An article in today's New York Times discusses a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston which found that Maine has a strong tourist economy but a relatively weak yearlong economy in the wake of our dissolving manufacturing base. Hardly breaking news.

But the extent of the trouble is: According to the Reserve, Maine is one of only two states in the country to suffer economic decline in 2005.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine will host a screening of Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" on Thursday, July 6, at 7 pm.

"Truth" opens this Wednesday at the Movies On Exchange in Portland. It runs from June 28 through July 25. NRCM staff will introduce the movie at their event next week by talking about global warming, its effect on Maine, and what we can do about it.

Anti-war activists plan to gather in a peaceful demonstration in Tommy's Park in Portland on July 7 to read the names of the US dead in the Iraq War to date and an equal number of names of Iraqi dead. The gathering will begin at 11:30 am and the reading of the names will begin at 1:00 pm. According to figures released by the Pentagon last week, the number of US military killed in Iraq has reached 2500.

It's the day after the primary election and the two Dems vying for Senator Olympia Snowe's job have spent most of it not knowing which of them will get the party's nomination. With 94 percent of precincts reporting by mid-afternoon, Jean Hay Bright, of Dixmont, had 50.68% of the vote (that's 22,360 people) and Eric Mehnert, of Orono, had 49.

Here's a sign of the times: today, the Bangor Daily News reported that an Aroostook arts organization has taken refuge inside the Aroostook Centre Mall. The Aroostook Arts and Education Centre, which teaches kids and adults about creative and dramatic arts, will move into a 1385-square-foot space next to Sears as early as this fall.

Boaters in southern Maine can breathe a little easier now that the Strout's Point Wharf Company, a marina in Freeport, is offering biodiesel fuel. The marina announced the new fuel in a press release this week.

Biodiesel is made from renewable resources like soybeans or vegetable oil and marketed versions usually are mixed with petroleum.