LABOR

State launches program, incentives to hire teens

Officials from the state labor and education departments on Wednesday unveiled a program called YES: Youth Empowerment and the Steps to Success, intended to get more 14- and 15-year-old Mainers into the workforce. New workers can fill critical labor gaps in the state’s seasonal hospitality industry, and teens can gain valuable workplace experience and exposure to career opportunities, Labor Commissioner John Butera said at a news conference in Augusta Wednesday. The program consists mainly of a public awareness blitz, including a new website and social media pages with resources and guidance for employers who want to hire young teens. A series of workshops to educate businesses, kids and parents about teen employment is planned next month. Also, employers in the tourism industry can apply to receive up to $400 for each new entrant into the workforce they hire. The program is funded with $50,000 from the Department of Economic and Community Development, Butera said. Read the story.

Labor secretary, Collins tour Cianbro

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and U.S. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta focused on workforce development in Maine and throughout the country Tuesday while touring job-training sites in Bangor and at Cianbro in Pittsfield. The two officials, who toured Penobscot Job Corps Center in Bangor earlier in the day, were given tours of three facilities at Cianbro: the Cianbro Institute, a training and education center exclusively for Cianbro workers to improve their skills and develop new ones; the company’s welding facility; and the simulation yard. In between stops at Cianbro, Collins said she and Acosta have been working together in Washington on issues surrounding workplace safety and workforce development. Acosta, who was appointed by President Trump, said his visit had been helpful in learning about the issues facing Maine. He said Maine has a 2.7 unemployment rate, “which is fabulous on one level, but at another level Maine needs workers, and we hear that from so many businesses.” Read the story.

Job fair focuses on hiring people in recovery

At least a dozen area employers will participate in a Biddeford job fair this week for job seekers who are recovering from addiction. Twelve companies had signed up last week to participate at the recovery workforce job fair, set for June 7, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the event space in the Pepperell Mill, and more are expected to do so. With a statewide unemployment rate of 2.7 percent in April, many employers in southern Maine are having a hard time finding workers, leading them to consider atypical candidates. State Rep. Marty Grohman, I- Biddeford, York County Sheriff Bill King and staff members at ENSO Recovery – which has treatment centers in Sanford, Portland and Westbrook – discussed the situation and how to connect employers with job seekers who have overcome addictions. A class for employers is scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m. to address anxiety about hiring those in recovery, and the “dos and don’ts” of the process. Read the story.

FOREST PRODUCTS

Destructive beetle found in Maine woods

State and federal entomologists have confirmed the presence of a destructive, invasive beetle in Maine for the first time. The emerald ash borer was found in a tree in Madawaska on May 22, just five days after Canadian officials announced the pest’s discovery just across the river in Edmunston, New Brunswick. Although Maine forestry and insect experts long had anticipated that the emerald ash borer would eventually be detected in Maine, many suspected it would first arrive in southern Maine because the emerald-colored insect is already established in neighboring New Hampshire counties. A native of Asia, emerald ash borers have killed millions of trees in the U.S. and Canada since being discovered in 2002 and are regarded as one of the most destructive forest pests in North America. Although there are methods to control the spread of the emerald ash borer, experts have yet to devise a way to eliminate the pests once they are established. Read the story.

ENERGY

Ratepayers’ group planning class-action lawsuit against CMP

A group of Maine residents organized around fighting high electric bills from Central Maine Power is seeking customers to join a planned class action lawsuit against the company. CMP Ratepayers Unite said late Monday that two Maine-based attorneys involved with the matter have retained a New York firm to take the lead, on behalf of utility customers who believe they have been overcharged. It said that Sumner H. Lipman and James Belleau have retained Napoli Schkolnik PLLC, to prepare a class action on behalf of these customers. CMP Ratepayers Unite didn’t say when the suit would be filed. The planned suit has been hinted at for weeks. It’s the latest development in ongoing efforts to learn why some CMP customers have received — and continue to receive — bills that seem out of scale with the amount of power they’ve used. Read the story.

HEALTH CARE

Deadline approaches for ACA coverage rate requests

As Maine’s providers of Affordable Care Act-compliant health insurance prepare to file their rate requests for 2019, analysts say they are expecting ACA individual insurance rates in Maine to increase by double digits as they have done in previous years. Both of Maine’s existing providers of Affordable Care Act individual health insurance say they plan to offer coverage again in 2019. Health insurance providers have until June 4 to submit their 2019 rate requests to the Maine Bureau of Insurance.

Only Lewiston-based Community Health Options and Massachusetts-based Harvard Pilgrim Health Care continue to offer ACA-compliant individual health insurance in Maine. Community Health, Anthem, Harvard Pilgrim, Aetna, United Health Care and others also offer a variety of ACA-compliant small group insurance plans in the state. Nearly 76,700 Mainers had individual ACA coverage in the first quarter of this year, down 10 percent from 85,300 a year earlier, according to the bureau. Another 60,000 Mainers had ACA-compliant small group coverage through their employers, down about 8 percent from 65,500 the previous year. Read the story.

BANKING & FINANCE

Venture fund started to aid western Maine startups

A new venture fund designed to support the growth of young companies in western and central Maine launched Thursday. Western Maine Venture Fund was formed by the Skowhegan Savings Charitable Foundation, the charitable arm of Skowhegan Savings Bank, and Opus Ventures, a Portland venture capital firm. The intent is to develop a $10 million pool of capital for targeted investments in early-stage companies in that region. The fund has been qualified under the state’s Seed Capital Tax Credit program, and will be managed by Opus Ventures, according to a news release. Read the story.

LEGAL

Status of former owner leads to lawsuit

Lewiston’s mayor is suing the new owners of his former company, alleging they broke their contract to have him stay on as an employee. Mayor Jason Levesque filed a civil complaint in Androscoggin County Superior Court this week claiming that customer contact company ITC Argo LLC failed to pay him capital assets, past due commissions, travel expenses and reimbursement for company operating expenses that he had charged on his personal credit card. A spokesman for ITC declined comment Thursday. The company had agreed to hire Levesque as an executive vice president starting Oct. 1 for at least one year at an annual salary of $125,000, plus a car reimbursement of $750 per month and full health care coverage for him and his family. In his lawsuit, Levesque is seeking to have the court set aside $459,421.29 that he said he expects to be awarded after he prevails. That amount includes at least $100,000 in past due commissions and about $55,000 charged to his credit card for debts largely paid to telephone and computer vendors. Read the story.

COMMERCIAL FISHERIES

Maine congressional delegation flexes political muscle to protect lobster exports

Three of the nation’s top trade negotiators were in Portland on Friday to hold closed-door talks with Maine’s $1.5 billion-a-year lobster industry as it tries to defend its European market from tariff-free Canadian competition and its Asian market from a trade war with China. The Maine Lobster Dealers Association wants the people who negotiate America’s trade deals to see how important lobster is to Maine’s coastal economy, from the individual fishermen who trap lobsters all the way up to the dealers who buy, pack and sell them abroad, association director Annie Tselikis said. The talks started in the morning, then moved to the Portland waterfront and other areas connected to the lobster industry. Maine’s congressional delegation organized the session and attended it. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative C.J. Mahoney, Assistant Greg Walters and Deputy Assistant Cameron Bishop represented the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Read the story.

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