Find out if your small business is elligible for health care reform tax credits. NWBG is hosting a seminar about the Small Business Tax Credit in the recent health care reform law, sponsored by the Portland Regional Chamber and Norway Savings Bank on Wednesday, September 15. 

The recent health care reform law creates tax credits for certain qualified small businesses to help offset the cost of providing health insurance to employees.  There is a great deal of complexity regarding this provision, however, and companies will need to carefully assess whether they are eligible for the credit, what portion of the credit they are eligible for, and whether it is cost effective long term to take the credit.

NWBG is hosting a seminar about the Small Business Tax Credit in the recent health care reform law.  Learn answers to questions like: Is my company eligible for a tax credit? How much is the credit for? How do I claim the credit?

This seminar provides a detailed overview of the small business tax credit included in the recently enacted federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Participants will learn:
•    How to determine the total eligible employees in your company after adjusting for excluded employees and part-time equivalents.
•    How to determine average wages for the purpose of eligibility.
•    Employer health plan and contribution requirements.
•    Benchmark premium requirements.
•    Available credit amounts in phase 1 and 2 of the tax credit.
•    How to calculate partial credits.
•    Rules for tax-exempt employers.
•    How to claim the tax credit.
•    How the tax credit affects health insurance premium deductibility.
•    Considerations in evaluating the long term impact of claiming the tax credit.

Who should attend?
•    Companies with 2-25 employees (do not count owners and family members) with average annual wages of $50k and below; Anyone with an interest in understanding the small business health care tax credit

Date:         Wednesday, September 15th
Time:         9:00 am – 11:00 am
Location:   Marriot Sable Oaks; 200 Sable Oaks Drive, South Portland, Maine 04106

Cost for two people from the same company: $100 for Portland Regional Chamber members and Norway Savings Bank customers; $150 for others. Attendance for licensed life and health insurance agents is $750 and they will receive continuing education credits. Checks should be made payable to “NWBG” and mailed in advance to NWBG, 47 Water Street, Suite 102, Hallowell, ME 04347.
RSVP by calling NWBG at: 888-901-3727 ext. 202 or e-mail us at dana@nwbgroup.com

The Maine Historical Society is hosting poets Estha Weiner and Betsy Sholl on Wednesday, August 4. 

Wednesday, August 4, 5pm
COMING HOME?
A Poetry Reading by Estha Weiner and Betsy Sholl, Poet Laureate of Maine

Estha Weiner brings her newest book, Transfiguration Begins At Home (Tiger Bark Press 2009) back home to Portland, to read with Betsy Sholl.  Hear the poets, who first met at The Stonecoast Writers Conference, weave their friendship and their poems as they consider how "home" shapes and shifts over time.  Maine, of course, plays a key role in that: Estha, a Portland native, moved away to go to college while Betsy moved here 27 years ago. Book signing to follow.

The Center for Law and Innovation at the University of Maine School of Law is hosting a conference on information privacy, security and management on August 5, 2010. 

The Center for Law and Innovation at the University of Maine School of Law is hosting a conference on information privacy, security and management on August 5, 2010, in the Wishcamper Center on USM's Portland campus.  Data security and management issues are of growing importance to Maine businesses, financial institutions, insurance companies, health care providers and the legal professionals who serve them.  How can lawyers and managers create systems to protect data which institutions increasingly store in-house and in the "cloud," and transmit in global channels, and what are the risks?  What steps can make data easier to find? How does privacy law affect the world of cloud computing and social media?  If you, your customers, or your clients collect, transmit, or store valuable data, this event is for you.

For more information, and to register online, visit www.lawandinnovation.org, or contact Kathryn Masters at kmasters@usm.maine.edu / 207.228.8430.

This event is approved for 5.3 credit hours of Maine continuing legal education, but is aimed at the business community, too.

Reduce stress, health costs and improve employee morale with laughter exercises.  The Highlands in Topsham will be a host site for Certified Laughter Leader training on Aug. 12 & 13. 

Laughter is the best medicine!    Reduce stress, health costs and improve employee morale with laughter exercises.  The Highlands in Topsham will be a host site for Certified Laughter Leader training on Aug. 12 & 13.  For general questions, call Michelle Rich 725-2650 ext. 104.  For detailed info and to register go to www.worldlaughtertour.com.

Saint Joseph's College is presenting a daylong workshop titled "Electronic Data Risk: Records, Privacy, Liability and Investigations" on Thursday, August 19. 

Saint Joseph's College will present a daylong workshop titled "Electronic Data Risk: Records, Privacy, Liability and Investigations" on Thursday, August 19. The program is ideal for certified public accountants, certified financial planners, attorneys, banking and finance professionals, human resources executives, insurance brokers and other professionals who need to meet CPE or CLE requirements for licensure.

Benjamin Wright, an attorney practicing computer security and e-commercial law in Dallas, will present the workshop. Topics include e-discovery in lawsuits and investigations; e-record retention policy; data privacy; electronic investigations, online banking risks for small- and mid-sized enterprises; and electronic contracts and warnings.

Wright has delivered more than 600 presentations on the law of e-commerce, records management, privacy and computer security. He has been quoted in publications around the globe, from the Wall Street Journal to the Sydney Morning Herald. Wright is the author of several information technology law books, including Business Law & Computer Security.

The workshop runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Viola George Auditorium in Alfond Hall at the Standish campus. The workshop offers eight hours of CPE/CLE, which includes one hour of ethics. The cost is $279 and includes lunch. Visit http://online.sjcme.edu/edr or call 800-752-4723 for more information.

Portland Museum of Art August - September Calendar

John Haberle: American Master of Illusion
September 18 through December 12
Combining a masterful technique with sly, witty historical and personal references to American life from 1870 to 1910, today John Haberle (1856-1933) is considered one of the most accomplished American trompe l'oeil (meaning to "fool the eye") painters. This exhibition will feature approximately 20 paintings and drawings from the New Britain Museum of American Art along with works from our collection, other museums, and private collections. Alluding to the moral and political issues of the time, Haberle's paintings juxtapose newspaper clippings, tickets, and money with objects such as a pocket watch, playing cards, and rosary beads. The slight but ingenious details make each of Haberle's paintings exceedingly complex. He spent most of his life in or near his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, where he worked as an engraver, draftsman, lithographer, and as a custodian and preparator at Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Debating Modern Photography: The Triumph of Group f/64
September 30 through December 5
In the 1930s, a small group of California photographers challenged the painterly, soft-focus Pictorialist style of the day. They argued that photography could only advance as an art if its practitioners exploited characteristics inherent to the camera's mechanical nature. This small association of innovators created Group f/64, named after the camera aperture which produces great depth of field and sharp focus. The exhibition will revisit this debate and includes images by photographers in Group f/64 such as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Sonya Noskowiak, and Willard Van Dyke, as well as images by Pictorialists such as Anne Brigman, William Dassonville, Johan Hagemeyer, William Mortensen, and Karl Struss. With more than 100 works by 16 artists, Debating Modern Photography will offer a feast for the eyes while illustrating both sides of a high-stakes debate. Outstanding examples of the clean edges and bold forms of Group f/64 will stand in sharp contrast to the romantic, hand-crafted Pictorialist work that includes ­elegant portraits, tonalist landscapes, and allegorical studies.

 
ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

 Winslow Homer and the Poetics of Place
Through September 6
The relationship between Winslow Homer (1836-1910) and the Portland Museum of Art is long-standing and intimate. Homer exhibited at the Museum in his lifetime and in the course of the 20th century the Museum has become a symbolic home for the artist. In honor of the centennial of Homer's death, this exhibition is showcasing the Museum's collection of Homer watercolors, oils on canvas, and illustrations. Featuring 28 works, it is the first time since 1988 that all of these works will be on view together in the Charles Shipman Payson Building. In 2006, the Museum purchased his studio at Prouts Neck and is currently involved in a major conservation and restoration project at that storied site. The Winslow Homer Studio will open to the public in September 2012.

American Moderns:
Masterworks on Paper from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 1910-1960
Through September 12
American Moderns showcases 90 works on paper from the collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, by nationally recognized artists such as Edward Hopper, John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, and more. This is the first in-depth examination and presentation of the Atheneum's American modernist works on paper. Beginning with the Ashcan school, including works by John Sloan and William Glackens, the exhibition traces the emergence of American modernism and the circle of Alfred Stieglitz, concluding with strong examples of postwar realism, with works by Ellsworth Kelly and Andrew Wyeth. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see paintings by Edward Hopper depicting scenes of Maine in the state.

Anna Hepler: Makeshift
Through October 17
In July, contemporary Maine artist Anna Hepler constructed a monumental installation inside the Museum's Great Hall. Made from a nest-like mesh of salvaged and sewn sheet plastic, The Great Haul takes advantage of the Museum's expansive entry space. A second exhibition of Hepler's work, on view in the fourth floor gallery, features a series of cyanotype prints (or blue prints) made from digital photographs of small sculptures, and like her large installations, these works are defined by light. This is Hepler's first solo exhibition at the Portland Museum of Art, and this exhibition is the first in a series called Circa that explores compelling aspects of contemporary art in the state of Maine.

MUSEUM PROGRAMS

Artist Reception: Anna Hepler: Makeshift
Friday, August 6, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free admission.
Join us and artist Anna Hepler as we celebrate the exhibition Anna Hepler: Makeshift and the launch of the Circa series. Anna Hepler: Makeshift features a monumental installation inside the Museum's Great Hall made from a nest-like mesh of salvaged and sewn sheet plastic, as well as a series of cyanotype prints and an inflatable installation on the fourth floor.

Yourspace: Open Studio Reception
Friday, August 6, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Free admission.
Join us for a reception to recognize the work of the 2010 Yourspace interns. Yourspace is a three-week summer internship for six of Portland's most talented young artists, which provides access to the Museum's renowned works of art, experience with professional arts educators, and intensive art-making to help prepare them for future careers. This year's interns, nominated by art teachers at their schools, are: Courtney Boothby and Heather Cron from Portland High School, Courtney McGorrill and Maddie Ostwald from Deering High School, and Summer Leppanen and Emma Raine Maasch from Casco Bay High School. Come meet these young artists and learn more about their work.

Movies at the Museum:

Fridays, Saturdays, & Sundays. Tickets: $7 and available on the day of the show. For a complete list of movies, visit moviesatthemuseum.org.

My Tale of Two Cities: Saturday, August 7, 2 p.m. and Sunday, August 8, 2 p.m.

Meet Carl Kurlander, director of My Tale of Two Cities on Saturday, August 7 after the 2 p.m. screening. Kurlander, who was the screenwrite for St. Elmo's Fire and a writer/producer for Saved By the Bell will host a Q & A session after the screening.

Mid-August Lunch: Friday, August 13, 6:30 p.m, Saturday, August 14, 2 p.m and Sunday, August 15, 2 p.m.

Picasso and Braque:  Friday, August 20, 6:30 p.m.

Go to the Movies:  Saturday, August 21, 2 p.m and Sunday, August 22, 2 p.m.

Welcome: Friday, August 27, 6:30 p.m, Saturday, August 28, 2 p.m. and Sunday, August 29, 2 p.m.

Desert of Forbidden Art Fridays, September 3 & 10, 6:30 p.m, Saturdays, September 4 & 11, 2 p.m and Sundays, September 5 & 12, 2 p.m.

Exit Through the Gift Shop: Friday, September 24, 7 p.m, Saturday, September 25, 2 p.m. & 7 p.m and Sunday, September 26, 2 p.m.

Gallery Talks

Selected Fridays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at 1 p.m. (Please note time change.) Free with Museum admission.

Gallery Talks offer unique perspectives about the art on view and the artists who created it. Each talk is presented by a Museum Docent and lasts approximately 45 minutes. Additional Gallery Talks may be scheduled; visit our website for the most up-to-date listings.

8/7:        Anna Hepler by Linda Frinsko
8/13:      Winslow Homer and the Poetics of Place by Sy Epstein
8/14:      American Moderns: Masterworks on Paper from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of

Art by Sy Epstein

8/20:      American Art 1910-1960: Pushing the Boundaries by Susan Rudy
8/21:      American Moderns: Masterworks on Paper from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 1910-1960 by Sy Epstein
8/27:      American Art 1910-1960: Pushing the Boudaries by Susan Rudy
8/28:      Winslow Homer and the Poetics of Place by Linda Roberts

9/3:        American Moderns: Masterworks on Paper from the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 1910-1960 by Sy Epstein
9/10:      American Moderns: Masterworks on Paper from the Wadsworth by Claire Knox
9/11:      American Moderns: Masterworks on Paper from the Wadsworth by Claire Knox

Winslow Homer Stamp Celebration

Thursday, August 12, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free.

In celebration of the exhibition Winslow Homer and the Poetics of Place and in collaboration with the United States Postal Service, the Museum will unveil the new stamp of the Winslow Homer painting Boys in a Pasture (1874) on its first day of issue. Representatives from the Portland Post Office will be here to postmark stamps with a special pictorial postmark designed specifically for this event. Winslow Homer's Boys in a Pasture is the ninth stamp issued in the American Treasures series. The Museum will also showcase two first day of issue stamps from December 15, 1962 of the Winslow Homer painting Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) (1873-1876).

Paint Hopper's Light
Saturday, September 11, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Price: $75/$60 members.
Join us for a day of looking and painting as we take a trip through the exhibition American Moderns and then to Portland Head Light. At the Museum, we'll see Edward Hopper's views of Portland and then discover the thrill of walking in the footsteps of this great American painter. Pack a lunch and bring your curiosity. Everyone will receive a special viewing and art kit and all painting materials will be supplied. After a full day in Hopper's light, you'll see the meaning in Hopper's words, "All I really want to do is paint light on the side of a house." Limited to 20 people.

Jazz Breakfasts
Sundays, September 19 through December 19
10:30 a.m. to Noon. Concerts are free with Museum admission. Breakfast items may be purchased.
Jazz Breakfasts are a longstanding and popular tradition at the Museum, and offer a blend of traditional favorites, new trends, and everything in between. Get your Sundays off to a jazzy start with great art, entertaining music, and delicious food. The Museum is proud to showcase Maine musicians.

9/19: Al Derben Trio
9/26: Night and Day

f/64 Photography Mini-Course
Thursdays, September 30, October 7, and 14, 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Price: $40/$30 members/Free for Docents, K-12 teachers, and Maine college students.

9/30: Part I: Pictorialism
10/7: Part II: Reaction to Pictorialism
10/14: Part III: Birth of Modern Photography

Learn more about Pictorialism and its formative role in the development of 20th-century photography. Join Kim Grant, associate professor of Art History at University of Southern Maine, as she first discusses the Pictorialist tradition of art photography. In Part II, the class will study Group f/64. This group of California photographers, which included Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston, rejected Pictorialist approaches to embrace a modernist aesthetic that stressed objective vision and perfectly focused images. Part III will consider how this group prepared the way for the development of straight photography in the mid-20th century. Made possible by the Margaret Coleman Brown Fund at the Portland Museum of Art.

The Landing at Pine Point has Martini Club every Wednesday and Thursday from 5pm - 10pm with live music starting at 7pm. 

The Landing at Pine Point has Martini Club every Wednesday and Thursday from 5pm - 10pm with live music starting at 7pm.  Dinner and drink specials available, runs through Sept 2, 2010.  Check out our calendar at http://www.thelandingatpinepoint.com/calendar.html

Portland SCORE August events and workshops.

Portland SCORE will hold its Starting Your Own Business workshop on Tuesday, August 10, beginning at 6:00 p.m.  On Thursday, August 12 will be the monthly member of members at which the featured speaker will be Eliot Cutler, independent candidate for governor of Maine.  The meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. and is open to all SCORE volunteers and anyone interested in becoming a SCORE volunteer.  On Tuesday August 24 will be the Writing a Business Plan workshop, beginning at 6:00 p.m.  All events will be held in the SCORE offices on the 2^nd floor at 100 Middle Street, Portland.  You can learn more and sign up to attend an event at www.scoremaine.com. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pinnacle Development Group recently changed its name to Pinnacle IT. 

Pinnacle Development Group recently changed its name to Pinnacle IT, to better describe its mission to be the best high-level programming shop in Maine.  As well as provide programming services, Pinnacle IT also provides network support, IT staffing, web applications, web and e-commerce sites, and custom programming.  Call Kim Crabill at 330.1330 for a complimentary one hour consultation session.

Cable TV association honors two Time Warner Cable employees for local programming.

Two producers from Time Warner Cable's Portland production department won awards at the New England Cable & Telecommunications Association's 21^st Annual Public Service & Excellence in Cable Television Awards ceremony, held Thursday, July 15, at the Newport Marriott Hotel in Newport, R.I.

Ryan Whittier won a first place award for News and Information for his segment, The Weather Up There, which profiled the people who live and work at the Mount Washington Observatory. A resident of Sanford, Whittier is a 12-year employee of Time Warner Cable.

Scott McIlwain won a John Notte Award for Superior Production Values for his segment, Tuskegee Airmen, a profile of James A. Sheppard of South Portland, who served as chief flight engineer with the all-black fighter squadron in World War II. McIlwain lives in Portland and has worked at Time Warner Cable for 16 years.

Both segments originally aired on TWC TV's Let's Connect program last September and are available for viewing anytime on Time Warner Cable's local On Demand channel. Let's Connect airs every Thursday at 7 p.m. TWC TV is a programming service of Time Warner Cable, featuring coverage of local events, sports, people and places. It can be found on Channels 9 or 12 in most of Time Warner Cable's service area in Maine and channels 21 and 22 in portions of New Hampshire.

UNE College of Pharmacy receives candidate approval from the Accreditation Council on Pharmacy Education; Announces new Dean afterextensive national search. 

The University of New England College of Pharmacy has received notification of the granting of Candidate status for its Doctor of Pharmacy Program from the Accreditation Council on Pharmacy Education. 

"We are very pleased we have received this recognition," said Dr. Douglas Kay, Dean of UNE's College of Pharmacy. "Our inaugural class of students have completed the first year of the four-year academic program.  The second class of 100 students will be arriving on campus this fall.  The cultural diversity of this class is even greater than last year's class which represented students from around the nation and the world.  One-quarter of the incoming class is from Maine."

UNE has received 785 applications for the 100 spaces in the incoming class, said Dean Kay.  The college's research focus makes it different from most other new pharmacy schools in the country. 

UNE's College of Pharmacy will welcome a new Dean in September after an extensive national search.  The new Dean, Gayle A. Brazeau, Ph.D., has most recently served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Buffalo, State University of New York, where she is also a Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice.

According to ACPE, students enrolled in a college with Candidate status have the same rights and privileges as those in a fully-accredited program which occurs after the inaugural class graduates. 

ON THE MOVE

Baker Newman Noyes announces staff promotions.

Baker Newman Noyes, CPAs in Portland, ME and Manchester, NH is pleased to announce the promotion of Nicole (Blaise) Prokos, Jason Emery and Matt Vasil to Audit Managers. Nicole joined BNN in 2005. Jason also joined the firm in 2005. Matt joined BNN in 2005.

Also, the following members of our Audit Division were promoted to Audit Senior Accountant:

James Boissonneault
Danielle Decaro - Manchester, New Hampshire
Jeremy Dumond
Matt Fernandez
Mary Michaud
Michael Morse
Bill Newton
Nick Paquette

Berry Dunn McNeil & Parker announces new hires.

Berry Dunn McNeil & Parker is pleased to announce that Nicole Becnel has joined the consulting staff of Berry Dunn McNeil & Parker, CPAs and Management Consultants.

Nicole will be working in the Firm's Government Consulting Group in a project management role for the firm's Medicaid Consulting practice. 

Prior to joining Berry Dunn, Nicole worked for a large corporation implementing Medicaid Management Information Systems throughout the country. She is a graduate of the University of South Florida with a BA degree. Nicole resides with her family in Hurricane, West Virginia. 

The firm is also pleased to announce that Verna Lynch has joined the firm in the Portland office as a Senior Consultant with the Management and Information Technology Consulting Group. Verna has 22 years' experience as a management consultant whose primary focus has been on strategic planning, process improvement, and employee development and training in a wide range of industries. As part of the MITG group, Verna will be bringing those talents to help serve higher education, healthcare, third party administrators, and other specific areas of the practice.

Verna earned her Masters Degree in public speaking from Bob Jones University. Prior to joining Berry Dunn, Verna most recently worked with the Praxes Group where her primary focus was on market and business development. She is a member of Build a Better Business, the Tawani Foundation, and the West Paris Baptist Church.

Verna presently resides in West Paris, Maine with her husband.