July 11, 2016 EditionEdition

The new federal overtime rules will more than double the threshold for employers to avoid paying overtime when salaried employees work over 40 hours — moving from $23,660 per year to $47,476 per year. This presents serious challenges for employers. I am not writing to defend or explain the law, but rather to discuss how to turn this problem to a competitive advantage.

With millennials a coveted target, and Portland acquiring a growing taste for locally produced products, Bissell Brothers Brewing Co. was growing, but its physical space was crowded and disjointed.

This very intense, very intelligent guy startled me by saying something I never had heard before. He interrupted a vigorous argument with me by saying, “You know, Jim, I see your point now. I agree with you. You're right.”

In the five years since Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher took on the agency's leadership, he and his team have played a central role in making the state's commercial fishing industry stronger.

With shortages of commercial and residential real estate in Portland pushing up prices, two nearby communities, Westbrook and Gorham, are seeing strong growth in population, along with an influx of businesses and families seeking affordability.

We who live in southern Maine tend to think of Aroostook County, a.k.a. The County, as this amorphous space that takes up the upper half of Maine. There are plenty of people from southern Maine who have never been to The County and have no plans to go to The County. And that's their loss.

The challenge of lowering our electricity costs — which are the lowest in New England but remain a challenge for Maine businesses competing against companies in regions of the U.S. with significantly lower electricity costs — is by no means a simple question with a clear solution.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission has set a deadline of July 29 for bids seeking to tap a $13.4 million allocation created by the 127th Legislature to pay for above-market, two-year contracts for electricity created by biomass generators.

James Chittum sees a tremendous opportunity for Maine companies that make products using renewable biobased resources from forest, farm and sea instead of petroleum-based compounds such as polyethylene or polystyrene.

New hires Thomas College in Waterville hired Ted Prawat, Kate Cook Whitt and Katie Rybakova as...