Category: General News

In a new twist on the bake sale concept, vegan/gluten-free bakery Cakeface is using the web to raise capital and expand operations. (via Avery Yale Kamila)

A Maine state law regarding Milk pricing has forced Shaws to retract a promotion that would have given shoppers a free gallon of milk if they bought 6 gallons in a 2 month period.

Maine sets a minimum price for milk. The law is decades old, designed to prevent large retailers from offering milk from out of state as a loss leader, at prices that are below the cost of production for Maine dairy farms. The current minimum price is $3.55 a gallon for whole milk.

Giving away a gallon for every six purchased violates the law by dragging the average price below the minimum, Drake said.

A feature article in the new issue of Portland magazine makes the case for a Portland restaurant as the inspiration for Edward Hopper’s classic painting Chop Suey.

“A few weeks later, I told my brother, a painter in Seattle, what Scott had found. He said he’d just helped with a show on Edward Hopper at Seattle Art Museum. The show’s catalog described Hopper’s New York influences at length. We contacted the curator, Patti Junker, and Scott sent her the permits, the photos, and an article by [Maine historian] Gary Libby about Chinese restaurants in Portland. She emailed back: ‘I admit I was skeptical, but after seeing the image, I am absolutely convinced. I think it was this chop-suey restaurant that he had in mind, although the picture was conceived in his studio
in NYC.’”

PortlandTown has published a mixed set of photos which include images of the Monument Square Farmers Market and breakfast on the deck at Bintliff’s.
Photo Credit: Michael Barriault

PortlandTown has published a mixed set of photos which include images of the Monument Square Farmers Market and breakfast on the deck at Bintliff’s.

Photo Credit: Michael Barriault

According to a report from the Munjoy Hill News,

Yesterday afternoon Under Secretary Kevin W. Concannon cut a ribbon at the Boyd Street Urban Farm at Kennedy Park.  His appearance here in Portland which began with a press conference at the city hall in the morning, was part of a visit to farmers’ markets all over Maine.  “We are encouraging farmers’ markets all over to use a Double Voucher,” he said holding up a blue plastic card – like a credit card.

The Food & Dining section in today’s Press Herald includes a report on slow money and progress on bringing that concept to Maine.

Slow money brings together socially-responsible investors with proponents of local and organic food, in a collaboration aimed at fundamentally shifting how money moves through the economy and where it gets invested.

The Forecaster investigated the factors that influence the price of your morning cup of coffee.

…the cost of a cup of coffee is anything but consistent across Portland’s many cafes. On Munjoy Hill, customers at Hilltop Coffee pay $1.46 for a 12-ounce cup. At Starbucks in the Old Port, patrons can expect to shell out $1.61 for the same size, and the Udder Place near Woodford’s Corner charges $1.75.

What accounts for the difference in price? A lot. Between the straws, the cups, the employees, the milk and sugar, the rent and more, there’s a lot more than coffee in the price of a cup of Joe.

Articles on yesterday’s demolition of the old Red’s Dairy Freeze building in South Portland appeared on the front page of the Press Herald,

Chris Bolling stood in the crowd outside Red’s Dairy Freeze in South Portland early Monday and watched the demolition of his popular ice cream stand.

“It was tough,” he said. “It’s a lot of memories, but it’s a new beginning and we will have a new building.”

and on The Forecaster website. Both newspapers also published video of the demolition.

It took 50 years for Red’s Dairy Freeze to build a fanatical following for its frozen soft-serve treats.

But it only took a matter of minutes on Monday for demolition crews to reduce the building at the corner of Cottage Road and Highland Avenue to a pile of rubble.

“It’s sad,” said Mercedes Vance, who lives a few houses up the street. “It has such a long history and tradition. I just look at all these kids out here sobbing and it makes me sad.”

Articles on yesterday’s demolition of the old Red’s Dairy Freeze building in South Portland appeared on the front page of the Press Herald,

Chris Bolling stood in the crowd outside Red’s Dairy Freeze in South Portland early Monday and watched the demolition of his popular ice cream stand.

“It was tough,” he said. “It’s a lot of memories, but it’s a new beginning and we will have a new building.”

and on The Forecaster website. Both newspapers also published video of the demolition.

It took 50 years for Red’s Dairy Freeze to build a fanatical following for its frozen soft-serve treats.

But it only took a matter of minutes on Monday for demolition crews to reduce the building at the corner of Cottage Road and Highland Avenue to a pile of rubble.

“It’s sad,” said Mercedes Vance, who lives a few houses up the street. “It has such a long history and tradition. I just look at all these kids out here sobbing and it makes me sad.”