Last Sunday, we published a lengthy investigative report by staffer Meghan Malloy that looked into an alleged puppy mill that was operating in Somerville, and looked into how state and local officials had regulated the dog-breeding operation prior to 2008.

I don't want to recite the story in this blog. If you haven't read it, here's the link to Malloy's story.

The winter of 2008-09 will be brutal for many Mainers financially. A combination of record-high heating-oil and other energy costs and a tough economy, in Maine and nationally, could push some people over the edge financially.

The Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel staffs have been talking a lot about energy and gasoline costs. We've done many stories on this topic already. We also have run informative articles from our sister paper, the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, and from the Associated Press and other wire services to which we subscribe.

I will be on vacation for a few days but wanted to tell you about some major training opportunities coming up for our staff — training that will change our newspapers, for the better, very soon.

On Monday, Joel Rawson, executive editor of the Providence Journal, will lead reporting workshops at the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal newsrooms.

Bring your Sharpies and some good paper for autographs.

Editors from weekly and daily newspapers around Maine will be in the Hall of Flags today (Thursday) from 9 a.m. to noon for "Maine Press Day," organized by the Maine Press Association.

It's a nice, casual and typically small event with muffins and free newspapers. We do this so lawmakers can stop and ask questions but we like meeting everyone. If you don't know many journalists it really might interest you: We don't have two heads and we aren't Marxists. In fact, we are a lot like you and our lives are a lot like yours too.

I will be there from 11 a.m. to noon. My publisher, John Christie, will be there earlier. We'd love to meet you.

I was kidding about the autographs. Never been asked for one and I predict my streak will stay intact until I retire, which is fine by me.

Perhaps you remember the name — Steve Kolowich.

A senior at Bowdoin College who hails from Concord, Mass., Steve was our summer intern this year. He was impressive, too, and showed some real hustle when we put him on a team that covered the murder of Alexandra Mills in Wayne.

Steve is back in the news this week. He interviewed Gov. Baldacci for the Bowdoin Orient, a weekly campus newspaper where Steve is the editor. Steve asked a bunch of questions but the one that has people talking was about Plum Creek's plan to develop areas around Moosehead Lake. Baldacci called the proposal "too sprawling."

Word got out. Was the governor weighing in on this big project at a crucial time? Is he sending a message to the Land Use Regulation Commission as it examines and hears testimony about the project?

The governor's office quickly "clarified" his comments, saying Baldacci has been consistent about the need for thorough and responsible development. That's what he meant when the governor told Kolowich what he did.

Steve is a smart, but unusually humble young man. When a Portland Press Herald reporter asked Steve if he knew how significant Baldacci's comments could be, Steve said no, not really. We like that.

I don't have a big finishing point to make with this entry. But I wanted to let you know about our connection to Steve. Once again, we're proud of him.

We're not desperate. Really. We have a reporting position open and we have some good applications in hand.

But one thing we don't have enough of: Qualified applications from Maine natives, or people who went to high school here, and want to live in central Maine and work as a reporter at the Kennebec Journal or Morning Sentinel. Why is that? We produce two fine daily newpapers, which we think are getting better. Our Web site just was voted best in New England for newspapers of 40,000 circulation or below. Our company is an excellent employer. We offer competitive salaries and every benefit you could ask for — health care, eye and dental care, a 401k run by Fidelity, weekly overtime. Etc.

Sometimes, in reader comments, in e-mails or in comments at other Web sites that I browse occasionally, there will be criticisms that we don't hire enough Mainers —young journalists from this area, Maine journalism-school graduates, people from here who perhaps work at smaller daily newspapers or weeklies. I get asked about this when I speak in public sometimes. My answer: I'd love to hire more Mainers, and in fact we do hire people like this more than you might think. (Recent copy-desk hires Lucas Knowles and Andy Nagy are from Winthrop and Gardiner. Scott Martin, our new sports editor, grew up in Naples.)

But not enough Maine journalists and journalism students apply here. Nor did they at the Portland Press Herald, where I worked as an editor for more than 10 years. I just don't see as many applications from the University of Maine, U-Maine Farmington, University of Southern Maine and the state's fine, literary private schools as I'd like. I will make it a personal priority in the coming year to "reach out" to professors at these schools, encouraging them to send students our way, though it seems obvious that they should.

But for now, if you know young journalists like this — or know someone who does — please, give them my name. We'd do better with more of them.