Maine News for Thursday, October 9, 2008

Portland Press Herald
Plunging prices strain state lobster industry
As demand ebbs, lobstermen say they may fish less to ease the glut

McCain, Obama vie for 'trust' votes
Both candidates seem to agree that the question facing voters is simple.

Senate hopefuls clash over records
Tom Allen says Susan Collins has backed hurtful fiscal policies; she says the current crisis calls for her bipartisan approach.

Undecided voters in online poll say Obama beat McCain in debate
The survey is not scientific but its results illustrate how many of these voters perceived the debate.

Baldacci terminal tour boosts hopes
Portland officials want the state port authority to lease the facility and take over its operations.

House District 147: Incumbent, challenger face off
Kathleen Chase wants to cut spending; shipyard retiree Fred Houle says he's a good negotiator.

BILL NEMITZA site for sore taxpayers

Planned Parenthood endorses Allen
Meanwhile, the Veterans of Foreign Wars' PAC endorses his opponent, Sen. Susan Collins.

Unprecedented rate cut fails to ease fears
Stocks fall worldwide despite a half-percent drop in interest rates by the Fed coordinated with cuts in 21 other countries.

Editorial

Portland deficit should be taken seriously
This cost overrun is not large, but shows that old problems have not yet been fixed.

Rate cuts spread worldwide, but markets slow to respond
The idea that a crisis as deeply felt as this one can be solved this simply is incorrect.

Bangor Daily News

Living off-grid

It wasn’t the widescreen television or even the water jet shower with built-in surround sound. No, Kim and Mike Paradis of Fort Kent figure they lost most of their back-to-the-land points the day the new washing machine arrived.

Credit woes not so harsh in Maine

Even before the Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate Wednesday from 2 percent to 1.5 percent, Maine’s financial institutions were liquid and ready to lend, area bank and credit union officials

3 Maine ski resorts oppose casino proposal

PORTLAND, Maine — Three of the state’s biggest ski resorts are joining the effort to defeat a proposed casino in western Maine, saying a casino would detract from the state’s image as a family-friendly place to enjoy the outdoors.

Study: burden of new tax too heavy The doctors and others who oppose Question 1 — the ballot initiative that

Kennebec Journal

It all starts at home
WHITEFIELD -- Homeowners can save dramatically on their energy bills and cut down on pollution this winter with the right home improvements.

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT AUGUSTA Student housing later, rather than sooner, college president says
AUGUSTA -- The University of Maine at Augusta will eventually provide student housing, the college's president, Allyson Hughes Handley, said Wednesday.

Bankers offer advice in trying times
The sinking stock market has erased trillions of dollars from retirement accounts. Unemployment numbers are growing. So are fears that heating costs will push many Mainers to bankruptcy this winter.

RED LIGHT FOR ROAD WORK?
AUGUSTA -- Financial anxieties could significantly affect Maine's future infrastructure and transportation funding, representatives from state agencies and private institutions said Wednesday.

AUGUSTA Forum targets autism
AUGUSTA -- Autism, a disorder that state education officials estimate affects some 2,000 Mainers aged 3 to 20, will be the focus of a conference at Augusta Civic Center on Saturday.

House District 58

On Maine Politics

Palin visit? 10/08/08

Editorial

Mitchell urged to tackle income tax
Sen. Libby Mitchell, the incumbent in District 24, has smiled, coaxed, browbeaten, charmed, wheedled and at times simply powered her way to the top of the state's Democratic party.

Nothing but air from those who would lead
Forget who won the town-hall debate on Tuesday night.

KAY RAND : Current debate about Question 1 isn't leading toward right answer
On Nov. 4, Question One on the ballot asks Mainers to decide whether to keep the potpourri of tax increases enacted by the Legislature to fund the Dirigo Health Insurance Program (by voting no) or to repeal the taxes and continue to use the Savings Offset Payment to fund the Dirigo Health Insurance Program (by voting yes).

Sun Journal
Backers: Casino's 907 jobs crucial
LEWISTON - Oxford County casino backers unveiled an economic impact study Wednesday showing their $184 million project would create 907 jobs.

Michaud returns from Iraq tour
PORTLAND (AP) - U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud has returned to Washington after visiting Iraq and Kuwait.

Sugarloaf, Sunday River, Saddleback oppose plan
Three of the state's biggest ski resorts are joining the effort to defeat a proposed Oxford County casino, saying it would detract from Maine's image as a family-friendly place to enjoy the outdoors.

Heaters stolen in burglary

Editorial
'As The Turbine Turns'
Our story so far:

Catholics should remember liberals' stance on abortion
In recent elections when a high-profile Roman Catholic Democrat seeks high, or higher office, the issue of abortion surfaces. As the pro-choice, non-Catholic Barack Obama makes a play for evangelical voters, conservative Catholics are asking their fellow believers to take seriously the church's teaching on abortion and not cast their vote for Obama and Catholic Joe Biden.

MPBN

Backers Set to Announce Proposed Casino Location

On November 4th, one of the questions being put before Mainers on the ballot is whether or not to approve plans to build a casino resort in western Maine, somewhere in Oxford County. Well, there were more developments today in that story as Tom Porter reports.

New Brunswick Nuclear Question Catches Maine's Attention

Picture a long-term nuclear waste storage facility less than 30 miles east of the Maine border. That's a possibility, since New Brunswick is one of four Provinces that the Canadian government is considering to host its spent nuclear fuel. Premier Shawn Graham says he's not ruling out the idea, since the province already stores its own used nuclear fuel at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Plant. As Keith McKeen reports, the prospect has the attention of Governor Baldacci, and environmentalists are ringing alarm bells on both sides of the border.

Town Academies Brace For State's Consolidation Plan

They are local landmarks, with names that harken back to a time before the emergence of large regional high schools: Lincoln Academy, Hamden Academy, Bridgton Academy. Some town academies have disappeared, displaced by regional high schools. Some dissolved and sold their buildings to their local town while others have gone private. But some of these schools live on today and serve as the high school for Maine communities that otherwise wouldn't have one. That role, some Academy administrators fear, could be threatened under the state's new school consolidation plan. Keith Shortall has more.

Sex, Lies, and Audiotape

On a recent evening in busy downtown Portland, the sounds of rush hour traffic mingle with talk about sex... and it's being captured on video. As Josie Huang reports, it's all part of an effort aimed at encouraging parents and children to "open up" about a subject that's sometimes difficult to approach.

Ellsworth American
Demand for Absentee Ballots Is Evidence of Voter Interest
ELLSWORTH — Election Day is still a month away, but the early demand for absentee ballots indicates that voter participation will be strong statewide in this year’s election.

Oxford County Casino Plan Goes to Voters Nov. 4
ELLSWORTH — Five years after turning down a major casino proposed for the southern Maine town of Sanford, the state’s voters are being asked to approve a casino resort in Oxford County.

Crashing Economy Threatens Wary Maine Lobster Industry
ELLSWORTH — For Maine lobstermen, there is no longer any question about whether the cataclysm on Wall Street would really echo on Main Street.

Editorial
Unrealistic Expectations?
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, 2014 will be a bellweather year for education in Maine. That’s the year by which every student, in every public school, will be expected to be performing at grade level in reading and mathematics. That means that, in just six years, Maine has a long ways to go.

A “Yes” Vote on Question 1
Back in the spring, majority Democrats in the Maine Legislature, with little or no public discussion, pushed through legislation doubling the tax on beer and wine, creating a new tax on soft drinks and imposing a 1.8-percent surcharge on all claims paid by health insurrance companies and self-insured businesses. The estimated $75 million in revenue generated by those changes was earmarked to keep alive Dirigo Health, a subsidized insurance program that never has fulfilled expectations and should have been allowed to die a natural death.