The Maine Minute
Everything You Need to Know TodayFebruary 7 2012
Camden Preps for Tobogganers
Over 400 teams will be competing in the National Toboggan Championships this weekend from Feb. 10–12 at the Camden Snow Bowl. Equal parts party and competition, the championships include a chili cook off, prizes for best team costume, and, of course. time trials for the fastest toboggan team. The event is a fundraiser for the Snow Bowl and draws thousands to the area.
Read Down East contributor Liz Peavey's account of the event here.
Find out more info at camdensnowbowl.com
Posted at Tue, 02/07/2012 - 2:44pm.
February 6 2012
Maine Begins Weeklong Caucus
We like to do things are own way in Maine, and presidential caucus' are no exception. On Saturday, Maine began a weeklong nominating process that will culminate on Feb. 11 with an event in Portland that awards Maine's delegates to the most popular candidate.
According to Poltico the Maine contest is down to Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. Paul campaigned across the state the weekend before, while Romney enjoys support based partly on his time serving as the governor of Massachusetts. The Maine GOP Web site has caucus info for towns across the state. Also, listen to Downeast.com blogger Al Diamon on NPR talking about the state's wacky voting system.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Mon, 02/06/2012 - 8:28am.
February 4 2012
Maine Seafarer Claims to find $3billion in Platinum
Greg Brooks, a native of Gorham, Maine says he discovered the World War II British freighter Port Nicholson 50 miles off the Massachusetts coast. Apparently this ship was bound from the Soviet Union to the United States carrying 1.707 million ounces of platinum, valued at $3 billion today, as a wartime payment. The ship sits 700 feet under water, and there's no verification the platinum is in there, but if Brooks is correct, it would be the richest shipwreck in the world. Brooks will begin recovery operations soon.
ReutersPosted at Sat, 02/04/2012 - 7:00am.
February 3 2012
Sen. Collins Engaged
Senator Susan Collins recently got engaged to Thomas A. Daffron, a senior member and consultant within her Senate staff. They met back in the 1970s when they both worked for Sen. Bill Cohen but developed a personal relationship only within the past few years. The ceremony is set for this summer, either in Collins' hometown of Caribou or Bangor, where she lives when not in Washington D.C.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Fri, 02/03/2012 - 9:16am.
February 2 2012
Maine Film Makes Premiere at Sundance
'Black Rock' tells the chilling tale of three childhood friends that reunite to camp on a remote island off the coast of Maine for a weekend only to find out (you guessed it) they aren't alone. It stars Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns), Lake Bell (Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital) and Milbride, Maine native Kaite Aselton (FX's The League), who directed the film and co-wrote it with her husband Mark Duplass (writer/drector of Cyrus and star of The League).
The film was shot last June primarily in Maine's northern woods, and was picked up by LD Distribution, so it should get a release later in the year. The indie-film received solid reviews at the festival. The Hollywood Reporter said that despite its fairly routine plot, it's smart and manages to avoid being just another B-movie thriller. Here's hoping though that this arrives in theaters after Maine's camping season.
Dispatch MagazinePosted at Thu, 02/02/2012 - 11:41am.
February 1 2012
CEO of Super Bowl Committee is a Mainer
Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, the biggest sports and television event of the year, is being led by non other than Auburn Native Allison (Cummings) Melangton. She's been working on the event for four years, since the last time the Giants and Patriots fought for the trophy, and in just four days it all comes to fruition. Melangton is using her position to do a few different things with this year's game. There will be much greater attention called to fighting and detecting breast cancer, and "hope baskets" will be delivered by NFL players to children with cancer in hospitals. She's keeping it festive though and has installed a zip line in downtown indianapolis for fans there for the weekend.
The most important question though for Mainers is who will she be rooting for? She grew up in Auburn, but has been living for years in Indianapolis, home of the Pats' biggest rivals over the past decade. Fortunately, she tells the Bangor Daily News that she'll be cheering on the Patriots. Go Pats!
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Wed, 02/01/2012 - 8:28am.
January 31 2012
Maine Harvests 100m lbs of Lobster
Maine's most iconic resource, the lobster, seems to healthy and plentiful if last year's bounty is any indication. According to the Department of Marine Resources, preliminary 2011 numbers show that Maine lobsterman have set a new record and reached a milestone. Over 100 million pounds of lobster was harvested in 2011, topping the previous record of 94.7 million, worth over $313 million, set in 2010.
Sun JournalPosted at Tue, 01/31/2012 - 2:17pm.
Buckle Up for Tougher Laws
Teenagers painstakingly wait for that day to finally come when they can get their license and hit the road unsupervised. It's a milestone in the life of a high school student, but one that may come with some extra hurdles if the Maine Secretary of State's new rules are approved.
Seacoast Online
The number of accidents involving drivers aged 16 to 24 are disproportionately high compared to the percentage of drivers on the road within that age group. As a result, Charlie Summers, Maine's secretary of state, wants to increase the workload and prep time an applicant must put in before they can be given a full license. A few proposals discussed are to double the number of accompanied driving hours to 70, establish a 10 p.m. curfew, and increase the length of time one must hold an intermediate license from six months to a year.Posted at Tue, 01/31/2012 - 7:00am.
January 30 2012
Samoset Chef Wins Key West Contest
Rick Skoglund Jr,, sous chef at the Samoset resort in Rockport, took the best entree award Sunday in the Florida Keys Masters Chef competition. Skoglund's winning entree was Parmesan encrusted scallops stuffed with crab and bruschetta.
Skoglund, a Le Cordon Bleu North America-certified chef, is in Florida for the winter, working at the Samoset's sister Ocean Properties resort, Westin Keys Resort. Skoglund worked from noon to midnight on Saturday, shucking and stuffing 1,000 scallops for the competition.
On Sunday, he competed against almost 30 other restaurants and their chefs for best entree. "It really felt good to compete" he said after the contest. "Developing new recipes and specials are what I enjoy best."
Skoglund, who was previously the executive chef at Kings Eiders pub in Damariscotta, will return to the Samsoset kitchen in the spring.
The Florida Keys Masters Chef competition is the premier food event of the season in Key West.
Master Chefs ClassicPosted at Mon, 01/30/2012 - 3:57pm.
Portland Baker Wages 'Cupcake Wars'
Alysia Zoidis, owner of Portland's East End Cupcakes, was the runner-up in a cupcake war Sunday on the Food Network.
In the first round of the competition, Zoidis and her friend Shana Treger made a "Vitameatavegemin" cupcake, an homage to the "I Love Lucy" episode in which Lucy is hired to do a TV commercial for a health tonic that makes her tipsy, reports Meredith Goad of the Portland Press Herald.
Portland Press HeraldPosted at Mon, 01/30/2012 - 3:45pm.
