Articles
Coastal Mainers Feel Oil Price Sting
The effects of record-high oil prices have reverberated throughout coastal Maine. This past year, the average price for a gallon of gasoline in Maine rose from $1.98 a gallon to $2.40, with a summertime spike to over $3. Heating oil similarly rose 53 cents per gallon, a thirty-five percent increase from the year before. Declining
Subdivision Boom Worries Bar Harbor Residents
Like many in Bar Harbor, David Bowden has a few places tourists can rent come summertime; along with being a city councilor, he’s also the owner of Edgewater Motel and Cottages. Bowden decries the ghost-town atmosphere that descends upon Bar Harbor each November. “Neighborhoods are going dark in the winter,” he said. Bar Harbor residents
Small Towns Face Big Questions with School Funding
School Union 96, straddling Washington and Hancock counties, might seem a prime candidate for cost-saving consolidation. But these things are never simple. When Gouldsboro found mold in its school, the solution was to move pupils to Winter Harbor, where the student population had plummeted following the closure of the Schoodic Point naval base. The Winter
Energy bill gives feds final say on LNG sites
Federal legislation giving the federal government exclusive jurisdiction in approving proposed Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) ports and refineries and could affect the status of three contested LNG site proposals on the Maine coast. Until recently, state and federal governments shared the decision-making process for proposed LNG sites, but states have often opposed LNG sites. With
Shipping Out to School
Most islands in Hancock County have primary schools that feed into Mount Desert Island High School (MDIHS), which is located on an island connected to the mainland. After graduating from their tiny primary school, Swan’s Island students who wish to attend MDIHS must catch a morning ferry to the mainland and an afternoon one back
Ellsworth Car Lot may be Future Waterfront Park
The city of Ellsworth moved a step closer toward revitalizing its waterfront this month by buying an option on a downtown shorefront parcel that recently housed a car dealership. If the city succeeds in purchasing the property, the lot would be converted into a public green space on the Union River. By paying $25,000 for