Steam and sulfides billow from the James River Corporation pulp and paper mill on the Androscoggin River in Berlin, New Hampshire. The plant opened in 1853 as a sawmill and quickly grew into one of the foremost chemical pulp mills in the world.

For years, clean water has been an environmental issue on the forefront of Environment Maine. Many of Maine’s waterways are being illegally polluted everyday. The Penobscot River, Greenlaw Brook, Androscoggin River, and the Presumpscot River are just a few examples of the most heavily polluted waterways in the state.

According to the official Maine Environmental website, an average of 70 out of the 80 largest facilities in Maine have violated their permits in the past two years, by dumping more waste than the law entails. Out of these 70 violators, only four have faced consequences. Without the threat of punishment, violators continue to disobey and contribute to the adding of toxic waste to the waters.

In a report provided by Environment TATE: Wasting our waterways; Maine facilities have dumped 3,347,134 pounds of toxic chemicals into the waterways and 1,900 waterways across the United States will be impacted from discharge.

“While nearly half of the rivers and lakes in the U.S. are considered too polluted for safe fishing or swimming, our report shows that polluters continue to use our waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic chemicals,” said Katie Kokkinos of Environment Maine.

Environment Maine, a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization that works to protect clean air and clean water reports the discharge of cancer-causing chemicals, chemicals that live on in the environment, and chemicals with the potential to cause reproductive problems. Lead, mercury, and dioxin are three of the major chemicals found in the discharge by these facilities. Not only do these dumping contaminate the drinking water but they also absorb into the fish that people will one day eat.

In order to make progress in making the waterways healthy, Environment Maine recommends that industrial facilities should start to reduce their toxic discharge in to the waterways by substituting hazardous chemicals with safer alternatives. Along with these facilities taking responsibility, enforcement and tough permitting will also put a stop to toxic discharge. Numerical limits will be issued to facilities and credible penalties will be enforced if the rules are broken.

http://www.environmentmaine.org

On April 9^th,University of Maine men's ice hockey sophomore forward Gustav Nyquist, from Malmo Sweden was named Men's Division I All-America First team. The All-American teams were announced following the 2010 presentation of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award. Nyquist was a competing finalist for the honor that Blake Geoffrion of Wisconsin won.

The other prestigious awards Nyquist has won here at the University of Maine include 2010 All-College Hockey News First Team, CollegeHockey247.com's All-America First Team and the Inside College Hockey All-America First Team.

Through out Nyquist’s two-season career on the Black Bear Hockey team he made his name with an outstanding rookie season in 2008 and 2009. He was named to the Hockey East All-Rookie Team, named Hockey East Rookie of the Month in December 2008, named Hockey East Rookie of the Week Nov. 3 2008 and led the Black Bears in scoring with a team-high 13 goals and a team-best 19 assists for 32 points. He became the first freshman to lead the team in scoring since Paul Kariya during the 1992-93 seasons.

During this season of Black Bear hockey Nyqust saw playing time in all 39 games, scored 19 goals and added 42 assists for 61 points. His 61 points finishes number one in the nation. Nyquist tallied seven power play goals and four game-winners. He has 93 points on 32 goals and 61 assists in 77 career games.

Nyquist was named the Athletic Republic Hockey East Player of the Month in December 2009 and earned a spot on the 2010 Hockey East All-Tournament Team. Nyquist also finished in a tie with New Hampshire's Butler for the 2010 Hockey East Scoring Title.

"The Secret Life of Girls"

The University of Maine’s theater program is planning an educational production to be performed at the end of the semester. On Wednesday, theater director, AJ Moody held a meeting for all theater students who have previously taken an acting class and are interested in performing in the production.

“The Secret Life of Girls” is the name of the production, written by Linda Daugherty. The play is a 40-minute, 20-scene play based on the life of 5 middle school girls who get caught up in a struggle for power. This play shows the reality of how hard middle school can be for young girls who are struggling with being bullied.

During the meeting held in 1944 Hall on the University campus, details about rehearsal, cast, crew, and organizational details were discussed. The director of the production, Joye levy announced she has chosen the cast and rehearsal will start next week.

The play is to be put on for a variety of middle schools are the state of Maine. Its purpose is to speak out to middle school students who are dealing with the pressure of fitting in and dealing with manipulation and bullying. The production will air on May 10^th and the crew will travel around the state for 2 weeks performing.

Auditions for the cast have already taken place. The cast consists of 9 students who have graduated from the fundamentals of acting class. The 9 girls are scheduled for rehearsal once a week until the end of the semester.

“This is a very good opportunity for the cast, who have been in these middle school girls’ shoes before and understand how painful it can be” said Joye, a theater teacher at the University of Maine. The cast is very excited to dive into this production and hopefully send a positive message to younger kids.

Rain Floods Northeast

Rain Floods Northeast

March 19, 2010

A torrential rainstorm brought havoc to the northeast states early last week. The storm lasted threes days including heavy winds, fallen trees, flooded roadways, and power outages. It took many New England communities about a week to get cleaned up and regain power.

“Southern New Hampshire experience road closures because of flooding and fallen trees.” Says a New Hampshire state police officer. Manchester airport also experienced flight delays and cancellations because of high winds.

In the northeastern part of Maine some towns saw as little as eight inches of rain after the storm settled on Wednesday. High winds were also the initial cause to fallen trees that fell on power lines and caused outages. Utility officials say “ There were at least five different utility companies running through each state in the beginning of the week.” New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire all worked together to get power back in each state as fast as possible.

In Boston government officials claim “ the storm threatened to overwhelm the wastewater system, forcing officials to begin a controlled release of untreated water waster into Boston Harbor.” Fenway Park also experience muddy river flooding as well as many cancellations and delays at Logan International Airport.

The storm carried wind gusts as high as 75 mph. Coincidentally the storm came about two weeks after heavy snow and hurricane-force winds left more than 1 million customers in the Northeast in the dark, many of them in New Hampshire.

The storm has killed at least nine people across New England, including several who were hit by falling trees.

Rain Storm

Portland, Maine

February 28^th 2010

The clean up projects in Maine have begun after the southeastern portion of the state experience heavy rains and high winds, causing floods, up rooted trees and widespread power outages.

The National Weather Service has reported that the southern towns in Maine had received over 10 inches of rain the past weekend as well as experiencing winds up to 60 mph. Many power lines were ruined from fallen trees causing power outages lasting up to 5 days in many residences.

The winds and the rain began to pick up early Thursday evening. As the night went on the intensity grew and before midnight the winds were so heavy it sounded like a freight train and the heavy rain and wind ripped down trees and blocked roads.

The weather service expects to see much beach erosion, flooding, and road closures throughout the state. Many roads and parking lots will also need repair from erosion.

In response to two day storm, utility officials have called back up help from New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Vermont to assist in a sufficient and quick clean up. Over 300,000 utility customers and crews worked busily to clear roads of fallen trees. Officials say patients are much appreciated at this time and any volunteer help could go a long way. Power is expected to be back on in local residence in the next 3-6 days depending on location.

This is not a one-day event. This could easily be multiple days, even a week, as far as restoration goes," said Chris Pope, director of Maine Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Officials compared the storm that hit parts of Maine and slammed New Hampshire to the devastating ice storm of 2008 except with more excessive wind.

Even though frustration has hit many communities emergency shelter and assistance is offered all throughout the state.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Roots Perform at The University of Maine

The student government at the University of Maine has announced that the hip-hop group The Roots will play in concert at the University field house on March 20^th.

Originating from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots are famous for performing a jazzy, eclectic type of hip-hop, which includes live instruments. Their first album was released in 1993 and they have shared music with a many artists from different genres. The Roots are a very bright and entertaining group that have influenced many rap and R&B acts. Today the roots are currently most famous for being the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

The group’s original lineup consisted of Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter (MC) and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson on the drums. The two met at the Philadelphia High School for Performing Arts. After working together for a few years they added bassist Josh “the Rubber band” Abrams and Scott Storch on the keyboard. The group is very supportive of their Philadelphia roots and show lots of support for local causes and sporting events.

According to Student Government the roots were at the top of the request list for students this year. Openings for the band were hard to come by. March 20^th seemed to be the only opening the band had for months.

Many students are excited for the upcoming concert. The roots previously performed at the University in April of 2001.

Tickets have been on sale since Thursday January 21^st and are still available at umainetix.com. For students tickets are running for $15 and $20 for the general public.

For any questions contact the Student government on Firstclass.

END

Profile of Erin Gross

Erin Gross is a current second year student at the University of Maine. Majoring in studio art, Erin is a very artistic and enthusiastic individual. A native of Maine, Erin enjoys the University of Maine campus and the friends she has made. “I love the outdoors and the opportunities this campus has for outdoor activities.” Erin adds when explaining her cross-country ski journeys she takes with her roommates at least once a week.

One thing Erin struggles with is the cold, she claims “Being way up north not by the ocean is hard for me!” As many students complain about the cold, the wind is also another factor that Erin does not like about the University.

When asking Erin one of the most memorable moments she has had on campus this year, she responded with a heart-warming story. During a warm fall walk through the woods with one of friends, they came across a struggling bird that had been hurt bad and couldn’t move. In a panic Erin and her friend called the local animal rescue and ended up saving the birds life.

Interviewing Erin I learned a lot about her and her life at the University of Maine. She talked a lot about her art classes and her recent works. Last semester she finished her painting class series. In that class she created many self portraits and portraits of others. She said painting is her favorite medium and is a great break from her book studies. “I have a very sophisticated style. I wear a lot of black.” Erin explains that her attraction to black comes out in her everyday outfit choices and also in her artwork. She finds her self-drawn to works done in black and white, such as interesting photography and sketch drawings. She plans to continue on in the art series at the University of Maine and eventually end up working in design.