Experiencing justifiable anxiety resulting from mass shooting slaughters

MaineBiz reports by Alexis Wells: For Mainers, a sense of trust and safety has been shattered, while parents may be unsure how to speak to their children about the violence and help them feel safe. Resources are available for those struggling with mental health or trying to cope with loss.

“The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) encourages anyone affected by the violence in Lewiston to reach out and connect with behavioral health support,” the department said in a statement.

Senator Angus King newsletter: On Wednesday, October 11, Maine the county were horrified by the terrible news about the deadly tragedy in Lewiston. 

And given that the murder suspect remains unfound, we cannot yet move beyond fear to grief.

Eighteen precious lives were senselessly taken during this shocking act of violence, with more than ten injured for doing nothing more than living their lives on a Wednesday night — and my heart is heavy for the families who are mourning this unthinkable loss.

I took the first flight I could get yesterday morning to do everything in my power to support the Lewiston community and everyone impacted by this tragedy. I met with the Governor, the Mayors of Lewiston and Auburn, city councilors of both cities, first responders and medical professionals — sharing my deepest gratitude for their exhausting work and commitment.

If you are in an area currently under shelter in place orders, I ask that you please stay indoors and report any suspicious behavior to local authorities.

This is a challenging time for everyone who calls this great state home, and I want you to know that my thoughts are with you right now. Maine is a big small town connected by long roads — and in times like these, we go the extra mile to look after one another and give comfort and reassurance in any way we can.

I also want to share a few resources below for anyone in need of support in the wake of this tragedy:

If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911.

If you or someone you know is talking about suicide or feelings of hopelessness, please seek help immediately and call or text 988.

Teens and young adults can text The National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Teen Text Line at (207) 515-8398 for support.

Clinicians, educators, and first responders can call The FrontLine WarmLine at 1-800-769-9819 for support managing the stress of responding to disasters.

And if you are outside of Androscoggin County and looking to help the community during this time, please use this link to find your nearest American Red Cross blood donation location.

Please take care and stay safe,

Angus

Republican government shut down causes widespread economic harm

 Echo report published in the MaineBiz news by Renee Cordes

A (preventable❗) looming federal government shutdown has some Maine business leaders worried about the potential economic fallout for the state.

“Federal agencies touch many aspects of our privately funded work, from keeping air travel safe to setting fiscal policy,” Joshua Broder, CEO of Tilson, told MaineBiz. “A shutdown is unnecessary and reckless.”

The Portland-based provider of telecommunications consulting, design and build services has a national footprint.

“While Tilson isn’t dependent on direct federal spending, I’m very concerned about the impact of a shutdown of any length and urge Congress to do its job and not put the economy at risk,” said Broder, who was honored as a Mainebiz Business Leader of the Year in 2018.

His comments come as a Republican faction in the U.S. House of Representatives pushes for spending cuts that are opposed by many other members of the same party 😖😒❗, raising the specter of the first government shutdown in five years. That limbo lasted a record 35 days, from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 25, 2019.

Republicans are the "chaos caucus".

Andrew Silsby, president and CEO of Kennebec Savings Bank, expressed frustration over Washington’s repeated political stalemates.

“Over the past few years, Congress keeps finding itself at an impasse on funding the government and that causes great disruption for the economy,” he said. “Shutdowns or even the threat of a shutdown creates unnecessary worry and speculation over which services are considered essential or not or if the people will have access to a service or not.”

Arguing that the government should never shut down, Silsby lamented the fact that funding "has become such a political football in recent years.”

“It’s OK to disagree on policy, but simply continuing to fund existing government services should never be interrupted,” he said. “I am hopeful that we can get to a better place with our political discourse to find a way to consistently fund the people’s business.”

Construction contingencies:  To prepare its construction-industry members on what to know in the event of a shutdown, the Associated General Contractors of Maine issued a four-page brief about what companies should know and do.

The recommendations include establishing a protocol to track and account for all costs incurred in case of a shutdown and how to recover some costs once it ends.

“Our concerns are in the event of a longer shutdown, performance and therefore employment may be affected by non-contracting issues such as access to federal facilities or permitting requiring federal agencies,” said Kelly Flagg, executive director of the Augusta-based trade association.

“Assuming no agreement to fund the government is reached and it the federal government shuts down; AGC will continue to provide updates on construction-specific impacts or considerations concerning a shutdown,” Flagg said.

She also noted that shutdowns are of an undetermined duration, making planning and executing contract commitments extremely difficult for contractors.

“It creates insecurity for employees who don’t know if they’ll receive a paycheck or have work that week and makes commitments from vendors difficult,” she added. “Supply chain disruptions affect projects and ongoing uncertainty means that contractors can’t build their future work programs. All of these impacts have been seen in previous shutdowns and are of concern again today.”

Among large manufacturers, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (NYSE: GD) in Brunswick does not anticipate any disruptions to its output in case of a shutdown.

The shipyard, ranked Maine's fourth-largest private employer in the 2023, Mainebiz Book of Lists, designs, builds and maintains combat vessels for the U.S. Navy.

“We don’t see any immediate impact on manufacturing,” said BIW spokesman David Hench.

'Direct impact' on federal workers, families

On a wider scale, a shutdown would impact tens of thousands of federal workers in Maine as well as programs and services that are critical to Maine people and businesses.

Data from the U.S. Department of Labor show an average of 16,480 federal government jobs in Maine in 2022, including 6,390 jobs at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, 3,230 jobs at the U.S. Postal Service and 1,550 VA Hospital jobs. Those comprise two-thirds of the total, with public administration jobs in national security, courts and administration of federal programs making up the rest.

“There’s a direct impact on federal workers and their families,” said Kate Knox, a shareholder at Bernstein Shur who co-chairs the Portland-based law firm’s government relations practice group.

“Those workers won’t receive their pay, even if their jobs require them to continue working. And while programs such as Medicare and Social Security aren’t impacted, certain child care programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the WIC Nutrition Program benefits [for women, infants and children] would be affected, meaning some families might not be able to buy the food they need or be able to go to work without child care. Environmental and safety programs and even SBA business loans would be endangered."

On top of those direct impacts, Knox said that the uncertainty around a shutdown and its duration “means that it’s difficult, if not impossible, for the state government and impacted businesses to make mitigation plans.”

She also noted that the state and federal governments are intertwined, “meaning the impacts of a government shutdown go much deeper than what most of us think of as federal programs.”

Coronavirus Pandemic: Millinocket Maine "...as if the virus is everywhere around us," Dr. Nirav Shah said.

https://www.mainebiz.biz/article/far-spreading-millinocket-wedding-outbreak-spurs-call-for-individual-business-vigilance?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Daily+Report%3A+Millinocket+outbreak+ripples%3B+Maine+lobster+industry+targets+a+new+market&utm_campaign=Daily+Report+082620+v2

Maine provides lengthy checklists of public safety measures, and the hospitality industry has also teamed with Eastern Maine Community College to provide free online training on safety measures. Echo report by Maureen Milliken published in MaineBiz.

CORONAVIRUS- The outbreak started with a wedding on Aug. 7 where there was reportedly little social distancing and most of the 65 attendees didn't wear masks. 

Less than three weeks later, at least 83 people linked to that wedding or its guests have tested positive for COVID-19, including 18 associated with the York County Jail, and one person has died.

The rapid spread across hundreds of miles spurred a call Tuesday from Gov. Janet Mills and Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC, to the state's businesses and residents not to let Maine's overall low virus numbers cause complacency. The pair stressed that the need to be vigilant is as important now as it was in March, when measures were first taken to slow the outbreak of the disease.

The 83 cases associated with the Millinocket wedding and its reception include six at Maplecrest Rehabilitation and Living Center in Madison, a 58-bed nursing home 100 miles away, where one of the staff members attended the wedding.

A staff member of the York County Jail, more than 200 miles away, also attended, and now 18 cases at the jail and the York County municipal complex are associated with the wedding. The York County outbreak comprises seven inmates, nine jail staff and two York County employees who work in the complex. Those cases are included in the 83 linked to the wedding.

Maine CDC is also investigating an outbreak among York County firefighters that hasn't been linked to the county complex cases.

“What these outbreaks show — whether it’s the wedding or Maplecreast or the York County Jail complex — these recent examples ... demonstrate how aggressive and how opportunistic this virus is and how quickly it can move from one community to another," Shah said at Tuesday's biweekly briefing.

"Even if those communities are miles apart, separated by multiple counties in between, what we’ve learned about COVID-19 is that it can be the uninvited guest at every single wedding, party or event in Maine. The virus is where we are, then it comes home with us."
Wedding investigation ongoing

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=955673868238590&extid=OhkfQxhCZ60l8ome

The Big Moose Inn, Cabins & Campground was cited by the Maine CDC last week for exceeding the indoor gathering limit of 50 people — there were 65 wedding guests — and for not ensuring 6-feet social distancing or gathering contact information from those in attendance, as required. Shaw also confirmed at Tuesday's briefing that the investigation shows most of the guests weren't wearing protective face masks.

Big Moose is the first business in the state to be cited for not complying with state public health orders related to the pandemic. The citation comes with a requirement to agree to comply in the future, but no fines unless there's another violation.

The couple who held the wedding, who haven't been publicly identified, and the church where it took place, Tri-Town Baptist Church in East Millinocket, haven't been cited, but Shah said the investigation is ongoing.

Shah said the link between the Millinocket outbreak and the York County one had only been determined earlier Tuesday.

"Right now it's under evaluation. We want to make sure have all the facts, the key pieces to make sure we understand it fully," he said. "Given the expansion of the outbreak and the number of cases now connected, we're also focused on mitigating spread."

Steve Hewins, executive director of HospitalityME, which represents more than 1,000 members in the restaurant and lodging industry in the state, told Mainebiz, the majority of business owners are following the rules.

"This shows the importance of closely following all protocols so that employees, guests and the general public are kept safe," Hewins said Wednesday. "However, this one incident also overshadows the incredible work being done by thousands of restaurants and hotels across the state in keeping Maine’s infection numbers low even while our peak summer season remains in full swing."

The association, along with retailers and other related associations, has pushed since late spring to allow further opening, and stressed that restaurants and lodging establishments will follow guidelines to keep spreads, like the one in Millinocket, from occurring.

The state supplies lengthy checklists of public safety measures, and the hospitality industry has also teamed with Eastern Maine Community College to provide free online training on safety measures.

Shah said that the investigation shows so far that that “mask wearing not commonplace or widespread” at the wedding. He also said it hadn't yet been determined how much information the venue provided those attending aside from the fact that signs about mask-wearing had been posted.
'We can't let our guard down'

But Mills and Shah emphasized Tuesday that that one incident can have wide-ranging effects.

Mills said Tuesday at the briefing the fact the majority of Maine individuals and businesses are following the rules is what has kept the state's number of cases among the lowest in the country. Maine's seven-day postivity rate among those tested is 0.74% compared to 7% nationwide.


"We know we can’t let down our guard now," Mills said. "I know for many people the worst parts of this pandemic feel far away, like they’re in another country or another state," but "the spread here isn't just a possibility, it's a reality."

She added, "A woman who never even attended the wedding or the reception, who interacted with someone else who did attend the wedding or reception, lost her life to this virus. One person, one contact, can light a match, can spark a fire, that we may be unable to put out and it may cause our health care system to be overwhelmed it may cause people to lose their life."

Maine CDC is also investigating an outbreak at the Sanford, Buxton and Saco fire departments, which share some members, Shah said. While they are in York County, he said so far there's been no link, yet, to the county jail and Millinocket outbreaks. He also confirmed, in response to a reporter's question, that the pastor of a church in Sanford officiated at the Millinocket wedding.

Shah said the spread from the wedding provides a glimpse of how quickly an outbreak can unfold. Of the 60 cases associated with the wedding, 32 are people who attended the wedding or reception, 33 are people who didn't, but had close contact with them, and 20 had close contact with the secondary people.

A wedding guest infected a parent, that parent had contact with another child who works at Maplecrest, who infected five people there, four residents and one staff member. "All of this unfolded in two and a half weeks," Shah said. "That’s just an example of how quickly this virus can spread, from a wedding to a guest to a parent to another child to a nursing home.”


Mills and Shah stressed that it's still important for people to wear masks, practice social distancing and stay home when they can, particularly if they don't feel well.

“In light of the situation in York County and Sanford, please do not go to work if you are not feeling well," Shah said. "Gone are the days when powering through the workday with a cold is the heroic thing to do. Right now, in an era of COVID-19, staying home when you are sick is the most heroic thing that you can do."

"We should be going about our days as if the virus is everywhere around us," Dr. Shah said.

Immigration law students - on the job learning

Very glad to read this article in MaineBiz and to include it in Echo re-blog series of articles and letters I've found in on-line reading
Thank you to University of Maine School of Law and the Sam L. Cohen Refugee and Human Rights funding.  

Maine law students travel to Larado Texas to receive on the job immigration law training.

UMaine Law students gain immigration law experience at federal detention center in Laredo

Anna Welch, left, the Sam L. Cohen Refugee and Human Rights Clinical professor at the University of Maine School of Law, is overseeing Nora Bosworth, right, and nine other students from the law school who are getting hands-on immigration law experience at a federal detention center in Laredo, Texas.

Echo ~ re-blogged from MaineBiz

Students from the University of Maine School of Law are getting hands-on immigration law experience at a federal detention center in Laredo, Texas, where they are providing volunteer assistance to immigrant and refugee women.

A total of 10 students enrolled in MaineLaw's Refugee and Human Rights Clinic are participating. 

Several have already made the trip to Texas, while others are scheduled to go within the next month.

The students spend a week volunteering with attorneys and staff at the Laredo Project, a collaboration between the law firm Jones Day and Texas RioGrande Legal Aid.

At the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Facility in Laredo, students are conducting intake interviews, reviewing cases and filing motions for relief, such as emergency stays on deportation orders, building on their experience as student attorneys at MaineLaw's Refugee and Human Rights Clinic.

Students in the clinic are trained in all facets of immigration law and lawyering, and represent real clients in asylum and other humanitarian-based petitions, under the guidance of Anna Welch, Sam L. Cohen Refugee and Human Rights Clinical professor.

"Working with the Laredo Project, our students are able to take the skills they've learned in the classroom and through their cases here in Maine, and put them to good use for the women who are being detained in Texas," Welch said in a statement. "The effort reflects the clinic's dual mission of training future lawyers while engaging in public service."

UMaine Law students involved in the project are: Joann Bautista, Eric Benson, Nora Bosworth, Katie Bressler, Sara Cressey, Greta Lozada, Hanni Pastinen, Christiana Rein, Noel Sidorek and Jeremy Williams.

Nora Bosworth, who traveled to Laredo in July and plans to return for a second week of service, found the experience to be invaluable.

"The women's stories varied widely, from harrowing stories of trauma and persecution, to more routine accounts of mothers who have been living or working in the U.S. for years and were apprehended by ICE," she said.

UMaine Law noted that arrests of undocumented immigrants and immigrants whose legal status is unclear have soared under the Trump administration, with ICE making 110,568 arrests between Jan. 20 and Sept. 30. That's a 42% increase over the same period in 2016.

Labor shortages and migrant workers

"This year, 16%, or 28 people, of the full-time staff originally came from the migrant pool but have settled in the area. Of the 488 seasonal migrant workers, 43% are from Mexico, 25% are United States residents, 16% are from Puerto Rico, 6% are from Haiti, 9% are from Honduras and 1% are from Canada", MaineBiz.

Migrant workers are filling the labor needs on farms to support America's agricultural businesses.

This article makes a salient argument in support of expanding America's ability to attract more qualified immigrants to fill labor shortages. Meanwhile, our farms are relying on migrant workers to harvest crops and provide the labor needed to keep America's agricultural business vibrant. As Maine's labor force shrinks, the need for migrant workers grows from MaineBiz.
BY LAURIE SCHREIBER

Every May, Wyman's of Maine, the wild blueberry grower, sends out correspondence to its migrant workforce, reminding them that the wild blueberry harvest season is coming up, and including contact information so the migrants can stay in touch.

Wyman's employs about a fifth of the seasonal migrant workers hired for Maine's wild blueberry harvest. Every year, migrant workers in Maine — whether they are hired for the wild blueberry harvest or to pick apples or broccoli or make wreaths — come from a variety of places and get around in a variety of ways. The Maine Department of Labor calls agricultural workers something of an unseen workforce, not particularly visible to the average Mainer. Their travels are something of a hidden saga.

For employers, seasonal workers are a boon, says Nancy McBrady, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine, which supports an industry evolving with mechanization, resulting in a decline in worker numbers for raking. But seasonal workers today have new responsibilities — operating heavy equipment, integrated crop and pest management and other tasks. First and foremost, she says, employers rely on these farmworkers.

"We don't have sufficient labor supply locally to fill those jobs," she says. "So employers rely on seasonal workers. They're very much a part of making the harvest happen."
Florida to Maine and back again

Wyman's director of human resources, April Norton, shared insights about the travels of that company's migrant workforce.

Many of the migrants who work at Wyman's, which produces approximately 40 million pounds annually, are part of the so-called Eastern Migrant Stream. There are three primary migrant streams in the United States — Eastern, Midwestern and Western. For the Eastern Stream, in general, people follow the Atlantic seaboard, working on farms to pick and process different fruits, vegetables and tobacco. From late October to mid-May, according to data published by the Florida Association of Community Health Centers, many folks are in Florida, picking citrus and many other fruits and vegetables. Some might be in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky or Virginia, picking tobacco. A primary destination, once those crops are harvested, is New Jersey, where high-bush blueberries, among other crops, will be ready to harvest in July.

Wyman's employs both a full-time and part-time staff, says Norton. This year, 16%, or 28 people, of the full-time staff originally came from the migrant pool but have settled in the area. Of the 488 seasonal migrant workers, 43% are from Mexico, 25% are United States residents, 16% are from Puerto Rico, 6% are from Haiti, 9% are from Honduras and 1% are from Canada.

It's the seasonal workers who follow that general Eastern Stream. About 90% of Wyman's workforce are returnees, says Norton. It appears, anecdotally, that most of the seasonal group is in Florida for that October-to-May period, then typically migrate to North Carolina to harvest cultivated blueberries, then to New Jersey, for more cultivated blueberries. In the case of the Haitian workers, they tend to go from Florida to northern Maine to pick broccoli. In any case, all of the workers — traveling in groups usually defined by nationality, family or friends or on their own — are by that time in constant touch with Wyman's.

"They all know the season is coming up, and they or their families call us to find out when we'll start, because it's a fine line between when cultivated ends and wild starts," says Norton.

When the various groups hear the wild berries are ready, they head to Wyman's farm office in Deblois, where the barrens and housing are located. Deblois is about 25 minutes from Wyman's headquarters in Milbridge; both are in Washington County.

Wyman's harvest and processing season typically starts late July and runs through the first couple of weeks of September. At the farm office, those first few days of en masse arrival look like this: "It's a lot of people," says Norton. "They arrive in different ways. We have buses that show up. We have cars or vans that show up with large groups of people and usually no spare room in any of them. We have some who come into the Bangor airport, and we pick them up. Our Puerto Rican group doesn't usually travel in personal transportation; it's usually public transportation."

As folks arrive, Wyman's year-round staff gets everyone situated with their housing, either in cabins, reserved for families and women, or dormitories, with separate kitchen cabins. Even though most are returnees — some families have been with Wyman's for over 30 years — there's still a couple of days of paperwork and orientation to be done, all handled by Norton, her assistant and their staff of eight.

The end of the season is always a bit iffy, being weather-dependent.

"Once we get to Labor Day, that's the crucial point," says Norton. "We want to have most of our work completed before that. These are mostly families, and they have children who need to be in school. We do have a migrant school set up in town, where the kids are bused every day through harvest. But the kids need to be enrolled, at the start of school year, where their families are planning to be."

Those plans vary. Many migrants leave for other farms in Maine to harvest early-fall crops, mainly pumpkins, potatoes or apples. Then, once Pennsylvania and New York open for apples, most workers head there. When the apple season finishes, they usually go straight back to Florida to start the circuit again. A small number head to California to pick grapes and some go to Texas. Some families stay in Maine, picking apples and then making wreaths. So some of the children attend school in the local district until the end of the wreath season, then families usually return to Florida, or perhaps to Texas, and will enroll their children in school there.
Companies mix HR skills with logistics

Migrant workers are people who travel to find seasonal work and are unable to return to a permanent home at the end of the workday. Some are born in other countries and some in the United States. Other people who work on Maine farms include Mainers and tribal members, who might leave home for a brief period but have year-round jobs in their hometowns.

According to the Maine Department of Labor, a 2012 U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service census says 125 Maine farms reported hiring 2,706 migrant workers; that's about 18% of Maine's hired farm labor workforce.

Jorge Acero, the Bureau of Employment Services' State Monitor Advocate for Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers, outlines a route similar to that described by Norton.

There's another group of traveling agricultural workers: That's guest workers —folks who arrive from other countries to work for a specific employer on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' H-2A temporary agricultural worker visas. In 2015, 28 Maine agricultural employers filed for 635 job openings (not all openings are always filled). Under this strictly regulated program, employers must first advertise job openings, then can apply for guest workers if they're unable to fill the openings. Employers pay for transportation and housing costs.

"Someone meets them at the border, say it's Texas, if they're coming from Mexico or, if they're coming from Jamaica, they might fly into Miami or Atlanta," says Acero. "Once they pass customs, they take a bus up to Maine and the employer meets them at the bus station in Portland or Bangor with vans and transport them to the farm. The employer provides good housing free of charge" and meals either at a per-day rate set by the U.S. Department of Labor, or access to a fully equipped kitchen. Employees receive a first-week's-wage guarantee, in case there's a delay in the start date. And employers must provide transportation from living quarters to worksite. Most have vans; larger operations have buses.

Most guest workers in Maine are from Mexico and Jamaica, says Acero. Why there?

"Historically, at the inception of the program, there were people involved who had already been sourcing workers in Jamaica," he says. "So there is a bond, at least in the Northeast. On some Maine farms, Jamaican workers have been coming for 20 years. It's the same thing for Mexico, except it's usually by word of mouth —'I have a cousin in my hometown. Can we bring him in?'"

Another big traveling cohort comes through the H2-B temporary non-agricultural worker program, bringing people from all over the world to work mainly in hospitality, but also other industries such as seafood processing and light forestry. In 2015, 123 employers filed for 2,507 openings.

The two temporary worker programs are essential for Maine, says Acero.

"Farms say they can't find local people who will stay on through the season," he says. "Sometimes they start at the beginning of the season, but they don't go back. And in the hospitality industry, they say they just can't find enough people to fill their need. There are so many restaurants and hotels from Kittery to Bar Harbor that it's pretty difficult."

Air travel is cheaper than hiring new workers

Smith's Farm in Presque Isle employs both migrant and guest workers. A large grower of broccoli and other produce, Smith's has several operations outside of Maine, so air transportation is involved. The company flies about 100 migrant workers at a time from California to Boston in July for the broccoli harvest. In Boston, the group boards five charter buses that take them directly to the farm. The group flies back to California in October, then Florida in November, back to California in the middle of April, then California again at the end of April or the first of May. The company pays all transportation and associated costs.

Company President Emily Smith, a member of the 2016 Mainebiz Next Class, has big props for the travel companies that assist, especially Cyr Bus Line in Old Town and Crown Travel in Presque Isle. Logistical challenges include syncing up travel times with the harvest, especially during busy tourist seasons.

"We've learned what works and what doesn't and how to streamline the process," says Smith.

Many migrants have worked at Smith's Farm 20 to 30 years. "We have some well-traveled crew members who have made the trip many times," says Smith.

Smith also began using the H2-A program two years ago to employ people from Mexico. The company now has many returnees.

"We have such a large base of people from California who have family in Mexico, it made sense to bring in family members," Smith says.

That transportation process takes time. Employees go to the U.S. consulate for a visa, which takes two to three days to clear. The company pays for the interview and visa, and for the employee's time, transportation costs from hometown to consulate, and hotel costs in the consulate city. The company charters buses from the consulate city to Maine, with food and hotel costs paid. Charter bus companies, mainly in Texas, work with farms to see if trips can be batched together, which sometimes helps mitigate expenses, says Smith.

Meanwhile, Maine's Governor Paul LePage has not put forth public policy to expand Maine's workforce.  He refuses to accept the Medicaid expansion a move that would help young workers to afford health insurance.  He opposes an increase in Maine's minimum wage.  All the while, paper mill closings have continued and the employees left jobless will likely find comparable positions difficult to obtain. They'll either have to take much lower paying jobs than the ones they lost or move someplace where they can find similar work.

MaineWriter comments:

What's the answer?  It's obviously a long term problem so it's going to be a process to rebuild what has been lost due to the lack of a progressive public policy to build Maine's workforce.  I suspect the crises gets worse as Maine's population ages.  We've simply lost too much time being dragged down by severely austere Republican leadership.

Are Democrats afraid to rally behind increase in minimum wage seems like a no brainer

This news release posted on the MaineBiz news feed today is surprising information, given how much negative feedback Republicans spew when they cringe at profit losses perceived by an increase in the federal minimum wage.

Maine poll finds broad support for wage hike

A new poll has found that 75% of 589 surveyed Mainers favor increasing the federal minimum wage, with broad support from Democrat, Republican and independent voters.

The poll, which also found that 60% of respondents strongly favored a minimum wage increase, was conducted by the University of New Hampshire's Survey Center and commissioned by the Portland Press Herald. It had a 4% margin of error.

While 93% of Democrats surveyed said they favored a minimum wage increase, 70% of independents and 59% of Republicans said they also favored it.

The city of Portland (Maine) is currently mulling a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour that could go into effect by 2015.

At the state level, Republican Gov. Paul LePage has previously vetoed a measure to increase the minimum wage, while his gubernatorial opponents have offered support. U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, the Democratic candidate, seeks an increase at the state and federal levels while independent candidate Eliot Cutler only seeks an increase at the federal level.

Maine's state motto in Latin is Dirigo, meaning "I lead".  In another Maine slogan, there's a saying "As Maine goes, so goes the nation..."  

It seems more Democrats should be waving the Maine flag by subscribing to a national movement to increase the minimum wage.

This is a winning point of view because it doesn't appear as though there's much negative momentum about a federal minimum wage increase. In fact, it makes sense to increase the minimum wage, when it helps people out of poverty and, at the same time, helps to build pride and positive self esteem among the working poor.

States where the minimum wage was increased have seen a rise in their economic growth.  "...13 states that increased their minimum wages on have had stronger employment growth than the 37 states that didn’t. The study compared average employment during the first five months of 2014 with the last five months of 2013."

The average change in payrolls in the 13 states that increased their minimum wages was 0.99% vs. 0.68% in the other states. On January 1, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island boosted their pay floors as a result of legislation. The other nine states – Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington – automatically raised their minimums by smaller amounts based on inflation.

So, it seems like a "no brainer" for Democrats to build momentum on the Dirigo sentiment!

Republicans - a political party without a vision or a candidate but supporters who don't seem to get the disconnect

Republicans can't explain how their cruel Draconian position on the stupid 2013 budget sequester and ultimate government shutdown can help the economy. 

An example of the impact was reported in MaineBiz, as horrible Republican economics negatively impacted businesses related to Acadia National Park in Maine.

A federal report found communities near Acadia National Park

lost an estimated $16.2 million during the government shutdown last October, the third-largest estimated loss for national parks in the country.

The Portland Press Herald reported the National Park Service said park attendance at Acadia dropped 67% last October, compared with visitor numbers for that month over the past three years. The economic impact loss was estimated for communities within 60 miles of the park and added to a $262,133 revenue loss for the park itself.

The report found that only Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee, at $25.6 million, and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, at $17 million, had larger estimated losses from the partisan budget impasse that caused the government shutdown.  

Republican speak out of both sides of their mouths. They claim their objective is to improve the economy while, at the same time, obstructing, via sequester and shutdowns, the access people have to jobs they already have!

Moreover, Republicans are a party without a vision for how to restore American jobs, while claiming they want people to achieve the American Dream, via hard work. There's a major disconnect between what Republican say and how they respond to solutions to the problems they're creating by obstructing solutions.

Without a message, Republicans still stir up trouble, because they're somehow able to convince a skeptical electorate not to trust government. Hello? Acadia National Park, the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and the Grand Canyon National Park, among other sites, attract many millions in tourists and money because government invested in these natural treasures. Government created, through amazing conservation efforts, the very economic success so many people enjoy and pay to see in these and other parks.

It's hard to understand the smoke and mirrors Republican use to deceive those who fall into lock step behind their double talking rhetoric. Nevertheless, without a credible leader, they have no one who can communicate a credible vision for America's future.  

Republicans will spend millions of dollars to win political power in 2014, when their party has no vision or candidate to communicate how they intend to fix the problems created with the stupid budget sequester and the avoidable government shutdown. These are problems the GOP created while they're wasting tax payer money obstructing the obvious solutions. 

In fact, 2016 is the time to vote hypocritical Republicans out of office. American simply can't afford to pay for more obstructionist government.