504 Congress Street has been home to a lot of business in the past two decades, and unfortunately for a string of entrepreneurs, it hasn’t been any one of them for very long.
Rob Evon is the latest to take an active interest in this prime piece of downtown real estate, smack in the middle of Portland’s arts district, just around the corner from Monument Square.
January 20, 2009, I was a witness to the fulfillment of Martin Luther King’s dream that people will judge others by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.
More than twice the population of Maine stood before, behind and around the Capitol Building with more people spilling out of Metro gates like the march of the penguins and walking the streets of DC in hopes of finding a giant Jumbotron where they could watch the swearing-in ceremony.
An electrical fire in the boiler room of The Sullivan Fitness Complex forced over 100 people at the gym and the adjacent day care center to evacuate the building at 12 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. There were no injuries.
The fire was caused by a short circuit in the building’s backup electrical system.
Students and faculty who bring their laptops to campus may want to be more cautious. Last week, three thefts were reported within a four-day period on the Portland campus- two of which were laptops.
These thefts are part of a trend over the last few weeks, during which USM Police have seen an increase in thefts of electronic items such as laptops and iPods.
Being a former high school hockey player myself, I was excited at the chance to write this article, and consequently attend a game. As co-captain of my own team (back in the day) I never thought I had enough skills to join an elite college team like the Women’s Huskies, so I didn’t try out.
Free Press: What is your major and concentration?
Nick Downing: My Major is Art and Entrepreneurial Studies with a concentration in sculpture. I also have a minor in art history.
FP: What year/class are you?
ND: I am a senior, but I am anticipating being back for another semester in the spring.
Lately, I have spent a lot of time thinking about human nature. I’ve been thinking about collective consciousness, the power that it may have, and how greatly our emotions really affect our lives.
There are two emotions that all other feelings stem from-love and fear.
A buzzing throng of local business figures, students, and other guests assembled at the Hannaford Lecture Hall at 7 am on January 14th to witness Muskie School professor Charles Colgan’s annual economic forecast.
A grim excitement filled the air prior to the lecture, as more than 400 guests milled around the urns of coffee, platters of danishes and sliced canteloupe.
The 2009 Academy Award Nominations were announced last Thursday with a sound no louder than a “thud.” The lackluster Oscar push of this year’s nominations left much to be desired from last years onslaught of intellectual and intriguing titles. “Slumdog Millionaire” seems to be this year’s favorite for best picture, already taking home the Golden Globe’s Best Picture award (Drama) along with many other accolades from contests around the world.
Over winter break, I fell into a normal, domestic routine that comes with time spent at home. No cable means I am woefully dependant on network television to fulfill my entertainment needs.
As I lazed around the homestead, I watched as The Price is Right gave way a solid three hour late-afternoon block of courtroom judge shows, followed by my now-close friends, Ellen, Phil, and of course, The Big O.
In an effort to create a financially sustainable university system in Maine, UMS Chancellor Richard Pattenaude last week announced a six-month process aimed at spurring “major transformative changes”.
In a meeting with trustees on Jan 11, Pattenaude predicted that without significant restructuring of the UMS system, Maine’s seven public universities would face a $42.
The USM women were busy over break. While most of us were away with family, food and drink, the Huskies were ascending the national rankings – all the way to 15th in country. But now, in the rigors of conference play, the Huskies are clawing to gain traction and stop a mid-season plunge in conference play.
Rosey and I have been friends since we met at UMO in the late seventies. Last weekend, her sisters and I met in South Thomaston, as Lynda’s husband Joe had flown to Florida to play some baseball. Lynda and Joe live in a house on Patten Point that is warm with pine, rich with art, and has generous windows that frame the sea and islands.
The new entrance to USM’s Glickman Library officially opened last Wednesday afternoon with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The new entrance that faces the campus is part of an ongoing revitalizing project financed through private donations and government earmarked funds, which the University hopes will make the campus more attractive to its students and faculty.
Stouts are one of craft brewing’s biggest mysteries. For those who don’t frequent the aisles of specialty shops, stouts often become synonymous with Guinness. But beyond the macro-brewed, oily-black goodness of a Guinness Draught, there’s a whole new world of stouts waiting to test your palate.
Walking through Luther Bonney this past semester it was hard to miss the group of campaigning students who called themselves the “Window Warriors.” This was the most recent campaign of the USM Green Team, whose past efforts in the fall of 2006 involved covering light switch covers with sticker bearing the phrase “Flip it Switch it Turn it Off.
MTV’s “The Real World,” the show that give birth to reality television, took a step closer to representing the real world by adding a transgender to their cast for the first time. But while MTV was taking their time getting to the transgendered population, a pair of USM alumni were bringing transgender issues to the forefront of peoples’ consciousness.
With the economy in the toilet and the state looking to make ends meet, a conversation has arisen about the importance of sports. Though most of the discussion has focused on high school sports, no level is immune to the ill-effects of budget cuts.
It’s easy enough to course through a budget, line by line, and strike games off schedules and limit sport-related expenses with an executive turn of the wrist.
President Botman has named USM’s next Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs – Dr. Kate Langdon Forhan of Northeastern Illinois University.
Forhan is currently the dean of NEIU’s College of Arts and Sciences, a post she has held since 2002. Her selection caps a hiring campaign that yielded 97 applicants from colleges around the country.
Mike Tardiff
Sports Editor
Hugs were in greater supply than jump shots on Saturday at Hill Gym. With former women’s basketball players and coaches slowly collecting and reuniting in the gym, it was a time to celebrate.
It was Gary Fifield Day in Gorham.
It was approaching midnight on Ferry Point Beach as the Mint Films team pushed to finish filming their 2008 short film, a scene in “This We Have Now” called “Jess & Andy.” After several hours of shooting, the tide came in and stranded Jeff Griecci’s Jeep on an island of sand in the distance.
Dear Sandra Eustis Bracket and President Botman;
Parking has been a huge issue, this year due to the added Hannaford Conference Facilities and the WishCamper Campus for Ollie Students. I have been a student at USM since 1999, as a non-traditional single mother who relies on commuting both to the university and to my children’s schools.
When President Botman announced $2.7 million in budget cuts last month, perhaps the most sensitive point was the dismissal of 65 faculty and staff members. All done, she insisted, while adhering to a motto of “do no harm to the classroom.”
But just moments earlier, she also mentioned draining funds from what amounts to a central artery in any University’s academic profile: the libraries, which would immediately see a jolting loss of $300,000.
Thanks to Earth’s propensity for circling the sun, days are getting shorter. And with shorter days come few opportunities.
And thanks to reduced levels of melatonin many of us grow lethargic and want to sit on the couch all day.
An alternative?
Well, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, Christmas tree farms can be a good place to start.