Minor conflicts of interest are a fact of life in small-town government. But Buckfield Selectman Chairman Floyd “Chip” Richardson should have abstained from voting on a revised budget for the Rescue Department in early July. Now he seems likely to face a special town vote to recall him from office. Resident Jason Rowe initiated a […]

Three cheers for Lewiston resident Tanya Lippke, who went way beyond the call of duty last week to rescue a cat stuck high up in her home’s maple tree. The stray tiger cat was rescued Thursday but not before enduring five days of scorching heat and one torrential rainstorm. Lippke tried convincing the fire department, […]

Pay a legislator more and what do you get? A full-time legislature that can’t get anything done. That’s one of the interesting observations of an Illinois study, which noted that states with the highest-paid legislators seem to have the biggest problems. California’s average legislative salary of $95,291 is tops in the U.S., even before a […]

Jeers to people who go to the beach and leave crap. Yes, actual crap. Raymond Beach on Sebago Lake will be closed for the rest of the summer, according to a story in Friday’s Press Herald, because, as the PH writer gracefully put it, “some users are leaving behind a lot more than footprints in […]

Early this morning, the inaugural Payne Memorial Run will step off on Ferry Road, marking the 22nd anniversary of Lewiston Police Officer David Payne’s death. On Saturday afternoon, the second annual butterfly release hosted by Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice will fly at the agency’s Stetson Road hospice center in Auburn. And on Sunday morning, […]

Unlike the familiar Frank Sinatra ditty, love and marriage don’t necessarily go together like a horse and carriage. Sometimes, marriage is business, pure and simple. And, sometimes, it’s just plain fraud. On today’s front page is a story about two Massachusetts men secretly indicted and publicly arrested on multiple charges of arranging sham marriages in […]

John Knight is stirring a little patriotism in the waters of Wilson Pond. Knight, a veteran of the war in Korea, raises his trombone every night at 8 p.m. and plays taps, delivering 24 notes of pride to his neighbors around the pond in Wilton. The music is returned each night by Don Fonseca, a […]

What ails Maine? Specifically, what ails health care, energy, taxation and regulatory policy, education, innovation, connectivity, our quality of place and business climate? Public officials and private citizens have certainly studied these topics enough times, over too many years, to be able to answer that very broad question. But, so far, the answer isn’t clear. […]

Last week, Paris Selectman Ted Kurtz put a radical idea before his fellow board members: should the town take legal action against three former selectmen who voted to fire former Town Manager Sharon Jackson last year. Kurtz raised the question after hearing the total bill in defending a wrongful firing lawsuit filed by Jackson would […]

Since 1974, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act has guaranteed students that their academic records will be confidential, but students and their families are permitted access to those records. The act, known as FERPA, applies to students attending any private or public school, elementary grades right through college, and to any educational agency that […]