The facility is leading the DeepCwind Consortium, a group of universities, governmental entities, private companies and nonprofit organizations now working on a prototype for an offshore wind turbine near Monhegan Island.

The Department of Energy is a partner in that project. In October 2009, the department gave AEWC an $8 million dollar grant for the research and development of the turbines, according to an article that month in The Maine Campus.

A July 2008 report from the Department of Energy stated the goal of harnessing 20 percent of the nation’s power from wind by the year 2030.

In January, AEWC received a $12.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to build a new 30,000 square-foot laboratory where researchers will test ideas for the turbines. The lab is expected to be completed by spring 2011, according to a January brief in The Maine Campus.

“I am pleased that Secretary Chu will see firsthand the groundbreaking work on alternative energy being conducted by [AEWC director] Dr. Habib Dagher and the other scientists at the Center,” Baldacci said in the press release. “The federal government has been very supportive of the deepwater wind project, and has been a real partner in Maine’s efforts to develop a more stable and secure energy supply that is renewable and will create jobs here in Maine.”

Chu accepted the invitation from Sen. Susan Collins, who will visit the facility with him.

As a young man, he remembers hearing of administrators from individual state-run colleges leaving school for days at a time to fight for individual budgets.

“That was a bad system,” said Mills, the state senator and attorney from Cornville in Somerset County who has served at different times in both the Maine Senate and House of Representatives since 1996.

He said those who have been working on academic program cuts at the University of Maine, such as UMaine President Robert Kennedy and the Academic Program Prioritization Working Group, should focus on eliminating classes – not necessarily majors – with low enrollment.

“When you walk into a classroom and there are three students there, there is something very expensive about that environment,” Mills said. “That has to stop. If you don’t have customers, you shouldn’t be in business.”

He said the governor and the Legislature should stay out of “academic politics” and stick to traditional roles in government – the Legislature in funding the university and the governor in appointing people to the board of trustees.

“What I bring to this is the ability to appoint trustees as they come up – [people] who will do a really good job in tackling the management of these issues. Beyond that, I’m happy to let the trustees tackle the job.” Mills said.

Mills said the biggest challenge facing a Republican governor would be balancing the “moral obligation” of funding human services along with funding the “growth phenomenon” that is education.

“I think Republicans – me in particular – have a view that that needs to be done more effectively than is now being done,” Mills said. “Whenever you have a lot of intelligent people in a small state, a lot of exciting things happen.”

Mills said there will soon be an opportunity for economic growth in Maine.

“The budget outlook for the state is abysmal, but it will come back. I would think in the last two years of the new governor’s term, we’re likely to see some rebuilding from a very low base,” Mills said. “My highest priority would be to rebuild education as opposed to putting more people under dependency.”

One of Mills’ ideas to reform state government starts with changing the measures of accountability for some state workers – especially in the Department of Health and Human Services.

“We’re going to evaluate the top-level administrators in direct proportion to their success in weaning people from dependency. If that means that they’re going to have fewer people working for them next year, then so be it,” Mills said. “That’s what the taxpayer wants.”

Mills was the only Republican senator to vote for gay marriage in Maine, a bill passed by both houses and signed by Gov. John Baldacci, but it was repealed by voters as Question 1 in a November 2009 referendum.

He said his vote was “a matter of conscience” motivated by “the most effective lobbying campaign to the Legislature that I have ever seen.”

“Every day, when we came in [to Senate, lobbyists] gave us stacks of blue cards with red ribbons and said, ‘Here are messages from your constituents who want you to vote for this bill,’” Mills said. “Somebody should write the story because it’s a classic case of how to move something forward through the Maine Legislature.”

But, Mills said that if he were governor, he would not have signed the bill without a clause that said it would go straight to referendum.

“I thought it was a bit high-handed for the Legislature to pass this thing and then sit there and force the [opposing] people to come out of the woods and get organized,” Mills said.

He believes the signature campaign by winning side “Yes on 1” forced them to become organized and led to their success.

“I personally learned a lot from observing the public vote,” Mills said. “Think about just how divisive that was geographically. Think what it demonstrated about the difference between living in Cumberland County and living in Piscataquis [County].”

According to official state tabulations from the referendum, over 60 percent of densely populated Cumberland County voted “no” on Question 1. Meanwhile, nearly 67 percent of rural Piscataquis County voted “yes.”

Mills last ran for governor in 2006, coming in second in the Republican primary election. He says his platform is built for general elections.

“If I had been nominated four years ago, I would have been governor,” Mills said. “We would have already been four years ahead of the game on doing some things that I wanted to see done and that Republicans wanted to see done. I’m saying, ‘Let me carry the banner and I’ll get it done now.’”

Mills said his opponents in the upcoming Republican primary election “take pride” that they have not served in state government and make “vague promises” about jobs and welfare reform.

“I’m not an employee of state government. I’m a legislator – a part-time legislator – and I still have one foot anchored firmly in the private world. I know the difference. Until you know the difference, you can’t be prepared to manage the public side effectively,” Mills said. “Trust me. If I get this job, you won’t have to train me.”

Garrett Cheney, 22, is charged with several crimes, including manslaughter, aggravated criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants, leaving the scene of an accident that resulted in serious bodily injury, and criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants. Cheney entered his plea at the Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor.

Cheney turned himself into Maine State Police in Orono on April 16 after a warrant was issued for his arrest. According to an April article in The Maine Campus, pieces of debris at the crime scene on Middle Street in Orono matched Cheney’s 2003 Chevrolet Silverado.

Cheney was involved in another accident at 3:30 a.m. the same morning on Interstate 95 in Etna, approximately about 30 minutes after Bakley died.

William Bly, the Biddeford-based OUI attorney representing Cheney, believes the suspect’s call to the police after the Etna accident demonstrates his innocence.

“That is not consistent with someone that would run down a young woman and leave her at the side of the road and not call the police,” Bly told The Maine Campus on April 22.  “I would certainly hope that people aren’t too quick to rush to judgment. These are just the accusations. The presumption of innocence has to remain.”

Penobscot District Attorney R. Christopher Almy, however, believes that Cheney’s guilt is undeniable.

“The evidence in its totality will show that Mr. Cheney was the driver in this case.” Almy told the Bangor Daily News Thursday.

No trial date has been scheduled.

“The higher education system in Maine should be at 9 percent of the general fund,” McGowan, of Hallowell, said in an April telephone interview. “I believe that the tuition rates have gone up more than they should have gone up.”

According to the Maine Office of Fiscal and Program Review, higher education made up 8.36 percent of state appropriations in the 2008 fiscal year.

McGowan lauded the University of Maine’s engineering programs as some of “the best in the country.” His son, who graduated from UMaine with an engineering degree, is “employed at the highest level in his profession” as a result of his education, McGowan said.

“I think it provides excellent value for what [students] get for their money,” McGowan said. “It is still the best opportunity for the majority of people in the state of Maine.”

Still, the candidate advocated new fields of study within the university system to keep up with Maine’s occupational needs.

“We have an aging population so I think more health care-related education courses are necessary. I think we should do some things that are close to our environment,” McGowan said. “The biggest industry in Maine today is, of course, the tourism industry and there’s all kinds of opportunities in that regard.”

McGowan said more money to the university system for research and development is “absolutely” needed.

The candidate said biotechnology, including biofuel, would be  a good industry to develop through state universities. Fuel made from algae and trees is “the future” for Maine and the United States, he said.

McGowan served from 1993 to 2001 in the Clinton Administration as the New England regional administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration. He served in state government as a state representative from 1980 to 1990 and as Maine Commissioner of Conservation from 2003 to early 2010.

“I know how to run the government to make it work effectively,” McGowan said. “I’ve been involved in everything in Maine from small business to large-scale conservation and I understand what the needs are of Mainers. I know the state better than anybody who’s in this race.”

According to smallbusiness.com, there were 141,936 small businesses in Maine in 2004 – 97.5 of all firms with employees. The candidate said his small business experience is crucial to a state so reliant on small entities.

“This is the place where you can take your dreams and your ambition and some capital and make an entrepreneurial venture successful,” McGowan said. “We need to make sure those opportunities are available to all Maine people.”

McGowan said he would like to see “a limited number of bills” come out of the Maine Legislature with term limits on representatives. He also said he is an advocate of smaller government.

“I think it’s very, very important we limit the impositions of a burdensome government on its people,” McGowan said. “Our population is shrinking so I think the state government should probably be reduced too.”

The candidate said he has “a great deal of respect” for Gov. John Baldacci and that critics should “withhold their criticism until they are able to walk a mile in his shoes.”

“People are quick to criticize, but they need to make sure they have a reason to do that,” McGowan said.

He said many of Maine’s traditional industries, such as agriculture, fishing and forestry have places in Maine’s future. In April, the candidate outlined the Great Maine Forest Initiative, a plan he believes will conserve resources while boosting paper production.

The plan includes a series of public-private partnerships conserving pieces of forested land through easements, thereby keeping timbers in sustainable management. He praised the paper industry in Maine as one of the best in the nation, as it supplies many national companies.

“We can supply twice as much paper to those entities if we do my Great Maine Forest proposal,” McGowan said.  

The candidate said the end of the recession is nearing and the state must prepare accordingly.

“We are in a recession right now, but we will come out of it. I think it’s important that we are ready as a state to respond and my position is that Maine is a very good place to live, to work, to raise a family and we want to make sure that it’s a great place for students to get higher education and stay and work for the rest of their lives,” McGowan said. “That’s very important.”

William Jones, a sophomore chemical engineering student, was arrested May 7 in connection with shootings of six houses and one moving vehicle in different areas in both Augusta and Chelsea, a neighboring town. The shootings occurred between 3 and 4 p.m. March 29 and no one was injured, according to the paper.

The paper reported Augusta police got a lead when they received information that Jones was spotted with a .22 caliber handgun – the same caliber used in the shootings – while on spring break at his permanent residence in Chelsea.

An Augusta detective was quoted as saying Jones is a “good kid” who “was going through a rough time in his life.” The paper reported Jones has no criminal record.

Jones has since been released on $1,000 cash bail. He is scheduled to appear in Kennebec County Superior Court June 29, the paper reported.

“It’s a little harder for the ones that aren’t frontrunners,” Whitcomb said. “I’m at a huge disadvantage.”

Whitcomb grew up in Waterville and lives in Sidney, a town of about 3,500 between Augusta and Waterville. He has been a selectman there for the past six years, serving as chairman for the past three. He said the experience of overseeing a town’s finances on a small budget has prepared him for state leadership.

According to Whitcomb, the only difference between local and state government is “zeros at the end of a budget. You’ve still got to deal with the same things, which is seeing what’s in the best interests of the people that are paying your taxes.”

Whitcomb complimented the University of Maine System, but advocated more on-the-job training and career-oriented curricula. He wants to create incentives for Maine businesses to hire students.

Tax breaks for businesses hiring system students for internships, he says, would make students more likely to stay in Maine after graduation.

“When they’re done [with college], on day one, they could start doing their job,” Whitcomb said. “Make it a friendly partnership for all parts – the state level, the education level and for the business level.”

He expressed frustration with tuition increases within the system, saying they would deter Maine students from getting a postgraduate degree entirely.

“There’s no sense in going to school if you’re not going to have a job,” Whitcomb said.  “Without the education, it doesn’t matter what we bring in for jobs.”

Whitcomb advocates “a 50-50 program” to improve the business climate in Maine. He said government should spend half of its time and money recruiting new businesses and half trying to preserve existing businesses. He believes far too much time is spent by Maine leaders on attracting new businesses.

“We seem to focus our time on new business and letting those that are here fall. That can’t be done,” Whitcomb said. “If you don’t have anything here, why would anybody want to come?”

Whitcomb sees financial waste in government as a large reason why the state is cutting funds to education and health and human services. He believes welfare leniency is a large reason why many state departments are in financial peril.

A 2008 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Study showed that 4.8 percent of Maine households received cash public assistance in the year preceding, the second-highest percentage in the nation, behind Alaska. This assistance includes general and temporary assistance income and excludes food stamps.

“The ones that are ripping the system off are the ones that they don’t even bother to check into,” he said. “They have loopholes that are so big they don’t even have to try to go through them. They just open the door for you and let you in,” Whitcomb said. “Helping somebody get back on their feet – yes. Helping somebody stay off of their feet – no.”

Whitcomb said he doesn’t oppose welfare, but advocates more strict time limits and longer residency requirements for people on welfare and food stamp programs. He supports tax breaks for businesses that employ people on welfare to wean citizens off of state aid.

“The biggest things I hear from people [are]: ‘Why aren’t we business-friendly? Why do we give everything away to welfare programs,” Whitcomb said.

Whitcomb said Mainers he has talked to are upset with the direction of Maine’s leadership and want to see a political outsider in office.

“They want someone who is a working-class individual that thinks more along the lines of what they are thinking,” Whitcomb said. “Somebody that is willing to step on both toes, to do the right thing regardless of what the party wants, is, I think, a benefit.”

Other gubernatorial candidates, Whitcomb says, do not provide the change necessary to lead Maine in the right direction.

“They’re career politicians and businessmen trying to buy their way,” Whitcomb said. “They’re the ones that have put a lot of these policies into place that have messed up.”

The candidate criticized Gov. John Baldacci’s two terms in office, and said the Democrat’s performance has been “poor.”

“I think he was more worried about what’s good for the party than what’s good for the state,” Whitcomb said.

Whitcomb is working right now to collect the required 4,000 signatures of registered Maine voters which Independents need to get on the ballot. He said he has “about a dozen people and a few businesses” in places including Bangor, Camden and Waterville collecting signatures, but doesn’t know exactly how many he has accumulated.

Whitcomb says although many Mainers do not want to see business as usual in Augusta, many also tell him he will have a hard time winning election.

“Most people have the mentality that you’re not going to beat big government and unfortunately they could be right,” Whitcomb said.

Kennedy adopted many of the recommendations proposed by the Academic Program Prioritization Working Group, a committee charged with streamlining the university’s offerings.

“We care deeply about the University of Maine, its students, its impact and its future. Belt-tightening won’t suffice anymore,” Kennedy said, speaking in the Collins Center for the Arts.

The Department of Public Administration and aquaculture, wood science, forest operations and forest ecosystem science bachelor’s programs will be eliminated and undergraduate majors in Latin, German, women’s studies and theater will be suspended if the plan described by Kennedy is adopted by the University of Maine System board of trustees.

“I truly regret the human toll of the adjustments that are ahead of us, and the angst that these deliberations have already caused. I sincerely wish we were not in this situation,” Kennedy said.

In addition, Kennedy recommended the graduate concentration in women’s studies be suspended and instrumental conducting, choral conducting and collaborative piano graduate programs  be cut.

Numerous departments will be downsized or consolidated along with the proposed suspensions and eliminations. Kennedy also reiterated the university’s commitment to “teach out” students currently enrolled in majors up for elimination or suspension.

The master of arts in teaching program and the Center for Research and Evaluation in the College of Education and Human Development will be reduced, while teaching responsibilities for classes in the Department of Mechanical Engineering will be distributed among faculty from the School of Engineering Technology.

He also unveiled an eight-point program called UMaine 150, a series of initiatives aimed at reducing costs while increasing revenue.

“We must rededicate ourselves to our core principles and timely priorities,” Kennedy said.

To be completed a few months before the university’s 150th anniversary, the plan calls for further integration of related fields of study. A cornerstone of “UMaine 150” calls for the creation of a Division of Health and Biomedical Sciences. Kennedy said the division would further “undergraduate education and research opportunities” while “addressing student interests and workforce needs and fostering partnerships with other institutions and businesses.”

“We must respond to these emerging and important opportunities. This is exactly what our state and our students need,” Kennedy said. “If it develops as a signature program, as I suspect it will, it could be a powerful draw for out-of-state students, while also helping our state retain more good students who currently leave for similar opportunities.”

The program will be created within the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture, he said.

“We all know that a university is, at its core, an academic institution, but if we are to survive and thrive in the future, and offer the opportunities that students really need, it will be as Maine’s only comprehensive, full-service university, and one that puts its students first,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said his recommendations will be reviewed by the board of trustees at their January meeting.

Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.

She didn’t accumulate the 2,000 signatures of fellow Democrats she needed by 5 p.m. March 15 to make the primary election. She found a new way to run.

“I am now an official declared Democratic write-in candidate for governor for the primary election in June,” Dion wrote in a March 19 e-mail.  ”My campaign continues.”

The candidate believes the University of Maine System and the Maine community college system “should be classified as different levels within the same system.”

“Community colleges allow a different presence, which has been a very positive presence for the business industry,” Dion said. “I think it’s an enhancement to the university and I think they should be working together as brother and sister.”

Dion thinks those who oversee each of the seven University of Maine System campuses sometimes become “territorial” and “competitive” with one another.

Dion said the university system must lower the costs of tuition for students to increase the amount of educated students in Maine.

“We need to be able to afford to go to the university,” Dion said. “I believe in getting involved with the people that are on the front line because they already know some areas that would make things better. We need to put more money into the university, but the university has to evaluate where they’re putting money also.”

According to Dion, students paying for a University of Maine System education could be getting “more for their money.”

“Could we enhance it and make the quality even better? Yes, and we have to be aggressive in that,” Dion said. “I think we need to look at where the money is being dispersed.”

Dion was the mayor of Biddeford, the largest city in York County, from 1997 to 2003. She said Biddeford is the only community in Maine where the mayor is also the chair of the school committee, giving her unique experience in both areas.

“I found that being a local politician in a very active political arena actually provides me hands-on [experience.] And that’s just doing that on a local basis. My background of all the things I have participated in just enhanced that,” Dion said.

For five years, Dion was a member of the Coastal Counties Workforce Board, an entity established with federal government money in order to improve employment, training and rehabilitation programs of workers in Knox, Lincoln, Waldo, Sagadahoc, Cumberland and York counties.

This experience, she said, showed her what Maine businesses need to succeed.

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can sometimes take things that other individuals have done successfully, look at how it impacts your own community and fine-tune it,” Dion said.

In 1999, Dion worked with a consortium of eight businesses and York County Community College to train prospective workers in the metal trades industry, leading to new jobs for more than 300 people.

The candidate said she supports assistance of existing Maine businesses before the attraction of outside companies. She says new big business may often undermine Maine businesses and lead to the loss of manufacturing jobs.

“It takes longer to groom other businesses to come into our community,” Dion said. “We have to look at what’s here.” Dion said.

Dion works full-time as the financial director of Port Resources, a nonprofit group that does residential care for developmentally disabled individuals. She decided to run for governor about three years ago after being asked by the group’s executive director the year before if she would get back into politics.

Dion said  Gov. John Baldacci “isolated himself” from the Maine people, although she believes he had good intentions.

“I don’t think he had a lot of the sound advice coming from other people,” Dion said. “Some things were good and some things didn’t work out as well.”

She said she does not have a campaign team, but has people who work for a living and do campaigning in the evenings and on weekends. Her campaign, she said, has mostly taken place south of Bangor, because of time, although she said she has made contact with people in Aroostook and Washington counties.

“I’m a blue-collar person in a white-collar job,” Dion said. “I personally can’t afford to not work. I have to work 40 hours a week.”

Dion said she is “a Democrat without a party.” She sees the lack of experience in party politics as a positive influence on her campaign.

“I chose to be a Democrat only in 1996,” Dion said. “Because I’m not politically connected with all of the individuals or big business or any specialty groups, it has allowed me to say, ‘I don’t care how hard it is to address some hot issues. We have to address them.’”