Maine House Passes Plan to Raise Minimum Wage

The bill, LD 611, passed largely along party lines, with all Democrats save one voting in favor, and all Republicans opposed. It would raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour by 2016. The bill still faces additional votes in the Senate and House, and still must get by the Governor's pen.

New Hope for Augusta's Flatiron Building

Housing Initiatives of New England, the same group responsible for the transformation of Augusta's old City Hall into elder housing, who like a crack at the  Flatiron. On Thursday, the city council unanimously voted to give them the chance.

The city will lease the landmark building to Cynthia Taylor, president of nonprofit housing developer Housing Initiatives of New England -- the same corporation, and woman, responsible for the redevelopment of the former city hall, which was also Augusta's police station, into 31 assisted-living apartments called the Inn at City Hall in 2000.
The flatiron building has been empty since a new Cony High School opened in 2006.

The project is expected to create 44 one- and two-bedroom units, which will rent for between $500 and $729. 

First Friday Art Walk

Downtown Augusta business will be open late and showcasing art during the First Friday Art Walk, April 11 from 4-8 pm.

The Augusta Downtown Alliance hopes to build on last year's event, which brought hundreds to Water Street, where business exhibited paintings, photography, and sculpture. The Art and Architecture studios of the University of Maine at Augusta were open to the public as well.

The theme of the event is "Light on Water." Yeah, I don't know what the deal is with the theme, either, but let's go to the event and find out.

McDonald's to Offer Table Service in UK

It's sort of funny that Marketing Magazine puts waiters in the category of "cutting edge initiatives."

The service will be tested at the Milton Keynes location. The products aren't changing; but does anyone go to McDonald's for the food?

Downeaster platforms ready in Freeport, Brunswick

Downeaster platforms ready in Freeport, Brunswick

Trains will begin running this fall.

Augusta next?

Lobster Wars

Those crazy lobstering folks are at it again, in the town of Friendship, no less, where two boats were sunk and other lobstering gear was sabotaged.

Sounds like the Wild East out there, but it's all for money. Probably.

Bratty Boys?

It's Mom's fault. Of course it is.

Testosterone-Fueled Infantile Males Might Be a Product of Mom's Behavior

ScienceDaily (May 10, 2012) — By comparing the testosterone levels of five-month old pairs of twins, both identical and non-identical, University of Montreal researchers were able to establish that testosterone levels in infancy are not inherited genetically but rather determined by environmental factors....

Unless it's Dad's fault, or some other environmental cause. But you'd never guess from the headline of that article that the researcher's really don't know the cause, just that is is environmental rather than genetic. "The study was not designed to specifically identify these environmental factors which could include a variety of environmental conditions, such as maternal diet, maternal smoking, breastfeeding and parent-child interactions."

But hey: how boring. Let's blame Mom, just like we did for autism. That stuck for decades!