What can Maine do to better ride the green wave of interest in ecotourism? What does the state need to do to brand itself as a premier eco-friendly destination? And is ecotourism really a viable economic development tool? This is the second in a series of Maine Watch shows looking at Maine's innovation clusters.

Maine Watch with Jennifer Rooks examines the top stories in 2008 with a distinguished panel including Mal Leary of Capitol News Service, opinion page editor Naomi Schalit of the Kennebec Journal and Central Maine Morning Sentinel, and Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram columnist Bill Nemitz. 

Ride along with Maine’s air rescue helicopter service, Lifeflight of Maine. The service is now ten years old and has garnered a major national award for excellence.  The executive director sits down with Jennifer to talk about Lifeflight.
And, how the troubled recycling market might affect your town.

How are Maine banks faring during this global financial crisis?  Are they tightening up loans to small businesses and individuals? How do their actions affect the Maine economy?  Chris Pinkham, of the Maine Association of Community Banks; Peter Judkins, President and CEO of Franklin Savings Bank; and state Senator Lynn Bromley, who called a legislative hearing last month on the topic of small business loans all join Jennifer in the studio for a conversation.

As of the new year, Maine becomes one of only eight states in the nation to allow adoptees open access to their birth records.  Jennifer Rooks is joined in the studio by State Senator Paula Benoit and retired psychotherapist Martha Hulbert to discuss this new law.

An examination of the growing "buy local" movement, and look at how a gift purchased from a locally-owned store affects the economy.  And a discussion of what Maine storeowners statewide expect this holiday season. 

Plus, digital television will soon be sole method of broadcast everywhere in the U.S. -- MPBN is shutting off it's analog transmitters on January 11, 2009 -- and Maine Watch invited the national spokesperson for the DTV changeover into the studio for a discussion on this impending change.

A look ahead to winter with the director of the Governor's Office of Energy Independence, John Kerry.  Heating oil prices are down from this past summer, but will they stay there?  How does the economy affect that price?  What measures can we all take now to prepare for winter? Plus, we'll meet two filmmakers making a documentary about Maine's home heating oil crisis.   Also, the Daponte String Quartet, performing as part of the free noontime concert series at First Parish Church in Portland, which is organized by the Portland Conservatory of Music.

The Composite industry continues to show promise as Maine’s hottest economic cluster. All the ingredients are there for a huge success; innovative leaders, new technology and markets and a workforce that prides itself on quality and craftsmanship. Dr. Habib Dagher of University of Maine’s Advanced Engineered and Wood Composites Center (AEWC) joins Martin Grimnes of Harbor Technologies in studio to discuss the industry.  Also, Maine Fiberarts' exhibits the quilts of Joanne Suley in Topsham.

She will be the first mother and grandmother to represent  Maine in Washington; she's also part  of a new group in Congress: freshmen progressives. Chellie Pingree joins Jennifer in the studio for a conversation about what she thinks she can accomplish in the next two years.

More with Mal Leary and A.J. Higgins dissecting the incoming legislature and the landscape created by the results of the two big ballot measures.