The Maine State Employees Association and the Maine Education Association, which represents 15,000 workers, have come up with a compromise to Gov. LePage’s proposed budget cuts to the state’s retirement system. The union’s modifications to the LePage proposal total $213 million in savings for the upcoming two-year cycle and a $1.2 billion reduction in the long-term unfunded liability.

“Even though teachers, firefighters, snow plow drivers and child protective workers did not cause the unfunded actuarial liability, we are here today to put forward our solution to help bridge the current recession and cover the increased costs to the State of Maine which were generated by the 2008 market declines,” said Chris Quint, executive director of MSEA.

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At dusk, on a cold mid-December day in the year 1773, a group of Bostonian men assembled near the Massachusetts city’s waterfront as the evening’s shadows fell. They might well have been going to a party, for they were all costumed, Native American style, wearing fringed buckskins, moccasins, and head feathers, their faces and exposed hands blackened by coal dust. One of them, a George Hewes, was later to write that he and his fellows carried little hatchets they agreed to call “tomahawks.” There might have been as many as 200 of these “Mohawks” and they were soon divided into three sections under three squad leaders. Hewes knew that his commander’s name was Leonard Pitt, but the other two remained strangers to him. Then off they all went to Griffin’s Wharf, where they boarded three English merchant ships — the Dartmouth, the Eleanor and the Beaver — tied up along the dock.

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Three community colleges in Maine are offering a new scholarship and assistance program, Accelerate ME, for students who have a hard time completing the requirements of an associate degree.

“The intent of the program is to help folks who haven’t been able to complete their degrees because they’ve been challenged by time or money,” said Helen Pelletier, of the Maine Community College System.

The program hopes to increase graduation rates.

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You bucked the national trend last election with a substantial win over your opponent. To what do you attribute your success?

I remind people that Gov. LePage won only by 38 percent; if you combine the people who went for Elliot Cutler and the voters who went for Libby Mitchell, it’s similar to the people who voted for Mike [Michaud] and I.

Even though we lost control of the Legislature, and we have a governor who won in a three-way race, it wasn’t as if the state said, “We don’t have any progressive values.” We are Maine. Voters were all over the map. No one can credibly say that we turned into a Red state. At the same time, we are all very worried about what’s happening with the situation with the governor and the Statehouse.

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At a local golf coarse players became teed off during their games because at a hole by the edge of the woods their golf balls would suddenly disappear. Some looked at the caddies with raised eyebrows, others looked at the people they were playing against with questioning glares. Then a caddy decided to solve the mystery by hiding in the woods. To his amazement he watched a fox scamper up to a golf ball, put it in his teeth, and dash into the woods. Mystery solved, and apologizes abounded.

This scenario has been played out across New England. Scientists have hypothesized that the golf balls resemble eggs. They have found teeth marks and some golf balls ripped apart, which could be dangerous, even deadly, for the foxes. Golf balls are a highly toxic mixture that do not biodegrade.

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Maine’s Department of Conservation (DOC) reports a near-record timber harvest on public reserved lands of 70,600 cords for the past winter season. The harvest, which was above that of recent years, is valued at approximately $2.23 million. These funds support maintenance, operations and public access on state lands.

The harvest involved hiring local logging contractors in 29 locations, harvesting timber across the state, and supporting more than 200 private-sector jobs. Logs were delivered to more than 40 Maine mills for value-added processing. Maine’s increased timber certification for sustainable forestry helped the harvest.

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Environment Maine released a new report, Safer By Design: Businesses Can Replace Toxic Ingredients through Green Chemistry, which highlights 14 businesses across the country, that are innovating to cut toxic chemicals from their products, while helping their companies and boosting the economy. There are some big multi-nationals on the list, like Proctor and Gamble, Walmart and Union Carbide as well as a growing Maine company.

“These companies are already replacing toxic chemicals with safer alternatives, and it’s helping their businesses,” said Nathaniel Meyer, Field Associate with Environment Maine.

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Senator Barry Hobbins, a lawyer from Saco, is the lead Democrat serving in Augusta. He’s been involved in public service since the ’70s. In his career he has led the Democratic Party and once ran for Congress. He is currently the minority leader of the Maine state Senate. He recently sat down to talk about working with a Republican administration.

The LePage proposals seem so radically different from Democratic ideals. How do you resolve those issues?

We have to find common ground on many issues. But there are fundamental issues that are so entrenched in Democratic roots and principles — of social justice and equality, and of being stewards of the environment, that we simply have to continue to uphold them to the best of our abilities. It’s the right and only thing to do.

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Gov. LePage is pushing a national agenda in Maine, which is not what voters mandated. As governor, isn’t it one’s duty to focus on the issues pertaining to all the people of Maine?

Democrats are very focused on what’s happening in Maine. We aren’t getting sucked into the National rhetoric that is coming from a lot of states where Republicans have recently taken control of the governorship and the Legislature.

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First Wind’s 60 MW Rollins wind energy project in Penobscot County is nearing completion with 34 of the 40 GE 1.5 MW turbines installed at the project site situated in the towns of Lincoln, Burlington, Lee, Winn and Mattawamkeag.

As part of the construction and development activities for Rollins Wind, more than $29 million has been spent directly with 97 Maine-based businesses. As construction nears completion, there are still about 175 workers on the project site, but during peak construction the site supported an average of 200 jobs each day.

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