Late last week, the US Senate passed its version of a federal energy bill, which included crucial increases in the nation’s fuel-efficiency standards (although one wonders whether 10 miles per gallon over the next 10 years is really the fastest progress we can make).

Tucked into the bill is a $60 billion allocation for ‘abrupt climate change’ – and according to the Portland Press Herald, “the University of Maine…is involved in that research.

Here's the extended version of my interview with Linda Greenlaw, which appears in this week's Phoenix:

Fishing-boat captain Linda Greenlaw, who immortalized lobster boats and fisherman’s tales in her previous non-fiction books such as The Hungry Ocean and The Lobster Chronicles, has changed course in her most recent work.

In Washington DC tonight, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) will host a fundraiser for Maine Senator Susan Collins. According to a Washington Post report, "his support of Collins is payback. She was one of a handful of senators who campaigned for him in the general election following his loss in the Democratic primary to [2006 Democratic challenger Ned] Lamont."

News for Portland’s arts community: the Portland Arts and Cultural Alliance (PACA) has hired Catherine Valenza as its new executive director – and her primary responsibility, at least for now, will be to run the First Friday Art Walk. (She’ll be taking over for Aucocisco Gallery, which organized the Art Walk for the past few years.

From a press release sent out by the Maine Fair Trade Campaign:

Got my Fretlight FG-400 in the mail today! It came with a signed certificate assuring me that it was approved for fun -- thank goodness.

Supposedly, the guitar itself (which is being sold at Daddy's Junky Music in Portland) will teach me how to play electric guitar. The Fretlight comes with lights embedded in the fretboard -- to tell me where to put my fingers -- as well as computer software with instructions and lessons.

The state enacted a resolution this morning instructing the Maine Public Advocate to study the issue of net neutrality and what role (if any) the state can and should play in deciding, essentially, who owns, who pays for, and who has speedy access to the Internet.

A coalition of business owners, the Maine Civil Liberties Union, communications experts, and local politicians (such as Portland Senator Ethan Strimling and former Common Cause president Chellie Pingree) said the resolution underscores the state’s commitment to “full, fair and non-discriminatory access to the Internet.