Portland Press Herald (Portland, ME) articles from August 2003

Portland Press Herald (Portland, ME) archives from August 2003

Compost King, Maine Laboratory Are on the Rise in the Gardening Field.
August 22, 2003... Byline: Tux Turkel Aug. 22--Every gardener knows compost is great for improving soil. But what if the organic matter you've spread around your vegetables included grass clippings from lawns sprayed with clopyralid, a weed killer that...

Sanford, Maine, Engineering Firm Makes Higher-Volume Voltage Line Prototype.
August 20, 2003... Byline: Tux Turkel Aug. 20--A Sanford engineering firm is developing next-generation electric transmission cable that could help prevent problems of the sort that may have contributed to last week's power-grid meltdown. Applied...

Mapping Software Puts Yarmouth, Maine, Company in Big Leagues.
August 19, 2003... Byline: Edward D. Murphy Aug. 19--It's not often that a small Maine company could claim to be as large as Microsoft. Earlier this summer, however, DeLorme, the Yarmouth mapping and software company, could make the claim -- at least...

Dick's Sporting Goods Enters Crowded South Portland, Maine, Market.
August 19, 2003... Byline: Matt Wickenheiser Aug. 19--SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine--If you hit a golf ball in the Maine Mall area these days, chances are pretty good you'd break a window at a sporting goods retail store -- there's plenty of them, and the number...

Maine Dodges Rolling Blackout, as New England Grid's 'Fail-Safes' Work.
August 16, 2003... Byline: Matt Wickenheiser Aug. 16--The blackout that cascaded across a swath of the United States and Canada this week wasn't supposed to have been possible. Technological fail-safes built into the electrical grid should have contained...

Portland Press Herald, Maine, Eric Blom Column.
August 15, 2003... Byline: Eric Blom Aug. 15--Commerce is a cold war: Businesses don't shoot bullets; they develop strategies and form alliances to overpower competitors. In this conflict, intelligence is vital. You have to know what your adversary is...

Small Buxton, Maine, Company Generates Interest in Nanotechnology World.
August 15, 2003... Byline: Matt Wickenheiser Aug. 15--BUXTON, Maine--In this little town, in the basement of a house at the end of a dirt road, sits a large laser that will make really tiny bubbles, that might just be the next big thing. The house,...

Maine Officials Warn Stricter Rules Will Drive Fisherman South.
August 14, 2003... Byline: Meredith Goad Aug. 14--Portland Fish Exchange officials and members of a new city groundfishing task force say the federal government is underestimating the economic impact of proposed fishing regulations on Maine. A federal...

Maine Report Shows State Needs Increased Funds for Bridges, Highways.
August 14, 2003... Byline: Deirdre Erin Murphy Aug. 14--Maine's roads and bridges improved in quality over the past few years, but significant changes still are needed throughout the state, a road advocacy group's study concluded. As highway federal...

Maine Levies Fine against Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield; Interest Must Be Paid.
August 14, 2003... Byline: Josie Huang Aug. 14--Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and a subsidiary failed to promptly reimburse undisputed claims and must pay a fine and more than $1.2 million interest on the late payments, state insurance officials said...

Computer Chip Manufacturers Offer Clues to Direction of Nation's Economy.
August 12, 2003... Byline: Matt Wickenheiser Aug. 12--The connection between the computer chip industry and the overall economy is funny. Sometimes the chip sector lags behind the economy, hitting dips and high points after the rest of the financial world....

Head of Maine Accounting Board Discusses Local Effect of Federal Rule Changes.
August 9, 2003... Byline: Matt Wickenheiser Aug. 9--Accountants have long been known for their thoroughness, their doggedness in going over every square inch of a client's finances, and for putting each and every document under a microscope. After the...

Maine Cows Part of Large Cuba Cattle Shipment.
August 9, 2003... Byline: Matt Wickenheiser Aug. 9--Twenty-seven Maine dairy cows are going to have to learn how to say "moo" in Spanish. The Holsteins are part of a 148-head herd leaving for Cuba today, the second part of the largest cattle shipment...

Portland, Maine, Store Selling Central American Goods Eyes Further Expansion.
August 8, 2003... Byline: Edward D. Murphy Aug. 8--Peter Erskine had only one question 15 years ago when a college friend suggested they open a store featuring Central American goods in Portland. "I said, 'What does that entail?' And he said, 'We...

Portland, Maine, Public Market Hopes for Family-Friendly Restaurant.
August 7, 2003... Byline: Matt Wickenheiser Aug. 7--The Portland Public Market hopes to get a more family-friendly restaurant with lower-priced fare in to replace the Marketside Grill, which closed July 27. The Market has already seen interest from...

South Portland, Maine, Plant to Be Unaffected by National Semiconductor Sale.
August 7, 2003... Byline: Matt Wickenheiser Aug. 7--In a move to streamline operations, National Semiconductor Corp. said it is selling its Information Appliance business unit to Advanced Micro Devices Inc. for an undisclosed price. None of National's...

Maine Borrowers Eligible for Payments form Household Finance Settlement.
August 6, 2003... Aug. 6--More than 2,000 Maine consumers who had home loans with Household Finance or Beneficial Finance will be able to claim settlement payments beginning next week, according to the Maine Attorney General's Office. Notices will be sent...

Modular Home Dealer, Developer Seeks to Build Affordable Housing in Maine.
August 5, 2003... Byline: Tux Turkel Aug. 5--TOPSHAM, Maine--Rich Cromwell grew up in nearby Bath, in a neighborhood where homes were close together and people knew one another. In the summer, he mowed lawns for elderly women. In winter, he shoveled snow...

Head of Maine Credit Union League Sees Strong Future for Community Banking.
August 2, 2003... Byline: Edward D. Murphy Aug. 2--Credit unions have seen enormous change in who they can serve and the economy in which they operate during the last few years. John Murphy has been as close to it as just about anyone. He has been...

Fleet Bank Claims It Is Not Responsible for Portland, Maine, Investor's Losses.
August 2, 2003... Byline: Matt Wickenheiser Aug. 2--A Portland investment firm, not Fleet National Bank, cost a retired local businessman his fortune, according to court documents filed Friday in an ongoing legal dispute between Fleet and the businessman....

Judge Rejects Defamation Suit in South Portland, Ore., Topsoil Case.
August 1, 2003... Byline: Gregory D. Kesich Aug. 1--A dispute over a pile of topsoil, which may or may not have been removed from a South Portland construction site, can once again be argued in public after a court ruling this week. Superior Court...

Experts Fear New Health Warnings on Fish Will Overshadow Benefits.
August 1, 2003... Byline: Josie Huang Aug. 1--Eating fish used to be a no-brainer. "C'mon, all our parents told us it was brain food, right?" Alison Adams said as she shopped at the Fishermen's Net in Portland on Thursday. Volumes of data speak...

Knox County, Maine, Company to Start Newspaper Spun Off of Web Site.
August 1, 2003... Byline: Edward D. Murphy Aug. 1--Many news Web sites grew out of newspapers trying to expand their reach to the Internet. In Knox County, a company is planning to use its Web site as the foundation for a newspaper. And the...