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A Crib Sheet of Maine Info You Need to Know — October 6, 2008

What's new in Maine today, October 7, 2008?

Divers have reached <I> Portland.</I> The wreck of the steamshp <i>Portland</I>, sunk 110 years ago off Cape Ann, rests some 460 feet below the surface of the Atlantic.   The <I>Portland</I> rests in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, 15 miles east of Cape Ann. Some 200 passengers and crew members included a senator from Maine and members of the black Abyssinian Church community from Portland, Maine. The steamer sank November 1898; no one survived. Crews first located the ship in 1989 and robotic dive teams have made the visi.  Due to the depth of the wreck this has been the first year human dive teams have been able to reach the <I>Portland.</I>

What's new in Maine today, October 6, 2008?

More political analysts say Maine can play a pivotal role in the Novemeber 4 Presidential election. This is not news to Down East.com readers; political blogger Mike Tipping called Maine's role in the election in August in his Down East blog, The Tipping Point. (More indication that if you want to know the best of Maine — politics, opinion, stories — Down East.com is a must-read site throughout the week.)

Camp Sunshine's attempt to break Halloween records by lighting the most carved pumpkins at one time came up a bit short Saturday.  The camp was attempting to break its own record of 30,128 lit jack-o'-lanterns set at an event in Boston in 2006. Volunteers lit just over 23,000 pumpkins Saturday night, falling short of the goal.

Allen's Coffee Brandy has managed to do something no other alcoholic beverage producer has done in Maine: The coffee brandy maker has sold more than one million bottles of its brown syrup in Maine. Some 1,024,000 bottles of the brandy, made in Massachusetts, was purchased in Maine in 2007. (No word on subsequent increases in milk sales....)

What's new in Maine today, October 3, 2008?

Residents in central Maine are being targetted by phone scams, according to a manager of KV Federal Credit Union.  Residents are receiving calls from a "Maine Credit Union" and are being asked to activate credit cards by entering account numbers into the phone.

Senator John McCain's presidential campaign is turning its attention from Michigan and toward northern Maine. McCain will campaign in Maine's second district, where organizers believe vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin will help attract voters to McCain. It's a move Down East blogger Mike Tipping predicted more than a month ago. Read Tipping's take on McCain and Maine here.

There is no such thing as a free lunch — at least at The Black Frog Restuarant in Greenville. Owners have discontinued a practice of giving a free Skinny Dip (roast beef and melted cheese) sandwich to anyone who will skinny dip in Moosehead Lake. The change of heart follows three patrons who received a free lunch, but also summons for indecent exposure.

 What's new in Maine today, October 2, 2008?

Maine-made Kate's creamy butter earns a culinary award.

Maine will receive a $500,000 federal grant to be used for expanding rail service on the Downeaster, which connects Maine to Boston via rail.

Governor John Baldacci is shuffling his staff. Communications director David Farmer will become deputy chief of staff, and replaces Ryan Low, who will take over as commissioner of the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. Senior policy adviser Patrick Ende will become chief counsel, succeeding Mike Mahoney, who is headed back to private practice.

What's new in Maine today, October 1, 2008?

The QE2 is bypassing Portland today. The cruise ship changed course after encountering remnants of Hurricane Kyle off the Nova Scotia coast.

Construction details for a $150 million casino resort planned for Oxford County have been released.

Power from trash? That's what's happening in Hampden at the Pine Tree Landfill. Cassela Waste Management is converting methane produced from decaying trash into electricity.

What's new in Maine today, September 29, 2008?

A 1910 Mercedes four-seat Tourabout and a 1913 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost were among the antique automobiles to fetch more than $800,000 each at the auction of Richard Paine's antique automobile collection. The auction took place Friday and Saturday at the Owls Head Transportation Museum and drew an estimated 500 people to the museum and hundreds of phone bidders.

Paine lived in Seal Cove, Maine and the bulk of his collection remains at the Seal Cove Auto Museum, a non-profit orgaization.

More than six inches of rain and heavy winds accompanied Hurricane Kyle as it passed over Maine and headed for Nova Scotia Saturday and into Sunday. The storm did not pack the punch originally anticipated. Fishermen in Machias referred to the storm as a nor'easter without snow.

Maine is the nation's most forested oil-dependent state when it comes to home heating preferences, according to a new study by Governor Baldacci's Wood-to-Energy Task Force. The state has some 17 million acres of forested land that could be used to provide a sustainable, renewable form of energy with advancements in wood pellet-burning technolog, according to the report. Some 44,000 Maine homeowners use on average 900 gallons of heating oil per year. This year's cost of heating will be, on average, $4,100, the task force noted in looking for energy alternatives.

What's new in Maine today, September 26, 2008?

A new type of hydro power may be in the works for the former site of Maine Yankee in Wiscasset. A Canadian power company, Riverbank Power Corporation, would like to generate electricity by having water from the Back River flow into sunken wells, pass through turbines and then into underground reservoirs.

 What's new in Maine today, September 25, 2008?

The Maine Land Use Regulation Commission is reviewing a development proposal for Moosehead Lake and has given preliminary approval for the development of Lily Bay. In all Plum CReek is proposing 975 housing lots, two resorts and conservation of 430,000 acres.

What's new in Maine today, September 24, 2008?

A Maine television news anchor is receiving hate mail accusing her of trying to sway voters in favor of McCain/Palin for the November Presidential elections.   Her device: Her face and hair, both of which resemble Ms. Palin's coiffed hairstyle and bespeckled mug. (Really — we can't make this stuff up.)

What's new in Maine today, September 23, 2008?

Maine's minimum wage will rise October 1, according to the Maine Department of Labor. The wage will increase twenty-five cents, to $7.25.

Fishermen claim new regulations on herring, commonly used as baitfish in the lobster fishing industry, will hurt bait dealers and lobstermen.  The National Marine Fisheries Services set a new limit on how much herring can be caught in Maine coastal water, lowering the limit from 60,000 metric tons to  41,000 metric tons.

In other lobstering news, a lobstermen in Matinicus is suing 23 people and alleging violation of civil rights, among other counts, stemming from incidents involving a lobstermen cooperative and the Department of Marine Resources.

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