DOWN EAST NOTES

Maine Public Broadcasting - For the fourth time in seven years, it looks like Maine voters will get to decide on another casino proposal. Black Bear Entertainment, a group of western MaineOxford, says it's collected nearly 100,000 signatures -- almost twice the number required -- to get the question on next year's fall ballot. Backers say the casino will bring much-needed jobs to western Maine. But gambling opponents say casinos are not a good strategy for achieving true economic development.

Governor Baldacci has publicly objected to the Massachusetts Air National Guard doing low level training flights over western Maine. The National Guard is taking public comments on the issue until January 1. Our own view is that this is not only an environmental and public tranquility issue, but a state security one as well. Does Massachusetts have eyes on Maine again after all these years? investors that wants to build a gambling complex in the town of Are we the Afghanistan of New England?

Bangor Daily News - Tidal energy, solar power and the future installation of a wind turbine will make the Eastport U.S. Coast Guard Station one of the "greenest" in the nation. . . The tidal power project, a small underwater turbine that will generate additional electricity for the Coast Guard station, is the first to be used by the Coast Guard but one of several already under way and testing on both sides of the border Down East. The $100,000 project in Eastport will be used to test tidal technology in Cobscook Bay, home to some of the largest tidal variations in North America.

Busy summer in Portland public works reports the Daily Sun: Along with major bike lane projects, city crews tackled crack sealing on more than 80 streets and replaced a host of sidewalks. There was an estimated $61 million in upgrades to the Portland sewer systems along streets. And motorists and pedestrians encountered construction work on a host of streets

Maine Public Broadcasting - For eight years now, the Stone Soup Institute in Harpswell has been teaching sustainable living techniques to students from all over the world. . . . Until last summer the institute used to operate on over 20 acres, renting most of that land from a nearby farm. That land has now been sold, leaving it without the space it needs to teach many of its courses. "What we need is land right now," Cornish says. "We had been leasing a farm for the last six years, and that's where we were teaching our workshops, we had a big woodworking shop in a large barn, had an old farmhouse with a large kitchen so we could put a number of students in there at once, and do some fairly large workshops, a dozen people at a time."

WMTW - Revenues continue to fall below projections, with the state now looking at a possible $300 million to $400 million shortfall for the current two-year budget. . . Gov. John Baldacci is preparing an executive order to curtail state spending.

WGME - A new survey shows that nearly half of Mainers believe they are worse off than a year ago. Market Decisions' poll of 400 Mainers [found that] 48 percent saw themselves as worse off, only 27 percent expect to be better off in the next year.

Times Record - Bailey Island residents have averted the closure of the Bailey Island Post Office, raising $100,000 to purchase the building and cajoling a five-year commitment by the U.S. Postal Service to continue to operate the post office. . .

Bangor Daily News - Feuding Tenants Harbor lobstermen were told Friday morning at Knox County District Court to stay away from each other for a year. Ty Babb, 36, and Craig C. Hupper, 58, and his son Joshua B. Hupper, 27, agreed to a mutual order for protection from harassment after Judge Michael Westcott had them work the details out among themselves. "The court can't be very innovative, but the parties can," Westcott said. "It seems to me that in this type of case, you ought to see if you can resolve it.". . . Attorney Philip Cohen of Waldoboro represented the Huppers in court. "I guess they're satisfied," he said of his clients' reaction to the mutual protection from harassment order.