Gov. John Baldacci today signed an executive order that curtails state spending by $63 million -- effective immediately. With seven months left in the current fiscal year, the state budget is already a little more than $90 million dollars in the red, and state economists predict that figure could increase by another $300 million dollars before the end of the two-year budget cycle. Baldacci promises to address those revenues losses next month with a plan that he insists will not include any tax increases.

Adding to the state's diminished revenue is the growing problem of employee misclassification, in which employers either knowingly or mistakenly classify employees as independent contractors and pay them under the table. By doing so, they avoid having to provide a range of benefits, and also avoid the payment of state and federal taxes. One estimate suggests the state of Maine is losing more than $40 million a year in tax revenues from misclassification, and a state task force is looking at ways to recoup the money.

Former Maine Gov. Angus King and former Maine Public Broadcasting Corp. Director Robert Gardiner are looking to develop a wind farm in Highland Plantation, just north of New Portland in Somerset County. At a town meeting last night, area residents grilled the investors on their plans.

For Portland-based author Philip Hoose it's been a week to remember. He headed to New York knowing he had, statistically, a 20 percent chance of winning a National Book Award for his book "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice." He came back with a $10,000 cash prize, a weighty bronze statue, and the satisfaction of having succeeded in what's known as the Oscars of literature. The book, which won the best Young People's Literature category, was inspired by a 15-year-old black girl from Alabama who bravely challenged the Jim Crow bus segregation laws a full-year before Rosa Parks' more famous stand. Hoose says he got the idea while working on another book.

Maine is experiencing a surge in H1N1. The virus has killed five people, and in the last week hospitalized 50 and shut down at least a couple of schools. But Maine's top health official, Dr. Dora Anne Mills, says there isn't enough vaccine to protect even the top-priority groups -- children and pregnant women -- let alone other high-risk populations, such as health care workers and people with chronic conditions.

No publicly-financed candidate has ever been elected governor of Maine, but that hasn't discouraged the field of contestants vying for the Blaine House next year. So far this year, seven of the 21 candidates for governor hope to stage campaigns supported by the Maine Clean Election Fund, but state elections officials are preparing for only three. But even that number might put a strain on the system.

For generations, rural residents of the Northeast burned everything from leaves and brush to garbage and tires to save on trash pickup. As of this fall, all states in the region are regulating open burning, not only to prevent wildfires, but to keep toxic smoke from polluting the region's air. As part of a collaboration with Northeast public radio stations, North Country Public Radio's David Sommerstein reports that convincing people to obey the law is an ongoing effort.

Pittsfield native Rex Fowler, one half of the folk duo Aztec Two Step, will appear with his musical partner Neal Shulman in Portland tomorrow. They'll perform songs from their most recent CD, a live recording of the Simon and Garfunkel Songbook. Keith Shortall spoke with Fowler about the project, which comes nearly four decades after Aztec Two Step first took to the stage.

Maine author Debra Spark has a new novel out, "Good for the Jews." Spark says the book started out as a way to explore themes triggered by a religious holiday. Spark spoke with MPBN's Irwin Gratz about the novel, published by the University of Michigan Press. Spark will be at Longfellow Books tonight in Portland at 7 p.m.

Industrial power consumers in Maine are asking the state to put the brakes on plans to create so-called "energy corridors." The request for a delay has complicated the deliberations of a legislative committee set up to make recommendations on how the state should regulate the transmission of energy through Maine. Those seeking the delay say they're worried that by moving too quickly on the issue, Maine lawmakers could shortchange the state's evolving energy industry and, more specifically, the future of liquefied natural gas terminals.

As the H1N1 virus continues its spread around Maine, the state's largest private insurance companies are trying to make it easier for people get the vaccine. And - if they still end up sick - to get them the medication to ease symptoms.

Fishing industry regulators have voted to sharply reduce the amount of herring that can be caught in New England waters next year -- something which has prompted concern among Maine's lobstermen, who often use herring as bait. The New England Fishery Management Council, which is meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, this week, accepted the advice of the experts from the Science and Statistical Committee, which was recently authorized by Congress to look at herring numbers.

Sometimes even superheroes don't want to go to work, says Stonington writer Sam Kestenbaum.

Supporters of the failed effort to repeal Maine's school consolidation law are hoping to find some new middle ground in the debate that has been divided largely along rural and urban lines. Although the vast majority of Maine's students are in districts that already comply with consolidation goals, voters in more than 100 school districts have rejected the plan. Both sides are willing to search for solutions, but the process will not be easy.

Health care facilities around the state are setting up H1N1 vaccination clinics for pregnant women, considered to be some of the most at risk for serious complications and hospitalization. But for some of those women, getting vaccinated is a difficult decision to make. Some fear the consequences of introducing the new vaccine to their body.

The economic collapse of October 2008 continues to take its toll, as indicated by unemployment figures and bankruptcy filings. But even before the fall, there were signs that the age and socioeconomic profile of Americans in financial trouble were changing. Those findings are published in a national study by a Portland-based non-profit. Keith Shortall spoke with Leslie Linfield, Executive Director of the Institute for Financial Literacy, which gathered survey data from more than 45,000 Americans, and discovered a shift in the demographics of bankruptcy.

Year after year, the agency that pays for health services for the state's quarter million Medicaid enrollees is asked to make cuts. This year, the Department of Health and Human Services is trying to find more than $64 million in savings to meet the state's budget shortfall. This has led to a discussion about turning the state's Medicaid program, known as MaineCare, into a managed care program as a way to save money and improve quality.

An eighth Democrat entered the race for governor today, raising the head count for those seeking the chief executive's job to 21. John Richardson, a former speaker of the House, resigned his cabinet post in the Baldacci administration as commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development to stage a publicly-funded campaign. Richardson will not be the only former House speaker to run for governor next year -- in fact half of the Democrats in the race are State House insiders.

A huge cost-cutting plan has been approved for the University of Maine System. Trustees for the seven-campus system have given the green light to an initiative they've been working on all year, intended to head off a financial crisis.

This story was clarified on November 17, 2009.  See note below.

As unemployment numbers continue their upward trend across the nation, layoffs remain a reality of this economy. But there are a few firms that, as a matter of policy, refuse to lay off a single employee. New Hampshire Public Radio's Jon Greenberg reports that these companies are sticking to their guns through the worst downturn in decades.

The mass shooting at Fort Hood nearly two weeks ago has everyone from military experts to the Department of Homeland Security looking for answers from alleged gunman Nidal Malik Hasan. The incident is striking a chord with one Maine psychiatrist in more ways than one. Dr. John Campbell, now the Medical Director of General Psychiatry at Maine Medical Center, was stationed with the U.S. Air Force in Texas --- a military psychiatrist, like Hasan. And it was 15 years ago when a discharged airman he once treated went on a rampage in Washington state, fatally shooting six people.

An investment strategist for Key Bank says the U.S. is likely to see slower growth with higher inflation in the years ahead.  Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist for Key Private Bank, says the current recession has made long-term changes to the economic outlook that should trigger changes in America's investment psychology.  He spoke with MPBN's Josie Huang in our Portland studios last week.

Gov. John Baldacci has formally notified the director of the Air National Guard that he will oppose a planned series of low-level training flights over western Maine. That message will be delivered by a staffer from the department of transportation tomorrow at a public hearing at the University of Maine at Farmington.

The price of college has been creeping up for decades, faster than household incomes or inflation. This year, though, marks a milestone for dozens of private schools that started charging more than $50,000. This club includes Maine's most elite colleges, Colby, Bates and Bowdoin.

You might have read this week about how our oceans are changing. A recent report by federal scientists confirmed what many fishermen already knew: the fish are on the move. Warmer waters are pushing species like cod, haddock and winter flounder further north, causing New England fishermen to have to go farther out to sea to get their traditional catch. Dr. Mike Sieracki from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in West Boothbay Maine, has gone farther afield to study the effect of climate change. He's currently off the coast of Malta in the Mediterranean, doing a stint aboard a research sailing vessel which this year began a three-year circumnavigation of the world to study the acidification of the ocean. He spoke earlier with MPBN's Tom Porter.