Cheers and jeers from around the news: • Jeers to the Air National Guard, for doing a shoddy job with their official “Environmental Impact Statement” of low-level military flights across Western Maine. The governor and residents had requested a six- to nine-month delay for a better study, but the Guard pressed forward instead. A public […]

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that,  to date, 4,000 Americans have died of H1N1, the so-called swine flu. Flu deaths in Europe are doubling by the week, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Clearly, the flu threat is frighteningly real. Which is why the Auburn School […]

Did Maine’s first Amber Alert work? Yes, but there is room for improvement. Two-year-old Hailey Traynham of Sanford was found Wednesday, safe and sound, by an eagle-eyed New Hampshire hunter who knew about the alert and recognized her fugitive father’s pickup truck. He started a conversation with the man, Gary, and helped convince him to […]

“On some faces there is joy. But for many, it takes more than landfall to break a grim spell; it takes the sight of these American civilians waiting in the terminal to say thanks. ‘You feel dull until you walk down the ramp and see these people,’ one apparently battle-hardened soldier explains in a wobbly […]

The details of the housing tax credit renewal were incorrect in the editorial of Monday, Nov. 9. Here’s what’s right: For first-time homebuyers (or those who haven’t owned a home in three years), the credit remains $8,000. Now, there is another, $6,500 credit for people who have owned a home for at least five years. […]

Though notable, Saturday’s vote by the House of Representatives on health care reform doesn’t pack the same historic punch as the landmark creations of Medicare or Social Security. The bill lacks the momentum to get past the Senate, much less echo through time. Still, the House bill is important because it moved the process forward. […]

Congress has extended the popular first-time home-buyer tax credit. About 1.2 million people have received the $8,000 credit, at a cost of $8.5 billion. The program would have ended this month, without this intervention.  While the credit has been hailed for buoying the American housing market. Nationwide, home sales ticked upwards 8 percent over last […]

Does Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap’s delay in reviewing petitions for a People’s Veto of tax reform stem from stiff partisan pressure, or is his agency just overworked? The chairman of the Maine Republican Party, Charlie Webster of Farmington, has filed a civil action to force the state’s hand in certifying the petitions, which are […]

The emotional outpouring from local Boy Scouts, scouting leaders and scouting alumni should make Maine’s Pine Tree Council think twice before selling Camp Gustin in Sabattus. It’s a matter of tradition, certainly, as well as honoring the wishes of the late Charles Gustin, who donated the 100 acres around Loon Pond for future use by […]

Cheers and jeers from around the news. • Jeers to the voters for rejecting Question 7, the constitutional amendment to give municipal officials five extra days to validate citizen petitions. There was no organized campaign against its passage. Admittedly, there was no organization advocating for its approval, either. It just seemed obvious. To everyone but […]