HEALTH CARE

ACA providers seek lower-than-expected rate hikes

Maine’s two leading providers of Affordable Care Act-compliant individual health insurance are requesting average rate increases of just over 9 percent in 2019, and smaller increases if a state-run reinsurance program is revived. Massachusetts-based Harvard Pilgrim Health Care asked for an average premium increase of 9.5 percent for its individual plans on Maine’s ACA marketplace in 2019, according to documents filed Monday with the state Bureau of Insurance. Lewiston-based Community Health Options requested an average premium increase of 9.2 percent for its individual plans, according to its filings. For an estimated 85 percent of individual ACA policyholders in Maine, those rate increases would be offset by higher federal premium subsidies. The requested increases of 9.5 percent and 9.2 percent assume that a state-backed reinsurance plan is not reinstated. If the program is revived, Harvard Pilgrim’s revised rate request calls for an average rate increase of 4.6 percent for individual insurance, and Community Health’s revised rate request calls for a 6.9 percent average increase. Read the story.

LEGAL

Shipyard Brewing sued over beer name

Portland’s Shipyard Brewing is being sued by Connecticut’s Stony Creek brewing over a claim of trademark infringement. The complaint, filed in Connecticut’s U.S. District Court, says Peak Organic’s Ripe – a double IPA brewed and canned at Shipyard’s Portland facility – has a name that is too similar to Stony Creek’s Ripe ‘n’ Cranky. Ripe ‘n’ Cranky is a brand name used for three IPAs that are infused with different fruit juices. Peak describes Ripe as a “juicy double IPA that is absolutely dripping with fresh-cut fruit,” the lawsuit says. Lawsuits over beer names are becoming more common, said Brendan Palfreyman, a Syracuse, New York, trademark lawyer in the Harris Beach law firm who is not involved in the lawsuit. Palfreyman said there are two or three lawsuits over beer names a month, and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is rejecting more proposed beer names because of trademark issues. Read the story.

MARIJUANA

Florida company seeks federally approved cannabis grow facility in Naples

A Florida company has applied for a federal permit to build a facility in Maine to grow cannabis used in government-sanctioned research. Maridose LLC is one of 27 companies with an application pending before the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to grow cannabis for use by the 350 scientists across the country. The DEA is opening up its marijuana cultivation contract to other growers to increase both the volume and the variety of research cannabis, which had been strictly limited because marijuana is illegal under federal law. Richard Shain, a product development specialist, teamed up with Tikun Olam, Israel’s largest legal grower and supplier of medical pot, to launch Maridose. Under that corporate name, Shain wants to grow cannabis in a 3-million-square-foot facility on 95 acres in Naples. Shain said he plans to petition the government to allow him to grow 4,500 pounds of marijuana a year and allow him to use an on-site extraction lab to turn surplus marijuana into extracts that can be stored safely on a shelf for years without losing effectiveness. Read the story.

GENERAL BUSINESS

Website launched offering resources to combat sexual harassment

A Portland-based consultant brought together a diverse group of business, nonprofit and legal minds to create an online resource for employers, managers, investors, board members and workers who have suffered or witnessed workplace sexual harassment. MaineCanDo.org, a website filled with tips, tools and links to help prevent on-the-job sexual harassment and deal with it properly when it happens, was launched Thursday. Betsy Peters said Maine’s economic landscape is made up primarily of microbusinesses and small nonprofits that often can’t afford a full-time human resources manager or extensive sexual harassment prevention training. Peters said its purpose is not to furnish legal advice, but to offer general guidance, education and a list of helpful resources. Read the story.

Mushroom company wins $50,000 Launchpad prize

North Spore of Westbrook, which produces specialty mushrooms, mushroom-growing kits and mushroom spawn, won the top prize at Gorham Savings Bank’s 2018 LaunchPad competition, taking home a $50,000 cash prize. The company was chosen from among five finalists that pitched their small business concepts Tuesday night to a panel of independent judges at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. The other four finalists were American Roots, a family-run manufacturer that makes American-made customized apparel; Bangs Island Mussels, a family-owned and operated sustainable aquaculture company; Blue Ox Malthouse, a returning LaunchPad finalist from 2016 that turns raw grain from local farms into malt used by craft breweries; and Wallace James Clothing Co. of Portland, which provides the ability to design, develop and produce garments all under one roof. Read the story.

ENERGY

Patagonia jumps into fray over CMP transmission project

Activist outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia is encouraging followers on Facebook to sign a petition opposing a proposed transmission line that would carry Canadian hydroelectricity through Maine to Massachusetts. The company’s June 1 post draws attention to a petition drive by a statewide environmental organization that it helps support with grants, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, in its fight against the New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line. The project is being proposed by utility company Avangrid and its subsidiary, Central Maine Power Co. The project is controversial, in part because transmission line would cross a remote, scenic gorge on Maine’s Kennebec River. NRCM’s online petition will be sent to the Public Utilities Commission, Department of Environmental Protection and the Land Use Planning Commission in Maine, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. It says permits should be denied because the project will create a new, 53-mile transmission corridor across Maine’s western mountains and suppress local wind and solar projects, among other things. The petition had attracted nearly 1,600 signatures by Wednesday. Read the story.

Nonprofit, CMP reach $22 million agreement to mitigate scenic impact

Central Maine Power Co. and a Somerset County nonprofit have reached an agreement on a mitigation plan that would result in the company investing $22 million in conservation projects and nature-based tourism as compensation for the negative impacts of a proposed transmission line that would cross the Kennebec River Gorge. The memorandum of understanding announced Wednesday by CMP and Western Mountains & Rivers Corp. was a response to CMP’s proposed New England Clean Energy Connect transmission project. The 145-mile line would bring hydroelectric power from Quebec through western Maine to customers in Massachusetts. Most of the line would run parallel to existing transmission lines, but about 50 miles of the new corridor would enter the West Forks region – the center of Maine’s whitewater rafting community. The Appalachian Trail also would be affected by the transmission line. The mitigation investment would try to compensate for the transmission line’s potential negative impacts. Read the story.

TRANSPORTATION

Draft of Maine Turnpike widening plan unveiled

Details of a long-planned project to widen the Maine Turnpike between South Portland and Falmouth show that some parts of the heavily traveled highway will exceed capacity within seven years if the work is not done. That information comes from a citizen advisory committee charged with looking at alternatives to ease congestion on the 11-mile stretch of highway. The committee looked at 15 options to deal with future congestion, and concluded that expanding the four-lane highway to six lanes was the only way to fully address the issue. A final report is expected in July. Turnpike widening will cost at least $142.7 million, the committee estimated. About $57 million already has been allocated in the Maine Turnpike Authority’s four-year capital plan for work on four bridges that need to be modified before the highway is expanded. Read the story.

TOURISM

Airbnb contributed more than $5 million in taxes to Maine coffers

Home-sharing company Airbnb paid more than $5 million in Maine taxes on behalf of its hosts in the last year. In a news release Tuesday, Airbnb said it has collected and remitted $5.3 million from lodging sales since it reached a tax agreement with the state in April 2017. The company’s impact on Maine’s bottom line is still limited. Between April 2017, when it started collecting tax, and this February, Maine took in almost $79 million in overall lodging taxes. Airbnb has about 4,500 hosts in Maine and welcomed 284,500 guests in 2017, a 62 percent increase from the year before. Read the story.

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