Category: Spring 2006 Newswire
Study Released Tuesday Cites Technology as a Factor in Teen Sleep Loss
WASHINGTON, March 28- A new study released Tuesday cited technology and caffeine as significant contributors to inadequate adolescent sleep.
The National Sleep Foundation, an organization that compiles data annually on sleep patterns in America, found that only about 20 percent of adolescents ages 11-17 are getting “optimal sleep” each night. According to the foundation, adolescents need nine hours in order to function at their full potential during the day.
The study, the 2006 Sleep in America Poll, shows a steady decrease in the hours of sleep teenagers get as they progress through middle school into high school. Of the 1,602 adolescents surveyed nationwide, sixth graders on average receive 8.4 hours per night, whereas twelfth graders receive only 6.9.
Differences between genders were minimal, with girls getting about 7.5 hours of sleep and boys receiving roughly 12 minutes more, at 7.7 hours.
The study found that three out of four teenagers drink a caffeinated beverage daily and that 31 percent drink two or more.
Jodi Mindell, an associate professor of psychology at Saint Joseph’s University and co-chairwoman of the task force that oversaw the study, said that children who drank caffeinated beverages were twice as likely as their peers to fall asleep at school.
“Parents are mostly in the dark about their adolescents’ sleeping habits,” Ms. Mindell said. “Ninety percent of parents believe that their children are getting enough sleep in contrast to 44 percent of adolescents who think they are. So the adolescents are much more aware of this issue than the parents.”
The 25-minute telephone survey was conducted in two parts, with both adolescents and parents being questioned.
More than 97 percent of adolescents have at least one technological item – a computer, television or phone – in their bedroom, the study found. Students with four or more items were likely to get a half hour less sleep on average.
Dr. Mary A. Carskadon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown Medical School, said that parents should limit their children’s caffeine intake after lunch to as little as possible.
“Children who are taking caffeine, who are stopping at Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts after school, are going to have that much more trouble falling to sleep at night,” Dr. Carskadon said.
The consequences of insufficient sleep are not limited to poor grades.
“Those who get insufficient sleep were also more likely to score higher on a scale of depressed mood,” Dr. Carskadon said. “Adolescents are nearly twice as likely to score high [on the depression scale] if they are sleeping eight hours or less.”
Parents should look for warning signs of insufficient sleep, such as adolescents who need caffeine to wake up in the morning or those who nap for 45 minutes or longer on a recurring basis, she said.
“Parents should make sleep a positive priority for the entire family,” Dr. Carskadon said. “Kids spend too much time multitasking in their rooms the hour before they go to bed. The more things they are doing, the less sleep they are getting.”
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More Submarines Not On The Way
By Sara Hatch
Washington, March 28 - Representatives of the Department of the Navy matched words Tuesday with members of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Projection Forces over building Virginia-class submarines.
Members of the Connecticut and Rhode Island delegations, where of Electric Boat Corp., one of two companies that manufacture Virginia-class submarines, has facilities, were vocal about doubling production from one to two subs a year before 2012, the Navy's current target date.
Currently, Electric Boat produces one Virginia-class submarine a year in partnership with Northrop Grumman in Newport News, Va.
Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) expressed concern over the loss of jobs for approximately 900 ship designers over the course of the year, bringing the total of designers to its "lowest level in the last 50 years," he said.
Allison Stiller, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for ships, acknowledged the concerns of Simmons and others and said RAND is conducting a study of the design force for the Navy, which will be ready later in the year.
Adm. Charles L. Munns, commander of naval submarine forces, said that while the number of submarines available in the coming years will be fewer than earlier predicted, the Navy feels confident in the reduced number of subs-from the current 53 down to 48 and later to 40 ships-that would be available, even though he acknowledged that there will be risks involved.
The subcommittee members made much of the risk that the Navy would face but did not broach the subject of finding new funds for the Navy in the congressional budget. But they said the subject deserved future discussion in Congress. Just two weeks ago, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said that while he would like to ramp up the research and development budget, that would be difficult in the current budget climate.
John P. Casey, Electric Boat's president, said in a statement to the subcommittee that while the company is working to lower costs on its own, it cannot do more without the help of the Navy.
The Navy's Stiller said earlier that she feels confident the industry base is safe and that "at one a year, they're still producing for us."
Doubling production to two ships a year could reduce the cost of each ship from $2.4 billion to $2 billion, the ship builders say.
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Maine Delegation Reacts to White House Resignation
WASHINGTON, March 28 - Maine's two Republican senators had high praise Tuesday for outgoing White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, whose resignation President George W. Bush announced that morning.
" I have been privileged to call Andy a friend for over a quarter-century, and I wish him all the best as he prepares to embark on a new chapter in his life," Sen. Olympia Snowe said in statement. "He was always willing to listen and communicate, and he is an exceptional person who will be missed."
Card, a native of Massachusetts who served in the Massachusetts legislature, owns a summer house in Poland and has campaigned for Maine Republicans in the past.
Snowe said in an interview she met Card when she was first campaigning for the State Senate in 1976. She was going door to door on a bicycle when she happened to knock on his door. The two Republicans have remained friends since then, dining together and maintaining a strong professional relationship.
Sen. Susan Collins also had kind words for Card. "Andy Card's steady leadership, candor and professionalism over the past five years have distinguished him as one of the most dedicated public servants with whom I have had the privilege of working," she said in a statement. "I wish him well in his future endeavors and look forward to continuing our personal relationship when he visits his second home in my state of Maine."
Snowe said that she thought any future staff changes should be left up to President Bush, despite calls from some of her colleagues for a comprehensive staff shake up. She said that the key to better relations between the White House and Congress was open communication between the two branches, and she stressed the importance of the checks and balances system of government. Card always returned her phone calls, Snowe said.
Card has been the chief of staff at the White House since Bush got there in 2001. His five-year tenure is among the longest of any chief of staff; well beyond the average of about two years. Before serving in this White House, Card had been the Secretary of Transportation for President George H. W. Bush. He was also a deputy chief of staff in the first President Bush's administration.
According to a White House biography, Card worked in the automotive industry during the Clinton administration. Earlier in his career Card was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1975 to 1983. He grew up in Holbrook, Mass., and attended the University of South Carolina and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Maine's two Democratic Representatives also had reactions to Card's resignation.
Rep. Tom Allen (D) said that he did not know Card that well. He met Card in March 2001, when President Bush took the state's congressional delegation up to Maine on Air Force One.
Unlike Snowe, Allen favors more resignations in the Administration. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would be at the top of the list, Allen said, "because you should only have so many mistakes and bad policy decisions before the President finds someone else."
Rep. Michael Michaud (D) agreed with Allen on the need for "new blood" in the Administration and added that Bush's White House should work in a more bipartisan way. He had kind words for Card.
"I respect Andrew Card's commitment to public service and I thank him for it," Michaud said in a statement.
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Many Problems Still Plague Department of Homeland Security
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, March 28 - Numerous organizational problems still plague the four-year-old Department of Homeland Security, expert witnesses concluded Tuesday during a House subcommittee hearing.
The Government Reform Committee's National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, questioned experts about a report published by Richard L. Skinner, the department's inspector general.
"Homeland security will never be about certainties. It will be about probabilities, about risks and about choices," Shays said, addressing the panel with a prepared statement.
Skinner's report, filed in November following a request by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, found that two main offices within the department--Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection-had consistently failed to coordinate their efforts and share sensitive immigration and border information.
"Shortfalls in operational coordination and information sharing fostered an environment of uncertainty and mistrust" between the two offices, Skinner said at the hearing.
The hearing came as debate over immigration reforms intensifies around the country and in the Capitol. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection are mainly responsible for keeping watch on the nation's borders.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the primary investigative branch in the Department of Homeland Security, was previously a part of the Department of Justice, but was moved in an effort to consolidate previously dispersed security functions.
The inspector general's report made 14 recommendations to improve coordination between the agencies, but, according to Skinner, the effects have yet to be studied.
The recommendations mainly seek to increase communication between individual departments and agencies.
"If [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] needs anything, it's stability for a period of time and leadership," said Richard M. Stana, director of homeland security and justice issues in the Government Accountability Office. He said this could improve existing coordination problems within the agency.
"It's very hard to break them out of their hole to do other things," Stana said. "They have a long way to go."
The witnesses further acknowledged several "territorial disputes" between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI. They said this is another reason for decreased productivity within Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"There is also a degree of frustration," Stana said. "Why invest so much of our time and resources into a terrorist investigation when in the long run it's going to be turned over to the FBI?"
Shays expressed disappointment with how long it has taken to synchronize operations within the department.
"I'm wrestling with why it has to take a long time to begin to break out of this legacy," Shays said, referring to specific objectives and initiatives, such as drug trafficking and document fraud, that are still being pursued by the agency despite its more recent and main objective of investigating leads that pertain to national security.
According to Shays, "only a small percentage of investigative resources are focused on national security cases."
A companion report published by the Government Accountability Office in December confirms Shays statement, stating that less than 13 percent of "investigative resources were used for investigations considered to have a link to national security."
The panel agreed that such distractions hinder the organization's ability to deal with issues directly pertaining to the country's security, but they said many problems could be worked out over the next few years.
"I think the best thing we can do right now is let the agency mature," Stana said. "Let it stabilize; it's got new leadership, and hopefully it will be strong leadership."
He said this could take up to seven years.
Agreeing with Stana, but taking a dimmer view of the agency's progress, Skinner said, "I think we're nowhere near where we should be."
Despite Investment, Connecticut Misses High Marks For Preschool Programs
By Sara Hatch
Washington, March 23-While Connecticut ranked fourth nationwide in spending per child for preschool programs in the 2004-2005 school year, it was not in the top ten for access to preschool programs for either 3-year-olds or 4-year-olds, according to a report released Thursday.
The study, done by the National Institute for Early Education Research, rated Connecticut 5 out of a possible 10 in a quality standards checklist, which includes such areas as teacher training, class size, teacher-student ratio and site monitoring. The institute is a non-partisan research organization based at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
The study found that while more children are being served in preschool programs nationwide less money is being spent for each individual child, after inflation is taken into account. While state spending per child in Connecticut was at its highest in 2001-2002 it has been on the rise since 2003, with the state spending $6,663 on each child in 2004-2005.
Joyce Staples, the Connecticut school readiness program manager, said in an interview Thursday that the state is putting more money for preschool education in the budget this year, with an ultimate goal of having universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds in Connecticut.
In 2005, $48 million was budgeted for state-financed school readiness programs; spending is slated to increase to just over $50 million in 2006. Staples said that Gov. Jodi Rell also has inserted $3.5 million in extra preschool funds for the neediest communities.
Currently, only 28 percent of communities have state-financed programs, according to the report, but Staples said that 12 of the 19 priority school districts-those with the highest needs-have preschool programs in the public school system. In New London, which is a priority school district, Staples said that there are community preschool programs as opposed to ones based out of the public schools.
"We like the programs to be distributed throughout the community," Staples said.
Staples said that although Connecticut is one of the states that does not have a requirement that all preschool teachers have a bachelor's degree, 75 to 80 percent have either a bachelor's or an associate's degree and the state is moving toward having all preschool teachers have a bachelor's degree by 2015.
Susan Urahn, of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which supports the institute financially, said at a press conference to release the report that "Pre-K should be a critical part of K-12 education."
She said that nationwide only 17 percent of 4-year-olds and 3 percent of 3-year-olds currently attend state-financed preschool programs.
Steve Barnett, the director of the institute, said that state-financed programs should work in tandem with federally financed Head Start, which he said had never had enough money to help all eligible children.
In Connecticut, Staples said that some Head Start programs actually receive grants through the state's school readiness program. She said that in all of Connecticut's school readiness grants go directly to the community and are based on plans that must be signed off on by the mayor and the school superintendent.
Gov. Rell also has been active in bringing more widespread preschool education to Connecticut. The Early Childhood Cabinet, which Gov. Rell requested and the legislature created, is working to create a plan for to prepare children better for kindergarten.
Janice Gruendel, Gov. Rell's senior adviser on early childcare and the co-chairwoman of the Early Childhood Cabinet, said in an interview Thursday that the plan is to have all children born this year fully prepared for kindergarten when they enter in 2011. The plan they are drawing up is targeted to be ready in June, and then delivered to the Early Childhood Research and Policy Council, which the governor established last month, to cost it out.
Gruendel said that the report produced by the Institute for Early Education Research does not take into account the children who are in private preschool programs and that when the state has surveyed parents, 75 percent have said their children had formal preschool training before kindergarten.
Gruendel also said that the governor and the Early Childhood Cabinet are not just committed to preschool programs but also want to make sure kids are healthy and ready for kindergarten.
She said that Gov. Rell has "had three priorities, and this is one of them."
New London, Gruendel said, is grouped with similar communities with the greatest need so that when spending is being considered more effort and more resources can be directed to those communities. The other towns in the group with New London are Bridgeport, Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, Waterbury and Windham.
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Report Says Connecticut is Middle of the Pack in State-Funded Preschooling
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, March 23-Connecticut spent less per preschool student last year than it did three yeas earlier even as it increased the number of 4-year-olds enrolled in public pre-kindergarten classes by almost 42 percent, according to a report published Thursday by the National Institute for Early Education Research.
According to the report, Connecticut provided $6,662 per child enrolled in preschool spending in the 2004-2005 school year. But that per-student total was down from the $7,456 spent in 2001-2002 in after-inflation dollars.
Nationally, the report found that even as state-financed programs increased enrollment by more than 100,000 among 4-year-olds from 2001-2005, state spending per child decreased in 11 states, as it did in Connecticut.
The state spent $48,619,536 on pre-kindergarten education in 2004-2005, not including fees and subsidies collected at the local level, the institute reported.
These numbers do not include pre-school students enrolled in private schools or in the federally financed Head Start program.
The institute is a nonpartisan research based organization operating out of Rutgers University.
"The State of Preschool," an annual yearbook which has been published in each of the past three years, aims to rank all 50 states on access to, resources for and quality of state preschool initiatives.
During a press conference Thursday, W. Steven Barnett, director of the institute, said "preschool is an investment that pays off educationally and economically."
Although state spending per public school pupil had declined overall, he said, state spending on preschool students grew 7.5 percent nationally over the past three years.
"Meaningful progress can be made for a few hundred million dollars," Barnett said. "If we wanted to serve all 4-year-olds in quality programs, well that would require expanding state spending several times over what it is currently."
He added, "Even that's a vanishingly small percentage of our national income."
In 2004-05, Connecticut enrolled 15 percent of the 4-year-old population and 2 percent of the 3-year-old population in a state-financed preschool program, according to the report.
For 4-year-olds, this is up from 9 percent in 2001-2002, but for 3-year-olds, it is down from 3 percent.
Connecticut ranked 16 th in the nation in the percentage of 4-year-olds in such programs and 11 th in the percentage of 3-year-olds,
The report also gave Connecticut a five on a scale of one to ten for quality standards, marking it down for instructor credentials, among other standards. The state requires teachers to have either a bachelor's degree or a child development associate credential, but the report says Connecticut does not meet the benchmark of all preschool teachers having a bachelor's degree.
Connecticut did meet the institute's benchmarks for class size and staff-to-child ratio, according to the report.
During the press conference, experts from both the institute and the Pew Charitable Trusts, which helped pay for the report, emphasized the need for long-term foresight in state preschool investments.
"The ones that think long-term had the highest rates returned," said Robert H. Dugger, managing director of Tudor Investment Corp., an assets management fund, who spoke during the press conference.
Dugger said an estimated state investment of $18,000 for preschool education could potentially yield gains worth $150,000 after the child's education ends and he or she enters the workforce.
Oklahoma ranked first on access for 4-year-olds, and New Mexico ranked last among the 38 states with preschool programs. Arkansas ranked first on the report's quality standards checklist.
Eleven states, including New Hampshire and Rhode Island, did not offer any preschool programs during the 2004-2005 school year.
Show Your Senatorial Pride
By Sara Hatch
WASHINGTON, March 22 - For women out there who've been searching for a way to show their political pride and avoid VPL (for those not in the know, that's visible panty lines), the solution is here.
Thanks to cafepress.com, an online retailer marketing everything from political t-shirts to books, magazines and other interesting merchandise, you can now purchase thongs emblazoned with "I ? Joseph Lieberman" or "I ? Christopher Dodd." Or you could choose any other senator, governor or even your favorite Supreme Court justice.
Thongs cost $14.99 and camisoles are available for $21.99. And for the men out there, boxer shorts with slogans supporting their favorite politician are available for $17.99.
For those who like to show their pride on something other than undergarments, there are several t-shirt and sweatshirt designs and even a trucker hat and tote bag for sale.
Dodd spokesman Sean Oblack said his office had no comment. Lieberman's office did not respond to calls for comment.
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Energy Lobby Pushes for More Offshore Drilling
WASHINGTON, March 22-Maine's congressional delegation is resisting the effort by the energy industry and its allies in Congress to lift a moratorium on drilling for natural gas and oil on the Outer Continental Shelf. While there are no current proposals to open up drilling off Maine, lifting the moratorium would enable energy companies to begin drilling if they chose to.
Congress in 1982 placed a moratorium on drilling on most of the Outer Continental Shelf, except for the Gulf of Mexico and waters off Alaska and has renewed the moratorium every year.
According to reports by the U.S. Department of Interior's Minerals Management Service, drilling has taken place in the past. In the late 1970s and early 1980s oil companies opened several rigs 80 to 140 miles southeast of Nantucket Island, Mass. These wells were abandoned because they were not commercially viable and the moratorium went into effect. But natural gas wells are operating in the Canadian waters of Georges Bank, and that could spark interest on the American side.
Lisa Flavin, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute, an energy lobbying group, said the ultimate goal is to get more energy to consumers. She said that lifting the moratoria on drilling along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts would help deal with energy demands, which are expected to rise in the next two decades. By 2025, the demand for oil will rise by 39 percent and for natural gas by 34 percent, Flavin said.
The institute estimates that there are 3.8 billion barrels of oil in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, which stretches from the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia to the tip of Florida, and there are about 37 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the same region. This is a fraction of the resources in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.
Environmental groups disagree. Matt Prindiville, the federal policy advocate for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said that opening up drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf would do little to ease energy demands. The council favors developing alternative energy sources, making automobiles more efficient and making the drilling moratoria permanent.
Prindiville also said that having rigs off the coast of Maine could hurt fishing. "Oil drilling is a messy business," he said. "And the potential for spills to wreak havoc to fisheries and our coasts is certainly there."
The two Maine U.S. House members have signed a letter urging the House Appropriations Committee to maintain the moratoria. So far about 75 Democrats and 25 Republicans have signed the letter and more are expected to sign, according to a spokesman for Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine. A version of the letter circulates every year.
"Mining and oil drilling are profoundly inappropriate for the Gulf of Maine," Allen said in a statement. "Our tourism and fishing industries, so important to Maine's economy, are just too vital to put at risk. I will continue to fight to protect Maine's offshore areas from dangerous and inappropriate activities."
Maine's other representative, Democrat Michael Michaud said in a statement that last year many of his fellow members of Congress had abandoned the commitment to a moratorium for drilling.
"As a 29-year mill worker, I understand that there is no question that we have to do everything that we can to lower gas prices for Maine families, but turning the Gulf of Maine into an oil and gas field is not the way to go," Michaud said.
Both of Maine's Republican senators agree with the representatives on this issue. In a statement, Sen. Olympia Snowe said that she would be working with other senators to help protect the Atlantic Seaboard's environment.
"Many residents of coastal states such as Maine depend on the sea and all its natural resources for their very livelihoods," she said. "Given that we are not certain that oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf can be done in an environmentally friendly way, now is certainly not the time to lift the moratorium."
Sen. Susan Collins has been fighting efforts to open up the Outer Continental Shelf for years as well.
"Drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf presents a threat to the environment and could harm the livelihoods of many residents in Maine and other states," Collins said in a statement. "For this reason, I remain committed to making certain that the moratorium remains in place to preserve our natural resources for future generations."
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Common Cause President Brings Maine with her to Washington
WASHINGTON, March 21-The staff at Common Cause used to get tired of all the Down East stories the organization's president, Chellie Pingree would tell. That is, until last summer, when Pingree took them to her North Haven home for a retreat. They had a lobster bake on the beach, did some work and escaped Washington's oppressive summer heat for a breezy time on Penobscot Bay.
The office now mixes chatter about Allen's Coffee Brandy and hog's head cheese with talk of Washington corruption and bringing the Maine Clean Elections system to the national level.
Pingree, who served as the majority leader of the Maine Senate from 1996 to 2000, came to Common Cause after her failed attempt to unseat U.S. Sen. Susan Collins in 2002. After losing, Pingree was contacted by a firm of headhunters looking to fill the recently vacated position of Common Cause president.
Pingree was dubious at first about coming to Washington. "I'd lived in Maine for so long, and I still consider it my home," she said. But she quickly realized that she would have been here had she won against Collins, and she would be able to go back to Maine often.
Moreover, Common Cause, as one of the oldest people-power lobbying groups, fit well with Pingree's progressive politics.
"It's great to be one of the good guys when the bad guys are so bad," Pingree said in an interview in her office a few blocks from the lobbying den along K Street.
"From a lot of people's perspective this is one of the worst times in politics in Washington, particularly for the issues we work on," she said. "Most of our work is around the influence of money in politics, how elections are conducted, whether the votes get counted, things like the ethics of elected officials, and this year has been obviously incredibly busy for us."
Common Cause was founded by John Gardner, President Lyndon B. Johnson's Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, in 1970. In a press release that hangs on Pingree's wall, Gardner spoke of his desire for "public officials to have literally millions of American citizens looking over their shoulders at every move they make."
Gardner wanted his organization to represent everyone, saying that "our agenda must be an agenda for all Americans - for the poor, the comfortable and those in between, for old and young, for black and white, for city dwellers and farmers, for men and women."
Pingree took over the organization at a time of transition. Just before she arrived, Common Cause had seen its efforts of the previous few years pay off in the form of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, according to Mary Boyle, the organization's press secretary.
According to Boyle and Chief Operating Officer Sarah Dufendach, Pingree took the group out of its "tunnel vision" and made it focus on issues such as media reform and wider campaign finance reform. Pingree also focused much of the group's work on the states, recently helping to pass a clean elections system in Connecticut.
Pingree is very hands-on with these issues, according to many on her staff. Barbara Burt, the vice president and director of election reform, who is from Newcastle, said Pingree wants to be treated as a "member of the team." and She is very engaged at staff meetings, wanting to know what everyone is working on.
Pingree, who is now 50, came to Maine right after she graduated from high school. She grew up in Minnesota on a farm and is a third-generation Scandinavian-American. Pingree met her husband, Charlie Pingree, on an Outward Bound course in Minnesota and soon followed him home to Maine. Mr. Pingree is a member of the Maine landowning family but has no connection with the land-owning company itself..
The Pingrees have since divorced, but not before having three children. Hannah serves North Haven and the surrounding area in the state legislature. Cecily is a filmmaker who is working with her mother on opening up the old Nebo Lodge on North Haven for business this summer. Her son, Asa, is an actor.
When Pingree first came to Maine with her husband in 1971, she recalled, the couple lived in North Haven in a wood cabin with no electricity and no running water. The two had a much-read copy of Helen and Scott Nearing's book, "Living the Good Life," and led what Republican gubernatorial candidate Peter Mills called "a hippy-dippy existence." Charlie got a job on a dump truck and Chellie kept busy making candles and raising vegetables. She also attempted to volunteer at the local high school.
The principal seemed excited, but when the issue came before the school board it took a vote and decided it did not want this aggressive young woman from another state-from "away," as Mainers sometimes refer to outsiders-to be near their children. This stunned Pingree, she said, and spurred her to go to college so that she could become a science teacher and get her foot in the door of the school.
Pingree has since come to understand what kept her out of the school at first.
"There's sort of a funny thing," she said. "I think people in a lot of small towns and in New England, they kinda kick you around a little bit, and if you stick with it and show them that you're really gonna be there for the long haul, then they accept you and say 'OK.' "
Pingree, after the school board affair, left the island and went to Portland, where she attended night school at the University of Southern Maine and worked the lunch shift at the old Deering's Ice Cream by the South Portland Bridge. She left southern Maine after one semester and transferred to the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. There she got a degree in farming.
She and her husband returned to the island after school. Chellie started a farm and delivered eggs to her neighbors, Charlie started building boats and the two of them started their family.
Pingree had cows, sheep, chicken and vegetables. She started using the wool from her sheep to make sweaters for her business, North Island Designs. Eventually she sold her products through 1,200 stores and mail-order catalogues like Lands' End. About 35 women on the island knit sweaters for her.
In 1992, Pingree ran for the Maine Senate. She had been busy working on the school board and running a business. But she was, as her daughter Hannah described her, a "political junkie" and she needed that fix. She won as a liberal Democrat in Knox County, where 40 percent of the people were Republicans, 40 percent independents and only 20 percent Democrats.
She went on to become the majority leader in her last two terms. Mills said that she often made efforts to reach across the aisle, even if she never altered her policies.
After leaving the state Senate, she ran against Collins in what Mills called impossibly difficult circumstances. But to her supporters, she was still able to inspire people. Dale McCormick, who had served with Pingree in the state senate and originally asked her to run for that legislative seat, said she heard a brilliant bit on the radio.
"I can remember one time I was driving along in Augusta and I heard Chellie on the radio," McCormick said. "And she in 20 seconds so clearly articulated how I was feeling, the problem with the current situation and a very clear solution. I was applauding at the end of it."
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Members of Congress Go Home
By Adam Kredo
WASHINGTON, March 21 - Rep. Christopher Shays is getting to know his constituents in the fourth district this week, as Congress continues to remain out of session for an extended St. Patrick's Day "district work period."
This is the first year members have given themselves an entire week off for the holiday.
In fact, if they continue to follow the current schedule, members will spend a total of 97 days in Washington this year - the smallest number in 60 years.
Howard L. Reiter, head of the University of Connecticut's political science department, said he wasn't terribly concerned about how little time members spend in Washington.
"I don't think it's quite as bad as it looks, but clearly it makes it hard to get things done," Reiter said in a telephone interview. "I don't think they're just really going off and lying in a hammock."
Reiter also said the fewer days in Washington does not necessarily affect the quality of legislation. He said "the proof is in the pudding."
"I don't think we can argue consistently that the quality of legislation has gone up or down," Reiter said. "I don't know whether the quality of legislation is worse in one period."
According to the House schedule for 2006, there are 71 days on which votes may be scheduled and an additional 26 days where no votes will take place before 6:30 p.m. Moreover, the schedule includes two weeks off in April, one week off in May, another week off in July and the entire month off in August. The Senate has a similar schedule.
The House did not convene until Jan. 31 this year and then took a week off in February for President's Day.
By last Friday, the second session of the 109 th Congress had logged a total of 19 days.
In the 2004 election year, the second session of the 108 th Congress, which lasted from Jan. 3 until Dec. 7, the House recorded 110 days in session, according to the Library of Congress.
The 108 th Congress spent 243 days in session in 2003-04, and the 109 th is currently on pace to set a similar number.
The number of days in session for the House has declined over the years. Members were in session 323 days during the 95 th Congress in 1977-78. During the 1970s, Congress averaged about 320 days over a two-year session, according to the Office of the House Clerk.
It has been projected that the average number of days in session per two-year Congress for the first six years of the Bush presidency (2001-07) will be below 250.
Brian Darling, director of Senate relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization in Washington, said he was not worried about this decrease.
"The fact that they have less legislative days does not mean that they are not working hard," Darling said in a telephone interview. He acknowledged there are "less days to legislate, and that has been a trend over the past few years."
In fact, Darling said increased time in the district is a positive trend because it results in increased constituent contact. This, he said, helps to keep members in touch with their electorate.
"The fact that they're spending more time in the district is a good thing," Darling said.
Rep. Shays will be taking advantage of his district time by meeting with several high school classes in Greenwich and Wilton. The Republican congressman also will speak at the Merchant Marine Academy in Long Island.
Members of Congress typically work in the Capitol three days a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, spending the long weekends in their districts.
For most employees in the public service field, though, this is not the norm.
Peter Alatsas, owner of the Ambrosia Bar & Grill in Norwalk, said he is puzzled by the amount of time Congress takes off.
"I don't know how they manage to do that, but I know what it is in my business," Alatsas, who works from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days week, said in a telephone interview. "I just can't take a freakin' day off - I can't afford to."
The last time Alatsas took off from work was when he went to visit his dying mother in Greece. Even this, though, was "by force, not by choice."
"This is a seven-days-a-week corporation. I don't take no days off," he said.
Despite his own demanding schedule, Alatsas said he is not particularly distraught over Congress' work schedule.
"If they can get away with it, that's fine. I can't do that in my business, so I don't know how it works out on their end," he said.
Members of Congress will return to Washington on March 27, with no votes scheduled for the day. All votes will be postponed until after 6:30 p.m. the following day, according to the House schedule published by Majority Whip Roy Blunt.
Congress' next break will come on April 10, when members will take two weeks off for their Spring District Work Period.
