Maine's public school districts will have access to more than $41 million in federally-issued bonds this year to help fund construction projects. The money is part of $11 billion in school construction bonds allocated nationwide under the federal Recovery Act. The bonds can be issued to finance school construction and improvements at a low cost. That's because investors who buy the bonds will get federal income tax credits instead of interest, so state and local governments can borrow without incurring interest costs.

Efforts by Hollywood Slots and two prospective casino developers to reach agreement on a competing measure to the Oxford casino that will appear on the June ballot have succeeded. But consensus within a legislative panel charged with approving the plan dissolved as lawmakers worry that backing the compromise might create more problems than it solves. The panel's 9-4 vote against an alternative means that the Oxford casino initiative is poised to go directly to the voters, where it will either be voted up or down.

As part of a national campaign to raise awareness about chemical security issues, the environmental group Greenpeace today warned that six industrial facilities in Maine each pose a disaster risk to 10,000 or more local residents. The group is hoping those facilities will either choose, or be forced, to switch to safer chemicals, and adopt new processes that would be less vulnerable in the event of a terrorist attack.

As consumers look for greener energy alternatives, small wind turbines are becoming more popular. In New Hampshire, there are more than 60 residential wind turbines in the state, up from a little more than a dozen just two years ago. But those systems can be expensive, and not every potential customer lives in a windy enough location. As New Hampshire Public Radio's Amy Quinton reports, one Granite State inventor thinks he's developed a wind turbine that could reshape the market.

Several months after TransCanada announced plans to expand its Kibby Mountain wind project to adjacent Sisk Mountain in western Maine, the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission has begun reviewing the request. Local residents turned out to wholeheartedly endorse the project. But several environmental groups are only offering partial support. They're worried about development of what they say is an ecologically sensitive area.

A bill that supporters say would help prevent discarded prescription drugs from polluting the state's groundwater sources has won initial approval in the Maine House. The so-called drug "take-back" bill, say those behind it, would also serve to remove unused painkillers and other drugs from households that might be targeted by thieves. But opponents argue that the associated costs of the $1.5 million program will only be passed on to consumers.

A leading New England environmental group says Pike Industries of Westbrook will be violating state regulations should it go ahead with plans to expand its blasting operations in the Five Star Industrial Park. Toxics Actions Center has joined up with a group of Westbrook residents to voice their concern as part of an ongoing struggle between Pike and certain local businesses and residents who oppose the gravel company's excavation practices. They say they're concerned about the noise, vibration and dust clouds that accompany the blasting. But now they're airing a new grievance.

On most days, the workings of the State House are centered around on two politically distinct groups, Republicans and Democrats. But today, at least for a few moments, the spotlight was cast instead on two groups of distinct heritage. As it turns out, the 9th annual Franco-American Day in Augusta this year happened to be on St. Patrick's Day. As part of their morning business, members of the House had some fun with the whole thing. First to be recognized, Rep. Gary Connor of Kennebunkport.

The 2009 numbers for Maine exports are out, and it was not a good year. Overall, international sales of goods ranging from paper products to lobsters came out to $2.2 billion -- off 24 percent from 2008. That's worse than the national average of 19 percent.

A statewide vote on the repeal of last year's tax reform package is still months away, but that didn't stop the debate over taxes from erupting once again in the Maine Senate today. At issue was an effort by Republicans to remove the sales tax on meals served in assisted living centers.

In a rare public appearance together, civil libertarians and members of a conservative think tank today proposed legislation in Augusta that they say will strengthen Maine's Freedom of Access Act. The legislation proposes new deadlines for state and local officials to comply with public requests for information.

For nearly a century, people have depended on dry cleaners to get dirty clothes cleaned and pressed. But now federal regulators are considering a ban on some chemicals used by dry cleaners because of their toxicity. As part of collaboration with Northeast stations, Joyce Kryszak of WBFO in Buffalo reports even before new regulations are in place, some in the cleaning industry are adopting safer alternatives.

The University of New England had planned to open northern New England's only dental school next year and educate students to meet a shortage of dentists, particularly in rural areas. Now it's not clear when opening day will be. The issue is money. UNE says it needs another $5 million to build the school. That's why university officials are pinning their hopes on a bond funding request going before a legislative committee this week.

Today was the deadline for major party candidates to submit the signatures they'll need to qualify for the June primary ballot in Maine. Almost all of the declared candidates for governor appear to have met the deadline, except for one. Lynne Williams, a Bar Harbor lawyer and the presumptive nominee of the Green Independent Party, was forced to drop out of the race after she failed to collect the signatures of at least 2,000 registered Maine voters. It's the first time in 16 years that the Greens will not have a candidate on the ballot in the November general election.

Data from the fourth quarter of 2009 show a continuing increase in home foreclosures in Maine, according to the Bureau of Financial Institutions. The numbers appear to be lower than they are in other states. And even as these figures show that some Mainers are struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments, there are also a couple of signs that are being welcomed by financial institutions.

Today's announcement that Bangor Hydro Electric's parent company has agreed to purchase the parent company of Maine Public Service has company officials assuring that there will be no changes to service, rates or employment. But at least one energy expert questions those statements.

A federal program designed to improve long-term care for some of the nation's most severely disabled veterans is having the opposite effect, according to veterans, their families and many state veterans' homes that want to provide that care. Maine Congressman Mike Michaud has introduced a bill to try to resolve the problem. But in the meantime, veterans homes are being forced to turn some qualified veterans away or risk losing millions of dollars.

You know the tunes of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Steven Sondheim. Now imagine them in the same musical. Jonathan Mastro, a visiting artist in the theater department of Colby College, did. He took numbers from both popular and obscure musicals and quilted them together into a cabaret. The songs, surprisingly, fit together, and recast through Mastro's eyes, deliver social messages about racism and feminism. Mastro, who directed the Colby students in performances tonight and Sunday, explains the multiple meanings of his cabaret's title.

A campaign to make Portland one of the first cities in the country to allow non-citizens to vote suffered a setback last night when the city's charter commission narrowly rejected the idea. But immigrants who converged on City Hall vowed to get the issue on the November ballot.

Maine's Indian tribes told members of a legislative policy committee that their gambling requests must be included in any statewide vote on a proposed casino in Oxford County. The tribes want their own gaming facility in Washington County rather than four percent of the revenues promised under the Oxford proposal. Some critics of the tribes' request fear the alternative could amount to a de facto defeat of the Oxford plan at the polls.

For runners, the spring racing season is right around the corner. And for sports medicine physician James Glazer, that means being mindful of heatstroke. Glazer, who practices in Freeport and is an assistant clinical professor at Tufts University, edits the national heatstroke recommendations for groups such as the American College of Physicians, and has been studying how to best to prevent and treat the condition.

The medical marijuana dispensary law passed by Maine voters last November was officially presented to the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee this afternoon. Lawmakers must now figure out how to create a regulated system for distributing marijuana to qualified medical patients. While the bill is being supported by the Baldacci Administration, along with marijuana patients, growers and some physicians, there are concerns that the bill contains gaps and will create problems for cities and towns -- and even patients themselves.

Today lawmakers and wind power advocates and opponents spoke out at a hearing on an ambitious piece of offshore wind legislation proposed by Gov. John Baldacci. The emergency measure includes a goal of installing enough offshore wind turbines to power nearly 100,000 homes by 2020.

When it comes to the 2010 Census, Maine has a lot at stake. It's ranked eighth for the amount of federal money it gets per person, based on its Census numbers. That's according to a new report from the Brookings Institution, a policy research group.

A Midcoast theater group is about to begin a three-week tour of performances to celebrate the work of poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay. Millay, the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, was born in Rockland in 1892, and later moved to Camden, where she wrote some of her first important poems. And that's where the Everyman Repertory Theater will hold the first of a series of staged readings of Millay's play "Conversation at Midnight" this Friday.