The group previously occupied 800 square feet in the old Calderwood Bakery building on Pleasant Street in Portland. Group co-director Tanja Hollander says the group has not yet decided whether to change their name after the move out of the bakery, though she says she hopes to add "at least five" new members to the 25-photographer collective before the move, now that there will be more space available.

It will also provide an opportunity for the collective to offer classes for amateur and professional photographers, as well as children, starting in the fall, Hollander says.

"The space is so incredibly beautiful and amazing" with big windows and lots of light, and will be built out to provide exhibition space, eight darkrooms, and a photo studio.

"It's crazy how cheap it is," Hollander says. The cost per square foot has dropped from $12 in the Bakery building to $4.50, making five times more space available for less than double the cost.

And the group got a revolving downtown revitalization loan from the city of Westbrook, with a 5 percent interest rate.

"We really wouldn't have been able to do it without that kind of interest rate," says Hollander. The building has "a good energy," with tenants including painters, woodworkers, printmakers, and a jeweler. It is also near Chicky's Fine Diner, a popular arts and music venue, and Hollander says the collective has already approached owner Chicky Stoltz about finding ways to work together.

Developer Tim Flannery, who owns the mill and built the One Riverfront Plaza office building across the street, sold the Riverfront Plaza building in November, according to the American Journal. Flannery told the Journal then that he expected to keep ownership of the mill. He did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

If you're hip to skip tax season this year in protest of the war or pollution or the Supreme Court nominations - whatever, pick your injustice - this is the meeting for you.

Larry Dansinger's Maine War Tax Resistance Center will hold two meetings on how to avoid paying your taxes and also avoid subsequent fines or jail time. The first, tomorrow, will be held at the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor, 170 Park Street, from 10 am to 3 pm. The second, in southern Maine, will be held at People's Free Space at 144 Cumberland Avenue in Portland on March 23 at 6:30 pm.

If you make more than $8,000 or so, avoiding your taxes can be a tricky business, but hell, going to a meeting is free and won't cripple you with an IRS audit. At least not immediately. 

The only public acknowledgement of Baldacci's recognition of Reagan was in a press release not from Baldacci's office, which is profligate with announcements of nearly all of his official acts. (And the gov's proclamations are not archived online.)

Instead, the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project issued a release February 17, 11 days after the state's recognition day, saying the project "commends" Baldacci's action, in honor of what would have been Reagan's 95th birthday. According to the group, 39 other governors made similar proclamations this year.

Reagan, who never visited Maine while in office, honored by a Democratic governor?

And it's not the first time. On June 11, 2004, six days after Reagan's death, Baldacci headlined a Reagan memorial ceremony at the Blaine House and proclaimed that day "Ronald Reagan Remembrance Day."

In 2005, Baldacci was one of 36 governors, including 11 Democrats, who issued proclamations in honor of Reagan's birthday, according to the Legacy Project.

The governor's Web site says the governor will issue proclamations "to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary achievements of state citizens and non-profit organizations, to honor occasions of importance and significance to the citizens of the state, and to increase public awareness of issues with the hope of improving the well-being of Maine citizens."

The site also says requests for proclamations should include a suggested wording for the proclamation, as well as background information on the subject of the proclamation.

This year's and last year's proclamations were at the request of Grover Norquist, chairman of the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project in Washington, DC, according to Cashman. (Official bio of Norquist; The Nation's piece on him.)

And while the governor's Web site says out-of-state proclamation requests should have an in-state sponsor, Cashman said these two did not, saying it's "not required."

Cashman said the policy is that the governor's office will not turn down a request to issue a proclamation honor a former president's birthday, but said he is unaware of any requests for proclamations for birthdays of presidents other than Reagan.

He also said he did not view Baldacci's proclamation as an endorsement of the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project's goals.

In the 1980 election, Maine voters supported Reagan by a 46-42 percent margin, and in 1984, Reagan won Maine 61-39 percent.

Former Yarmouth state senator Phil Harriman, one of two Maine representatives to the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project (the other is former Standish state rep Adam Mack) said Reagan was the first president who "connected with me," while Harriman was in college. It was particularly Reagan's principled stands on Communism and the air-traffic controllers' strike that struck Harriman.

Reagan "delivered in his words and his deeds what he believed," Harriman said.

Harriman said he appreciated Baldacci's willingness to honor Reagan, even though they are from different parties. While "the political rancor is fierce," Harriman said, "at the end of the day, there is a genuine mutual respect for anyone who raises their right hand" and takes an oath to serve the public.

Harriman did admit that the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project's goal of getting a monument to Reagan in every county in the country was unreasonable, and said he is not involved in the project, though he donated money to the Reagan Presidential Library. As for the monuments, "I don't think that's going to happen in Maine," he said.

Mack also said he thought "it's great that the governor stepped across the aisle." Mack and others, including Republican Phil Cressey, have tried to get the Maine Turnpike renamed after Reagan, "since Mount Katahdin already has a name," Mack said, adding that Cressey may try again if he wins reelection in the fall.

Mack had also spearheaded an effort to support other Reagan Legacy Project efforts, including introducing a resolution that would have encouraged Congress to rename Washington's National Airport after Reagan. That never came to the floor for a vote, Mack said, but the airport was renamed anyway.

"We've taken a step forward" by honoring Reagan, Mack said. "I hope next year [Baldacci] also sends out a press release about it."

Maine Model, the local UPN reality show which was easily one of the most cringingly enjoyable spectacles on Wednesday nights last fall, will hold an open casting call on March 4 at the Maine Mall for its second season set to air in April. And this time you don't have to be 5'7" or taller to qualify, which, according to creator and host John Marshall, means a lot more fine women are in the running. This is Maine, after all, and most of us are pretty damn short.

Last time around, a handful of disinterested hot girls gathered for four episodes to compete for nothing much in particular with nothing much really to lose. One girl was so beyond it she slept through half of a day's shoot and arrived apparently hungover. (She made it to the semi-finals.) The winner, a brunette named Erica Commeau, who was also Miss Maine, was awarded a sleek photo shoot and a professional video to submit to the national show "America's Top Model." So far, Marshall believes Commeau's still in Maine, not Hollywood.

Though the show entertained with random, thrown-together challenges like the classic "pose with this disgusting ugly fish," it didn't manage to get to some of the good catty dirt that is the lifeblood of its national counterpart. Marshall's been racking his brains to come up with ways to record the backstabbing he swears he heard in the background during the last filming but hasn't come up with much beyond sticking all the girls in one house, which he doesn't have the budget for.

"This time around we're going to make them actually have to do things, " says Marshall. "We're hoping to get them to interact more to bring out their personalities. We're hoping to get more, well, fights."

"The Maine Man," the male version of the show, has so far been nixed in development due to a perceived lack of sponsor interest but could become a reality if enough of us call UPN to nominate our brothers.

Senator Susan Collins, chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, issued a press release Tuesday touting a letter she sent to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Treasury Secretary John Snow, calling for increased scrutiny over the deal, in which Dubai Ports World would purchase P&O Ports for a reported $6.8 billion.

At issue is whether the government of the United Arab Emirates - a country Collins calls "a base for terrorism financing and operations" - should oversee the main means by which goods enter the United States. The problem is made worse because the Bush Administration has spent relatively little money beefing up port security.

On the upside, Portland folks seem unconcerned. While P&O's PR firm wasn't taking calls from the media today, saying they are "a small firm" that's "swamped," Jack Humeniuk, P&O Ports' operations chief in Portland, said he would talk as a representative of the International Longshoremen's Association, the union that handles cargo in Portland.

In Portland, he said, P&O has a "small operation," and is not responsible for port security or terminal security. Its employees work at the International Marine Terminal, handling cargo, and the Portland Ocean Terminal, serving cruise ships. The company has a security plan for its employees and the areas it controls, but the city and the Coast Guard are ultimately in charge, Humeniuk said.

"I don't expect that much would change," he said, if Dubai Ports World took over. On average, the port of Portland handles between 3000 and 4000 20-foot-container-equivalents each year, about half inbound and half outbound. The containers can weigh anywhere between 8000 and 55,000 pounds, he said.

All of the cargo from here goes through Halifax, Nova Scotia, on its way in and out, he said. That is where the big seagoing freighters load and unload, and a "feeder ship" travels between Halifax and Portland with the local freight.

He said P&O Group has been seeking to sell off its Princess Cruise Lines, P&O Ferries, P&O Nedlloyd, and P&O Ports and just become a holding company, for business reasons.

Capt. Jeff Monroe, the director of Portland's department of transportation and waterfront, confirmed that the city is not concerned about the sale of P&O Ports from a local point of view. The company is under contract with Hapag-Lloyd to handle freight.

Monroe said the city is ultimately responsible for security, and will enforce the same rules not matter who owns or manages the ships or terminals.

US Coast Guard Lieutenant Connie Braesch, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard unit overseeing Portland Harbor, said the Coast Guard will also enforce all federal shipping-safety laws, no matter what company owns the equipment or pays cargo-handling staff.

Monroe said, however, that the federal government should be clear on what's happening, and should investigate if there are questions about a business deal that might affect security.

Monroe, who has testified before Congress on port-security issues, said port security is "a lot better than it was five years ago," with a better working relationship between federal, state, and local agencies, but remains "a work in progress."

While he said the containers coming into Portland have typically been screened twice - going into and coming out of Halifax - he admitted there is not any equipment to remotely screen the contents of a container here in Portland.

"If there is a suspect container, they'll unpack it," he said.

Terra Firma, the iconic Portland shoe store which has attracted cool kids seeking kicks for close to two decades, is closing. That's right, downtown store owner Samara Yandell recently decided to go into a different line of work. Reached late last week about her decision, Yandell was reluctant to say exactly what that line of work is, other than to specify that it has nothing to do with footwear. Yandell says she decided to close because it's just no longer lucrative to be in the funky shoe business. She says other rival stores, like J.L. Coombs on Exchange Street, contributed to the store's unstable financial ground but weren't the only reason she's decided to close up shop. Her recent sweet job offer also contributed.

Terra Firma will close on February 25.

On February 2, Michele Olsen withdrew her application for a city bar license for the club "Chaotic," according to the city clerk's office. No reason was given on the withdrawal form. Olsen had planned to open her club at the corner of Fore and Exchange Streets, where the bar "The Basement" had been located. Olsen and Industry owner Brian Hanson both requested bar licenses to sell liquor in the Old Port and were both denied during a city council meeting on January 18. During this meeting, the council also voted to limit the number of Old Port bar licenses (otherwise called "overlay licenses") from 27 to 24. Olsen can reapply for a bar license in a month or so, says city clerk Amanda Berube.

According to Wells Staley-Mays, the spokesperson for the group Fur Cultural Renewal of New England, the bill to require the state to divest about $50 million in holdings in war torn Sudan is in trouble (see "Squeezing Sudan," January 13). LD 1758, sponsored by Portland senator Ethan Strimling, was considered by the Maine legislature's Labor Committee in January. The committee decides whether to endorse or not endorse a bill before the larger vote on the House and Senate floors. According to an email sent by Staley-Mays to divestment supporters, the Maine State Retirement System did not speak for or against the bill, which is a bummer because the money invested in Sudan is there on behalf of MSRS. The next hearing on the bill is a work session on February 9. Staley-Mays is encouraging supporters of divestment, which the Fur group hopes will help strangle the violent government in the country, to contact the Republican members of the Labor Committee to lobby them to endorse the bill this week. Click here for more on the Labor Committee and who's on it.