You can have the twisted notion of equity that now prevails throughout our elite culture, or you can have a test that demonstrates academic talent regardless of race, but you can’t have both.
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.
Austin Bay: Why Turkey’s May 14 election really matters
The election, which pits the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against the much more moderate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, also affects NATO solidarity, political stability in Eastern Europe and the West’s ability to counter Iran, Russia and China in the Middle East.
Jane Costlow: Residential development in Auburn’s AGRP zone will increase everyone’s property taxes
As land values rise — as surely they will, once residential development is allowed in the zone — farmers and woodlot owners who have called Auburn’s rural neighborhoods home may well find themselves priced off of their land.
Shanna Cox and Chantel Pettengill: Maine should take the lead with a policy we know works wonders for families, businesses
LD 1544 would take a step toward reducing child poverty in Androscoggin County and Maine, boost the local and state economy, and set families and kids in Lewiston-Auburn up to thrive in the short and long-term. It’s a smart investment with significant rewards for our state’s families and economy.
Cal Thomas: Roosting chickens
That loud clucking sound we are hearing from “sanctuary cities” and other cities run by Democrats is the consequence of lax immigration policies coming home to roost.
Froma Harrop: Why do we obsess over transgender issues?
The fascination is fueled both by hyperactive LGBTQ advocacy and social conservatives using the “issue” to perhaps avoid tackling matters the broader public really cares about.
Clarence Page: My surprisingly fond farewell to Jerry Springer
Despite hosting the reputedly “worst show in TV history,” Springer’s candor offered an admirable model for other politicians to remember — and follow.
Thomas Shields: Maine doesn’t need LD 1619
LD 1619, An Act to Improve Maine’s Reproductive Privacy Laws, was heard May 1 by the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee. The bill is centered on abortions, and calls for a factual report to the Department of Health and Human Services on each abortion. The patient is to remain anonymous. What will be omitted from the report […]
Clarence Page: Who is to be held accountable for Emmett Till’s death, now that the witnesses are gone?
The last survivor of the historical horror widely known as “the lynching of Emmett Till” has died, leaving behind an infuriating amount of unanswered questions.