Five bond proposals that would make needed investments in Maine’s roads and bridges, colleges and universities, research and development, land conservation, and waste water and drinking water treatment passed the legislature in May. The House and Senate gave two-thirds majority votes of approval to each of the proposed bonds.

“A jobs bond will give our economy a much needed shot in the arm,” said Rep. Emily Cain, the House Minority leader. “The best way to improve our economy is by making more investments that will help small businesses, job training and public education.”

Read more ›

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and Know Technology, LLC are hosting a special Café Scientifique at the Strand Theater, 345 Main Street in Rockland, Maine at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 24, 2012. The event, titled Changing Seas, Human Challenges — A Conversation between a Scientist and a Journalist, will be a discussion with Bigelow Executive Director Dr. Graham Shimmield and journalist Colin Woodard, author of American Nations, The Lobster Coast, and Ocean’s End. Shimmield and Woodard will talk about current ocean issues and challenges including extraction pressures on the ocean for food, energy, and new products; ocean acidification as a result of climate change; and the effects of melting ice caps and harmful algal blooms such as red tides.

Read more ›

“I’ve heard from students across the state about their personal stories, including one student who recounted a bullying incident where his peers sicced a dog on him after a school event,” said Rep. Terry Morrison. “Leaders in our state must do everything we can to prevent these kinds of tragedies, from the State House to the playground. We can’t pretend this isn’t happening regularly in our schools.”

In a vote of 128 to 4, state lawmakers in the Maine House voted to gave final passage to a measure that would protect students from bullying in Maine schools. The bill nearly passed into law in 2011 but was sent back to the Education Committee at the last minute in the face of opposition from the Christian Civic League.

“This is an incredible victory for Maine students,” said Morrison, who sponsored the bill and has strongly advocated for it after hearing from hundreds of students and parents in his district. “We have sent a strong message to students and parents across Maine: Bullying in our schools is unacceptable and we won’t tolerate it.”

Read more ›

Interest rates on student loans will double July 1 if congress doesn’t take action. Democrats in the House have proposed paying for the lower interest rates by eliminating some tax breaks for oil and gas companies. Republicans say they have a solution too.

A Republican House bill passed a bill today that would pay for the student loan fix by repealing the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which provides support for hundreds of thousands of breast and cervical cancer screenings as well as childhood immunizations and screening newborns for birth defects. President Obama has stated he would veto the measure if it made it to his desk.

“It’s outrageous that Republican leadership is using the crisis of student debt as a tool in another attack on women and the entire middle class,” said Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. “They are telling students struggling with debt that we can help you, but only if we take away funding for cervical and breast cancer screenings, childhood immunizations and birth defect treatments.”

Read more ›

On Friday, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will visit Fort Stewart in Georgia where the President will sign an Executive Order to help ensure all of America’s service members, veterans, spouses, and other family members have the information they need to make informed educational decisions and are protected from aggressive and deceptive targeting by educational institutions. We have a sacred trust with those who serve and protect our nation. It’s a commitment that begins at enlistment, and it must never end.  That’s why President Obama is committed to ensuring veterans and service members have the chance to get a college education and can find work when they return from service.
 
Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill became law, there have been reports of aggressive and deceptive targeting of service members, veterans, and their families by educational institutions, particularly for-profit career colleges. For example, some institutions have recruited veterans with serious brain injuries and emotional vulnerabilities without providing academic support and counseling; encouraged service members, veterans, and their families to take out costly institutional loans rather than encouraging them to apply for Federal student aid first; engaged in misleading recruiting practices on military installations; and have not disclosed meaningful information that allows potential students to determine whether the institution has a good record of graduating service members, veterans, and their families and positioning them for success in the workforce. 

Read more ›

The Telling Room, Portland’s community writing center, will hold its annual free conference May 4th at USM’s Abromson Center. The evening will feature the release of their sixth anthology of student writing and a live performance to showcase student writing, photography, and film created during the 2011-12 school year.

The theme of the event is ‘Searching for ME.’ Telling Room staff, community partners, teaching artists and volunteers will be on hand to run interactive writing, photography and printmaking activities for all ages. Performances begin at 8:00.

Read more ›

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree today called on Congress to act quickly to avoid a doubling of student loan interest rates for nearly 7.5 million borrowers this summer.

“Americans owe more on student loans than they do on credit cards,” said Pingree. “And if Congress lets the interest rate double on July 1st, borrowers are going to have to come up with thousands of dollars more just to pay off that debt. At a time when families are already struggling to make ends meet, this is the last thing they need.”

If Congress doesn’t act, interest rates on federal student loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1st.

Read more ›

A Healthy Home team with Seth Wescott on a hike at Brabury Park after the announcement of L.L. Bean's million dollar donation promoting outside activities in Maine.

Olympic gold medalists Joan Benoit Samuelson and Seth Wescott were on hand for the announcement of a million dollar donation from L.L. Bean to Healthy Hometowns. The company’s donation will expand the now-seasonal programs at the Caribou-based Maine Winter Sports Center throughout the year and help fund ways for young people to get outside and exercise.

The donation also expands the Healthy Hometowns program from 100 locations in Maine to 400.

Read more ›

Rep. Emily Cain, Maine's Democratic Minority Leader in the state House of Representatives. photo by Ramona du Houx

Maine’s House Minority Leader, Rep. Emily Cain, sat down for an interview about this session. Cain is the spokesperson for democrats in the House of Representatives and since the LePage administration has moved in her public role has increased. Young, energetic, quick witted and intelligent she handles tense situations with ease and grace. She never backs down from her principles and has a clear understanding how to move Maine forward economically while maintaining Maine’s quality of life, Having severed on the Appropriations and Education Committees she brings unique insights to her job which helps during negotiations.

This session has been dominated by Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed cuts that would result in people losing health care. When did this all start?

Before we even arrived back in session, long before Christmas, the Appropriations Committee had held hearings on his supplemental budget that made $220 million in cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services.

First the governor tried to blame “too many people being on the program.” Then he blamed the federal government. He wouldn’t take responsibility for errors within DHHS — these were errors within his own administration — for why that cash-flow problem happened.

Read more ›

Bigelow Executive Director Graham Shimmield (left), Director of Corporate Alliances and Technology Transfer Mark Bloom, and Congresswoman Pingree in the second floor conference space of the Bigelow Center for Blue Biotechnology in East Boothbay. Photo by Robert Mitchell.

U. S. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree visited East Boothbay in April for a tour of the new 27,000 square foot, state-of-the-art Bigelow Center for Blue Biotechnology (BCBB), the first building to be completed on Bigelow Laboratory’s new Ocean Science and Education Campus.

“Maine’s marine resources have always been a critical part of our economy and heritage,” said Pingree. “I was pleased to be able to visit Bigelow Laboratory’s newest facility, where extraordinary work is being done to find new uses for those resources. That work holds great potential for Maine’s economy and coastal communities.”

Read more ›