Maine Public RadioThe state transportation department has released a study of options for a new Portland train station. Currently, Amtrak’s Downeaster trains between Boston and Brunswick must get off the main line track to reach the existing Portland station, which adds 15 minutes to every run. State transportation official Nate Moulton outlined the state’s findings on Monday to its passenger rail authority, known by the acronym NNEPRA. “The big news here is that we’ve come to a point where the department is willing to pass the baton on to NNEPRA to work on whether we can get a facility...…Maine Public RadioThe state transportation department has released a study of options for a new Portland train station. Currently, Amtrak’s Downeaster trains between Boston and Brunswick must get off the main line track to reach the existing Portland station, which adds 15 minutes to every run. State transportation official Nate Moulton outlined the state’s findings on Monday to its passenger rail authority, known by the acronym NNEPRA. “The big news here is that we’ve come to a point where the department is willing to pass the baton on to NNEPRA to work on whether we can get a facility...WW…

© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsAmara Ifeji of Bangor was recently named a National Geographic Young Explorer. It’s a highly competitive, international environmental award for two-dozen young people who are working to find solutions to the most pressing problems in their communities.Ifeji’s research has focused on water pollution. She’s also a mentor for young environmentalists.Growing up near Washington, D.C., Ifeji, who is 19, told Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz it wasn’t until she moved to Maine and visited Acadia National Park that she felt a...…© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsAmara Ifeji of Bangor was recently named a National Geographic Young Explorer. It’s a highly competitive, international environmental award for two-dozen young people who are working to find solutions to the most pressing problems in their communities.Ifeji’s research has focused on water pollution. She’s also a mentor for young environmentalists.Growing up near Washington, D.C., Ifeji, who is 19, told Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz it wasn’t until she moved to Maine and visited Acadia National Park that she felt a...WW…

© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsbluShift Aerospace, the Brunswick company with dreams of launching satellites into Earth orbit from Maine, launched its first rocket on Sunday.Just 20 feet tall, the rocket ascended less than a mile into the sky over the former Loring Air Force base in Limestone. But it proved the feasibility of the company’s first-of-its-kind biofuel and engine design.It was the first commercial rocket launch from Maine and the first time anywhere that a commercial rocket had been launched using a fuel made from renewable, agricultural...…© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsbluShift Aerospace, the Brunswick company with dreams of launching satellites into Earth orbit from Maine, launched its first rocket on Sunday.Just 20 feet tall, the rocket ascended less than a mile into the sky over the former Loring Air Force base in Limestone. But it proved the feasibility of the company’s first-of-its-kind biofuel and engine design.It was the first commercial rocket launch from Maine and the first time anywhere that a commercial rocket had been launched using a fuel made from renewable, agricultural...WW…

© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsAstronaut and Caribou-native Jessica Meir will join a team of 17 other astronauts as part of a new NASA initiative to put people on the moon.“It is really incredibly exciting to be part of this exceptional team, you’ve seen all of these faces, and I know that everybody in the astronaut office and all our international partners are ready to support this next chapter of human space flight,” she says.Meir says this and previous missions do more than dazzle people back her on Earth.“They had a profound impact on many other...…© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsAstronaut and Caribou-native Jessica Meir will join a team of 17 other astronauts as part of a new NASA initiative to put people on the moon.“It is really incredibly exciting to be part of this exceptional team, you’ve seen all of these faces, and I know that everybody in the astronaut office and all our international partners are ready to support this next chapter of human space flight,” she says.Meir says this and previous missions do more than dazzle people back her on Earth.“They had a profound impact on many other...WW…

© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsPan Am Railways — Maine’s largest railroad — is planning to be acquired by CSX, which operates 21,000 miles of track covering the eastern U.S., Ontario and Quebec.Nate Moulton, director of freight and passenger services for the state Transportation Department, says the sale could be good for Maine.“On the surface it looks very good in that you now have got direct rail, you know, connections, without interchange to many locations up and down the eastern part of the country,” he says.But Moulton says there are questions to be...…© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsPan Am Railways — Maine’s largest railroad — is planning to be acquired by CSX, which operates 21,000 miles of track covering the eastern U.S., Ontario and Quebec.Nate Moulton, director of freight and passenger services for the state Transportation Department, says the sale could be good for Maine.“On the surface it looks very good in that you now have got direct rail, you know, connections, without interchange to many locations up and down the eastern part of the country,” he says.But Moulton says there are questions to be...WW…

© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsMaine’s retail marijuana market will finally open Friday. But some retailers are saying the celebrations might be a little muted.Brandon Pollock is the chief executive of Theory Wellness, which operates a handful of dispensaries in Massachusetts and is set to open one near the Maine Mall in South Portland. He spoke with Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz about some of the issues facing marijuana retailers ahead of Friday’s opening day.Gratz: After the several years of delay going from voter approval to opening day, are you...…© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsMaine’s retail marijuana market will finally open Friday. But some retailers are saying the celebrations might be a little muted.Brandon Pollock is the chief executive of Theory Wellness, which operates a handful of dispensaries in Massachusetts and is set to open one near the Maine Mall in South Portland. He spoke with Morning Edition host Irwin Gratz about some of the issues facing marijuana retailers ahead of Friday’s opening day.Gratz: After the several years of delay going from voter approval to opening day, are you...WW…

Maine Public RadioRelated Program: Related Program: Listen Listening... 5:05 In 1820, Maine's 1st Governor Sent 3 Men On A Special Expedition. Here's What They Found. When Maine became a state in 1820, it inherited a vast land from Massachusetts. Two hundred years ago today, three men assigned by Maine's first governor, William King, were on a special expedition. "A surveyor from Bangor, Joseph Treat, who headed the expedition, his cousin, Captain Jacob Holyoke, and the lieutenant governor of the Penobscot Nation Lt. Gov. Neptune," says historian Herb Adams. Adams says their...…Maine Public RadioRelated Program: Related Program: Listen Listening... 5:05 In 1820, Maine's 1st Governor Sent 3 Men On A Special Expedition. Here's What They Found. When Maine became a state in 1820, it inherited a vast land from Massachusetts. Two hundred years ago today, three men assigned by Maine's first governor, William King, were on a special expedition. "A surveyor from Bangor, Joseph Treat, who headed the expedition, his cousin, Captain Jacob Holyoke, and the lieutenant governor of the Penobscot Nation Lt. Gov. Neptune," says historian Herb Adams. Adams says their...WW…

© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsMore than 80,000 homes and businesses in Maine are without power, and the numbers aren’t expected to drop soon.Central Maine Power spokesperson Catherine Hartnett said the company has been planning for this storm, but was still caught by surprise.“This has been a very unusual event in that the wind has continued. It was also unusual in that despite our best planning and all our forecasts, the impacts from the wind extended much further inland than anybody would have anticipated,” she said.CMP is reporting nearly 72,000...…© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsMore than 80,000 homes and businesses in Maine are without power, and the numbers aren’t expected to drop soon.Central Maine Power spokesperson Catherine Hartnett said the company has been planning for this storm, but was still caught by surprise.“This has been a very unusual event in that the wind has continued. It was also unusual in that despite our best planning and all our forecasts, the impacts from the wind extended much further inland than anybody would have anticipated,” she said.CMP is reporting nearly 72,000...WW…

© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsPan Am Railways, the biggest railroad in Maine and one of the largest regional railroads in the company, is for sale. The railroad was assembled by financier Timothy Mellon in the early 1980s. Mellon bought the Maine Central, Boston and Maine, and Delaware and Hudson and merged them into the Guilford Transportation System.The company’s early years were marked in Maine by a bitter strike by union employees and years-long battles with the state over the conditions under which Maine could operate a passenger train over its...…© 2022 Maine PublicPlay Live Radio0:000:00Available On Air StationsPan Am Railways, the biggest railroad in Maine and one of the largest regional railroads in the company, is for sale. The railroad was assembled by financier Timothy Mellon in the early 1980s. Mellon bought the Maine Central, Boston and Maine, and Delaware and Hudson and merged them into the Guilford Transportation System.The company’s early years were marked in Maine by a bitter strike by union employees and years-long battles with the state over the conditions under which Maine could operate a passenger train over its...WW…