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
Mike Lapointe: Maher’s ‘mouthful of malarkey’ in monologue
Friday night, Jan. 11, on his show “Real Time,” host Bill Maher said in his monologue that the reason Americans weren’t watching the Beijing Olympics was because American athletes aren’t winning. I have been a big fan of Bill Maher for over 30 years. This is the biggest mouthful of malarkey I’ve ever heard come […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Bob Neal: The Countryman: Rural Maine is dying. Who cares?
We all know that the decline of paper making is part of a decline in manufacturing, especially in rural Maine, but when you list the declines together, it really hits home. A short list: Forster Manufacturing (toothpicks, clothespins, etc.) closed all its mills in rural Maine, four of them in Franklin County. At least three tanneries have closed, all rural. Of the once-strong industry of shoe shops, not much remains other than the three New Balance shoe shops. Diamond Match in Peru and Oakland? Gone.
Posted inBusiness, Noteworthy
New Ventures Maine launches minigrant competition
New Ventures Maine has announced open applications for its Spring 2022 Marketing Mini-grant competition. The program aims to strengthen access to markets for micro-businesses by supporting the development of marketing tools, materials and activities. New Ventures Maine will award cash minigrants — up to $1,000 per region in six defined regions — to microenterprises for […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Cal Thomas: Failing to understand Evil: Then and now
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine under several pretexts reminds me of Adolf Hitler’s rationale for invading and annexing Sudetenland in 1938 and his invasion of Czechoslovakia and Poland a year later.
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Mike Farrell: New sheriff’s office location ‘a horrible idea’
The Androscoggin Sheriff’s Office moving to the Evergreen Subaru property on Center Street is a horrible idea. I hope the city of Auburn will refuse to permit it. The traffic is horrible through there; adding emergency vehicles will create chaos in an already accident-prone area. Taking prime commercial real estate from an already-crowded commercial front […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Pam Larouche: Grateful for Auburn development restrictions
As much as Auburn’s Planning Board and mayor would like to wave a magic scepter over swaths of city property and deem them a new zone, it can’t be done that easily. Many of these properties, such as in the Lake Street School area, have restrictions put in place by developers. Prudential Investment Company was […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Paul Poliquin: Lewiston voters should know reason for council vote
As a Lewiston city councilor and council president from 1985-1995, I was taken back by what I read in the Lewiston Sun Journal on Feb. 18 about the mayor’s appointment to the Planning Board (“Lewiston council votes down mayor’s pick for Planning Board“). I don’t ever remember the City Council not confirming a mayor’s appointment […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Kristen Cloutier: Council should OK Albert for Lewiston board
I was dismayed to read that the Lewiston City Council had voted against Mayor Carl Sheline’s nomination of Leigh Albert to the Planning Board. What I find even more unacceptable is that the three councilors who voted the nomination down, including my own councilor, saw no need for accountability to their constituents and provided no […]