Wake-Up Call: Wednesday, July 2, 2008

With the PolitickerME.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Maine's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.

With the PolitickerME.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Maine's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.

Progressive group backs Allen, Pingree

Democracy for America, a progressive political action group, has endorsed U.S. Rep. Tom Allen for Senate, and Chellie Pingree for Congress, both Democrats. (PolitickerME.com, Jessica Alaimo)

Link: http://www.politickerme.com/jessicaalaimo/1895/progressive-group-backs-a...

Hollywood Slots opens to public in Bangor, Maine

BANGOR—Showgirls and Hollywood look-alikes greeted the first visitors Tuesday as Penn National Gaming Inc.'s $132 million Hollywood Slots opened its doors to the public.

Hundreds who waited for up to two hours to begin playing slot machines formed a line that snaked outside the complex, which is directly across the street from the city's famous Paul Bunyan statue. Inside, a Jack Nicholson look-alike flanked by showgirls was waiting to greet them. (Boston Globe, AP)

Link: http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2008/07/01/hollywood_slo...

Eliot to adopt new source of tax revenue

ELIOT — Officials are moving quickly to create a new economic development tool for the town — a Tax Increment Finance District — before the town loses an opportunity to capture tax revenues from the almost-completed gas compressor station. (Seacoast Online, David Ramsay)

Link:  http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080702/NEWS/8...

Kittery officials promised no cuts to school aid

KITTERY — At a meeting held in Augusta on Friday, Gov. John Baldacci assured Kittery School Department personnel that it will not lose state funding as a penalty for non-compliance with the new Maine school consolidation law, said Rep. Walter Wheeler. (Seacoast Online, Shir Haberman)

Link:  http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080702/NEWS/8...

Court rejects Christian school tuition subsidy

SWANS ISLAND- An appeal filed by a local couple hoping to get the town to pay for their children’s education at a Christian school in Trenton has been rejected by the state supreme court. (Bangor Daily News, Bill Trotter)

Link:  http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=166573&zoneid=500

Maine's rank in technology index drops

AUGUSTA- Maine has dropped six places in the national State Technology and Science Index compiled by the Milliken Institute, a complex report dubbed "the gold standard" of such studies by Gov. John Baldacci four years ago. (Bangor Daily News, Mal Leary)

Link:  http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=166578&zoneid=500

State can't afford antiviral medicine

Maine is one of just two states that have not participated in a federal program which helps states purchase and store doses of the potent antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza. The prescription medications are widely seen as important pharmaceutical weapons against a predicted global outbreak of a deadly strain of influenza, but Maine’s chief public health officer says there’s no money to purchase the drugs. (Bangor Daily News, Meg Haskell)

Link: http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=166588&zoneid=500

Democrats caucusing in Naples

Democrats are expected to caucus at Naples Town Office next week to appoint a replacement nominee for the race for House District 101, which includes Casco, Naples and part of Poland. (SunJournal, AP)

Link: http://www.sunjournal.com/story/272790-3/MaineNews/Democrats_caucusing_i...

Five unenrolled candidates seek Maine House seats
 
Democrats and Republicans won't be the only candidates vying to be state representatives on November election ballots.  (SunJournal, Staff)

Link: http://www.sunjournal.com/story/272792-3/MaineNews/Five_unenrolled_candi...

Wind power part of $1.9 billion state plan

AUGUSTA — Two top utility officials today will unveil details of a planned $1.9 billion overhaul of Maine's bulk-power transmission system.

The initiative, which Maine Public Service President and CEO Brent Boyles and Central Maine Power Co. President Sara Burns will discuss in a State House press conference, is an effort to address a growing population's increasing dependence on an electrical grid that has been largely unchanged since 1971. (Portland Press Herald, Matthew Stone)

Link:  http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=197094&ac=PHnws

Party appealing state's decision on independent

AUGUSTA — A spokeswoman said Monday the Maine Democratic Party had filed a Superior Court appeal, taking issue with Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap and challenging the validity of independent Herbert Hoffman's petitions to be on the November ballot for U.S. Senate. (Portland Press Herald, AP)

Link: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=197055&ac=PHnws

With the PolitickerME.com Wake-Up Call e-mailed to your inbox, phone, Blackberry or PDA first thing in the morning, you can get a rundown of Maine's top political headlines. Sign up to get the Wake-Up Call delivered every morning.