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Maine News

Monday, May 12, 2008

Maine News for Monday, May 12, 2008

Portland Press Herald
Michael Brennan sets himself apart with a tone of collaboration
Election 2008: The Democrat tries to understand other points of view and is known as a consensus-builder.

JUSTIN ELLIS Youthink: More than a booster seat at the table

Maine Greens set to select delegates May 18
The state is behind only California in the number of delegates it sends to the national convention.

Editorial
Policy should not try to stigmatize smokers
Ordinances should protect nonsmokers, not protect smokers from themselves.

Bans on personal watercraft bring Mainers back to lakes
The state's high court brought cheers from people who feared to go back in the water.

LEIGH DONALDSONGovernment regulation of the Internet will not halt abuses
The issue is content, not the way it's conveyed. We should prosecute criminals, not free speech.

Letters
Conserve energy to fight high prices

Sudden pullout from Iraq is not the answer for U.S.

Bangor Daily News

Joe Perry : Business associations ignoring Maine's promise

The recent editorial 'Doom, Gloom and Taxes' (BDN, April 26) puts Maine's economic challenges and opportunities in the right light. It also rightly described how Maine's hurdles are made more difficult because prominent business lobbyists constantly brand our state as a bad place to do business.

Maine delegation supports small-business breaks

AUGUSTA, Maine - With the nation's economy in the doldrums, members of Maine's congressional delegation are supporting efforts to spur small businesses to create more jobs.

Salmon stocking boosts Pleasant River

COLUMBIA FALLS, Maine - There are about 50,000 more salmon in the Pleasant River this week thanks to the annual stocking effort of the Downeast Salmon Federation.

Academic degrees granted across the state

Colleges and universities across the state held commencement exercises Saturday.

FEMA officials land in Fort Kent

FORT KENT, Maine - Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency were on the ground this weekend ready for business in the wake of Friday's federal disaster declaration for Aroostook County.

Editorial
A better school budget

Even those with misgivings about the school consolidation effort should welcome the part of the law that creates a new school budget approval process.

Miles-per-gallon boosters

Want to squeeze a few more miles out of that next overpriced tank of gas? Tom and Ray Magliozzi aka Click & Clack of NPR's Car Talk fame have a list of miles-per-gallon boosters on their Web site.

Beth Henderson: Chellie Pingree for Congress
It is with certainty that I stand in support of Chellie Pingree for Congress. Several years ago, as a fledgling superintendent-principal of North Haven Community School, my mettle was immediately tested by a host of district issues.

Kennebec Journal
Where are the voters?
Maine voters have their first chance this spring to go to the polls and weigh in on their local school budgets.

Augusta planners face busy agenda
AUGUSTA -- The Augusta Planning Board will be busy Tuesday, slated to consider proposals for a new subdivision in the city's Riggs Brook area, two new commercial buildings in the Central Maine Commerce Center, four new self-storage buildings in a business park, and 24 new condominium units in 12 duplexes.

Green delegates look for exciting convention
AUGUSTA -- Ruth Gabey, of West Gardiner, says it's exciting to be a member of the Maine Green Independent Party.

KENNEBEC COMMUTER: Find another way to get to work
Ditch the car today. Heck, ditch it all week.

Editorials:

Idea a novel way for mentally ill to stay out of jail Hidden danger: Police might arrest people to get them help for their psychological problems
Kennebec County's Co-Occurring Disorders Court is a good thing -- but it's unfortunate that we need it.

MARK HERTSGAARD (WWW.MARKHERTSGAARD.COM) : Law of supply and demand fuels rising oil prices
Never underestimate a politician's ability to pander.

J. SCOTT MOODY : Lawmakers reneged on vow to cut spending
The Taxpayer Bill of Rights was narrowly defeated in November 2006. It was on the ballot to allow voters to put a speed limit on the growth of state spending, with a long-term goal of gradually reducing our tax burden.

Other health-care goals need help from midwives
Ellie Daniels' letter to the editor of April 28 compels me to respond, especially her reference to universal access to childhood immunizations, a cause that I have pursued throughout my career.

Sun Journal
Fight over evolution looms in schools
WATERVILLE (AP) - A Somerset County school district is being urged by one of its members to drop evolution from its high school science curriculums on grounds that it is an unprovable theory that should not be taught as fact.

Maine congressional candidate returns from tour of duty in Iraq
SCARBOROUGH (AP) - Congressional candidate Charles Summers resumes his campaign after returning home this weekend following a tour of duty in Iraq.

Drivers need to be wary of moose
After recent moose-vehicle collisions near the Maine-New Hampshire border in Oxford County, the Maine Department of Transportation issued a moose advisory for drivers Wednesday.

Editorial
Keep it in Maine
Some wise folks, a couple of states over, have an economic notion so mind-bogglingly simple we're smacking ourselves for not thinking of it first. (We'd like to think it's because we think too deeply, so we miss the easy stuff.)

An important choice
Sen. Susan Collins and Rep. Tom Allen agree on a host of issues, such as civil rights, improved funding for education, women's reproductive rights and stem cell research. They are both decent and respectable people who have served Maine very well. But their differences in some critical judgments are noteworthy.

PolitickerME
Congressional candidate Charlie Summers returns from Iraq

Women stump for Scontras, a famous boxer stumps for Summers

MCLU cites difficult civil liberties battles as organization turns 40