The trained therapy and crisis dogs have responded to the crisis in Lewiston as they have at Nashville, Uvalde, Surfside, Florida, Michigan State, University of Virginia and Buffalo. As a dog owner, I get it — dogs have an amazing capacity for caring, understanding and empathy. What I don’t get is why do the politicians […]
Alex Lear
Staff Writer
Alex Lear is a lifelong Mainer who has spent 25 years in journalism -- the first 20 as a reporter for newspapers in Damariscotta and Falmouth, then as Opinions section editor for the Sun Journal and now a digital producer with the Maine Trust for Local News. His long-running “Learics” column won first place in the Maine Press Association’s 2023 Better Newspaper Contest. He and his wife Lauren are kept young by their 9-year-old daughter Alaina. Send feedback and suggestions to Alex.
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Marj Patrick: Mental health, guns and Maine
I know what it is like to have a family member with severe mental illness. My late brother had a psychotic breakdown when he was 17. That was the first time my family would visit him in a locked psychiatric ward. A few weeks later, we were there for his 18th birthday. It was grim. […]
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Posted inLetters, Opinion
Peter van Oosten: Mass shootings continue to raise questions around 2nd Amendment
The recent atrocity in Lewiston has raised, yet again, the argument about the possession of guns as a right under constitutional amendment No. 2. Much of the discussions revolve around the checks on the mental capacity of people to own guns. It would seem that the vast majority of people agree that a mentally unstable […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion, Perspective
Alex Lear: 4 brothers reunited: The Beatles story ends as it began
Learics: John, Paul, George and Ringo began together, changed the world of pop music forever and blessed countless lives, then arced out apart on their own lives’ trajectories. Now they end together, in one final song.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Cal Thomas: Virginia, Ohio and abortion
Elections, especially in Virginia and Ohio, should convince pro-life Republicans of their need to come up with a different strategy when it comes to abortion. A no-exceptions mandate, or strictly limiting the procedure, isn’t working, in part because a new generation of younger people seem less predisposed to curtailing it.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Austin Bay: Time to strike ayatollah Iran?
Why let Iran set the battle conditions and force Israel to expend defensive munitions? The alternative: Attack the enemy that empowers Hamas. Iran.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Froma Harrop: Schools should drop the obsession with gender identity
Let’s make a deal. American parents stop harassing schools over library books that deal sympathetically with differences in sexual preference. And America’s schools stop withholding information about a student’s said preference from the parents.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Andrew Watson: A thank you from Maine
Oftentimes, we may think our thoughts and prayers are fruitless, but the sentiment and efforts you expressed had real impact. You buffered the pain and eased the burden.
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Norm Gellatly: Culture largely to blame for ‘our failing schools’
One hears or reads it quite often: ” … our failing schools … .” Two things bother me about the brief generalization. First, seldom is there elaboration surrounding this stark assertion. The other is the implication that teachers and administrators are to blame for the acknowledged rather dismal state of public education. I think they […]