Maine
Maine signs 10-year liquor administration contract with current provider
Following months of negotiations, Maine’s Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations reached an agreement to continue contracting with its current liquor distributor for another decade.
The state’s new contract with Pine State Trading Co., which was signed last week and took effect Sunday, replaces two previous contracts that were extended to allow more time for negotiation, said Sharon Huntley, director of communications at the Department Administrative and Financial Services, which oversees the bureau.
Pine State has overseen trade marketing and administration for the department since it was awarded the previous contract in 2014.
Following an open request for proposal issued late last year, Pine State was the only company to place a bid.
The contract gives the company, based in Gardiner, sole authority to market, sell and distribute distilled spirits products to the more than 600 agency liquor stores within Maine. State law dictates that only agency stores can sell spirits, wine and malt liquor for off-site consumption.
Under the new contract, Pine State is entitled to 7.55% of total net sales and additional revenue within the state’s tightly regulated liquor market. That will likely add up to tens of millions of dollars, based on previous sales figures.
For the last 10 years, the company was entitled to 6.95% of total net sales and revenue in Maine: 4.7% for administration, warehousing and distribution, plus 2.25% for trade marketing.
That amounted to more than $16 million in fiscal year 2023, and more than $120 million over the life of the contracts, according to a review of the bureau’s annual reports. Huntley later confirmed those figures.
Pine State placed its bids for the 2024-34 administration and marketing contracts nearly a year ago, during a request for proposal period that ended in late January. Weeks later, it was offered the contract, pending final negotiations.
Maine is one of 17 states that controls the sale of spirits at the government level, according to the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association. New Hampshire and Vermont also employ versions of the “control” model.
In Maine, the bureau sets the prices of distilled spirits and organizes sales, meaning operating expenses – including contractor payments – can contribute to the final cost of bottles.
Maine
Man charged with killing his roommate in Westbrook, Maine
Police announced Wednesday that they have made an arrest in connection with a homicide that occurred two weeks ago in Westbrook, Maine.
The arrest stems from a medical emergency call received by Westbrook police on Nov. 21, at 11:35 p.m. Police and rescue crews responding to the address at 34 Lamb St. found 59-year-old Robert Seger unresponsive in a bedroom. They attempted life-saving measures and he was taken by ambulance to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he later died of his injuries.
State police said Seger had suffered multiple blunt force injuries.
Seger’s roommate, 47-year-old James Fowler — the person who had called 911 — told police they had had an argument, and he left and came back.
Westbrook police requested the assistance of state police to investigate Seger’s death and process the scene at 34 Lamb St. The chief medical examiner’s office conducted an autopsy and determined that the manner of death was homicide and the cause of death was blunt force trauma injuries.
An arrest warrant was obtained for Fowler, and he was arrested around 7:35 p.m. Tuesday at 34 Lamb St. and charged with depraved indifference murder and taken to the Cumberland County Jail. No details on bail or his initial court appearance were released.
Maine
Opinion: Offshore wind turbines are a bad idea for the Gulf of Maine
Installing wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine is a serious environmental and investment error. Maine can access Quebec Hydro for its immediate power needs with no damage to the environment – and enjoy the benefits of their low electrical rates. In the longer term, we can build new nuclear plants that will provide dependable power with carbon-free energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
I was saddened to learn that Maine Audubon is condoning and promoting offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine (“Opinion: Offshore wind in Gulf of Maine an opportunity we can’t ignore,” Sept. 29). These wind turbines represent an existential threat to seabirds and migrating songbirds. The blade tips on these large turbines will be traveling at several hundred miles per hour, and birds will have no chance of surviving them. Tens of thousands of birds will be killed every year.
It reminds me of the building the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. At the time, environmentalists said that only 5% of the salmon would not negotiate the fish ladders and turbines. Once additional dams were built, one of the world’s greatest salmon fisheries was virtually destroyed.
Andy Beahm, executive director of Maine Audubon, represents a group that is funded to support our bird population. I find it tragic that he “looks the other way” and ignores an existential threat that will kill millions of birds when fully developed. One only needs to visit the Coachella Valley in Southern California to see hundreds of wind turbines and dead birds under these turbines to appreciate the problem.
Siemens recently announced multibillion-dollar losses from sea-based turbines. Saltwater conditions are prematurely destroying their components. These increased costs will show up in future electrical rates.
Recently Sweden canceled the construction of 13 new wind farms in the Baltic Sea, citing defense and security concerns. There is simply no reason to subsidize and support offshore wind projects.
Finally, all mechanical systems wear out and fail. The cost of decommissioning and removing these turbines from the Gulf needs to be included in any justification for this project. We have already seen the extraordinary cost of a single blade failure near Nantucket at the Vineyard Wind last July, resulting in the closure of six beaches due to debris washing ashore.
The building of offshore windmills is an unwise decision. It needs to be abandoned before it causes irreparable harm.
Maine
Maine’s U.S. Attorney’s Office reaches agreement with Lowe’s
MAINE (WABI) – Maine’s U.S. Attorney’s Office has reached an agreement with Lowe’s to improve customer accessibility nationwide following a complaint filed in Brewer.
A Lowe’s customer in Brewer filed an ADA complaint that the store did not provide accessible parking located on the shortest accessible route from the parking lot to an accessible entrance
The Justice Department says after investigation it was found several locations in Maine failed to provide accessible parking spaces on the shortest route including in Brewer, Brunswick, Portland and Windham.
They say a part of the settlement agreement Lowe’s has agreed to make modifications to their parking lots to insure the area is ADA compliant.
Lowe’s will also be designating at least one employee to serve as an ADA Compliance Manager to train current and future employees.
They say Lowe’s have also agreed that within six months they will provide the Department a plan to survey the remainder of locations nationwide.
Copyright 2024 WABI. All rights reserved.
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