Maine News Saturday June 27

Press Herald - Maine is full of roadside farmstands, many of which ask customers to serve themselves — Pine Ridge Acres’ store in Cumberland county is just one example. Columnist Leslie Bridgers explores how this system works, what happens when someone doesn’t pay and if honor-system farmstands are another one of those ‘only in Maine’ things. 

A housing project intended to help people facing long-term homelessness transition into stable housing was recently approved by the Portland Planning Board. The four-story, 33-unit Home For Good project on Forest Avenue will be at the site of a Tex-Mex restaurant that closed in 2022.

With the last day of school in the rearview mirror, students across Maine are heading into summer break. Many of their teachers, meanwhile, are transitioning to seasonal jobs, some for the fun of doing something different, others out of financial necessity.  The average salary for a public school teacher in Maine is $68,820, according to the statewide teachers union, while the average starting salary is just $45,830.

The state’s minimum salary is set to increase from $40,000 to $50,000 this year (and incrementally each year until 2029) thanks to legislation that passed this spring following years of advocacy from teachers.

But Maine still lags behind most states, per the National Education Association, and even the average wage for all teachers is on the lower end of the state’s area median income range (between $67,000 and $97,000).

Teachers, librarians and ed techs across southern Maine said they love their jobs but a teaching salary often just isn’t enough to cover childcare, pay rent or think about buying a home, especially for early-career educators, those in single-income households or parents. 

Seasonal jobs can help close that gap. The Press Herald talked to eight educators about the extra work they do in the summer, and why they do it.

Maine Morning Star - Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner wants to overturn the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that enabled corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections by any means possible. 

He supports a constitutional amendment and ethics rules on the high court, which the Sullivan oyster farmer included in his latest policy rollout Thursday to rid politics of corruption. He also supports more roundabout efforts, such as an ongoing attempt to use a Maine law to debunk the foundation of the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, he told Maine Morning Star. 

“Getting money out of American politics is the end state,” Platner said. “How we get there may take several different kinds of possibilities, but we should be right now aggressively pursuing every single one of them.” 

Maine Humanities Council - Our team here at Maine Humanities is taking the month of July to truly slow down.  We are taking the month as a time of rest, respite, and sabbatical. We work and live in a culture that often moves too fast for us to pause, reflect, and readjust. At Maine Humanities, we have realized that keeping this constant pace does not help us do our best work. We need space to reset our brains and our bodies so that we can return to our work and our partnerships with clearer minds and hearts.

To this end, our offices will be closed for the month of July. We are not the first non-profit to adopt a sabbatical month. We have learned from other non-profits we work with and are inspired by here in Maine.... How many of us have spent countless hours staring into our computers with back-to-back meetings, events, and obligations? Scheduling and rescheduling?  This type of stress gets trapped in our bodies and we need time to unplug and to just ‘be.’”

WCYY   -  Following the pandemic, many movie theaters throughout Maine closed their doors permanently. Many of those belonging to Cinemagic but other small theaters felt the pain as well.   That included the Nordica Theater in Freeport, Maine, which decided to permanently close. It looked to many in Freeport that the small theater would simply do what other vacant spaces do in Freeport, transform into something else.  

Instead, Patriot Cinemas decided to step up and reopen the movie theater after a six-year absence. Patriot Cinemas Opens New Location in Freeport, Maine | 

FREEPORT

The Freeport Wood Bank, supported by Freeport Community Services, provides free firewood to households that rely on wood heat. This past winter, demand was so high that supplies ran out before the season ended—highlighting how vital this resource is.  Now is the time to rebuild. Donations of split firewood or logs help volunteers prepare for the coming winter, ensuring no family is left without heat. Volunteers are also needed to cut, stack, and deliver wood—no experience required.  \