It is becoming painfully clear to American workers that the future will not resemble the past, particularly when it comes to retirement benefits. Skyrocketing medical and drug costs have forced employers to cut insurance programs. Lifelong, fixed-benefit retirement programs, meanwhile, have disappeared for the vast majority of private-sector employees. What’s more, the financial crisis and […]

China poses two serious threats to U.S. economic security, and we are pleased to see our congressional delegation in the thick of efforts to protect our interests. While the economics of currency manipulation are difficult to fathom, the results are not — lost jobs and shuttered industries in Maine. By keeping the valuation of its […]

The Lewiston School Committee members swallowed hard Monday night and bowed to an irrational government edict, all to benefit the children at Longley Elementary School. They did the right thing, even if it means reassigning Principal Tom Hood who is, by all accounts, an excellent leader for the school.  Hood, to his credit, unselfishly endorsed […]

Sure, you love that gleaming new refrigerator in the kitchen. She’s a beaut, all right. Ice and hot water in the door. Beverage chiller. French doors, bottom freezer and retractable water filter. Best of all, an Energy Star rating that’s saving you $75 a year over regular refrigerators. Maybe. That bit of doubt was introduced […]

The bigger the smile the longer the life. That’s the encouraging conclusion of a study reported on last week by Psychological Science magazine. Researchers took the 1952 Baseball Register and analyzed the photos of 230 professional players, rating them on a 12-point system that basically corresponded to no smile, partial smile and wide smile. The […]

A bill to put cancer warning labels on cell phones garnered much attention in the Legislature last month, despite very little evidence showing a genuine risk. Last week that effort stalled in the Legislature. Of far greater concern to all Americans should be the now well-established link between sun exposure, tanning and skin cancer, particularly […]

Partisan ill will bordering on hatred seems to be the order of the day on the national political stage. That’s why Mainers should be proud of the very difficult work done by Republican and Democratic legislators on the Appropriations Committee to produce a unanimous budget proposal weeks before the normal end of the legislative session. […]

We can’t predict how a judge will eventually rule on the appeal of a jail guard fired in December by Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins, but we still feel corrections officer Patrick Gorham richly deserved to lose his job. A hearing on the appeal began Tuesday before Justice Thomas Delahanty II in Androscoggin County Superior […]

Cheers to the continued efforts in Maine to increase organ donation rates. In 2003, Maine was first in the nation to sign into law a guarantee that the donation wishes of the deceased are honored, and last week Rep. Brian Langley, R-Ellsworth, hosted a press conference urging Mainers to become donors. According to Langley, 90 […]

The terms “closet racist” and “public official” should never be synonymous in Maine. That’s why Casco Selectman Barbara York should resign after revelations Wednesday that she forwarded a racist joke and photos comparing Michelle Obama to a chimpanzee to other town residents from her private e-mail account. The Portland Press Herald reported Thursday that a […]