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V I E W P O I N T S W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 3 A P R I L 6 , 2 0 2 0 Featured @ Mainebiz.biz For a daily digest of Maine's top business news, sign up for the Mainebiz Daily Report at mainebiz.biz/enews From the Editor I n recent weeks, we've witnessed one of the more stressful periods for the economy and for our own personal safety. In three decades of covering business, only the period after 9/11 seemed more turbulent, more scary to me. e stock market crash of 1987, the dot-com collapse and the great recession each brought new challenges. In each case, governments, businesses and people themselves found ways to cope and rebuild, as we will with the COVID-19 crisis. is issue was well into the planning stages when the crisis started boiling. Our staff sprang into action, covering the pandemic's effect on the Maine business community both for our Daily email and now for this issue. ere's a brief story about three manufacturers that converted production to create essential goods, including protective masks and "isolation rooms" that can be used by hospitals. See Page 8. Renee Cordes has a story about conscious capi- talism, which seems to take on a greater importance at a time when we expect companies to lead and "do the right thing." See Page 14. Laurie Schreiber looks at a financing system that relies on retirement savings plans, themselves hard hit with the Dow's recent correction. As sources in her story note, it will be interesting to see how the real estate market will respond to this latest crisis. See Page 22. Maureen Milliken talks to the head of the Finance Authority of Maine, another institution that had to quickly respond to the business dis- ruption of late. FAME and other entities, includ- ing local governments, have jumped in to provide hard-hit retailers and other small businesses with microloans. See Page 20. is issue also features two lists, of the Maine's largest banks (Page 24) and Maine's largest credit unions (Page 30). Peter Van Allen pvanallen@mainebiz.biz P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y A L I FA R R E L L 2 Get Maine's business news daily at mainebiz.biz and on Twitter (@Mainebiz). Below is our most popular content for the two weeks from March 16–30. 1. Portland nonprofit will eliminate 248 Maine jobs 2. Maine fishermen turn to direct-to- consumer outlet 3. Police passes and nitrile gloves: Global crisis means changes on Maine's roads 4. Business Leaders: Roccy Risbara builds business — and a new community — in Scarborough 5. Brunswick company to provide 'isolation rooms' for health care sites 6. Flowfold making face shields, American Roots 'racing to retool' in response to crisis 7. Maine health care providers go into lockdown over spread of virus 8. Early-season cancellations flood Maine hotels 9. Maine consumer businesses close temporarily, go online, try to adapt to pandemic 10. A new B&B in York is on the site of hotel destroyed by fire bernsteinshur.com Be smart. BE SHUR. When you need a lawyer who thinks like an executive and speaks like a human. Crazy times, but businesses move quickly to adapt The stock market crash of 1987, the dot-com bust, 9/11 and the recession each presented their own challenges.

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