On June 13, about 50 Mainers traveled to Augusta to urge lawmakers to fund LD 1689 — a bill to maintain and expand harm-reduction programs. Health care professionals, veterans, city officials and persons in recovery believe the $1.7 million cost will save lives and improve the health of those with substance use disorder. The seven […]

I urge representatives in Maine’s Legislature to support LD 1083, the Ranked-Choice Voting for President bill. The bill would expand Maine’s ranked-choice voting law to include presidential elections, thus eliminating the disaster of “spoilers” and vote-splitting while finally restoring majority rule. LD 1083 would simply require the winner to be determined by ranked-choice voting, which […]

Why is the Auburn School Department bent on making Auburn not affordable for a family to come here? School Department officials pushed for the extravagant new high school, but how will the city manage to pay for the upkeep when the old building couldn’t even be maintained? When “Maine’s Got Talent” appeared at the Franco […]

Recently, I learned that the bill for open primaries had been voted down in the Maine Legislature. It made me wonder if members of the Legislature want to keep independents from voting. As a longtime independent, I choose to vote based on candidates’ qualifications, not political parties. I have experienced having to register and unregister […]

The Sun Journal headline (June 12) proclaimed a big “yes” for a new Edward Little High School. The story told how ELHS principal Scott Annear cried out “yes” at news of the voting results. Auburn School Superintendent Katy Grondin announced that “the community spoke loud and clear,” and Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque claimed that “the […]

Maine is falling behind while other states are growing their economies, saving money on energy costs for their people and businesses and creating good local jobs. How are they doing it? Solar power. Right now, legislators are considering a bill, LD 1711, which would help Maine capture those same benefits. According to an analysis done […]

I am writing in support of LD 1491 “An Act to Establish the Work Tax Credit,” because working Mainers with low incomes need to meet their basic needs, and they deserve to keep the money they earned to do it. The legislation would allow working people to pay for transportation, child care and other basic […]

Mainers have long prided themselves in their ability to think independently. However, the failure of LD 211, or “An Act To Open Maine’s Primaries and Permit Unenrolled Voters To Cast Ballots in Primary Elections” is an example of the people’s independence being undermined by their representatives in Augusta. Thirty-five percent of Maine voters are not […]

Solar energy will lower energy costs for Mainers, and by removing the arbitrary cap on community solar participants, we can make it accessible to more people. In Auburn, many of us live in buildings where we can’t put solar on the roof — we rent or we can’t afford the upfront costs of installing solar […]

Recently, the Maine Legislature voted down an issue that was approved by 80% of Mainers eligible to vote. I want to thank the legislators who voted for it, including Senate President Troy Jackson and Speaker of the House Sara Gideon. The ones who didn’t vote for it need to answer “why.” LD 211 was a […]