went to the education bailout, and a sliver of that $100 billion (4.3% of it) has been given to the Secretary of Education to "incent" states to change their laws so that they will be in line with the Broad/Gates corporate education reform based on paying teachers for test scores, creating mammoth data surveillance systems, opening up the floodgates to "alternative" teacher preparation programs and expanding corporate charter chain gang schools to become the dominant model for schooling in urban America. . .
Most believe that none of 4.3 percent of the 2.5% of the corporate bailout will improve education or close the achievement gap or accomplish any of the blah-blah about competitive global economies. What it will likely do is continue shrinking school curriculums into the box built by the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, weaken the teaching profession and teacher unions, make test scores even more high stakes and certainly more high profit, and solidify the education industry as the dominant voice for urban school matters in America. . .
And all of it is going full steam ahead despite what the preponderance of evidence tells us about these proposals.
For instance, [in] the only peer-reviewed large-scale study of charter schools, a 14 state study out of a Stanford research center reported that 17% of charters did better than public schools, while 37% did worse. The reason that charters do no better, and frequently do worse, than public schools is that they do not provide the promised innovations, have higher turnover and less qualified staff. Also clearly emerging from the findings is that charter schools segregate by wealth and race. . .
A study of performance pay in Texas reported yesterday in the Dallas Morning News found this:
"For the $300 million spent on merit pay for teachers over the last three years, Texas was hoping for a big boost in student achievement. But it didn't happen with the now-defunct program, according to experts hired by the state.. . . 'There is no systematic evidence that TEEG had an impact on student achievement gains,' said researchers for Texas A&M University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Missouri."
Bangor Daily News - State lawmakers are hoping to fix a 2-month-old law that was supposed to help Maine's boutique beer and liquor stores but which instead has left some shops complaining of a regulatory hangover. . . A last-minute amendment that aimed to prevent children from having to watch adults sipping beer or bourbon in the middle of the supermarket - or in the aisle of some other large retailer - has inadvertently caused problems for the smaller specialty shops.
The amendment stated that all taste testings "must be conducted in a manner that precludes the possibility of observation by children." The new law, which took effect Sept. 12, presents a challenge to shops with windows that could allow children to catch a glimpse of the activities inside.
Leslie Thistle of Bangor Wine and Cheese Co. said she has to cover her front and back door windows with black and drape a sheet across the large storefront windows, giving her shop the feel of a "speak-easy" during her monthly tastings.
The law also means that she could be found in violation if a parent with children in tow comes into her shop to purchase a bottle of wine during a tasting event. She also pointed out that there are no laws shielding children from the sight of people drinking alcohol while seated on a restaurant's outdoor patio. . .
Other wine and beer shops have taken similar steps to cover their windows or discourage minors from seeing inside during an event. The law's unintended consequences have drawn national attention from Web sites and blogs catering to wine lovers.
Braddock Spear, Sustainable Ocean Project - The Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative is changing the way they do business with an eye toward sustainability of their livelihood and the resources on which they depend. . . Based out of Port Clyde, Maine, the co-op of 12 fishing vessels has developed an ocean-to-table program where the fishermen sell fish directly to their customers. The program, Port Clyde Fresh Catch, is modeled after the increasingly successful farm-to-table programs broadly called Community Supported Agriculture. Customers including local residents and restaurants subscribe to the Community Supported Fisheries by buying shares of the fishermen’s catch. Each week customers are guaranteed a predetermined poundage of fish or shellfish caught fresh from the Gulf of Maine. Fishermen gain from this arrangement by cutting out the middleman and getting more profit for their catch. Consumers benefit by receiving traceable wild-caught seafood at reduced prices. More
NY Times - Maine is the Charlie Brown of health care. The state's legislators have tried for decades to fix its system, but their efforts have always fallen short: health insurance premiums are still among the least affordable in the nation, health care spending per person is among the highest and hospital emergency rooms are among the most crowded. Indeed, many overhauls to the system have done little more than squeeze a balloon - solving one problem while worsening another.
But like the Peanuts character, the state keeps trying. . . Maine's history is a cautionary tale for national health reform. The state could never figure out how to slow the spiraling increase in medical costs, hobbling its efforts to offer more people insurance coverage. Many on Capitol Hill have criticized national reform legislation for similarly doing little to tame costs. . .
To be fair, Maine's reform efforts have had benefits. The state's Medicare beneficiaries get relatively high-quality and low-cost care, and the share of those who have no health insurance is lower than those of all but six other states.
But a state-sponsored insurance plan has been capped at fewer than 9,000 because of financing problems, and the most common choice of those buying new plans in the state requires them to spend at least $15,000 a year before the insurer pays anything - leading many to avoid important medical visits. . .
Another change Maine has tried is to expand its eligibility rules for Medicaid, the government program for the poor. Nearly a quarter of the state's population participates in the poverty program. Proposals on Capitol Hill would require similar expansions across the country.
But Maine's poor are among the sickest in the nation, and its Medicaid benefits are relatively generous. Only Alaska spends more per adult Medicaid beneficiary. Part of the reason may be that, because premiums in the private insurance market are so high, many go without insurance for years before qualifying for Medicaid. . .
To compensate for such expensive care, the state pays doctors and hospitals relatively skimpy fees for treating Medicaid patients. As a result, doctors are closing solo practices and joining hospitals, which then have the market power to jack up rates to private insurers in a common problem called cost-shifting.
Clinics for the poor - some affiliated with hospital networks - are thriving because they are federally supported. Maine now has 19 such clinics serving 200,000 people - a fifth of the state's population. The largest of them is Penobscot Community Health Care in Bangor, which has three cheerful, green-roofed buildings on its main campus, 126 medical providers and last year served 45,000 patients.
Wiscasset is still holding is own as one of the most interesting spots in Maine. Reports the Wiscasset Newspaper: Prescott Brackett, 18, of Nobleboro, along with two male juveniles was summonsed by the Damariscotta Police Department on charges of Unlawful Trafficking of Scheduled Drugs (Marijuana), a Class D misdemeanor. . . Brackett, the son of Lincoln County Sheriff Todd Brackett, was released on personal recognizance. . .
The Natural Resources Council of Maine says slowing down from 75 to 65 miles per hour reduces gasoline consumption by about 15 percent.
Pine Tree Politics has an interesting analysis of the geographical differences in the vote on gay marriage compared with an earlier vote on gay rights. We especially liked the map above, however, that shows the breakdown of where support (in red) for gay marriage - overwhelmingly along the coast.
Kennebec Journal - A group seeking to repeal a new law that makes major changes to the state tax code has enough signatures to put a question on the June ballot, Secretary of State Matt Dunlap ruled.
Still Fed Up With Taxes turned in 56,107 valid signatures -- 1,020 more than needed to call for a people's veto vote. . . The question on the June 8 ballot will read: "Do you want to reject the new law that lowers Maine's income tax and replaces that revenue by making changes to the sales tax?". . .
The law, which was touted as the most significant change to the state tax code in 40 years, reduces the income tax from 8.5 to 6.5 percent for income below $250,000 and to 6.85 percent for income over $250,000.
To pay for the reduction, the new law increases the meals and lodging tax from 7 to 8.5 percent and applies the state's 5 percent sales tax to dozens of additional items such as car repairs, movie tickets and dry cleaning. . .
Maine Revenue Services estimates that 87 percent of all Maine taxpayers will see their overall tax burden go down, even when the additional sales tax is added in.
Opponents . . . say it's important to have a thorough public debate over what's in the law. In particular, he says the tourism industry and car repair shops will be hurt by the changes to the tax structure.. . .
Trahan and other Republicans got a boost from the Maine Green Independent Party, which also helped collect the signatures necessary to call for a people's veto.
Maine Public Broadcasting - Mainers can now recreate on a vast tract of land that stretches from Moosehead Lake to BaxterState Park. The Appalachian Mountain Club announced that it's purchased the 29,500 acre Roach Ponds tract, the missing link in a 63-mile-long corridor of conservation land between the lake and park. The acquisition creates a parcel of nearly 600,000 contiguous acres open to public recreation use. The club has donated a conservation easement on Roach Ponds property to the state. . . In addition, The Nature Conservancy is acquiring 15,000 acres in western Maine's Moose River Reserve, a popular remote paddling route.
Natural Resources Council - Mainers use and dispose of more than 700 million shopping bags a year.That's more than two million bags thrown away every single day.
Maine Business - A coalition of business leaders, grocery and retail associations, government officials, and environmental advocates will announce their campaign to encourage increased reusable bag use with the launch of Got Your Bags, Maine? The campaign is a public education and outreach effort aimed at encouraging Mainers to increase the usage of reusable bags for shopping and decrease the use of single use paper and plastic bags.
Which sounds good except it doesn't deal with the real problem: how does one remember to take the bags into the store? Bow Street Market in Freeport has reminders in the parking lot which helps, but there are still a lot of ecologically conscious but mnemonically impaired folk out there.
Robert KC Johnson, History News Network - On Election Day, Maine voters (of which I am one) did something extraordinary. In record numbers for an off-year election, hundreds of thousands of us went to the polls and stripped from some of our fellow citizens the right to marry.
While the United States has a long tradition of advancing the rights of citizens who previously had experienced discrimination, once progress occurs, voters very rarely have re-imposed discrimination. In fact, passage of Question One marks only the third occasion since World War II in which voters had taken away a fundamental right that either the legislature or the courts had conferred upon a minority group.
The other two occasions occurred in California: last year, when Californians passed Proposition 8; and in 1964, when voters approved Proposition 14, which overturned a California law prohibiting racial discrimination when buying and selling homes. The U.S. Supreme Court eventually held that Proposition 14 violated the U.S. Constitution; a federal court challenge to Proposition 8, filed by former Bush Solicitor General Theodore Olson, is currently underway. . .
According to a Research 2000 poll of likely voters in Maine, voters under 30 supported marriage equality by a 14-point margin-as their counterparts over the age of 65 backed Question One by 15 points. National polls and the 2008 exit polls in California reflected similar or even greater gaps between younger voters and senior citizens on the issue. So by 2016 or-at the latest-2020, Maine voters likely will restore the right to same-sex marriage, as today's teenagers enter the electorate. . .
If support for same-sex marriage continues to grow, skittish legislators might well wait a few years, until less of a chance exists that voters will undo the legislation. That means, unfortunately for the state's historical reputation, Maine could very well end up the last state whose voters used the ballot box to annul same-sex marriage rights already on the books.
Bangor Daily News - A WashingtonCounty sheriff's deputy suffered serious injuries Thursday night when his cruiser rolled over on the Charlotte Road after striking a moose. . . The cruiser was a brand-new 2010 model that had been delivered just two days earlier. It was demolished.
Roses to the Portland airport for ditching its plan to allow only one taxi company to pick up passengers. Access to transportation facilities is essential for independent cab drivers, an important trade that provides upward mobility in a tough economy.
Sun Journal - The Region 9 School of Applied Technology adult education program. . . has seen an 84 percent increase in enrollment since the fall of 2008, from 70 to 129. Director Nancy Allen said the biggest reason is the number of layoffs. Another is that some unemployed people realize they need a general educational development certificate. "People who have always been able to get some kind of job are not. They need that (high school equivalency) diploma," she said.
Sun Journal, Rumford - Selectmen and a large crowd came to hear a presentation by Boston-based wind power company First Wind on its proposed Longfellow wind farm project for BlackMountain and North and South Twin mountains.
Instead, everyone learned that such a project might not even be viable, because First Wind studies so far show that wind atop BlackMountain is too strong for wind turbine engineering to handle, said Matthew Kearns, vice president of business development for First Wind. "The gusts are extraordinary, and that's a problem for wind turbine bearings," Kearns said. "Turbine blades like a nice even wind."
Maine Public Broadcasting - L.L. Bean plans to shut down its outlet store in downtown Portland. L.L. Bean spokeswoman Carolyn Beem told the Portland Press Herald that the company wants to concentrate on its outlet store in Freeport Morning Sentinal - For the first time in two decades, Donald Giroux Sr. will serve as a Town Council member on Jan. 4, when the council convenes for its first meeting of 2010. Giroux won a five-way race for the two open seats Tuesday, with 1,137 votes. And then there's Ed Finch. The same Ed Finch who two weeks ago announced he was no longer a candidate for personal reasons, though his decision came too late to remove his name from the ballot. Finch came in second, with 995 votes, winning him an open seat. Informed of the vote late Wednesday morning, Finch said he was stunned -- and also in a state of flux. "This flabbergasts me," said Finch, who made the announcement that he was no longer a candidate during a televised debate. "I'm going to keep all my options open," Finch said, "until January. "I'm not going to make my decision until I have to, which is my style anyway."
Bangor Daily News- Maine sent mixed messages about extending voting rights to women, before finally doing so. After the Legislature strongly endorsed women's suffrage in 1917, a people's veto took back those voting rights. Two years later, however, Maine voters changed course and voted to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which extended the right to vote to women.
NPR - "If you are someone running for office and want to be re-elected, you're not going to feel better today about supporting same-sex marriage," says Richard Socarides, a former adviser on gay rights in the Clinton administration. "I mean, those are the facts."
Socarides says advocates may have to shift from a state-by-state strategy to a push in the federal courts. Two major lawsuits are now pending: One case in California argues that state bans on gay marriage violate the federal Constitution; another case challenges the federal Defense of Marriage Act. . .
Maine Politics - John Aravosis at America Blog has noted that Organizing for America, the successor to the Obama campaign and now a part of the DNC, sent an email to its Maine list asking them to phone bank for Governor Corzine's re-election in New Jersey but failing to mention the election in Maine. The DNC has apparently denied that such an email was sent to Mainers, but I can confirm that I received it and have never been on their list as anything but a resident of Maine.
Washington Blade - David Mixner, a gay Democratic activist, said national LGBT groups must rethink their strategy on how to achieve marriage rights for same-sex couples in the country. "I think that we have to completely evaluate where we're going, what our strategy is and what kind of leaders we need in this kind of movement," Mixner said. "We cannot continue as we have been continuing for the last two decades and hope that maybe in five or 10 years we'll finally get across the 50 percent mark.". . . ."Do we continue spending $50 [million] or $100 million every two years on these initiatives, or is there a way to think out of the box and approach this differently?" he said. "One thing is clear = proceeding as [we] have been proceeding is totally unacceptable, and the national organizations have to hear that loud and clea
Boston Globe -People in a southern Maine town have rejected a proposal that would have allowed for large-scale water extraction operations by companies like Poland Spring water company. Voters in Wells rejected the ordinance by a margin of more than 2-1.
Casco Bay Boaters - Morris Yachts announced it will be able to rehire laid-off workers thanks to a multimillion-dollar contract. Morris Yachts will bring its employee numbers back to pre-layoff levels with the contract, under which it will build Leadership 44 sailboats for the Coast Guard Academy.
Cliff Island school one of five remaining on Maine islands
Peaks Island to test wind turbine
More excitement in Wiscasset from the Wiscassett Newspaper: One year after her arrest for allegedly stealing nearly $91,000 from the town of Wiscasset, former Town Clerk Sandra Johnson pleaded "no contest" on Monday, Oct. 26. . . Two sisters of WestportIsland's First Selectman will appeal the town's decision to let the selectman's son build a house on Dewey Way Thursday, October 29 at a meeting of the Board of Appeals.
Boston Globe -Pet owners in South Portland can continue taking their dogs to a local beach after voters rejected a proposal that would have banned dogs there for much of the year. By a 60-40 margin, residents on Tuesday voted down a proposal to limit dogs at Willard Beach.
Portland Press Herald - An effort to amend the state Constitution to give city and town clerks more time to check petition signatures on citizen ballot initiatives was failing by four percentage points late Tuesday. With 509 precincts, or 84 percent, reporting, the proposal was falling 243,831 to 233,763 or 52 percent to 48 percent. The proposal would increase the amount of time clerks have to certify petition signatures from five days to 10, which would reduce the amount of overtime communities would have to pay workers.
Sam Smith, Progressive Review - Having lived most of my life in the gay friendly city of Washington, I wasn't prepared from some of the nastiness involved in the Maine gay marriage debate. Especially the sick video that claimed that the state's schools would be teaching gay marriage in class.
And while I knew the Pope was the George Wallace of gender, I had never been this close to the repulsive cruelty of the Catholic church on the issue, not to mention hypocritical - given the behavior of more than a few of its priests.
Finally, I realized too late how easy it was to slip into the media's assumption that this was just another issue - and not a major test of morality. It was only after the returns came in that it occurred to me how little the difference was between denying gays entry into marriage and denying a black kid's entry into a school or that kid's parent's entry into a restaurant. It was not just gay marriage being judged, but the rest of us as well. A minority's rights is not a gift to be bestowed but a strong reflection of our own honor and decency.And we failed.
The two state failure
In considering the vote, however, it is important to keep in mind that on some matters, Maine is two states, not one
Maine is, by east of the Mississippi standards, a huge state. It takes as long to drive from one end to the other as it does to go from Boston to Baltimore. Half that distance is in one county - known as "the county" or Aroostook. Aroostock is the largest county east of the Mississippi - the size of Rhode Island and Connecticut combined, but with a population of only 73,000. Seventy-three percent of its votes approved the repeal ofgay marriage.
If you take the map above from the Portland Phoenix and draw a horizontal line where it says United States, you will have roughly divided the state into counties - the ones above the line - that voted 60% against gay marriage
Now note the blue counties on the map. All coastal, they are the four that supported gay marriage with Cumberland - home of Portland - casting 60% of its vote on its behalf. (Your editor's town, Freeport, voted 64% for gay marriage).
A vote for the establishment of religion
Among other reasons, the banning of gay marriage is illegal because its purpose and origin is based almost entirely on the principles of certain religions. To ban gay marriage is to establish some religions' beliefs as superior to those of others. Specifically, the Maine gay marriage vote makes the following lesser religions compared, say, to the Catholic Church:
The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, Ecumenical Catholic Church, Church of God Anonymous, Alliance for Jewish Renewal, Reconstructionist Judaism, Reform Judaism, and Unitarian Universalist Association, which all approve of same sex marriage
The United Church of Christ, Episcopal and various Quaker groups leave the decision to clergy, congregations or local governing bodies. And, adds the Interfaith Workig Group, the Presbyterian Church (USA) allows the blessings of same-gender unions with terminology restrictions.
So the result was not just a repeal of gay marriage but a totally unconstitutional vote to restrict the rights of the aforementioned religion http://www.iwgonline.org/s Time - Mainers' 53-47 vote to reject gay marriage does more than simply slap down a law that just six months ago had made Maine the U.S.'s second state to permit same-sex couples to wed. With voters thronging to the polls, the closely watched - and ultimately not very close - vote extended the winning streak of gay-marriage opponents nationwide, who have now prevailed in more than 30 straight state elections over whether to allow gays to marry. Just like Californians one year ago, Maine voters insisted on having their say on an issue that simply will not go away. . .
But Maine's vote, much like all of the states before it, including California's vote on Prop 8 a year ago, will do little to slow the fight over gay marriage. Not in Maine, where Tuesday's vote was only the equivalent of a veto and can be easily reversed by lawmakers when they next meet, and not in the rest of country, where the issue continues to roil courthouses and statehouses alike. "Ultimately, this is going to have to have a national resolution," says same-sex-marriage activist Mary Bonauto, one of the nation's top lawyers involved in the campaign to legalize gay marriage. "It's about aligning promises found in the Constitution with America's laws." A leader in Maine's campaign to uphold gay marriage, Bonauto is best known for arguing the same-sex case that led the Massachusetts Supreme Court to strike down prohibitions against gay marriage in a hugely influential 2003 decision that paved the way for that state to become the first to permit gay marriage in 2004.
That decision has been cited in numerous cases that have followed, as the number of states whose courts have demanded equal marriage rights for gays has grown. But those same cases have also helped fuel opponents, who say gay marriage is being foisted upon the U.S. by out-of-touch judges. In order to counter that argument, Bonauto and other gay-marriage activists in Maine who began organizing to press for gay marriage there decided to avoid taking the issue to court. Instead, they set about electing lawmakers who were friendly to their cause two years ago, and this year successfully convinced the legislature to become the nation's first to establish gay marriage by statute, rather than by decree. "Frankly, we had heard the criticisms about going the court route, and so we said, 'Fine, we'll go to the legislature,' " says Bonauto. "And it has been an incredible campaign." . . .
With the loss in Maine, the focus inevitably turns back to the courts, and for now that means back to California. That's where former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson and powerhouse attorney David Boies have brought a suit insisting that the Constitution forbids any law that prohibits gay marriage. Bonauto won't comment on the criticism that gay-rights groups heaped on Olson when he filed the case, saying it was premature given the heavily conservative bent of the federal judiciary. But she said to win across the country, gay-rights supporters must press the marriage case wherever the fight takes them, be it in courthouses, state capitols or voting booths. "It's never been an either-or choice," she says. "When the issue is one of social justice, we have to get the judicial branch involved. There is absolutely a role for the courts.". . .
Maine was supposed to be different. To begin with, it was the first state to legalize gay marriage by statute, and with the governor's support. When the unprecedented new law was challenged, supporters hoped that political backing from the governor, coupled with Maine's traditionally independent mind-set, would provide the breakthrough that gay-marriage supporters have been waiting for.
The vote prompted an outpouring of cash and other resources from far beyond the borders of the PineTreeState. From New Jersey, the National Organization for Marriage sent a $1.8 million check to help defeat gay marriage. Gay couples in California and others still heartbroken over the Prop 8 vote sent lots of smaller checks to help bring the 'Vote No on 1' coalition some $4 million. On Tuesday, Californians manned phone banks to help encourage the vote, which Maine's Secretary of State told reporters Tuesday was exceptionally large. . .
Gay marriage bills are under consideration in New York and New Jersey, and Washington, D.C., city leaders are mulling whether to expand rights for same-sex couples, too. Olson and Boies' case is set for trial in January, and gay activists could learn soon how valid their fears about the federal judiciary are.
Boston Globe - Even with incomplete vote figures, the turnout was at least 53 percent of eligible voters. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap says the figure could grow to around 60 percent -- approaching what Maine sees in a major election year.
Maine Public Broadcasting -[Jesse Connolly of Protect Maine Equality] has always maintained that same-sex marriage opponents deceived voters into thinking gay marriage and gay sex would be advocated and taught to students in public schools, even though Maine's attorney general and education commissioner said there was nothing in the law that related to school curricula. . .
For 14-year-old Sam Putnam and his family, the campaign for marriage equality has been a personal and gratifying one no matter what the outcome. Putnam was thrust into the spotlight last spring when he chose to testify on behalf of his two moms at a public hearing. His testimony was put on You Tube and before Putnam knew it, he was being asked to appear in a television advertisement and his classmates and teachers at PortlandHigh School were offering their support.
"I talked about how I'm an average teenager, which I am," Putnam says. "I play sports for my school. I have a lot of friends. I'm an honor student. I participate in the community as much as I can and no matter what happens tonight, it's not going to change me as a person at all. It's just going to change the way my family is being seen."
Putnam will have to wait a while longer for his two moms to be recognized the way he'd like. But Maine Governor John Baldacci says that day is coming. "We may not get there as soon as I'd like to get there, but we're going to get there because that's the future."
Linda Hirshman, Daily Beast - I had hoped gay marriage would win out in Maine. I even gave them a little money (thank you to gay friends for a dinner). So when it lost, I was sorry . . .
But winning or losing makes no difference to the real question: what in the world was this issue doing in a referendum anyway? Isn't this exactly the kind of thing that James Madison invented the life-tenured federal judiciary to decide?
Recently, a bunch of legal scholars and influential commentators representing themselves as liberals, have suggested that it's not. The federal courts should just bow out, they say, of deciding things like gay marriage (and abortion rights). (Little-known fact: the Bow Out movement started with a suggestion that the Supreme Court had made a mistake when it integrated the schools. Imagine what the law would look like if the Brown court had waited until a majority of states were ready to pass the Civil Rights Acts.) Painful as it is to them, as sincere supporters of abortion rights/gay marriage/your issue here, these wise ones think the federal courts should follow the election returns. Only when a majority of states have legalized something should the federal courts find that it was a fundamental constitutional right all along.
Look at the damage, the law professors say, from the Court's "premature" decision to protect women's right to abortion in 1973. Why, bands of protesters are still showing up at the Supreme Court building with pictures of fetuses. How much better it would have been, they argue, to fight these grinding, state- by-state battles to protect women's choices, than to have legal abortion protected as a matter of equality and privacy for 36 years.
What these academic treatises ignore is the concern that Madison and others had that what they called the tyranny of the majority was legitimate. A majority, Madison predicted, often whipped up by demagogues, would oppress a helpless minority. . .
When confronted with gay marriage, a record number of states, red and blue, stood that carefully constructed system on its head. In the Maine gay marriage campaign, the popularly elected branches were invoked, when, in a matter of great human importance and intimacy, gay marriage should have been a matter of fundamental rights for the courts from the beginning. . .
That gay marriage has to run this gauntlet is not an accident. Before the Bow Out movement, most big social change claims made their way to the federal courts without this huge windup of state-by-state legislative efforts, which then alerted the opposition to the social change that was coming. More importantly, a thoroughly organized, heavily funded conservative movement is now securely ensconced on the political stage and has seen its tyrannical opportunity in the majoritarian vehicle of the referendum. The combination has pulled the American political system in a radical new direction the Founders actively opposed.
Charles C. Haynes, First Amendment Center - According to a 2008 survey taken by Public Religion Research, when asked whether they would favor allowing gay couples to marry "if the law guaranteed that no church or congregation would be required to perform marriages for gay couples," support for legalizing same-sex marriage jumped from 29% to 43%. Portland Press Herald - The push to legalize same-sex marriage in Maine began in January, when hundreds of activists gathered at the State House to announce that Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, would sponsor a bill to change the definition of marriage.
The bill defined marriage as "the legally recognized union of two people" rather than "the union of one man and one woman joined in traditional monogamous marriage," a definition put in place by the Legislature in 1997.
It allowed any two people to apply for a marriage license "regardless of the sex of each person." And, finally, it allowed religious institutions to refuse to perform same-sex marriage if it is not consistent with their beliefs.
Rev. Bob Emrich of Palmyra: "God has given us this victory and it is very important for us to recognize that he is the one who put the energy into this campaign."
Maine Public Broadcasting - Amy Quinton from New Hampshire Public Radio reports farms and nurseries are using so much plastic -- thousands of pounds a year --that they're having a tough time getting rid of it. . .
Farmers used to store hay in silos or barns. Now it's encased in plastics to protect it from moist weather in the northeast. The ag bags are about eight feet in diameter and 200-feet long. . .
Because some of that plastic can be dirty or torn, it's hard to reuse it, or to find a recycler who will take dirty plastic. . .
Farmers all over the region are facing the same problem. So are nurseries and garden centers, which are saddled with plastic greenhouse covers, trays and pots. . .
He estimates his company goes through about a half million plastic flower pots a year. made from polypropylene, one of the less common plastics. "It's tough to get someone to want to use it and recycle it," he says. "As far as I know all the people that are interested in recycling it are in the midwest."
Cole says he's found just one company out of Michigan that's willing to pick up and recycle his flower pots -- but only when he has a full truckload. Cole says most garden centers, even the large ones, end up taking their pots to landfills.
David D. Platt, Working Waterfront - As literature, these accounts are all over the map. Buckley, not surprisingly, is erudite and not afraid to describe the contents of his wine cellar or wander off into politics; Silver Donald Cameron, an experienced Canadian journalist, recounts entire conversations with people he meets between Nova Scotia and the Bahamas. He writes movingly about traveling with his elderly dog, and entertains with observations on everything from navigating New York to ordering engine parts to his tourist experience at Colonial Williamsburg. Rockwell Kent recounts near-misses and dangers dealt with, leaving the impression of a man risking his life for the experience
Susan M. Cover, Kennebec Journal - Secretary of State Matt Dunlap is predicting a 35 percent voter turnout on Tuesday, despite heavy advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate. Dunlap based his estimate on the number of requests for absentee ballots, which he said has been strong for a referendum election, but nowhere near the number of requests for a presidential vote. And while voters seem to be picking up ballots, they aren't returning them as fast as he would have anticipated.
The final Public Policy Polling survey in Maine finds voters favor repealing the state's law legalizing gay marriage by a narrow margin, 51% to 47%. Two weeks ago, a similar poll found voters deadlocked at 48%.
Analysis: "The measure's fate could be determined by the age composition of the electorate on Tuesday. Senior citizens support it by a 59-40 margin while voters under 30 oppose it 51-48. Last year exit polls showed more voters under 30 turning out for the Presidential election than ones over 65 but we expect seniors to turn out at a much higher rate than younger voters this year, as is often the case in off year elections. If the electorate ends up being younger than we anticipate the fight could be even closer."
