One of the first rules of the hospitality industry is to send customers home with smiles on their faces. That wasn’t happening Monday afternoon on the Maine Turnpike, where thousands of visitors were stuck in 12 miles of excruciatingly slow traffic, waiting to pay their tolls before being allowed to go home. Yes, it’s a […]

The near certain passage of casino gambling in Massachusetts raises questions for the two groups proposing casinos here, and for Maine voters who must ultimately say yes or no to those projects. The Massachusetts Senate voted late last week for legislation that would allow three resort-style casinos. The House proposal would go one step further, […]

There’s a reason Angus King is a former governor of Maine and Jonathan Carter, former Green Independent Party candidate, is not. King is more often in the mainstream of political thinking in Maine while Carter has never been able to accept that a majority of Mainers believe in mixed use of the state’s forest resources, […]

“Self-defense is a basic right, recognized by many legal systems from ancient times to the present day,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority last week in a landmark decision striking down Chicago’s strict firearm ban. Indeed, self defense is about as basic a right as we have in this country, enshrined by the founders […]

Despite wars, a recession and a national soccer team that continues to disappoint, we’re continually reassured to live in a country that can still laugh at itself. And the news last week was full of examples of Americans finding new and creative ways to have summertime fun. Topping the list, of course, were two Western […]

A hearty cheer to Museum L-A and everyone who planned and participated in the inaugural LADU, a duathlon held in the downtowns of Lewiston and Auburn last Sunday. The run-bike-run event attracted 135 participants, with 100 volunteers helping on race day. The result was a well-organized and much-appreciated celebration of the Twin Cities’ history and […]

Harold Alfond spent a lifetime making smart investments. But his last — endowing a program to create a college savings account for every baby born in Maine — may have been his best. Alfond created the program just a few months before he died in 2007. It became a pilot program in 2008 and went […]

The real problem in Afghanistan isn’t the U.S. general running the war, it’s the guy running the country. Monday, The Wall Street Journal revealed that as much as $3.65 billion per year is flown out of the country through the airport in Kabul. It leaves in everything from suitcases to pallets of cash. We’re not […]

Perhaps we’re now living in a bailout society. You know, if Uncle Sam is handing out money, why not grab some? Or, perhaps, more ordinary Americans are taking a page from Wall Street executives whose career paths often seem to include a side trip to federal prison. Or, maybe there are just more petty thieves […]