Despite being outshot 42-24 in regulation, UMaine answered a 2-1 Providence lead in the second period which sent the game to overtime, and the contest was eventually settled in shootout, won by UMaine, 2-1.

“Whenever you put up 43 shots, you expect to score more than two goals,” said Providence coach Bob Deraney. “We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”

UMaine’s fourth shooter in the shootout, sophomore right wing Myriam Croussette, beat Providence goalie Genevieve Lacasse with a glove-side backhander, and Black Bear freshman goalie Brittany Ott stopped Providence junior center Alyse Ruff’s responding attempt. UMaine senior defenseman Lexie Hoffmeyer led off the shootout with a goal, and Providence freshman Jessica Cohen converted as the Friars’ third shooter.

“That’s the move that I use pretty much when my confidence is low,” Croussette said. “That’s the move that I pretty much score on all the time so I just use it.”

It was Providence’s second straight game decided by a shootout. They came out on top in last Sunday’s shootout on the road against the University of Connecticut.

The Black Bears moved to 2-7-2 (0-3-2-1 Hockey East), but have not won since their season opening sweep against Sacred Heart University. Providence stands at 3-4-4 (2-1-2-1 HE) and is winless in their last five games.

“We just came out knowing that we had to do a lot more work to be successful,” UMaine senior captain Amy Stech said. “We were just confident and kept our feet moving and it paid off.”

Ott made 41 saves, while Lacasse stopped 26. The majority of Providence’s 43 total shots came from outside the dots though, and Ott was able to control the rebounds without much difficulty. Ott made her sixth appearance of the season and is 1-3-1. Lacasse has started all 11 of Providence’s games.

“They were shooting a lot from the point, and I didn’t have much traffic in front of me on all of them, so I could see them pretty clear,” Ott said.

The Friars’ lone loss all-time to UMaine came on Nov. 23, 2003, for an unbeaten streak which spans 35 games. They also had not allowed a first period goal in their last six games entering the weekend, so they did not expect to outshoot the Black Bears 9-5 in the opening period but have to come up with an answering goal before the first intermission.

Stech scored her second goal of the season with 3:19 remaining in the first period. She caught Lacasse off guard with a wrister from the right point that jumped up off the ice and sailed over the goalie’s left shoulder. The shot was set up by a battle along the boards in the Providence zone won by UMaine freshman right wing Brittany Dougherty.

“There were about four Providence girls in my way, and I was surprised that it even went in,” Stech said.

The Friars answered Stech’s goal with 13.8 seconds left in the first period, moments after their first power play expired. Sophomore center Ashley Cottrell came from behind the goal and attempted to sneak the puck between Ott’s pads at the near post, but the shot rebounded out onto Ruff’s stick to flick it in.

Providence scored a shorthanded goal to take the 2-1 advantage 5:14 into the second period, but went 0-for-7 on the power play. The Friars took just three penalties, resulting in two UMaine power plays.

“Penalty killing has been good for us, but we just have to find a way to score on the power play,” Deraney said. “We’ve got to take advantage of them. We’re not right now.”

Providence freshman right wing Nicole Anderson scored the shorthanded goal in the slot after the face-off caused by teammate Arianna Rigano being sent to the penalty box.

“I called for it out front, and I just smacked it in between the five-hole,” Anderson said.

UMaine senior center Jenna Ouellette teamed up with Croussette for the even-strength equalizer with 3:50 left in the second period. Croussette returned Ouellette’s pass to the slot where Ouellette fired a wrist shot just below the crossbar.

UMaine and Providence both return to action on Sunday, hosting afternoon games against UConn and Northeastern University, respectively.

The university vaccinated approximately 350 students Thursday and Richard Young, director of the Cutler Health Center, said UMaine was well on its way to duplicating that number Friday.

“We’re on target to do the same today,” said Wayne Maines, director of safety and environmental management.

Thirteen childcare workers at the six children centers on campus were the first to be vaccinated on Nov. 5. Young children under the age of six months, such as the ones at the Children’s Center at the University Park, cannot be given the vaccine, and so the people who care for them at the center were vaccinated to protect them. In addition, a female worker at the center was vaccinated because she was pregnant.

Students who go to Friday’s clinic must first fill out a consent form and answer a few questions before they can receive the vaccine. They will then be asked if they have any more questions and then receive the vaccine from university employees or community volunteers — which included paramedics from the Orono and Old Town fire departments on Friday. Students are then required to wait for 15 minutes under supervision to make sure they don’t suffer any adverse effects from the vaccine.

The university had originally planned to hold the clinics Nov. 9 and 10, but after being told by the Maine Center for Disease Control the university would only receive 1,000 doses — not the 6,000 it requested — UMaine rescheduled. Currently the university is administering the vaccine to students in high-risk groups, such as 18 to 24 year-olds with underlying medical conditions.

Young said university health officials will meet next week to decide when to schedule further clinics and vaccinations for UMaine employees.

Young said students have been cooperative and there have been no problems so far.

Election Day ended with the majority of voters approving Question 1 on Maine’s ballot Tuesday Nov. 3 with 52.81 percent of Mainers choosing “yes.”

“We won’t quit because we had an army of volunteers and families,” said Jesse Connolly, campaign manager of Protect Maine Equality. “We won’t quit because of the thousands of Mainers who gave us a volunteer shift or talked to their neighbor or told their brother to get off the couch and go pull the lever for No on 1.”

A few couples cried and comforted each other as the event ended.

Tuesday ended with the Yes on 1 campaign in the lead with more votes than their opponents. Stand for Marriage Maine declared victory around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. The No on 1 campaign held its Election Day party at the Holiday Inn in Portland, where hundreds of people crowded a room to watch live updates of the election results.

Libby Mitchell, president of the state Senate, said early during the party, “We will win today, and even if we don’t, we will win tomorrow.”

Connolly said the Election Day results are not the end for the Equality Maine campaign.

“We have something to say to our opponents who would demean and attack our schools or our families: It must stop. It has to stop,” Connolly said. “We will be here. We will be fighting. We will be working. We will regroup.”

Most of the day, the crowd in Portland was upbeat and cheered whenever live updates containing more “no” votes for Question 1 appeared on the two projection screens in the room. The results from Brewer, which voted “yes” on Question 1, received a collective sigh from the crowd.

Mary Bonauto, from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, said early in the event: “When so many can put themselves into the shoes of their gay and lesbian neighbors, as is happening here in Maine, then the future is bright.”

The No on 1 campaign event was broadcast live with national coverage, including the Rachel Maddow show.

Shenna Bellows, executive director of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, said early in the event, “We have made a difference for Maine.”

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said, “The state of Maine is going to do the right thing.”

Legislative Rep. Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, said the debate concerning same-sex marriage in the Legislature during the spring was one of the most important and serious debates she has attended in the state Legislature.

“This is about Maine values. This is the most extraordinary campaign I’ve ever been a part of,” Mitchell said. “It’s right to respect your neighbors and treat them with dignity.”

“What happened in this campaign shows what committed people can do,” Mitchell said early in the event.

Mayor of Portland Jill Duson spoke to the crowd and asked Portland voters to raise their hands — and most of the hands in the room shot into the air. Then she asked everyone to turn to the person next to them and give them a hug.

“We love those public displays of affection,” Duson said.

Duson announced Portland’s voting numbers: 7,248 for yes, and 19,975 for no. The no number was greeted with a thunderous round of applause.

Darlene Huntress from Protect Maine Equality said, “I know that over the last seven years … the people got that absolutely nothing, nothing takes the place of full equality. Nothing.”

Terry Guerette and Tamiko Davies, from Portland, who became partners 10 years ago, said they were uncertain their families would accept their relationship, but they held a ceremony anyway. Davies said Guerette’s mother, though initially disapproving, eventually wrote a letter to the Lewiston Sun Journal endorsing same-sex marriage. Davies said their son asked them what would happen to their family if Question 1 passed.

“We assured him, no matter what, they can’t take away the love of our family,” Davies said.

Jim Bishop and Stephen Ryan, from Bar Mills, said they have been life partners for 34 years. Ryan said marriage was as fundamental to him as breathing or eating.

“We’ve got each other, we’ve got love and we will prevail,” Ryan said.

Mark Sullivan, spokesman for Protect Maine Equality, said the No on 1 campaign “will not stop until they have achieved their goal.”

Vice President of Wilde Stein Charles Chapin opened the ceremony to let the supporters know while the election outcome was not what the No on 1 campaign hoped for, the university community voted for same-sex marriage by more than 800 votes on Election Day.

“Not only did we take this campus, but we took it by over 800 votes. That’s because of people like you, everybody that helped the No on 1 campaign, everybody that voted got a friend to go out and vote,” Chapin said. “It’s because of people like you why, in the end, equal rights will win, and that this fight is far from over.”

President of Wilde Stein Zachary Knox said he wants supporters who are gay or straight to know that despite their own beliefs, they are not “second-class citizens.”

“Never have I felt such contempt for people who disagreed with me. Never have I felt more like a second-class citizen, because yesterday 291,000 people in the state of Maine said I wasn’t worthy of the institute of commitment for love, because I might love a man and not a woman,” Knox said. “I can’t tell you how many times I heard people say, ‘I don’t hate gay people, dude, but I don’t agree with gay marriage.’ But the people who voted against us yesterday have just put on the biggest show of bigotry and hate since Proposition 8 in California.”

Vice President of Student Affairs Robert Dana stood to tell supporters the university does not support the election outcome and that UMaine is a place for students to feel accepted.

“It’s never the right time to do wrong, and wrong has been done,” Dana said. “Every one of us, the people who think about fairness and kindness and compassion and justice, every one of those people thought, ‘Yes, that this was going to happen,’ and we believed it. You have expressed yourselves so publicly and personally. You expressed yourself so eloquently, and you have been slapped in the face. You have been done [wrong] to in a very public way, a very personal wrong, and here at the University of Maine, you are loved. You are cared for, and you are part of this community. I support you, and the University of Maine will support you. There is no room here for hate. There is no room here for intolerance, and there is no room here for injustice. I am furious about this and I know that the pain you are feeling is pain that I share and people across the university share.”

Dana said the university plans to do everything to celebrate equality and push for equal rights.

“We will go forward with this because we will not tolerate it. I am committed to that, and I can assure you that the university is committed,” Dana said.

Coordinator of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender services on campus Danielle Steele said the election results have inspired Wilde Stein to persevere.

“I’m inspired, for one, by my students. This morning, the first thing I see on my phone is, ‘We’re having a meeting. We’re going to find out what we’re going to do now.’ Because our president of Wilde Stein said, ‘Where do we go, what do we do? What can we do now?’” Steele said.

Chapin said Wilde Stein plans to continue working closely with deans and within their group to push on for equality.

“We’re going to keep working closely with the organizers with the No on 1 campaign to see what we can do next, what our options are, what exactly we can do to get the University of Maine to help. We work closely with Dean Dana and Dean Loredo. We have a good group here that’s pretty much willing to do whatever we can to get civil rights,” Chapin said.

No matter the outcome, Dana announced the pride flag is not coming down anytime soon.

“We will fly it high until it’s shredded,” Dana said.

“We had a tremendous turnout [on campus],” said Sue Hart, Orono’s registrar.

Ward 1, precinct 2, which includes UMaine, saw 1,346 on-campus residential students vote. Of the students who cast ballots, 460 of them voted via absentee. Hart said Orono’s turnout exceeded expectations; 54 percent of voters in town turned out to vote.

The student turnout was slightly lower — 46 percent — but Hart said that is likely because many of the students registered to vote have moved and aren’t actually ward 1 voters.

Number of votes by question in Orono:

Question 1: 250 yes, 1,046 no. Question 2: 543 yes, 682 no. Question 3: 567 yes, 611 no. Question 4: 318 yes, 879 no. Question 5: 1,001 yes, 311 no. Question 6: 875 yes, 295 no. Question 7: 638 yes, 502 no.

General student reaction made it clear Question 1 was a key factor in bringing voters to the polls.

“I voted because I think people should have equal rights and I know someone who is a lesbian,” said Brian Cogley, a first-year student. “I would feel bad if she wanted to get married here and couldn’t.”

Cody Beckett, a first-year journalism student, was drawn to the polls for this reason as well.

“Question 1 was pretty big, and I’m disappointed [with its passage.] … I’m from Massachusetts and we have gay marriage,” Beckett said.

“I’m very disappointed — extremely. Specifically with Question 1,” said Kasey Spear, a fourth-year English student. “I was mostly voting for Question 1.”

Spear hopes the fight for marriage equality is not over. She hopes for an “intelligent dialogue” in the future.

Dyana-Marie Dyke, a third-year psychology student, has the same hope.

“So long as there are people out there, the fight’s not over,” she said.

Dyke attended the raising of the pride flag Wednesday afternoon as well. It was an emotional event for her. She explained she was moved by the event because the gay community was still standing strong in the wake of the defeat of gay marriage.

Renee Shina, a third-year studio art student, was disappointed with the result of the voting as well, but as a Catholic she had some empathy for the Yes on 1 supporters.

“I’m rather disappointed. At the same time, I understand why it went,” Shina said. “It scares people.”

She said gay marriage can bring up hard questions within people’s religions.

“‘Do I go with my morals, or do I go with my religion?’ In the end you go with your morals. Everyone’s morals are different,” Shina said.

“What I don’t understand is how it was pushed that marriage would be taught in schools,” said Nicholas Murphy, a third-year English student.

He said he had never been taught about marriage in school and that it was never a part of any curriculum he had been in.

Although most students were concerned with Question 1, other ballot questions drew them to the polls as well.

Question 5, to pass the legalization of medical marijuana dispensaries, was another hot topic for students on campus.

“I’m disappointed about one, but happy about five,” said Danny White, a third-year economics student.

“One was disappointing. … 5, I was satisfied,” added Andrew Doak, a third-year secondary-education student.

Both White and Doak were drawn to the polls to decide on Question 4 — TABOR. Both were relieved it did not pass.

A few students voted on the principle of voting alone.

“Basically, it’s my civic duty,” Beckett said.

“It’s my civic duty, as well as it’s what I’m going to be teaching,” Doak said of his future career as a high school American government teacher.

Early in October, Baldacci sent every state-funded entity a target budget cut for the next two years. It is now each department’s responsibility to figure out how to reach their target.

“He basically sent targets out to agencies, departments and entities that received state funding, all across state government, and asked them to submit a proposal on how they would meet those targets. For the university system, that means a division of that target comes from among its campuses, so for UMaine that means that nearly half of that reduction would come from our campus,” said Emily Cain, D-Orono.

Cain said Mainers should also worry about curtailments. A curtailment means that if the governor realized the state budget is out of balance, he can request an immediate cut in state funding to departments. Cain said state departments will know in the next few weeks whether a curtailment is going to be necessary.

According to Janet Waldron, vice president for administration and finance, even without a state curtailment the university system would be required to cut $7.5 million in the next two fiscal years because of the $200 million target. Out of that $7.5 million, the system would likely cut $3.75 million from UMaine each fiscal year.

“All the targets are still being reviewed prior to inclusion and the governor’s bill and, or executive order,” Waldron said.

Based on previous cuts to the university system, this $3.75 million decrease in the university’s budget each year is estimated to potentially cause the university to face the risk of losing 300 to 500 students and 25 to 35 faculty, staff and administrators, Waldron said.

“When an academic program is eliminated, then obviously the students wouldn’t be coming to the university system to take the course. So they would go somewhere else,” Waldron said.

A potential of losing those 300 to 500 students would mean less tuition revenue for the university.

“The state appropriation for the university of the curtailment before the $3.5 million is taken out is about 39 percent of our base budget, and the tuition and fee revenue is about 50 percent of the budget,” Waldron said. “It has put the pressure on state funds and has put the pressure on tuition and fees, and has done so consistently.”

UMaine administrators are not sure yet where the cuts will come from.

“I don’t know where exactly the reductions will actually come from at UMaine. That will be made by President [Robert] Kennedy, Vice President Waldron, and the deans and other administrators at UMaine, hopefully with some input from faculty, students and staff,” Cain said. “There’s really no extra money floating around at the campus level, or at the state level.”

Cain said she is worried about the detriments of the budget decrease.

“I’m deeply concerned about the ways in which the cuts will affect the campus, and I am going to be working to advocate to minimize those cuts,” Cain said.

As of Tuesday, 39 people have reported flu-like symptoms at UMaine, according to Wayne Maines, director of Safety and Environmental Management. UMaine rescheduled its vaccination clinics for students to Nov. 5 and 6 from Nov. 9 and 10. The clinics are for all age groups, but only students in groups at high risk for swine flu are eligible to sign up for them online. UMaine does not require proof of being part of a high-risk group for participation in the clinic. Kenda Scheele, associate dean of students, said UMaine has a “good number of people signed up.”

“The vaccination is the best way to prevent an outbreak in our community,” Scheele said.

Richard Young, director of the Cutler Health Center, said the university will likely change the vaccination clinics to include non high-risk groups when and if the Maine Center for Disease Control recommends it. Dr. Glenn Rampe, head physician at Cutler, said he hopes to have all campus community members in high-risk groups vaccinated by the end of the week. He said the most time a student would have to wait at Cutler would be an hour but added it was more likely a physician would see him or her immediately. UMaine currently has 1,100 doses of H1N1 vaccine.

Rampe said students who come to Cutler with swine flu symptoms and are members of a high-risk group will be treated immediately, even before testing to confirm they have H1N1, which takes two or three days to verify. Kristen Kuhns, a fourth-year anthropology student with a minor in pre-med, who is writing her thesis on swine flu, asked Rampe to explain the treatment. Rampe said the treatment was anti-flu medication, which he acknowledged can create anti-viral-resistant flu strains.

Carol Nichols, a senior designer from University Relations, asked whether swine flu will arrive in waves during the year — similar to the way the 1918 flu did — and whether the vaccine will be as effective for such a second wave.

“We’re not sure,” said Rampe, who added the vaccine will likely provide a partial immunity. “That’s my guess. I’m not sure.”

Nichols asked whether hand sanitizer, which the university has distributed throughout campus, is as effective at preventing the flu as hand washing. Rampe said it is useful but not as effective as hand washing. He said sanitizer doesn’t work well if your hands are soiled. Ethel Hill, director of the Explorations program, asked whether hand sanitizer can create resistant strains of swine flu.

“It’s a chemical reaction,” said Rampe, who denied sanitizer’s potential to create resistant strains. He said he uses it 25 times every day.

Nichols asked whether Maine and the university could see the same sort of epidemic the country saw in 1918. Rampe said no because of several differences between today and 1918.

“This time we have vaccine,” Rampe said. “By the time the second wave rolls around you’ll have … an immunity.”

Rampe acknowledged no one knows if 1918 will be duplicated, but he added lots of people were malnourished and unhygienic back then.

Scheele urged faculty members not to wait to report symptoms they feel themselves or see in students.

“We’d be happy to make a presentation to any class [about H1N1],” Scheele said.

Joe Carr, director of University Relations, said it’s important students pay attention to the information UMaine sends to the community.

“We’re not going to send something unless there’s a reason,” Carr said.

Kuhns said most of the students she has talked to for her thesis were unaware of the online self-reporting system.

Scheele said the university has trained residence assistants to deal with students who express symptoms to them.

Hill said she has heard of students who have reported symptoms who are not being quarantined or tested and who occasionally stay in other residents’ rooms for various reasons.

“That may be the case in some situations. I don’t know,” Young said.

Young said the university advocates flu-contracted students be quarantined and sign up online to receive special meal deliveries to their room — which can be picked up by a friend or delivered by campus staff. Young said students who fear they may have swine flu can talk to Residence Life staff in addition to RAs and Cutler officials.

Senate voted to allocate $8,000 to Alternative Spring Break. Sen. James Lyons amended the original allocation of $7,000 with an increase of $1,000.

An ASB representative sent an e-mail to vice presidential candidates Nyssa Gatcombe and Timothy Smith prior to the meeting, urging both senators to vote in favor of the allocation. The e-mail raised concern among senators because it stated 96 members of ASB would likely vote for Gatcombe and Smith if the resolution passed.

“Quite frankly, I’m offended by the e-mail sent to the candidates,” Sen. Ben Goodman said. “It … undermines the integrity of the process.”

Sen. Nicholas DeHaas disagreed. 

“[It] was lobbying. It’s perfectly fine,” DeHaas said.

Student Government President Owen McCarthy asked senators to forget the e-mail and vote on the resolution’s merits.

Despite a proposal to postpone the allocation vote for two weeks in order to meet with ASB members and discuss the e-mail, senators voted to allocate the $8,000.

An amendment to change the standing rules of Student Senate passed after being discussed at last week’s meeting, and a resolution to create an official mission statement for University of Maine Student Government, Inc. was sent to the Policy and Procedures Committee.

“This resolution … does not conflict with the preamble … as did the previous similar resolution,” stated McCarthy’s report, referring to a resolution presented to senators at last week’s meeting. McCarthy changed the resolution because it was believed there wasn’t a lot of support for the version that affected the preamble. McCarthy changed the resolution into one affecting the mission statement to “more easily describe the organization to an outsider in the community,” according to McCarthy’s statement.

Student representative to the board of trustees Rebecca Dyer was pleased with the turnout for the Oct. 28 forum with University of Maine System Chancellor Richard Pattenaude and members of the board.

“It’s wonderful you’re getting involved,” Dyer said.

Candidates for Student Government presented their platform speeches during the senate meeting — covering topics from dining prices to keeping student fees low.

“We are all students. We are all Black Bears,” Jackman said. “I believe we need to focus on a new direction [for Student Government].”

Jackman said he would work to freeze the student activity fee and streamline the student organization application and upkeep processes with an online format.

“Student government is the face of students for the administration,” he said.

Presidential candidate Ross Wolland celebrated an already “healthy, pro-active” student government, but allowed room for improvement. Wolland stressed the importance of better dining services, the need for a peer advising system and a revitalized Bear’s Den.

“The main goal of president is to make the lives of students better on a day-to-day basis. I promise I will continue to work for you,” Wolland said.

Presidential candidate Brian Harris finished with words about engaging the student body.

“I believe that our most pressing issue is that our students, our constituents, don’t know we exist,” Harris said.

Harris said approximately 12 percent of students voted last year in the executive election and, therefore, Student Government executives represent only that 12 percent. Harris pushed for increased involvement between students and Student Government, listening to “areas of campus that might not always be heard” and posed the question: “What could be done with 40 percent, 50 percent or 60 percent [of student] involvement [in executive elections]?”

Gatcombe stood for encouraging student advocacy, increasing efficiency in Student Government and the adoption of more ecofriendly measures.

“[It’s] important that we cater to [students],” said Gatcombe, who encouraged student advocacy and wants to see more student involvement in student government.

Smith said representing the entirety of student interests is what Student Government should seek to do.

“Ensuring a complete advocacy of student interests is to be strived for,” Smith said.

A strong understanding of legal procedure and adherence to UMaine Student Government constitution is necessary as vice president, according to Smith. Smith said he plans to increase understanding of Student Government issues and events by writing a series of opinion editorials to The Maine Campus, if elected.

During the meeting, $520.87 was allocated to Amnesty International, $600 to the Catholic Student Association, $400 to the Student Women’s Association and $200 to the French Club.

The Cult Cinema Appreciation Society and Ski and Snowboard Club were granted preliminary recognition while the Jugglers Society and Women’s Ice Hockey Club gained final recognition.

Maine will model the Web site after a recently launched, federally mandated Web site that tracks Maine’s spending of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Information is still being added to it, which is available at maine.gov/recovery. According to Maine Finance Commissioner Ryan Low, the finished state spending Web site will be fully searchable and have tools for exporting data into tables and graphs for easier viewing.

Low hopes to see the Web site up and running sometime in 2010, but it is still in the planning stages. He said he wants to implement the site in a cost-efficient way, which means working out any problems with the stimulus spending Web site first.

“We would encourage folks to take a look at the recovery act Web site, to go in and provide feedback and comments,” Low said.

Maine is one of few states considering a Web site like this, although Low expects to see other states follow suit during the next few years.

“If we can get this up and running in the next few months, we’ll certainly be ahead of most folks in the country,” Low said.

Access to government spending information may not always be positive, according to University of Maine political science professor Mark Brewer, who sees some problems with the spending Web site.

“Just looking at raw data about spending or appropriations doesn’t always give the full picture of what government is doing,” Brewer said.

He said without context, those who access the site could jump to conclusions, and policy makers and interest groups could use the data to their advantage.

“You can pretty much manipulate a set of numbers to support whatever argument you want to make that day,” Brewer said.

Brewer said that in a representative democracy, it is important for people to know what their government is doing, but it is just as important for them to understand it.

“Greater transparency is a good thing, but it’s not solely good,” Brewer said.

Rep. Emily Cain, D-Orono, agreed there is a nationwide trend toward government transparency, and she feels it is due to the recovery act.

“It has inspired a shift in the way we present state government across the board,” Cain said.

Cain emphasized the Web site must be easy to use in order to benefit Maine citizens.

“My hope is that there will be ways for people to access what they need and use the most in an easier fashion,” Cain said.

According to Cain, college students will benefit from the Web site.

“I am always directing college students to information that they need. Hopefully, if the Web site is user friendly they will use it for research or to answer questions,” Cain said.

Cain hopes Mainers will use the Web site to inform themselves of the many ways state government impacts them.