The program, Maine Oxy Supports the Troops, began in 2004, but the company recently set a new goal of sending out 50 care packages a month. There are 13 corporate donation sites across New England, the company said in a Monday release.

“With the recent announcement of the Iraqi withdrawal, many people assume that all the troops are coming home soon. We want to make sure people know that many troops are still being deployed and serving in war zones. These people need our help,” said Bob Smith, a retired member of the military and head of the M.O.S.T. program.

According to the company, the program began as an internal effort to send care packages to Maine Oxy own employees deployed in 2004. After seeing the impact of hand written letters, food and hygiene donations, Maine Oxy said, it decided to expand the program to collect and send donations to as many troops as they could.

From today’s release:

In the next few months, Maine Oxy plans to increase the amount of care packages shipped overseas by asking the community for small donations and asking local businesses to set up their own M.O.S.T. drop boxes. Last December, all 13 Maine Oxy locations and a group of partner businesses including Moody’s Collision Centers, Agren Appliance and Morgan Stanley Smith and Barney LLC, were able to send five shipments a month to those on deployed missions, helping hundreds of individual service men and women.

Maine Oxy said the impact of the program is evident through numerous emails the company receives from overseas troops, thanking the company for its efforts.

Again, from the release:

Staff Sergeant Matthew Hamilton shared the following after receiving a M.O.S.T. package:

“You guys may not realize how much it means to a soldier to have perfect strangers take the time out of their busy lives and put some thought into something for a service member. It could be something as small as saying thank you and it means the world to us. It is the main reason we as soldiers, marines, airmen, seaman have the drive to continue when times get rough and home seems a million miles away.”

If you are a local business and would like to host your own drop box, please contact: Maine Oxy customer service at 1-800-377-9433 or email ausalesteam@maineoxy.com. M.O.S.T. drop boxes can be set up inside any store or local business that wants to partner with Maine Oxy. Donations to help pay for shipping costs are also welcome.

If you would like to help individual troops, please bring donations of the following to your nearest M.O.S.T. dropbox:

· Food (powdered drink mixes, nonperishable snacks, canned meats and pasta)

· Entertainment items (batteries, books/magazines, playing cards, pens, stationary)

· Supplies (wet wipes, eye drops, lip balm, toothpaste, feminine products, soap)

· Letters – a personal letter is the most powerful donation one person can make.

For information about where to find a drop box and specific items the troops need visit: http://www.maineoxy.com/most.htm. Drop boxes are located in the following towns: Auburn, ME; Brewer, ME; Rockland, ME; South Portland, ME; Waterville, ME; Belmont, NH; Hooksett, NH; Hudson, NH; Lebanon, NH; Chicopee, MA; Milford, MA; South Windsor, CT; and Waterford, CT.

The Maine Republican wrote to Kirk Friday, according to a release, “acknowledging his acceptance of the Senator’s invitation to visit New Balance’s Skowhegan plant.”

From the release:

Specifically, Snowe noted the potential negative impact the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement could have on New Balance and its 38 small business suppliers across the country – supporting roughly 10,000 jobs.

Earlier this week, officials and workers from the Boston-based New Balance met with members of Congress and administration officials in D.C., supporting the dwindled manufacturing base in the country and arguing against lowering tariffs through the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement that includes Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States.

“I thank Ambassador Kirk for accepting my invitation to visit the New Balance factory in Skowhegan, and look forward to welcoming him to our state. While he is in Maine, I sincerely hope that he considers the potentially devastating impact a faulty and ill-informed Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement could have on our nation’s only remaining athletic shoe manufacturer,” Snowe said in the release. “I am confident that he will witness the remarkable ingenuity, exceptional dedication, and optimistic, can-do work ethic of the roughly 900 Maine workers of New Balance, and hope that the Ambassador’s trip helps focus his efforts in negotiating the agreement on saving these jobs for generations to come.”

New Balance has three factories in Maine, in Norway, Norridgewock and Skowhegan.

TWC spokesman Andrew Russell put out a statement at 9:15 p.m. Thursday, saying the company and Hearst Television had reached a “long term agreement,” and customers could expect the signals to be back on shortly.

As of 10:30 p.m., the Hallmark channel was still on Ch. 8, which normally hosts WMTW.

Hearst had chosen to black out its signal on July 9 after negotiations with TWC had broken down. The blackout also affected carriage of WMUR-TV from Manchester, N.H.,  WNNE-TV from Hanover, N.H.,  and WCVB-TV out of Boston, Mass.

Last year, the state ranked 40^th. In 2010, it hit 39; 40 in 2009; 44 in 2008 and 42 in 2007. Just to be clear, the best states for business are at the top of the list – Texas is number 1 this year, followed by Utah (2), Virginia (3), North Carolina (4), and North Dakota (5). What are the bottom five? Rhode Island’s at 50, Hawaii’s at 49, West Virginia is at 48, Alaska at 47 and Mississippi at 46.

A positive change in Maine’s ranking in a national listing is welcome news; the state normally knocks around the bottom of lists put out by publications like Forbes (though specific areas like Portland tend to rank well in listings for quality of life, job potential, outdoor activities and the like).

The state Department of Economic and Community Development put out a release on the ranking, tying the improved ranking to efforts made by Gov. Paul LePage’s administration.

“We have successfully reduced regulatory burdens on private sector development, implemented health insurance, welfare and pension reform and lowered taxes,” LePage said in the release. “All of this represents real structural changes to Maine’s overall business climate. “My commitment is to continue building a powerful business infrastructure, skilled work force and creating a culture where jobs and prosperity flourish.”

Each state’s ranked was determined by a combination of 10 categories, each of which were scored separately. Maine improved significantly in the “cost of doing business” category, where it ranked 26^th last year, and 19^th this year. CNBC.com described the “cost of doing business” category in this way:

Regulation and litigation are the bane of business. Sure, some of each is inevitable. But we graded the states on the perceived “friendliness” of their legal and regulatory frameworks to business.

The state also improved in the categories of work force, quality of life, infrastructure and transportation, education, technology and innovation, and business friendliness (going from 31 to 21).

It went down in rankings including the “economy,” going from 34 to 42; access to capital, going from 30 to 46; and stayed level in the cost of living category at 39 for both years.

“Is Maine improving? Yes. Can we do even better? Yes. We are proactively reaching out to Maine’s business community. More than 200 businesses have already responded to our Maine Business Survey in just three days,” said DECD Commissioner George Gervais in the release. “There feedback is what will drive future policy decisions impacting their bottom line.”

What sort of data did CNBC use to come up with the scores and rankings? You can find out here. It’s a variety, and, frankly, reasonable minds may choose to disagree why a state was ranked higher in a category or dinged.

Take the category of “work force,” for instance. Here’s what CNBC had to say about criteria used in that ranking:

Many states point with great pride to the quality and availability of their workers, as well as government-sponsored programs to train them. We rated states based on the education level of their work force, as well as the numbers of available workers. We also considered union membership. While organized labor contends that a union work force is a quality work force, that argument, more often than not, doesn’t resonate with business. We also looked at the relative success of each state’s worker training programs in placing their participants in jobs.

But that is the case in most of these rankings. I seem to recall that Forbes (or some other publication) dinged Maine on quality of life due to the winters. Oh, really??? Tell that to my Faber snowshoes, buddy!

While we’re on the subject of “quality of life,” here’s a positive sign: Maine is in the top 5 for quality of live, hitting 4, up from 6. Of course, that should be expected for a state where life’s the way it’s supposed to be.

 
WMTW normally shows up on channel 8 in the greater Portland area and other parts of the state. Tuesday morning, it showed only a blue screen with a short message from the station. The carriage agreeement between Hearst and Time Warner ended Monday night at 11:59 p.m. Both WMTW and Time Warner issued statements on the situation.

 
“Last night, Hearst Television chose to black out their signals from our customers rather than continue negotiations, despite their CEO saying just two weeks ago that broadcaster blackouts are unfair to consumers,” reads a statement issued by Andrew Russell, Time Warner’s communications manager for New England. “Time Warner Cable has reached hundreds of agreements with other broadcasters without broadcaster blackouts, but Hearst’s demand for a nearly 300 percent increase is way out of line. That kind of outrageous increase is unfair to our customers and unsustainable for our business.”

 
WMTW said in a statement that “notwithstanding our best efforts to reach a new carriage agreement, we were unable to do so.”

 
“We cannot predict if or when discussions with Time Warner will resume or if or when WMTW’s programming will be restored on Time Warner systems,” the statement reads.

“In light of this impasse, we urge viewers to make alternative arrangements for receipt of our signal. Our signal remains available over the air for free and also on other cable systems, DIRECTV and DISH Network.”

 
According to the statement from Time Warner, this also affects carriage of WMUR-TV from Manchester, N.H.,  WNNE-TV from Hanover, N.H.,  and WCVB-TV out of Boston, Mass.

Both Verso and NewPage are significant employers in Maine. Verso operates mills in Bucksport and Jay, employing 775 and 900, respectively, at the facilities. NewPage employs roughly 750 in Rumford.

Verso said Tuesday that it has had discussions with shareholders who hold the 11.375 percent first-lien senior secured notes of NewPage.

According to the statement:

The terms of Verso’s proposed transaction would provide NewPage’s first-lien noteholders with $1.425 billion of value, consisting of $1.075 billion of new Verso first-lien notes, $150 million of Verso common stock, and $200 million of cash. In addition, the proposed transaction would include a 100% recovery in cash to repay NewPage’s debtor-in-possession financing, a 100% recovery in cash for the allowed priority and administrative claims in the bankruptcy proceedings, a to-be-determined amount of Verso common stock for the holders of NewPage’s second-lien notes, and a to-be-determined recovery for NewPage’s unsecured creditors. To facilitate the transaction, a $200 million cash equity investment in Verso was contemplated.

It appears, however, that Verso’s advances have been rebuffed:

Verso has been disappointed with the lack of progress in advancing its discussions with the first-lien noteholders. Verso continues to believe that its proposed transaction is the most sensible.

The Tennessee-based Verso said it thought such a combination with the Wisconsin-based NewPage would “create a stronger business in the global coated and supercalendered paper industry because of the material cost savings that would be achieved.”

Verso also believes that a combination with NewPage would provide a compelling option for a restructuring in that it would afford NewPage’s first-lien noteholders a very attractive recovery, while at the same time treating fairly the other NewPage constituencies, including its employees, other creditor classes, and customers.

In its May Securities and Exchange Commission filings, Verso said it lost $73.9 million in the first quarter. That was compared to a loss of $44.5 million in the same period a year ago. In October 2011, Verso announced plans to eliminate 125 positions at the Bucksport mill in Maine and to permanently shut down one of the mill’s paper machines in response to high production costs and weak demand for lightweight paper. The company also shut two machines at a mill in Minnesota.

According to its annual report, NewPage had net sales of $3.5 billion in 2011, down $94 million from the year before. It saw a loss of $524 million in 2011, compared to a loss of $693 million in 2010.

It was announced Monday that The First will buy the branch at 63 Union St. in Rockland, one of the 15 branches acquired recently by Camden National. It will also buy the building at 145 Exchange St., Bangor, which currently holds a Camden National branch. The entire deal is pegged at $7.7 million, according to a Monday release.

Camden National plans to consolidate its Bangor operations into the 80 Exchange St. branch it purchased recently from Bank of America. The First, based in Damariscotta, plans to open a new branch at 145 Exchange in the first quarter of 2013, the company said in the release.

According to the release, Camden National is divesting of the Rockland branch to resolve competitive issues raised by the Department of Justice’s antitrust division. The release made no mention of the reason behind the Bangor branch sale – but the branches on Exchange Street are relatively close, so market reasons likely played a dominant role.

“We are excited about the opportunity this provides for The First,” said Daniel R. Daigneault, president and CEO of The First. “The branch at 63 Union Street will enhance our ability to serve our existing Rockland customers from a second location. We intend to retain the existing employees at this branch and will make the transition as easy as possible for our new customers.”

As part of the transaction, The First will acquire deposit accounts in the Rockland location as well as a small volume of loans.

The Rockland branch transaction is subject to regulatory approval, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year. The sale of the 145 Exchange Street building in Bangor will close at the same time.

“Our team will work closely with both banks during this transition process,” said Gregory A. Dufour, president and CEO of Camden National. “We are pleased The First has pledged to retain the Rockland employees and we will all work together to ensure the transition between banks is as smooth as possible.”

The April Bank of America/Camden National deal was estimated to be worth $20 million.

First Wind is the largest developer of wind farms in Maine, and Emera is the parent company of Bangor Hydro.

Under the deal, First Wind retains 51 percent and Emera now owns 49 percent of the new company. First Wind will continue to operate the wind energy projects. Emera affiliate Emera Energy Services will provide energy management services. First Wind will exclusively manage the development business and develop new wind projects in the Northeast.

Emera is essentially providing a cash injection to First Wind’s business efforts in the region. First Wind’s plan to go public – another way to raise cash– died on the vine in 2010.

According to a release from the two companies, Emera has invested a total of $211 million to acquire its 49 percent of Northeast Wind Partners. In addition, Emera is making a $150 million loan to an intermediate subsidiary company of Northeast Wind Partners, which will be repaid in five years.

“Emera’s ongoing business objective is to expand our presence in the Northeastern U.S. and we are pleased to be partnering with First Wind, who is known throughout the region as a premier developer of quality wind energy projects,” said Chris Huskilson, President and CEO, Emera Inc.” Our First Wind partnership helps Emera establish a meaningful position in the Northeast renewable energy market and is consistent with our corporate strategy. This partnership also allows us to demonstrate our commitment to Maine and the region both through existing and anticipated new Maine-based projects.”

The wind farms in Maine include Mars Hill Wind, Stetson Wind I and II in Danforth, and the Rollins Wind Project, as well as operations in Vermont and New York.

“This is an exciting partnership for First Wind that will allow us to invest in new, well-sited and well-run wind projects that deliver clean energy to homes and businesses across the Northeast,” said Paul Gaynor, CEO of First Wind, in the release. “We see an enormous opportunity to continue to deliver cost-effective clean, renewable energy so that Northeastern states can meet their important renewable portfolio standards.”’

In April, all three members of Maine’s Public Utilities Commission voted to approve the Emera/First Wind deal, though PUC staff had recommended the deal be rejected.

The deal had originally included Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp. as an investor in Northeast Wind. New York-based Algonquin pulled out of the part of the deal to invest in First Wind’s holdings. It remains a partner with Emera in plans to expand into energy markets in the Northeast.

“There isn’t a space that is vacant – all of our spaces either have permanent tenants, short-term tenants or, in one case, a storage agreement,” Gerety tells me.

The store now under construction is maurices, a women’s clothing store with 800-plus stores in 44 states. (That’s not a typo, btw – maurices’ starts with a small “m” and there’s no apostrophe at the end. How very.)

There’s already several maurices (what’s the plural of maurices? mauriceses? mauricesia?) in Maine, in Waterville, Topsham, Auburn and Presque Isle, according to the store’s website.

That store is taking up two mall spaces previously occupied by Spencer’s and Motherhood. Spencer’s Gifts has moved into a space across the hall that had been intermittently leased to short-term tenants, and Motherhood moved into a spot in the Sears wing, says Gerety.

The store will likely open in early September, Gerety predicts.

The other store opening in the mall is Zumiez, a men’s and women’s, girl’s and guy’s sort of casual/sporty attire space, with an emphasis on snowboarding and skateboarding. Hence, the name — zoom, Zumiez. Get it?

“Zumiez is kind of cool, kind of neat – I think it is a product apparel that we service – this will certainly add some great brands to that mix,” says Gerety.

According to the company’s website, Zumiez began in the Seattle area in 1978, and now has more than 400 retail stores around the country, including two in Maine at the Maine Mall in South Portland and in Kittery at the outlets.

That store will take two spaces in the Macy’s wing, next to the Select Comfort store. One of the spaces it will occupy was vacant, the other was for short-term leases, says Gerety.

“This fills those spaces with a strong brand and will appeal to our demographic, as well,” he adds.

Zumiez will likely open in early October, he says.

These stores add to others that have recently planted roots in the Bangor Mall, perhaps hinting at a recovering economy as companies in the retail sector begin to make decisions and take action.

Sephora – the store within a store at JCPenney that sells beauty prodcuts – had its “official” opening last Friday, and had 80 people waiting outside for the doors to open, Gerety says.

“Sephora is going to be a destination – I think it’s a fantastic move on their part to bring in such a well-known personal product brand into their store,” he says.

A Regis Salon is also a new mall tenant, and there’s a new anchor store, as well – the Maine-based Cadillac Mountain Sports, which opened in early April.