Tom Groening

Midcoast Bureau Chief

 
Cesar Hidalgo works at laptop on Thursday after delivering the keynote address at Trade Day 2012, an event hosted by the Maine International Trade Center.

Diversity predicts export success, MIT professor tells Maine audience

By Tom Groening on May 24, 2012, at 6:02 p.m.
ROCKPORT, Maine — For those willing and able to plumb the depths of some pretty dense data and economic theory, a strategy for increasing Maine’s exports could be found in Cesar Hidalgo’s presentation Thursday. Hidalgo, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spoke at the Maine International Trade Center’s ...

Student injured in fight at Thorndike middle school

By Tom Groening on May 23, 2012, at 5:43 p.m.
THORNDIKE, Maine — A student at Mount View Middle School had to be taken to a hospital for treatment after an apparent fight with another student Tuesday morning. RSU 3 Superintendent Heather Perry said Wednesday she could reveal few details, citing confidentiality protection for students at the school, which serves ...
Bonnie Maguire, a reading specialist at the Gladys Weymouth School in Morrill, helps kindergartners think of what they may include in their notes to Capt. Tyler Streit, who is serving in the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan. Streit attended kindergarten in the same school and classroom nearly 20 years ago.

Morrill schoolchildren cheer former student in Afghanistan

By Tom Groening on May 22, 2012, at 8:22 p.m.
MORRILL, Maine — These days, Tyler Streit is a captain in the U.S. Air Force, flying secret missions in Afghanistan. But more than 20 years ago, he was a kindergartner at the Gladys Weymouth School in this small rural town west of Belfast. This month, children at the K-2 school ...
Dan Burden (leaning on sign), a consultant with expertise in making communities pedestrian friendly, pauses on a walking tour of Camden on Tuesday in an alley that leads from the town's harbor to its Main Street.

Expert advises Camden, Thomaston how to make downtowns pedestrian-friendly

By Tom Groening on May 22, 2012, at 8:08 p.m.
CAMDEN, Maine — There is a simple truth that Maine small towns would do well to learn and embrace, Dan Burden says. The lower the speed of vehicles passing through, the higher the retail sales at downtown shops and restaurants. Burden, a national expert in making downtowns pedestrian-friendly, was the ...
Aaron Sarnacki has opened Archangel Computers on Main Street in Belfast, and expects to open another store and repair shop on Elm Street in Camden next month.

Computer service opens in Belfast, Camden

By Tom Groening on May 22, 2012, at 7:55 p.m.
BELFAST, Maine — Some of Aaron Sarnacki’s computer service clients have been with him 10 years. Not only is such customer loyalty unusual in the rapidly changing industry, but even more remarkable is that Sarnacki is just 23. A 2006 graduate of Searsport District High School, where he was valedictorian, ...

Groups looking to start charter schools in Maine share plans with state

By Tom Groening on May 18, 2012, at 6:41 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Nine organizations hoping to win state charters for new schools have filed letters of intent with the Maine Charter School Commission, meeting the May 16 deadline. Full applications are due with the commission by June 29. Maine law recently was amended to allow charter schools, which are ...

Searsport board readies for DCP propane tank review

By Tom Groening on May 17, 2012, at 5:28 p.m.
SEARSPORT, Maine — The application by DCP Midstream to build a $40 million liquid propane tank at the Mack Point port facility may be the largest project the town’s planning board has ever considered. The first meeting in the review process is set for 7 p.m. on Monday, May 21, ...
Richard Russo (left) and Andre Dubus III will speak about their work at the Rockport Opera House on Saturday, May 19, in a benefit for The Community Schools.

Richard Russo, Andre Dubus III to appear together at Rockport Opera House

By Tom Groening on May 16, 2012, at 6:08 p.m.
ROCKPORT, Maine — When acclaimed writers Richard Russo and Andre Dubus III take the stage at the Rockport Opera House on Saturday, May 19, to discuss their work together and with an audience, it’s a safe bet the evening will be lively, entertaining and funny. The event is a fundraiser ...
VIDEO

In the Internet age, finding a job means using new approaches

By Tom Groening on May 16, 2012, at 4:48 p.m.
ROCKLAND, Maine — For someone who last looked for work in the early 1990s, it’s more than a little disconcerting. Walk into a Home Depot or Walmart asking about employment, says David Grima, team leader for the Bureau of Employment Services at the Rockland Career Center, and you won’t be ...
One of the new affordable housing units, a modular home, is delivered by barge to Islesboro.

Group tries to keep island community viable through affordable housing project

By Tom Groening on May 15, 2012, at 7:15 p.m.
ISLESBORO, Maine — Rick Rogers is a recent transplant to this Penobscot Bay island community, but he understands its challenges. “We’re trying to keep these places from turning into retirement communities,” he said Tuesday. When young people leave, when a school closes, when middle- and working-class families no longer can ...

Fire destroys house in Searsmont

By Tom Groening on May 15, 2012, at 5:26 p.m.
SEARSMONT, Maine — A fire of unknown origin destroyed a house on Route 3 on Tuesday. No one was hurt. According to Searsmont firefighter Joel Cox, the blaze was reported about 11:30 a.m., possibly by the resident, Joyce Babcock, or a passer-by. Babcock was outside the house and may have ...
Laurie Allen gestures to the stream that runs behind her house on Seaview Terrace in Belfast on Thursday, May 10, 2012. She believes the city's decisions about stormwater management have contributed to making the stream larger and more damaging to her property.

Belfast woman fights city over drainage

By Tom Groening on May 14, 2012, at 6:41 p.m.
BELFAST, Maine — A woman whose backyard is bounded by a stream she claims the city has created and increased in size remains locked in conflict with city hall. Laurie Allen of Seaview Terrace, a street that intersects Northport Avenue near Waldo County General Hospital, can be seen on some ...
Nautilus Seafood & Grill owners Rosamond Peters (from left), Ronald Mitchell Jr. and Jenifer Oakes pose by the new Belfast eatery's bar.

New Belfast restaurant has roots in one of city’s oldest

By Tom Groening on May 13, 2012, at 4:30 p.m.
BELFAST, Maine — The three owners of Nautilus Seafood & Grill on the city’s East Side know the restaurant business and, they believe, they know what both locals and tourists want. Rosamond Peters, 34, her husband Ronald Mitchell Jr., 45, and Jenifer Oakes, 37, worked at Darby’s Restaurant & Pub ...
Tyler Hadyniak of Freedom was chosen by Gov. Paul LePage to serve as the student representative to the University of Maine System board of trustees.

Freedom college student named University of Maine trustee

By Tom Groening on May 11, 2012, at 5:40 p.m.
FREEDOM, Maine — When Tyler Hadyniak walks into a Bangor conference room on July 9 for his first meeting as a member of the University of Maine board of trustees, he may be a little jet-lagged. Hadyniak will have been back in the U.S. barely a day from a nearly ...
From the community

Rotary Club to hold yard sale

By Tom Groening on May 11, 2012, at 10:47 a.m.
CAMDEN, Maine — The Camden Rotary Club will hold its third annual Giant Yard Sale 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, May 26, and and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, May 27, at the former Rockport Elementary School East on West Street. Sale items will include sporting goods, furniture, housewares, gardening supplies, toys, ...
Charlene Farris, Searsport's official town historian, looks at a photo of sea captain Edwin Earle Greenlaw.

Searsport sea captain hero not forgotten, thanks to town historian

By Tom Groening on May 09, 2012, at 6:06 p.m.
SEARSPORT, Maine — History is best told through people, Charlene Farris believes. And the story of one of Searsport’s legendary sea captains, one she knew when she was a child, relates a part of history in dramatic, heroic terms. Named official historian at town meeting in 2010, Farris has a ...
Kim Graffam (left) and Flint Decker stand near the outside tables of the new Graffam Bros. Harborside Restaurant in Camden on Monday, May 7, 2012.

Camden business owners plan potluck event to get to know each other

By Tom Groening on May 07, 2012, at 6:39 p.m.
CAMDEN, Maine — Sometimes it takes a newcomer’s eyes to see what was there all along. Flint Decker, who with his wife, Gail, has renovated a high-profile downtown storefront to house his The New England Real Estate Co. and her The Antique Garden Shoppe, has organized a potluck get-together for ...

Rights to former Searsport-to-Limestone jet fuel pipeline go on auction block

By Tom Groening on May 03, 2012, at 6:49 p.m.
LIMESTONE, Maine — Control of the 200-mile-long pipeline that once linked jet fuel tanks in Searsport with the former Loring Air Force Base will be auctioned off next month. The company that had been leasing the right of way, pipeline and associated equipment, Loring BioEnergy, has defaulted on its lease ...

Belfast pub is growing up, owners say

By Tom Groening on May 03, 2012, at 6:22 p.m.
BELFAST, Maine — Known among the city’s several watering holes as a place where younger revelers congregate to drink, listen to music, dance and have a good time, the former Lookout Pub is being transformed into a more family-friendly, food-based bar. Like its owners, Tina DelSanto, 32, and Katherine Loblein, ...
Rep. Alex Cornell du Houx

Belfast lawmaker gets protection order against Brunswick legislator after breakup

By Tom Groening on May 03, 2012, at 5:10 p.m.
BELFAST, Maine — A Maine legislator whose romantic relationship with another lawmaker ended earlier this year claims her former boyfriend has stalked, harassed and threatened her. Rep. Erin Herbig, a first-term Belfast Democrat, has secured a protection from abuse order against Rep. Alexander Cornell du Houx, a two-term Democratic member ...
 
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