IT PAYS TO BE LUCKY

When a lobsterman falls off a boat in frigid waters miles from shore, we expect the worst.

But that wasn’t the case this week for Devin Pesce, 19, who survived Wednesday, thanks to quick action by the other men on the 42-foot Kylie Brooke out of Harpswell: his father, Dan Pesce of Windham, and sternman Lucky Oppedisano.

The three men were pulling and rebaiting traps 15 miles east of Cape Porpoise when Devin’s feet became entangled in the lines. He was pulled overboard and was in the water for three to four minutes before the other men were able to get him back on board using the boat’s winch.

The two lobstermen performed CPR on Devin as they steamed back to Cape Porpoise. When they got to the dock, the young Lisbon Falls man was able to walk off the boat.

So much could have gone wrong, but this time everything went right and Devin is recovering with his family. Maybe the lesson is if you are going out to sea in winter, it pays to have someone named “Lucky” on board.

LAWMAKERS STAND UP TO LEPAGE

The Legislature did the right thing this week and passed a bill that will use reserve funds to prevent a cut to municipal revenue sharing.

Gov. LePage has voiced his strong opposition to the measure, but that may not matter if Republicans in the House and Senate who voted for the bill stick with their positions if the measure comes back to them for a veto override.

LePage proposed eliminating aid to cities and towns last year, even though those kinds of cuts result in property tax increases on the local level.

That was a consequence the governor was willing to accept to hold on to his income tax rate cut, which affects almost all taxpayers but pays the biggest dividends to the wealthiest state residents.

Protecting revenue sharing is just the first step in what promises to be a divisive battle to close another $60 million hole in the current budget.

The Legislature will be faced with many tough votes in the weeks ahead, but this vote, along with one to override the governor’s veto of a summer nutrition program, is a promising sign that they will keep doing the right thing.

NEW TAKE ON PUTTING NEWSPAPER TO BED

Longtime employees of the Portland Press Herald may be scratching their heads, but the place where they once toiled to put out a newspaper is on its way to becoming a boutique hotel.

The developers of the Press Hotel plan to open next year in the longtime home of the newspapers that were founded by Guy P. Gannett in the 1920s. The building at 390 Congress St. was a state-of-the-art communications hub where three newspapers were produced – the Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram and the now-defunct Evening Express – and it housed everything from the corporate offices on the seventh floor to the presses in the cellar.

And at various times there had also been a radio station, television station and the offices for MaineToday.com, a pioneering Internet company. The presses moved to South Portland in the early 1990s, and the newspaper and website offices moved to One City Center in 2009.

People who worked at 390 Congress remember the building as more of a sweatshop than a place to relax, but that will change with extensive renovations expected to take another year.

It will open in a greatly expanded hotel market, but developer Jim Brady is not worried. “There will never be enough rooms for the summertime in Portland, Maine, and there will always be too many in the wintertime,” he said.

JETER GIVES SOX SOMETHING TO CHEER

Derek Jeter has never given Boston Red Sox fans much to cheer about. That is, until Tuesday. The New York Yankee captain and shortstop announced that his Hall of Fame-caliber career will end after this season. As the last link to a Yankee dynasty that won four world titles in five years, often at Boston’s expense, Jeter’s departure will put an end to a chapter in what has been one of sports’ best rivalries.

Red Sox fans won’t forget his steady production of line drives to right, strong throws from short to first and his uncanny ability to make one-of-a-kind plays, like crashing into the box seats to preserve a 12-inning tie against the Sox in 2004.

Jeter is scheduled to end his career in Fenway Park, which should be an opportunity for baseball fans to put aside their allegiances and say goodbye to the kind of player we won’t see again for a long time.