Shelly Angers
Marketing & PR Coordinator
The Northern
Forest
Center
P.O. Box
210
Concord
,
NH
03302-0210
603.229.0679 ext. 109
603.229.1719 (fax)
www.northernforest.org
****
More funding urged
for higher education
By A.J. HIGGINS, Blethen
Maine
News Service Friday, February
16, 2007
AUGUSTA
- Access
to
Maine
'
s higher education institutions has improved dramatically in recent
years for high school graduates, but the state
'
s two top higher education leaders insisted Thursday that more must
be done to meet future economic challenges.
Addressing a joint session of the Legislature,
University
of
Maine System Chancellor Terrence MacTaggart
and Maine Community College System President John Fitzsimmons urged lawmakers
to increase the state
'
s investment in higher education.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070216highered2.html
****
Board questions turbine
noise
E-mail this page E-mail a letter to the editor Reader Comments (below)
By CRAIG CROSBY
Staff Writer
FREEDOM -- Given their first chance
to ask questions about a proposed wind turbine project, board of
appeals members on Thursday offered a glimpse of the concerns they
will carry into deliberations.
Representatives
of Competitive Energy Services, which hopes to erect three electricity
generating wind turbines on Beaver Ridge, were quizzed on issues
of noise and whether they would be able to hook the turbines into
the electrical grid, should the project go forward.
http://kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/news/local/3624466.html
****
Mid-State set for
expansion
By COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer
WATERVILLE -- Mid-State Machine Products,
a manufacturing company that cut nearly a third of its workforce
five years ago, has invested $13 million in the former Wyandotte
Mill in an expansion that has doubled its sales and increased its
payroll by $2 million.
The
move ultimately will result in 70 new jobs at the
Waterville
site and 20 additional positions at the company
'
s
Verti Drive
headquarters in Winslow, Mid-State President Alan D. Dorval said Thursday.
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/3622294.html
****
No broad tax increases
|
|
Lynch
'
s budget up by 9 percent
|
By ERIC MOSKOWITZ
Monitor staff
February 16.
2007 8:00AM
|
Gov.
John Lynch submitted a $10.2 billion budget proposal
to lawmakers yesterday that included a request to scrap
the existing education-funding formula. Instead of sending
more money to some communities and less to others, Lynch
called for a flat increase of 5 percent to all school
districts while legislators work to define - and eventually
pay for - the adequate education called for by the Supreme
Court.
The
governor
'
s two-year budget would increase two-year state spending
by 9 percent and give a boost to a variety of programs
and agencies, including plans to spend more on the environment,
historic preservation, college education and home-based
care for senior citizens.
http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070216/REPOSITORY/702160347/1043/48HOURS
****
|
|
$12 million suggested for LCHIP
|
Funds would help state preserve land
|
By SARAH LIEBOWITZ
Monitor staff
February
16. 2007 8:00AM
|
|
iting
New Hampshire
'
s burgeoning population, Gov. John Lynch called on lawmakers
yesterday to devote $12 million to the Land and Community
Heritage Investment Program over the next two-year budget
cycle. "Some of our most beautiful places are in danger
of being lost to us forever," Lynch said. "We
must act now to protect what is special about
New Hampshire
."
Lynch
'
s proposal would reverse the trend of the past four years,
providing LCHIP with an influx of cash after several years
of waning support.
Although Lynch proposed giving LCHIP $10 million for the last two-year
budget cycle, the Republican-led House slashed that amount
in half. The Republican-led Senate cut LCHIP
'
s funding further, to $1.5 million over two years. During
the previous two-year budget cycle, lawmakers set aside $1.5
million for the program.
http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070216/REPOSITORY/702160360/1043/48HOURS
****
|
|
Moose permit auctions could aid Fish and
Game
|
By SARAH LIEBOWITZ
Monitor staff
February
16. 2007 8:00AM
|
|
uctioning off moose hunting permits and relieving the Fish and Game
Department of responsibility for state-owned dams will
keep the agency afloat, Gov. John Lynch said yesterday.
Although Lynch
'
s proposals fell short of the $3.2 million Fish and Game
requested in the next two-year budget, the measures will
ward off layoffs, Lynch said.
Fish and Game - which pays for its operations through the fees it
collects - has struggled to scrape by on money generated
from hunting and fishing licenses. But increasing responsibilities
and a decline in the number of hunters and anglers has
left the department in dire financial straits, with numerous
employees facing layoffs.
Lynch described his proposals as temporary measures, designed to keep
the department solvent "while we continue working
on how to best serve the interests of
New Hampshire
'
s hunters and fishermen for the long term." He didn
'
t hint at plans for a long-term fix for the department during
yesterday
'
s budget address, although he reiterated the importance of
hunting and fishing to the state economy.
|
|
http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070216/REPOSITORY/702160327/1043/48HOURS
****
Legislature plans are outlined
Friday, February 16, 2007
By Charles McChesney
Staff writer
A
month after being re-elected chairman of the Oswego County Legislature,
Russ Johnson, R-Fulton, laid out his plans for the year ahead, including
reopening a fire training facility, hiring a new county administrator,
creating a permanent facility for hazardous household waste and expanding
the county
'
s recreational trail system.
But
first, Johnson told his fellow lawmakers that the scrap over his
chairmanship won by a minority of Republicans that banded with the
body
'
s five Democrats was a sign that the Legislature was "a healthy,
dynamic organization, not a sick one."
http://www.syracuse.com/articles/oswego/index.ssf?/base/news-6/117162072827470.xml&coll=1
****
Next
spring season for salmon may be in ’08
By Kevin Miller
Friday, February
16, 2007 -
Bangor
Daily News
AUGUSTA
— Anglers likely will have
to wait until 2008, at the earliest, for a springtime Atlantic salmon
season in
Maine
waters.
The
head of the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission said Thursday that reopening
the
Penobscot River
to a catch-and-release salmon season this spring would be too risky to
the fragile fish population. The last spring salmon fishing season in
Maine
was held in 1999.
"The
board has been consistent with its approach to recreational fishing
opportunities: Science, conservatively interpreted, must drive the
decision to open any fishery," Dick Ruhlin, chairman of the
commission, said in a statement.
"Once
you look at the science — combined with the annual run of returning
salmon — it is clear that unlimited angling over a four- to
six-week proposed period could jeopardize existing recovery efforts
at this critical time."
http://bangordailynews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=146424&zoneid=500
****
Quoddy
Bay vows to forge ahead on LNG
By Anne Ravana
Friday, February
16, 2007 -
Bangor
Daily News
Quoddy
Bay LNG developers joined Downeast LNG on Thursday in pledging to
move forward with their plans to construct liquefied natural gas
terminals on
Passamaquoddy Bay
.
Their
announcement comes one day after the Canadian government declared
its opposition to the projects.
Donald
Smith, president of Quoddy Bay LNG in Perry, sent a letter Thursday
to the U.S. State Department in response to a letter Canadian Ambassador
to the U.S. Michael Wilson sent Wednesday to the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.
http://bangordailynews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=146440&zoneid=500
****
Development
reshaping Hermon village
By Toni-Lynn Robbins
Friday, February
16, 2007 -
Bangor
Daily News
HERMON
- When Eugene Byers moved into the town village in 1957, he could
look out his living room window and watch cows graze in the pasture
behind his home.
In
a few short months, however, his rural scenery will likely be replaced
by the sight of bustling shops and the noise of delivery trucks.
Byers,
74, and his wife, Glorilea, 71, live on Route 2 in Hermon village,
and soon they will be the neighbors of a 24,000-square-foot grocery
store.
"I’m
not against development," Byers said. "But to me the village
is not the place for a store like this."
http://bangordailynews.com/news/t/city.aspx?articleid=146427&zoneid=176
****
Calais
mulls strategies
to lure tourists
By Diana Graettinger
Friday, February
16, 2007 -
Bangor
Daily News
CALAIS
— Now
that a new bridge is in the offing, the city has to examine ways to get
tourists to turn right off the bridge and into the downtown.
That
is what the City Council and planning board talked about Tuesday
night.
Right
now, two bridges connect
Calais
with
St. Stephen
,
New Brunswick
: the downtown
Ferry
Point
Bridge
and the
Milltown
Bridge
, near the city’s Industrial Park on
North Street
.
Tourists
cross the
Ferry
Point
Bridge
as they head toward
Bangor
and
Boston
. The problem is the long lines of traffic in the summer as cars wait
to clear
U.S.
and Canadian customs.
The
new bridge is supposed to relieve that problem.
http://bangordailynews.com/news/t/downeast.aspx?articleid=146429&zoneid=177
****
City
gets money for master plan/economic development strategy
Barbara Tetreault
BERLIN
— The
city is preparing to develop a comprehensive master plan and economic
development strategy that it hopes will guide its future growth.
The state Executive Council last week approved a $25,000 grant from
the Department of Resources and Economic Development to
Berlin
for the planning process. City Planner Pamela Laflamme said the city
has approximately $15,000 for the master plan update in its fiscal
budget. To round out the funding needed, the city is seeking a $50,000
grant from the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund.
Last year the closing of the pulp mill and the purchase of the property
by North American Dismantling Corporation created public interest in
the future use of the site. The council authorized the planning department
to seek a Tillotson grant to hire a consultant to help develop options
for reusing the 121-acre mill property in the middle of
Berlin
. In December, the city held a brainstorming session to gather input
from the public on what it would like to see on the mill site.
As the process has advanced, Laflamme said the city has decided to
expand the scope of the project beyond the mill site. She noted the
mill property is in private ownership, which limits the city’s
ability to guide development there.
At the same time the city has been discussing updating its master plan
for several years. Laflamme it seems like a good idea to combine the
two projects to come up with a long-range vision for the city.
“The timing is right,” she said.
Laflamme said the master plan sets out where the city wants to see
commercial and residential growth and is the basis for the city’s
zoning ordinance, site plan, and subdivision regulations. The current
master plan was done in 1992 and is strong in its in documentation
of
Berlin
’s natural resources. Laflamme said the document does not focus
as much on a vision for the city.
Plus much has changed in
Berlin
in the past 15 years. For the first time in over a century,
Berlin
does not have a paper or pulp mill. The city has a state prison and
is slated to get a federal prison. The new state ATV park is being
developed around
Jericho
Lake
.
The bulk of the money will be used to hire a consultant to do the master
plan/economic strategy. The city expects to hear soon on the Tillotson
grant. Laflamme said she hopes to see the plan completed by the end
of the year.
http://www.mountwashingtonvalley.com/BDS/newsbds.shtml
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