An editorial published on Page C9 Sunday reported the Maine Municipal Association has given $2 million to political action committees to oppose tax-cut referenda over the past decade. That figure was for spending on all referenda; $600,000 has been spent on tax-cut measures. The editorial also suggested MMA may be a 501(c)(3) organization under the […]

National trends are often slow arriving in Maine, but we will be smack on the cutting edge of one over the next few decades, the graying of America. Newly released Census data shows that Utah is the youngest state in the U.S. while Maine is the oldest. The median age in Utah is 28.8 compared […]

Most of us would be outraged to learn that our city council had voted to use municipal funds to influence a political campaign. In fact, we might say it was illegal. But should the same town council be allowed to pool its money with other communities to do the same thing? No, says the Maine […]

Cheers to Maine voters, who really turned out in force for Tuesday’s election — despite all the predictions by public officials, pundits and editors of a low turnout. The unexpected turnout made the primary results decisive, definitive and deafening. Good. According to a story in the Kennebec Journal, the GOP turnout was the strongest for […]

Yahoo! Maine has moved from the seventh highest income tax rate in the country to sixth. If we try hard, maybe we can… dare we say? … be number one! But don’t blame this latest indignity on Tuesday’s rejection of a 2-percent income tax rate cut approved in 2009 by the legislature. That would have […]

Given the scale of the egg-farm operation in Turner, and the shocking nature of the animal cruelty charges against its operator, a $34,675 state fine is, bluntly, too small. Maine Contract Farm agreed Monday in 8th District Court to pay that amount in fines and court costs. With about 5 million birds in its Maine […]

With voters as angry as wet cats, and the tea party rebellion reportedly sweeping the land, Maine’s gubernatorial primary Tuesday seemed placid by national standards. Secretary of State Matt Dunlap was predicting a 20 percent turnout, which would be about typical for gubernatorial primaries, and he was seeing no reason to change his prediction as […]

What’s a five-letter word for angry? Cross? Right. That’s the way some readers are feeling about our daily crossword puzzle, according to our always reliable Sun Spots lady. We have been fielding scattered complaints since the first of the year, and we have made several calls to the supplier of the puzzle to ferret out […]

As long as we are in an automotive frame of mind … how is “Government Motors” doing? Way better than anyone would have thought last year, when skeptics were calling upon Congress and the Obama administration to allow the fabled car maker to die. Management was clueless, and the case was hopeless, many said. An […]

Turn signals, stop signs, broken yellow lines and merging lanes. Ah, the rules of the road — so often invoked yet, apparently, so poorly observed. At some point, most of us had at least a passing familiarity with the simple rules that should govern our driving behavior. At some point we passed the written portion […]