The Maine Minute
Everything You Need to Know TodayJuly 17 2012
Is Rockland Chef a "Food Network Star"?
Having completed challenges from hosts Alton Brown, Bobby Flay, and Giada de Laurentiis, Michelle Ragussis, chef at The Pearl in Rockland, will face off against three other chefs in the final round of "Food Network Star." She has pitched a show called "My New England" to the network, and fans will vote online as to whether or not her idea will be picked up for a full series. "Food Network Star" airs Sundays at 9 PM on the Food Network.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Tue, 07/17/2012 - 3:58pm.
July 13 2012
Collins Makes 5,000th Consecutive Vote
Susan Collins, the Republican Senator from Maine, just cast her 5,000th consecutive vote on the Senate floor, good for third longest streak of all time. Her perfect voting record began when she entered the Senate January, 1997. Her 5,000th vote was a 'no' vote on a bill to extend tax cuts for small businesses.
Washington PostPosted at Fri, 07/13/2012 - 8:54am.
July 12 2012
Lobstering Is Teetering on Shutdown
Lobstermen are considering keeping their boats at the dock because the price they get for lobsters has dropped to 1970s levels.
Lobstermen are being offered less than $2 per pound for their catch compared to more than $4 a pound in recent years. The price isn't enough to pay for their expenses, which include fuel, gear, bait, and a sternman's salary. A glut of landed lobsters is to blame for the low price.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Thu, 07/12/2012 - 4:39am.
July 11 2012
Downeaster Ridership Climbs
With nearly 530,000 total passengers in the past year, the Amtrak Downeaster has set a new personal record since starting its operation from Boston to Portland in 2001. That was a four percent increase from the previous year, and a good sign as the Downeaster extends its service to Freeport and Brunswick.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Wed, 07/11/2012 - 11:27am.
July 10 2012
Great White Sharks in Maine?
Great white sharks, the world's number one predator according to Animal Planet, are spotted off of Cape Cod every so often, as one was this past Saturday. It's less common, however, to hear about one off a Maine beach, but that doesn't mean this razor-tooth beast isn't out there. According to shark experts, Maine fisherman, and charter boat captains, there are undoubtedly great whites in the Gulf of Maine and some have seen them as recently as last summer. Many had thought the waters were too cold but these predators will follow seals, their favorite food, into water as cold as fifty degrees.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Tue, 07/10/2012 - 3:21am.
July 6 2012
Record Setting Umbrella Sleeves
Nancy 3. Hoffman of Peaks Island has been running the Umbrella Cover Museum for sixteen years and has been featured across such prominent news outlets as the the BBC and NPR. Now she's taking on the world by trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for owning the largest number of umbrella sleeves. Guinness will only consider any collection if it has at least five hundred items and Hoffman says there are at last six hundred on display in her museum with many more in storage.
Read about the origins of the Umbrella Cover Museum at the Bangor Daily News.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Fri, 07/06/2012 - 12:57pm.
July 5 2012
Message in a Bottle
Volunteers with the Maine Island Trail Association helping to clean up Tibbets Island off the coast of Down East Maine, discovered a note written in a bottle that had placed into the ocean July, 2000. Becky Lee of the Downeast Coastal Conservancy discovered it under a spruce tree. The note reads: “My name is Taryn and I’m 3 years old. I live in Welland, Ontario and spent my 1st real vacation in New Brunswick. I really loved seeing the ocean, but it was very cold so I couldn’t swim in it. I really liked collecting shells and pretty rocks off of the beach. I saw whales and seals. I had so much fun. I hope you like my letter. See ya!”
Taryn would now be fifteen years old. Lee says she would love to find Taryn and let her know she found her note.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Thu, 07/05/2012 - 12:31pm.
July 3 2012
Lobster: Cheaper than Bologna
A glut of soft-shell lobsters has driven down prices for the usually expensive crustacean — at $3.79 to $4.99 a pound, lobster is cheaper than bologna.
Consumers are happy, but the news is not good for lobstermen.
Typically, Independence Day is when lobsters begin shedding their hard shells and growing new soft shells. This year, though, soft-shell lobsters began showing up in abundance weeks earlier than normal. Canadian processors, which usually take much of the soft-shell catch, have their hands full with catches from Canadian lobstermen.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Tue, 07/03/2012 - 8:52am.
July 2 2012
LePage Tours Fireworks Store
In anticipation of the Fourth, Governor Paul LePage toured Phantom Fireworks in Scarborough, one of the eight fireworks stores that have opened since he signed a law legalizing the sale of consumer fireworks in Maine.
Forty municipalities have since prohibited the use of fireworks amid safety and noise concerns by town officials and residents. The law enacted by the Legislature allowed towns to craft ordinances that prohibit the use of fireworks.
Noise complaints about fireworks are also up, according to news reports.
It’s all about the economy,” LePage said of the new law legalizing fireworks. “There’s a demand, and we want to make sure there’s an adequate supply, that it’s safe, [and] sold to people that are of age within the law. And it creates jobs.”
State Fire Marshal Joe Thomas accompanied the governor to discuss fireworks safety. “This is the first time Maine has had fireworks for a long, long time and I believe what we want to do is make sure people are encouraged to use them safely,” LePage said.
Bangor Daily NewsPosted at Mon, 07/02/2012 - 10:28am.
June 29 2012
Crash! Bang! Boom! Complain!
As the first Fourth of July under Maine's new fireworks law approaches, complaints about noise are high and getting higher, police in cities and towns around the state report.
Maine lawmakers voted to lift the more than 70-year ban on most types of consumer fireworks last year. But Lewiston and Rumford police told the Bangor Daily News that some consumers don't realize that certain explosives remain illegal. These include fireworks that fly through the air, such as bottle rockets and sky rockets.
The Greenwood Fire Department dispatch has been flooded with complaints about fireworks over the last three weekends, the Sun Journal reports. Town Manager Kim Sparks told the selectmen that fireworks are being set off “all hours and any day of the week.”
In Norway, the Advertiser Democrat reports, a resident complained to selectmen about fireworks going off "day and night" in her Pikes Hill neighborhood. "It's just non-stop," she said. "It sounds like gunshots. One night, I was laying in bed and thought there was a war going off outside."
More than 40 towns in Maine have enacted ordinances restricting or outright banning the use and sale of fireworks, including Bangor, Portland, Lewiston, Auburn, Freeport and Orono.
Sun JournalPosted at Fri, 06/29/2012 - 9:31am.
