Briefcase
From staff reports
November 25, 2009
Maine real estate agents say sales of single-family homes in the state are up for the fifth consecutive month.
The Maine Real Estate Information System says realtors sold 1,257 existing homes in October — a 39 percent increase since October of last year.Over the same period, the median sales price dropped 3.51 percent in the last 12 months to $165,000.
The activity in Maine is similar to the national trend, although the price drop nationally has been more severe.
AUGUSTA
Insurance chief: No change in mammogram coverage
Maine's insurance chief says recent national advisories about mammograms will not affect insurance coverage for the screenings in the state.
Insurance Superintendent Mila Kofman said Monday that the new recommendations don't change Maine's consumer protection standards. By law, Maine insurers must cover annual mammograms for women who are 40 and older.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force changed its recommendations for the age at which women should begin receiving mammograms and how often the screening should be done.
Its new recommendations suggest mammograms should begin at age 50 for most women, rather than the previous recommendation of 40. But other medical organizations believe the age 40 recommendation should remain unchanged.
PORTLAND
Activists ask Snowe to fight new rules on fish catch
Activists delivered 558 signed postcards to U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe's Portland office Tuesday calling for congressional hearings on commercial fishing rules that are scheduled to take effect May 1.
Fair Fish Portland, with support from Peace Action Maine and other groups, is opposing the new system of catch shares, which will let groups of fishermen catch certain amounts of fish. Fishermen also can buy and sell their catch quotas, which critics say will lead to rapid consolidation and the end of traditional small-scale family fishing businesses.
Fair Fish Portland, a campaign of Washington, D.C.-based Food and Water Watch, collected the signatures from citizens and business owners. The group is targeting Snowe because she is the ranking Republican on a subcommittee that oversees fishing regulation.
Regulators and some fishermen say the new rules are a better alternative to the current rules, which also led to consolidation and failed to restore fish populations. But many commercial fishermen oppose catch shares.
Michael Love, who owns a Portland-based fishing boat, spoke in support of the Fair Fish campaign Tuesday. The new catch-shares system "essentially allows larger out-of-state interests to buy up the (shares) of smaller Maine vessels. They're not going to come back," he said.
