Maine

The University of New England has received a $3.5 million state award from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to help open the first college of dental medicine in northern New England.

The Maine Health and Higher Education Facilities Authority plans to sell $290 million of Series 2011 revenue bonds Tuesday to benefit a construction spree by the MaineGeneral Medical Center.

The Maine Turnpike Authority is suing former chief executive Paul Violette, demanding he repay $524,000 it alleges he cost the agency between 2003 and 2011.

The coffers of a land conservation program are empty because they rely on voter-approved bonds and no such proposals are scheduled on Maine's ballots this year.

Maine plans to issue $116.8 million of general obligation bonds through competitive bid, the first time the state will sell long-term debt competitively since 1990.

A new elementary school is just one of the projects being financed with $77.4 million of bonds that the Maine Municipal Bond Bank plans to market this week.

States and municipalities in the Northeast sold $58.9 billion of debt in 1,062 issues during the first six months of 2010, eking out a 2% increase over the first half of 2009.

WASHINGTON — Maine is the first state or local government to obtain a credit opinion from the National Association of Insurance Commissioner’s Securities Valuation Office for a new issue of municipal bonds.