According to a Portland Press Herald story in the Dec. 30 edition, the sale of that paper and the other holdings of the Blethen Maine Newspapers has been delayed until early 2009.

Blethen and Maine Media

Layoff lowdown: Here’s the first sentence from a front-page, top-of-the-fold story in the Bangor Daily News of Dec. 24: “Contrary to some rumors, Cianbro’s Eastern Manufacturing Facility is not laying

Shutdown shuffle: Both the Maine Public Broadcasting Network and its legislative critics appear to be engaging in a carefully choreographed public-relations production designed to score some extra state cash for MPBN.

On Dec. 18, the network announced that due to budget problems,

More – or less – than it seems: For the past two years, Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s expenses have been greater than its revenues. At least on paper. A chart published

The PolitickerME.com Web site is shutting down. An announcement from Politicker’s only full-time reporter, Jessica Alaimo, was posted on the site shortly after 1 p.m. today.

According to that brief

Fewer flacks: Since the early 1990s, the number of official spokespeople at the State House has increased sharply. The speaker of the House, the president of the Senate, the attorney general, the secretary of state, majority offices, minority offices, even the Public Utilities Commission

Doug’s other discovery: Doug Rafferty, a feature reporter and former anchor at WGME-TV in Portland, is appearing in a promotional spot on the station for a 30-minute program about what a news release

Bland is better? Every daily paper in the state ran some kind of story in the last week or so on the three candidates running for Maine attorney general. Some of the pieces did a little digging – Mal Leary of

Deadline looms: According to a Nov. 29 posting by Thomas Cushing Munjoy, the mysterious masked marauder of the Maine media, the Seattle Times Co. has until Dec. 27 to complete a deal to sell the Blethen Maine Newspapers to Maine

In on the arrest: Westbrook police know how to time a bust. The local cops staged (and I do mean staged) the apprehension of Abbas Al-Hamdany of Gorham on Nov. 21 for maximum public exposure. Al-Hamdany was taken into custody at his Main Street convenience store in Westbrook in the