Today, President Obama’s Stimulus Package passed the US Senate. Maine’s two Senators, Snowe and Collins, voted in favor of the package. That was a very bold act on their part. They were two of the three Republicans who voted in favor of the package. It will be interesting to see what Maine receives. The House and Senate now need to combine their ideas to come up with one complete package. On CNN, Senators are calling for the meetings between the House and Senate to be publicized. I think this is a good idea… total transparency.

My resolve to have a street light put up at Route’s 126 & 132 has now left the Revisor’s Office and been referred to the Transportation Committee. I expect the public hearing to be within the next week or two.

Bills have been coming out of the Revisor’s Office at a steady pace now. When they come out of the Revisor’s Office, the Representative/Senator has approximately five days to get sponsors for the bill. When the Rep./Senator gets the sponsors, the bill goes back to the Revisor’s Office and they refer it to committee. Once it is referred to committee a public hearing date and time is set. After the public a work session is set up. The public can attend a work session, but can only comment if asked to speak.

On Thursday, February 12th, there is an important CMP MPRP meeting at 6:30pm at the Multi Purpose Center in Lewiston. Androscoggin County Legislators will be meeting with the public to discuss this transmission upgrade project. I have a previous commitment to be at the Tri-Town (Greene, Leeds, Turner) Selectman’s Meeting that evening so I will not be able to attend. If you live along the power lines in Greene, meeting in Lewiston would be an important meeting for you to attend.

I have been hearing from people who have lost their jobs and their healthcare. Last week, I received some info on programs that may help you. I will be posting this info to my Resources/Links page. If you have lost your job, the first thing you should do is visit the Career Centerby SpareTime Recreation in Lewiston. (The Career Center has a very informative website.) Next, visit DHHS to see if you qualify for any other programs… MaineCare, etc. With the way the economy is going, you could be without a job for a while so it is best not to wait to apply for these programs.

That is all for now. Stay safe and healthy!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.