24 Oct Midcoast News October 24, 2014

The storm ends

The rain has ended and the three-day Nor’easter is gone with it, making way for sunny skies this weekend and into the early part of next week. Here on the Midcoast, the threat of flooding failed to materialize, and the region’s largest problem may have been some unmanned sailboats washing ashore at Owl’s Head in Knox County.

Bracing for a long job action

It’s looking as though the strike of Fairpoint Communications workers will be a long one with Falmouth police chief Ed Tolan reporting that the company is requesting a police detail to monitor picketing employees at two locations through the end of this month. Meanwhile, a union member says some of his colleagues have been seeking secondary employment. Hundreds of Fairpoint workers remain off their jobs.

E-mail revelations

E-mails from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife indicate that the department paid more than six thousand dollars to a web design company in Westbrook for work on web pages and powerpoint presentations opposing a proposed statewide ban on bear hunting with baits, traps and dogs. Katie Hansberry, the director of the group Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting, says this is a misuse of public money because it was meant to influence the outcome of a public referendum.