The Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association (MOFGA) on Wednesday announced a financial aid of one million dollars from the Partridge Foundation to help farmers flourish.

The MOFGA, the oldest and largest organic organization of the United States, is aiming to attract more and more farmers and expand its already extensive educational offerings to them under its Educational Programs Endowment.

Economic instability is the biggest threat to the well-being of children in Maine, according to recently released annual national child wellness report Kids Count.

In children's economic well-being, Maine's ranking slipped from 20th in 2013 to 29th this year. It may be noted here that economic well-being is one of the four areas that are measured to rank the overall well-being of children in the United States.

The latest Kids count report pointed out that many families in Maine are not able to meet the basic needs of their children due to lack of full-time work and high housing costs.

Chipotle has recorded a rise of 17.3% in same-store sales in second quarter of 2014 compared to the second quarter of 2013. The stock price of the Mexican restaurant chain jumped by more than 9% to $644.85. Founder Steve Ells said in a statement that special food culture, innovative people culture and strong business model have played a predominant role in deriving these extraordinary results.

Net revenue for the quarter witnessed a rise from 25.5% to $110.3 million. Total revenue increased by 28.6% to $1.05 billion. As many as 45 new restaurants were opened during the period.

Last month, California recovered to the level of jobs before the period of 2008 economic recession. Country's joblessness stood at 6.1% in the month of June. The state's unemployment rate reduced to 7.4% from 7.6% and from 9% a previous year.

On the whole, the state in June added 356,400 payroll jobs with each passing year. As compared to December 2007, the Los Angeles County's deficit stood at 89,100 jobs last month.

Augusta Southern Nationals, the annual drag-race boat tournament, is going to take place from July 18 to 20, 2014, in Augusta. The tournament, which is in its 28th year, is a long awaited one as last year's event was cancelled owing to high water.

The world's richest drag boat race is expected to have 100 boats from different parts of the nation. The event will add around $2 million to the local economy. Dayton Sherrouse, Executive Director of the Augusta Canal Authority, said except 2013, the race has been organized straight for 27 years.

Maine's economic future was discussed by more than 150 small business owners, entrepreneurs, dreamers and doers on Chebeague Islandlast Saturday. They all were brought together by the Island Institute and many concerned people living on the island.

The talks will continue at a Summit on Maine's Next Economy starting on September 26. The summit will be organized by Envision Maine and several other organizations and sponsors.