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Maine has created a bill, LD 2041, to help increase alternative energy production. The bill is trying to increase renewable energy production by 10% by the year 2017. Many of these projects include creating wind farms, increasing clean bio mass and hydro facilities as well as tidal projects. With many of these alternative energy projects, we will see the domino effect in how these will have a positive impact on decreasing air pollution, global warming, as well as stabilizing energy costs. According to Environment Maine in March 2010, Maine families could save up to $2,200/year by the year 2030 with the new bill. Katie Kokkinos of Environment Maine had this to say of the issue, “this bill is a good beginning, it is the first of many steps toward a cleaner, healthier and safer world.”

The improvement of Maine’s clean energy project will also improve the health of Maine citizens. Many worry about the affects of pollution on health. This can cause things like asthma attacks as well as putting our future generations at risk as they may experience acid rain and global warming. This bill is attempting to preserve the beauty and health of Maine.

This trend of solar power and alternative energy has spread across the country. The Boston Red Sox have taken up solar power water heating to reduce natural gases used for heating water. The Frito-Lay company in California has also begun using solar concentrators for cooking their snacks.

As the trend for reusable energy continues to spread across the globe, we find ourselves hopeful for a bring future. The long lasting affects of creating alternative energy will promote better health for our environment and our citizens.

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Academic Program Prioritization Group

Orono, Maine


Monday afternoon, students flooded into the Wells Conference to discuss the consolidation and removal of many majors at the University of Maine. This plan, if followed through, will delete majors such as foreign language, theater, public administration and many others. Also, this downsizing will leave many professors at the university out of work. As the deans of each college opened the floor for questions, students expressed their frustration with this new plan. Although this plan, not active until 2014, will not immediately effect the current students in the majors, they feel that cutting these programs will be very detrimental to future students.
Being in a Spanish program at the University of Maine myself, I feel that removing the foreign language majors will have a negative impact on future students. Although there will still be a select few courses given, students will not be able to enter the higher level courses available now. Without these high level programs, students will not be able to advance their skills to a level that is necessary to use it in a real world situation. Without these skills in foreign language, students at the University of Maine will be unable to communicate with those in other businesses around the world. We have been raised to learn to be accepting of others and their cultures but with the removal of this program, students will grow to be ignorant of others based on lack of knowledge. This is just one example of the cuts that will put students at a disadvantage over other schools when it is time to enter the work world.
Although some may feel these cuts are necessary for the university to save money, the cons outweigh the pros in this situation. I feel that, after attending this meeting, students have strongly expressed their opinions and have done all the convincing they can do to try and save these programs. The passionate students hopefully have made a strong impact on the deans of these colleges in a way that will make them reevaluate their plan. These deans need to remember their number one priority here: the students education.

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Due to the economic crisis, schools across the state of Maine have been forced to propose large budget cuts and to look at school consolidation options. While maintaining great education, the Maine Department of Education is trying to cut costs as much as possible. Several districts, according to the Maine Department of Education, have said to save $2 million dollars in one year since the beginning of this attempt at cutting costs. A lot of this saved money, however, is coming from letting many great teachers and strong programs go. Many parents are furious over the loss of their child's favorite sport or teacher. Although the state of Maine says they're doing their best to try and keep great education for their kids, many would argue they're cutting too many important programs.
In the small town of Kittery, Maine, talk of school consolidation has been a hot
topic for the last few years. With the closing of the elementary school, due to the safety issues with the old building, the town looks to expand or move the children to other buildings available. Some suggest combining Kittery schools with neighboring towns to save money, but many are fighting to keep their small town school their own. Those pro consolidation argue that combining schools will allow for more opportunities for the kids, as well as greater diversity. They also believe that combining schools will allow for more specialized classes, allowing students to excel in more areas. Those against the idea of school consolidation want to keep the class sizes small, and believe that their students will not get the proper attention and help they need in a bigger school. With forcing Kittery students to another school, they will also have to spend more in transportation fees. Many feel that with pushing the students together, there may be a sense of local control with the current students at the school, and this brings a lot of uncertainty to the success of students.
With many pros and cons taken into consideration in this big debate, it has been
difficult to come to a clear decision. Many doubt the ability to make such a drastic change while really saving that much money, since consolidation isn’t a cost free move. As many fear this move may be jumped into too quickly, this will be revised many times to ensure as few flaws as possible. Whatever the outcome will be of this town’s school consolidation debate, we can be certain that it will not be decided upon without countless hours of review.

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[Scott Darling]


Scott: Monday afternoon, students and faculty braved the pouring rain to pay a visit to Wells conference center. Deans from every college were present. This conference allowed for students, faculty and concerned citizens to express their frustration with the recent budget cuts.

Cut to news clip of the event.

Scott: The new budget cuts are forcing many colleges to down-size or get rid of many of their majors. Many students fear for the future of peers if these programs are cut.

Interview with concerned student

Scott: University of Maine students hope that the Deans of their colleges will reconsider keeping these programs before the changes take effect in 2014. For ABC news, this is Kathleen Conroy.

12-1 Maine Baseball defeats Bates 7-2

Maine baseball returned to the sanctuary of Mahaney Diamond on the Umaine campus after a weekend split with America East foe Binghamton. The Black Bears faces off against Division III Bates College. Maine entered the game 19-16 on the season and 4-3 in America East play. The game got off to a slow start thanks to the great pitching of Myckie Lugbauer (3.1 IP 3 hits 1 run 6 strikeouts) and the good fielding of the Bates players. Maine got their first hit of the game in the 2nd inning by freshman first baseman Tyler Patzalek. Center fielder Pat Murphy of Bates got them their hit of the game in the top of the 3rd but was stranded on base to end their inning. Freshman lead off 2nd basemen Mike Fransoso was walked with one out in the bottom on the 3rd inning. On the pitch Fransoso took off to steal 2nd base only to be gunned down by the strong arm of Bates catcher Gord Webb. Webb was the first successful catcher of the year to throw out the speedy Fransoso who was 13 for 13 on stolen bases when the game started tonight. Mercurio was walked shortly after Fransoso was thrown out, only to be followed by a monster triple from sophomore outfielder Taylor Anderson which drove Mercurio home for the first run on the game. Bates was up to the challenge answering back in the 4th inning tying the game at 1-1.
Entering the bottom of the 5th the game was still deadlocked at 1-1. As is to be deja vu, Mercurio gets walked and there Taylor Lewis was again with a huge triple to score Mercurio once again. Until the bottom of the 6th, Taylor Lewis was the only Black Bear swinging his bat. The rest of the Black Bears decided to come out of hibernation with a booming 5 run inning. Lugbauer and Fransoso contributed singles and once again Taylor Lewis came up with the big bat hitting a 3RBI double. In the top of the 7th the Black Bears called upon the "Big Righty" Matt Jebb to shut down the Bates batters. Jebbs' first pitch was crushed opposite field down the first base line in to right fielder George Tager's corner, as the runner was approaching 2nd base Tager came up firing to hit the cut off man Fransoso. A perfect throw from Tager was followed by a frozen rope to 3rd base off the hand of Fransoso to nail the runner sliding head first into 3rd base. I hope ESPN saw that one. Bates chipped in one more run in the 8th inning to make it 7-2 Maine, and after a 1-2-3 top of the 9th that's how the game would end. Moving our team to 20-16 overall and 5-1 at home for the year. The University of Maine's baseball team returns to action on Saturday April 24th at 1:00pm to face America East rival Hartford.

10-1 Twitter- the first coverage of Haiti quakes

In today's world when technology is everything, you see the importance of it and how quickly information can spread in times of chaos like the earthquakes in Haiti. Twitter's slogan on their website is "Discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world" and it is true. The first glimpse of the tragedy came to us through a "tweet" showing us the terrible aftermath over there. I remember when I was a kid and it took me 3-4 minutes to dial onto my AOL service just to browse the internet at speeds that would enrage internet users today. The development of technology and the speed of it plus the unlimited sources to see it whether it be a cell phone, Iphone, Blackberry, laptop, Ipad or a palm pilot no one is far from news. Due to the hysteria going on over there it was hard to get official news crews and footage right after the 7.0 level earthquake struck the nation. Locals started to spread the word via Twitter and that led to the media explosion over the situation in Haiti. It's good to know that people are not being left in the dark on these situations because with technology today you actually have to physically try to not hear whats going on around the world.
-Here is a good video from youtube that goes into detail about how social networking sites have help in Haiti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IAPIjKR_p4

3-1 Convergence and Consolidation in Journalism

Convergence in journalism is when news and information is provided in more than one format, using effective formats to serve news audience in a very fragmented public, and also combining to create a larger journalistic project.
In 2010 it is now more common for someone to read a newspaper online then to actually buy a copy. Not only is it more accessible, but also it is quick and in many instances you can get more information in just a click. For example on CNN.com, you are provided with video clips, audio clips, and articles to get you updated on the worlds new. This gives the viewers different outlets to view the story. For example, seeing something in action rather then just reading the action can give the reader a more intense experience.
By creating less companies it creates less journalists which means many local and smaller news stories go unnoticed. When that happened the internet was being used to the fullest with news becoming more accessible online, and much more convenient. While convergence does have its negatives that feed into consolidation, they also have positives that counter these very problems as well.
Among these negatives includes the loss of jobs. “In the USA today there are roughly 3,000 people working on the internet making news. Last year alone 16,000 newspaper employees lost their jobs." While the internet does its best to create employment, it is simply not enough. Another negative linked with this is credibility. Now more than ever readers must be weary of of the credibility of stories online, as it could be someone fabricating lies for an entertaining story. Another negative is if there are only a few networks left, after consolidating, then it creates less competition between them. As this revolution continues anyone with the a passion for news can now act up on it enter the world of professional journalism.

1-4 Graphic New Photos : Too much or what we need?

When we watch the news we are looking for what is going on in the world today. Do you want the sugar coated version of the news so that no real extremes are shown on a newscast or would you like the full story so you can see the actual truth of what is going on in the situations shown on the news? people say that a picture is word a thousand words. Using Haiti as an example, say "an earthquake has happened in Haiti", well earthquakes happen on the regular in places like California so that could be brushed off as not a real issue. Showing graphic picture of the aftermath of the earthquakes can show the magnitude of the affect it had on its people. These images are the ones that provoked Americans and people of the world to take action and try and help the suffering people of this third world country. Some might say that the pictures are too much and inappropriate for viewers, which is completely respectable. But, I would say that they are necessary to really get the whole point across and show the world what "really" happened. Using Haiti as a reference, I feel it shows that people need to really see the truth in order to fully comprehend the situation at hand.

6-3 Traip Academy

Traip Academy in Kittery, Maine could be in serious jeopardy due to the current talks about budget cuts in the area. They are weighing the pros and cons of possibly sending their students to neighboring Marshwood High School which has the capacity to accommodate Traip's entire student body which is a mere 280. Kittery's school system is over budgeted and under populated, and it's a legitimate argument that the consolidation plan makes sense financially. Out of the four schools in Kittery, Traip is the smallest and the most inefficient. Marshwood only enrolls 880 students and it has the capability to enroll 1,100 so the youth of Traip Academy can fit comfortably within its walls. While maintaining great education, the Maine Department of Education is trying to cut costs as much as possible. Several districts, according to the Maine Department of Education, have said to save $2 million dollars in one year since the beginning of this attempt at cutting costs. People in the small town of Kittery are not too happy about losing some of these teachers and school programs to the budget cut. Since I personally know some terrific Traip graduates I’m pulling for the school to make it through this trying time so the graduates don’t lose their alma mater.

6-1 STRANGE PLANETS!

On March 7th at 2pm you can explore new worlds at the Jordan Planetarium! The presentation is going to be very informative and explains things that you don't hear about in everyday conversation such as the science of detecting planets and the way that NASA's new space probe, Kepler, can see far beyond our wildest dreams. They say astronomers have found upwards of 300 planets orbiting around really distant stars but most are hardly visible. It also will show you how the discover "invisible" worlds and what the alien life on them must be. I've never been to a planetarium but this sounds like pretty cool stuff to me. The Jordan Planetarium is located on the second floor of Wingate Hall. The planetarium has a 20 foot dome suspended over 45 seats that shows approximately 1000 stars, planets, and other celestial objects to over 8,000 visitors every year.

5-1 Ryan Hegarty: Profile story

Ryan Hegarty is a sophomore at the University of Maine. In his second year here in Maine he has become a standout defense men for the university's men's ice hockey program. Hailing from Arlington, MA he has taken a long exciting route to finally end up playing for the Maine hockey team. When he was 17 he got the chance to represent the USA by playing for the NTDP (National Development Program) U18 hockey team in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This team is full of all the best 17 year olds the country has to offer so it is a huge honor. "Playing for the program was a super cool feeling, it let's you know you are on the right path to where you want to be" Said Hegarty. He was right because while playing there he committed to play for the university of Maine. After the season ended he was all geared up to come to Maine the following year. Between the time he left Ann Arbor and came to Orono he got some good news. Ryan was selected in the 3rd round of the 2008 NHL entry draft by the Anaheim Ducks. When I asked the Arlington native how he felt when he found out he got drafted he replied "I felt like my head was going to explode with joy, it was a real big honor for me and the people in Anaheim have to so nice to me since". This year Ryan has been a rock defensively for the men's ice hockey team in Maine. As their regular season is winding down he is getting excited for playoffs "playoffs will be a lot of fun, hopefully we can get home ice and play the first round at the Alfond it would be awesome for our fans".

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http://mainecampus.com/2010/01/24/sirman-black-bears-shut-out-ntdp-under-18-team-in-exhibition/?ref=hp

I thought that this article was very well written by Steven McCarthy. You can tell by reading the article that he has an extensive knowledge of what he covers and has mad much experience in the topic prior to writing this article. The author touches on what would seem to be a small point to a regular fan and explains how big a a deal it really was. A major example of that was when he talked about the goal tending match up for the night,

"His (Sirmans') counterpart was Jack Campbell, the goalie of record in Team USA’s 6-5 win against Canada in the Word Junior Championships gold medal game on Jan. 5.

Sirman is from Ontario. (Canada)

“It kind of motivated me a little more to play a little better,” Sirman said. “Didn’t want to lose twice.”

The author picked great players to interview after the game so that readers could get the perspective of the players that were at the top of their game that night such as Shawn Sirman, Brett Carrier and Will O'Neill. He got some really good quotes to keep the readers attention. His story kept in a solid time line and wasn't jumping from idea to idea. Overall I would say this was an excellent article.

CMJ236 Intro

Hi, my name is Scott Darling. 1st time blogger. So about me, I'm a Sophomore from Chicago Illinois with a major in mass. communications and a minor in child development. I'm a big fan of movies, i've probably seen every movie made..... twice. Maine is a bit of a culture shock for me being from Chicago but I have really enjoyed my time here so far. I think this class will help me become a better writer and it will show me how to look at different angles of situations.