Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

August 21, 2023 Edition
Thumbnail
Focus on Greater Bangor & Northern Maine

Loring’s flight plan: Turning the former Air Force base into a regional aviation, aerospace hub

Renee Cordes

An estimated $50 million to $75 million in public money is needed develop a public airport at the Cold War-era Air Force base in Limestone.

  • Letters
    Letters

    A defense of Waterville’s urban renewal on the 1960s

    Regarding the article published in Mainebiz from the print edition of June 12, “With Projects Underway, Waterville’s Downtown is Taking on New Life”, we want to correct the statement that “Waterville was a victim of urban renewal in the 1960s.”

  • Letter from the Editor
    Letter from the Editor

    Loring’s evolution takes another step forward

    Peter Van Allen

    Loring had a long history as an Air Force base, brief notoriety for being the site of a Phish concert and now another life as a business park. As Senior Writer Renee Cordes notes in her story, Loring has some major plans in the works.

  • In Short
    In Short

    Newsworthy people and performances for Aug. 21, 2023

    A roundup of new hires, promotions and achievements from businesses and nonprofits around Maine.

Today's Poll

Should the U.S. phase out its use of the penny, as Canada did over a decade ago?
Poll Description

For decades, people have pondered the penny. Does a coin with so little value have any value at all in the U.S. economy? Does the reddish-brownish disc of copper and (mostly) zinc serve a useful purpose, perhaps even beyond its intended one?

As the New York Times reported recently, most of the pennies issued by the U.S. Mint are given out as change and then never spent. This creates an incessant demand for new pennies, so that change can be handed out in future cash transactions.

"In other words," Caity Weaver wrote for the Times, "we keep minting pennies because no one uses the pennies we mint." It's estimated there are 240 billion pennies in the U.S., the vast majority of which are sitting in coin jars, hiding beneath sofa cushions, or otherwise dormant.

To replace the lost money, the federal government literally loses money. Minting a single 1-cent coin costs more than 3 cents.

Faced with a similar dilemma, Canada phased out the use of its penny in 2013. Cash prices there are now rounded up or down to the nearest nickel or dime. Should the U.S. do the same?

No, say penny proponents. There is something very American about getting exactly the change you're entitled to. And the coin has its admirers. It's embedded in our language, our culture. The penny's portrait of Lincoln is the most reproduced piece of art on Earth. 

So this specie remains the most basic instrument of doing business. What's your 2 cents?

More Information