WHEREAS, in the State of Maine, many children reside in formal and informal kinship care; and

WHEREAS, the children of Maine are key to the state's future success, prosperity, and quality of life; and

WHEREAS, the State of Maine believes the health and safety of all children are of utmost importance; and

WHEREAS, kinship caregivers can provide the safety and stability that children need to reach their full and most positive potential; and

WHEREAS, up to 35 percent of all food produced in Maine is thrown away rather than eaten; and

WHEREAS, safe and nutritious food that is currently thrown away could instead help feed the 1 in 7 Maine children and 1 in 10 Maine adults who go hungry; and

WHEREAS, Maine can help our farmers and build our food system by recycling inedible food waste and returning the nutrients and energy to the soil as compost instead of trash; and

Each year, it’s my honor to recognize and pay tribute to Maine companies that are leading the way and investing in their employees, their communities, and our state through the Governor’s Award for Business Excellence.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.

The Governor’s Award for Business Excellence was first dedicated to Maine businesses by former Governor Jock McKernan more than thirty years ago. For decades, governors from both parties have kept this important tradition alive, paying tribute to the Maine companies that both excel in the business world and invest directly in their employees, their communities, and our state.

For this year’s Governor’s Award, I will be celebrating those businesses that strive for excellence even during global challenges.

I will be recognizing businesses in the following categories:

The Innovation Award, which celebrates and recognizes business excellence through entrepreneurship and innovation.

The Rural Revitalization Award, which recognizes contributions to the revitalization and growth of Maine’s rural regions.

The Heritage Industry Award, which recognizes business excellence in the agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, or marine sectors.

And fourthly, the Climate Leader Award. That one recognizes business leadership, innovation, or excellence in mitigating climate risks or developing new technologies to combat climate change.

You can submit an application for the Governor’s Awards for Business Excellence now through Friday, October 13 on our new online portal on the Department of Economic and Community Development’s website at Maine.gov/decd. That’s Maine.gov/decd.

In 2022, I celebrated Atlantic Sea Farms and MedRhythms, Central Maine Motors and Dirigo Solar as models for economic success at a ceremony at the Blaine House in Augusta.

This year, I am proud to continue the decades-long tradition of recognizing those exceptional Maine businesses, entrepreneurs, and employees who are working to make our state the best place to work, live, and raise a family.

If you are a business owner or you work for a business, I encourage you to apply for the 2023 Governor’s Award for Business Excellence by Friday, October 13th. Again, submit your application online at Maine.gov/decd.

You deserve credit for the work that you are doing to strengthen our economy and strengthen our state.

This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.

Earlier this week, my Administration recognized International Overdose Awareness Day.

We rededicated ourselves to preventing overdoses from claiming the lives of more people in Maine.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

More than 5,000 overdoses have been reported in Maine this year through the end of June. Three hundred of those overdoses were deadly. As very troubling and unacceptable as that number is, the number is also a slight decrease from the same time period last year.

But these tragic deaths are driven by the ever-increasing prevalence of fentanyl, the highly lethal, highly addictive synthetic opioid, that is often present in other drugs consumed by unknowing users. In Maine, as in the rest of the nation, fentanyl is not only the leading cause of overdoses, it is responsible for 80 percent of all drug deaths.

Alarmingly, six percent of fentanyl overdose deaths in Maine last year included xylazine as well — that’s an animal tranquilizer that can cause horrible, painful wounds on your skin and even amputations of limbs of your body. The number of fentanyl overdose deaths with xylazine has increased, and unlike fentanyl, there is no reversal medication for xylazine. It is a killer.

The abundance of fentanyl and other drugs like xylazine is stealing away the futures of people across our state, including children and young adults.

These new drugs new have changed the epidemic of substance use disorder. But as a result, our work to stop it has changed too.

Using $260 million in funding for behavioral health and substance use services in the state budget, we’re focusing on stopping deadly drugs from getting into Maine in the first place; on preventing drug overdoses and reversing drug overdoses to save the lives of Maine people; on expanding treatment and recovery programs, especially in rural areas; and on preventing people from using drugs in the first place.

How are we saving lives?

• Well, we’ve trained hundreds of recovery coaches and we’ve opened more than a dozen recovery centers in rural and urban communities across Maine.
• We’re hiring more peer outreach workers, who have already done more than 200 trainings to communities across the state. They’ve distributed hundreds of naloxone kits, which saves lives. They’ve served nearly 600 people, including transporting people to detox, treatment, or sober living facilities.

Our goal is to prevent overdoses, but we’re also making sure bystanders can reverse overdoses to save a person’s life, so we can help put that person back on the path to a productive life again.

• So, we’ve increased our distribution of Naloxone, the lifesaving drug, by 25 percent, 25,000 doses actually, statewide. And since 2019, we’ve reversed more than 8,000 near deadly overdoses in this state.
• We enacted a new Good Samaritan law to encourage bystanders to call for help when someone is overdosing while still preserving law enforcement’s ability to arrest drug traffickers and violent offenders.
• And we’re buying and distributing xylazine test strips to people who need them. People need to know before they consume the most deadly drug out there.

My Administration will continue to do all we can to save lives because we know that recovery from substance use disorder is possible. Maine needs every person in our state to reach their full potential.

If you’d like to get involved with our response to the opioid epidemic in Maine, or if you need resources for yourself or your loved ones, please visit www.KnowYourOptions.ME.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

WHEREAS 1,578 Americans are still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, as well as 7,492 from the Korean War, 126 from the Cold War, and 72,187 from World War II, though thousands from World War II are assessed as unrecoverable deep-sea losses; and

WHEREAS, the families and friends of unaccounted for Vietnam War Veterans, as well as countless fellow Veterans and other Americans, still await recovery and identification of their remains or clarity regarding their fates; and

WHEREAS, Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) are the primary providers of community-based long-term support services for thousands of individuals with disabilities in Maine; and

WHEREAS, DSPs are valued for their work in building respectful and trusted relationships with individuals to assist them with their most intimate needs; and

Earlier this week, I was pleased to visit the University of Maine in Orono to announce the 2023 Northern Border Regional Commission Catalyst Awards. This year marks the largest single round of grants that Commission has ever distributed to the inventors and innovators who are driving the economic success of our region.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

The Northern Border Regional Commission – or NBRC – was created by Congress back in 2008. It’s intended to spur economic and community development along the northeastern border of the United States, focusing on rural counties in particular. The Commission has five co-chairs, including me, the governor of Maine, and the governors of New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York – along with a federal co-chair appointed by the President.

Since its creation, the NBRC has distributed 387 grants, amounting to more than $114 million in direct investments and attracting another $416 million in additional investments, across Maine and the other Commission member states.

Thanks to the advocacy of Maine’s Congressional Delegation, this year, Maine is receiving $11 million in federal funding and $36.5 million in other matching funds, or leveraged funding, through the NBRC Catalyst Awards. Sixteen awardees in Maine will use these funds to make sure that Maine people can live in healthy communities, have safe roads, clean drinking water, and good housing.

For example, the University of Maine will use its million dollar grant from NBRC to create the “GEM Gateway” within its Green Engineering and Materials Factory of the Future. 

The “Factory of the Future” is a manufacturing space at the University that uses sustainable, bio-based materials from Maine timber – things like CLT, or cross laminated timber. It is revitalizing our forest products industry and our rural Maine economy, it’s reducing carbon emissions, and helping us combat the effects of climate change to protect our environment.

I am very pleased the NBRC recognized the importance of funding the “GEM Gateway” in the University’s Factory of the Future. Among other benefits, the “GEM Gateway” will provide an immersive learning experience for young people to interest them in advanced manufacturing and careers in that area. The “GEM Gateway” is just one of sixteen projects in Maine funded by the NBRC Catalyst Awards this year. 

The Town of Greenville will use its grant to expand public roads and parking, and sewer and water lines, and storm water systems to help with the development of 26 units of new workforce housing near the CA Dean Northern Light Hospital. That investment will attract health care workers and their families to the beautiful Moosehead Lake region.

The Towns of Anson and Madison will use their joint grant to improve the water district’s wastewater treatment system and remove PFAS from treated waters.

And organizations in Oxford County will upgrade trail systems and trailhead parking, and establish miles of new mountain bike trails and purchase snow guns for Black Mountain ski resort in Rumford.

These investments will strengthen Maine’s heritage industries, and enhance our outdoor economy, increase our resiliency to climate change, and create good-paying jobs in our rural communities.

I thank the Northern Border Regional Commission for its continued support of rural Maine, and I thank the Maine Congressional Delegation—all four of them—for their work to secure the funding that made these projects possible.

On behalf of the state of Maine, I congratulate the University of Maine and the 15 other 2023 Catalyst Award Winners from Presque Isle to Washington County and everything in between, and I look forward to celebrating these projects as they are completed in the years to come.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

WHEREAS, George J. Mitchell was born in Waterville, Maine on August 20, 1933, raised by hardworking Lebanese and Irish parents who instilled in their children a formidable work ethic and a drive to do well by others; and

WHEREAS, the State of Maine is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all those living in and visiting our state; and

WHEREAS, a sufficient blood supply is a public health issue both locally and nationally, and our hospitals and medical centers need a readily available supply for our residents and visitors

WHEREAS, one blood donation can help save more than one life, and although most of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, only about 3 percent actually do.

WHEREAS, Maine is renowned for its agricultural heritage and commitment to producing high-quality, locally-sourced products; and

WHEREAS, the Maine Cheese Guild, a pioneering organization in promoting and advancing the art of cheese-making, was officially established in 2003 with an uncompromising dedication to cultivating a vibrant artisanal cheese community; and