GHS robot ready to roll
The Gorham High School robotics team, NorthernForce 172, Monday fine-tuned its robot at Lanco Assembly Systems in Westbrook for regional competition.
The team competes Friday, Feb. 29, and Saturday, March 1, at the Verizon Center in Manchester, N.H., for an opportunity to advance to international competition in Atlanta, Ga. Admission to the competition is free.
Ted Feibel, a Gorham senior, said this year’s goal in competition is for the robot to lift a 40-inch-diameter ball over a 7-foot rack after the robot travels along a 56-foot-long field. Feibel helped wire the robot.
“It’s looking good,” Feibel said.
Concert reminder
Portland Chamber Orchestra will be in concert at 8 p.m. Friday in Corthell Hall on the Gorham campus of the University of Southern Maine.
Tickets are $20; $15, seniors. For more information, call 510-7572.
Youth theater class
A six-week youth theater class continues through March 12 at the Centre of Movement School of Performing Arts, 19 State St., Gorham.
For more information, call 839-3267.
Climate ecology impact seminar
Maine Audubon, the Southern Maine Chapter of the Small Woodlot Owners Association of Maine and the University of Southern Maine are co- sponsoring a discussion on climate change’s potential impacts on the ecology of New England.
The event will feature a presentation by climatologist Dr. George Jacobson of the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute. Free and open to the public, the presentation will be held on Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. in Room 10 of Bailey Hall on USM’s Gorham campus.
Jacobson will highlight how natural variability in climate has influenced Maine ecosystems since the end of the last ice age 14,000 years ago. He will also discuss the impact human activities have had on climate and how climate changes over the next century could affect Maine’s vegetation, animal populations and marine ecosystems.
A professor of biology, ecology and climate change at the University of Maine, Jacobson has focused his research on past climates and especially on forest responses to climate changes of the last 60,000 years. He has chaired scientific advisory panels for the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association paleoclimate program and the European Science Foundation, and has served as an adviser to the Finnish Academy of Sciences in its development of a paleoclimate program.
Forest ecologist Rob Bryan will open the discussion with remarks on Maine Audubon’s work on climate change. Evaluating the impacts of climate change on forests and wildlife habitat, the organization has developed forest management guidelines for growing forests that are more resilient to global warming. Maine Audubon has also worked to support climate-friendly energy alternatives like wind power while finding ways to limit their impacts on wildlife.
A question-and-answer session will follow the program.
U.S. taxpayer debt
The Bureau of Public Debt reported on Feb. 14 that the U.S. public debt was $9,291,899,089,252.55.
(Robot 1) 
(Cutline GOR Valentine) -Gorham Recreation Department programmer Brian White extends Valentine flowers to Gorham resident Madelyn Hunt before boarding the mini bus to go to South Portland Community Center for a senior’s Valentine event. While in So. Portland, the group enjoyed refreshments and entertainment with line dancing instructors Flamin’ Raymond and Sizzlin’ Susan.
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