Maine Story Updates, April 13 edition

For Mainers, a few developments in some of the stories I've been covering here:

Taxpayers to Save Ocean Gateway?: Portland's cruise-ship-terminal-that-cruise-ships-can't-use is costing city taxpayers some $400,000 a year, now that its only real tenant (The Cat) has gone away. But yesterday the legislature passed a transportation bond proposal that includes $6.5 million to help create the missing cruise ship berth at the Terminal. The measure will go before the state's voters in November, along with funds for buying a soon-to-be-abandoned northern Maine rail line and repairing highways. The city originally wanted $8 million for the megaberth, so additional fund raising may still be in order.


Press Herald Editor's Latest OpEd: Richard Connor, the editor/owner/publisher of the Press Herald and other Maine newspapers, wears his sexism on his sleeve in his latest OpEd, this on the pressing topic of last week's topless march in Portland. Adolescent puns about breasts not withheld.

Media Mutt has already taken him to task, but my favorite quotes actually have nothing to do with female anatomy. "We spend a lot of time, money, and newsprint on weighty matters of public policy, government coverage and human interest stories," Connor writes, building up to the punchline that readers really just want to see some boobies. "We are doing the work of serious journalism here...giving readers valuable information that they need." Really? Are you sure?


Topless Movement Reaches Foothills: If Mr. Connor wishes to keep on top of the all important topless women beat, he may wish to send a reporter to Farmington, where a university student has been asserting this vital freedom, and hopes others will join her. Odds are a staff writer is already on the way there.


Rusticators Behaving Badly: Several members of Northeast Harbor's summer gentry are in trouble with the law over money, including one who has reportedly been bouncing checks all around Mount Desert Island and another who's being investigated for perhaps having absconded with $25 million that wasn't his. Our erstwhile commentator on the scene, Downeast Denizen, has the details.