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V O L . X X I N O. X X V I I N OV E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 1 5 14 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E Ellsworth extends planned fi ber optic route A high-speed, fi ber optic broad- band project under development in Ellsworth has been extended another mile, with the plan now calling for three miles of the infrastructure. e Ellsworth American reported that Ellsworth City Council approved an additional $30,000 toward the cost of the broadband Internet project at the recommendation of the contrac- tor, Portland-based Tilson Technology Management. e extension will allow more potential customers to be served, City Manager David Cole told the paper. e now-$308,000 proj- ect would start at Harbor Park, then head north on Water Street, where a hub station would be located at the site of the old wastewater treatment plant, and onto State Street before turning onto Church Street to serve City Hall. e bulk of the project, $250,000, is coming from a Northern Border Regional Commission grant awarded to the Ellsworth Business Development Corp. in 2014. at group has been spearheading the eff ort to bring higher-speed Internet service to the city. e remaining money will come from the city's eco- nomic development tax-increment fi nancing, or TIF, program. e city will own the broadband infrastructure, but it won't be the Internet provider, the paper reported. N O T E W O R T H Y M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T Padebco Custom Boat Builders & Full Service Boatyard in Round Pond launched the V25R, a 25-foot runabout designed on a solid fi berglass hull. The Maine Windjammer Association in Blue Hill announced the Schooner Ladona has joined its fl eet after a nearly two-year rebuild. Future of Lincoln paper mill in doubt after auction A bankruptcy judge has approved a bid for the Lincoln Paper and Tissue mill from a group led by a Boston- based liquidator of industrial sites. e bidder, Gordon Brothers Group, is a liquidator, but it could resell the mill to a company seeking to make tissue paper, the attorney for the bankrupt tissue mill told the Bangor Daily News. Its bid of $5.95 million was approved by a federal bankruptcy judge Friday morning. Jeff rey Young, an attorney with the fi rm represent- ing the United Steelworkers union, which still has 75 employees work- ing at the mill, told Maine Public Broadcasting Network he feared the mill would be dismantled and sold for salvage. " is is a sad day really for the employees at Lincoln Pulp and Paper," Young said. " e mill has been operating, in one form or another, for about 80 years." e mill had struggled after a November 2013 boiler explosion and fi led for Chapter 11 reorganization this fall. e mill has about 175 workers, down from 400 in 2013. UMaine engineering college gets $100,000 donation from Pratt & Whitney e University of Maine College of Engineering said a recent $100,000 donation from an aerospace manu- facturer will be used to train mechan- ical engineers and bolster recruiting. e gift came from East Hartford, Conn.-based Pratt & Whitney, which has a manufacturing facil- ity in North Berwick. " is funding will help prepare today's students to become the next generation of engineers," Michael Papp, general manager of Pratt & Whitney North Berwick, said. N O T E W O R T H Y N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N Husson University in Bangor re- ceived a grant of $142,300 from the Davis Educational Foundation to support its School of Science and Humanities Re-envisioning General Education project. The school also announced it received a $20,000 grant from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation Pharmacy Partners Program to sup- port a project designed to improve the outcomes of patients receiving cardiac stents. Penobscot Community Health Care in Bangor received a $50,000 grant from Doree Taylor Charitable Foundation, Bank of America NA, Trustee to fund general operations of its Hope House Health and Living Center. MEMIC's record $18 million dividend this year is a return on your investment in safety. That's nearly $200 million returned to MEMIC policyholders since 1998. You earned it. Thank you for choosing MEMIC. Thanks to our friends who visited us at the Momentum Convention! N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N

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