REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT

Home sales and prices increase in April

A decrease in the availability of existing single-family homes in Maine caused an uptick in both home sales and sale prices in April. According to a report issued Thursday by Maine Listings, 1,201 existing Maine homes were sold in April, an 8.6 percent increase compared with April 2017. Meanwhile, the statewide median home sale price increased by 8.1 percent from a year earlier to $200,000. The median price indicates that half of the homes sold for more money and half sold for less. For the three-month period ending April 30, home sales in Maine increased by 3.5 percent from the same period a year earlier to 3,179 units sold, the report said. The median price for the three-month period increased by 10 percent to $203,500, it said. Read the story.

BANKING & FINANCE

Brokerage makes restitution for inappropriate plans

Some Mainers invested in NextGen college savings plans will receive restitution payments after state regulators determined that Merrill Lynch steered them into inappropriate plans. According to a consent order, Merrill Lynch failed to supervise its agents who were advising investors opening 529 college savings plans, known as the NextGen Client Select Series. The state said that many investors were put into Class C shares, which are best for those investing for a short period. Merrill Lynch gets higher fees from those investments than the Class A accounts intended for longer-term investors. The Maine securities administrator said NextGen grants administered by the Harold Alfond College Challenge program were not affected by the order. Under that program, all Maine newborns receive $500 put into a NextGen savings plan opened on their behalf. Bill Norbert, a spokesman for the Finance Authority of Maine, said Merrill Lynch detected the inappropriate investments and reported them to authorities in the states. FAME administers the NextGen program in Maine. In Maine, Norbert said, 673 accounts were affected and are receiving an average credit of $164. Read the story.

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ENERGY

Biomass and solar figure in new UMaine energy plan

The University of Maine in Orono would get much of its heat and electricity from an on-campus Renewable Energy Center fueled by locally harvested wood and a huge solar array, according to a plan being negotiated by the university system and Honeywell International. The outline of Honeywell’s power contract proposal is contained in a document prepared for the University of Maine System last year in response to requests for proposals to transition most of the Orono campus from natural gas and fuel oil to renewable energy. Honeywell’s proposal was a runner-up in the original RFP process. The financial section is heavily redacted and omits any information about the cost of the power contract, although it has been estimated to be worth more than $100 million. The new central heating and power plant could be a “living laboratory” for the school’s forestry and engineering students, and showcase UMaine’s emerging interest in sustainability solutions and technologies under the Honeywell plan. Read the story.

N.H. panel again rejects transmission line project

A New Hampshire panel dealt another blow to a controversial hydro project Thursday, upholding an earlier decision to deny the proposal over concerns that it would hurt tourism and businesses in the state. The Site Evaluation Committee unanimously voted to deny a request by Eversource to rehear the proposal for the $1.6 billion, 192-mile Northern Pass transmission line project. The New Hampshire committee first voted against the project in February, which led Massachusetts energy officials to abandon plans to contract with the project. Instead, Massachusetts Clean Energy decided in March to seek agreements for a transmission line through Maine. Central Maine Power Co. would build the 145-mile line from the Canadian border to Lewiston. After the vote, Eversource said it will continue fighting to build the project. Among its options would be appealing the ruling to the state Supreme Court. Read the story.

COMMERCIAL FISHERIES

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Elver season closes early because of illegal sales

State regulators are shutting down the lucrative elver fishery two weeks early, after Maine Marine Patrol investigators concluded that off-the-books sales of the valuable commodity have pushed the statewide catch beyond the legal limit. Elver dealers and fishermen are supposed to use an electronic swipe-card system that allows accurate, real-time tracking by state regulators, but some dealers are paying less than the going rate – around $2,400 per pound – for cash sales of the baby eels, which are raised to adulthood at aquaculture facilities in Asia and sold to the seafood market as a delicacy. The decision is a blow to the reputation of the fishery, said Darrell Young, co-director of the Maine Elver Fishermen Association, who founded the group five years ago to push back against efforts to shut the fishery down completely. Since then, Young said he’s worked hard to drive out bad actors, and he had planned to advocate at meetings with federal regulators next month for a catch limit of more than 11,000 pounds, a reset to the 2014 level. Read the story.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Governor picks 32 communities to be tax-break zones

More than 30 Maine communities, some with surprisingly upscale neighborhoods, could reap benefits from a new federal program to encourage private investment in poor parts of the country. Opportunity zones selected by Gov. Paul LePage and approved by the U.S. Treasury include distressed paper mill towns such as Madison and Millinocket and former military bases in Brunswick and Limestone, but also comparatively better-off parts of Portland, South Portland and Saco. The opportunity zone program was created by the $1.5 trillion tax bill passed by Republicans last year. The program allows investors to create so-called “opportunity funds” through which they can reinvest capital gains – profits from the sale of investments – into designated areas tax-free for up to 10 years, then get a 15 percent tax break on the initial investment. Any profits they make annually through the investment are tax-free. Read the story.

HEALTH CARE

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Mercy receives $2.8 million in honor of pediatrician

At a ceremony Monday marking its centennial, Mercy Hospital in Portland announced a $2.8 million donation from the family of the late Dr. Harry Davis, Mercy’s first and longtime chief of pediatrics. Davis’ daughter, Patricia Klingenstein, and her family have supported many efforts to improve health care in Maine, the hospital said in a news release. The Klingensteins’ financial gift is especially personal and honors Portland’s beloved and well-known “Dr. Harry,” it said. Davis received his medical training from Tufts Medical School in 1919 and returned to Portland in the early 1920s to work as a pediatrician. He served as chief of pediatrics at Mercy Hospital from 1943 until his death in 1963. Read the story.

GENERAL BUSINESS

MDI Biological Lab starts innovation fund

The MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor has established a scientific innovation fund in honor of Dr. William Procter (1873-1951), a businessman, entrepreneur and scientist. Procter’s Biological Survey of the Mount Desert Region, published between 1927 and 1946, has been an invaluable resource for biologists studying the fauna of the Mount Desert region, according to the laboratory. The fund will provide up to $50,000 annually to full-time faculty members, students or research fellows at the MDI Biological Laboratory or its spinoffs to support areas including high-risk/high impact research, basic scientific research with potential for commercialization, and education programs focused on translating scientific discoveries into commercial applications. Read the story.

Idexx lands on Fortune 1000 list

Idexx Laboratories Inc. of Westbrook has made its debut on Fortune magazine’s Fortune 1000 list of the largest U.S. publicly traded companies, ranked by annual revenue. Fortune announced its 2018 list Monday. Idexx, which produces veterinary diagnostic testing equipment, software and other products, ranked No. 961 based on its 2017 revenue of $1.97 billion. It is Idexx’s first appearance on the list. No other Maine-based company has made the Fortune 1000 list in recent years. Read the story.


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