If duct-taping and chokeholds are how Androscoggin County Jail guards treat each other, how do they treat the inmates? Probably better. The firing, resignation and suspension of three jail guards for late-night pranks is an embarrassment to Androscoggin County and the sheriff’s office. Jailhouse surveillance video caught employees acting like idiots, duct-taping a colleague to […]

The repeal of same-sex marriage by voters at the polls Tuesday should not deter important efforts to instill equality under the law, but rather dictate its future course through the Legislature. Some, in the heated aftermath of Question 1’s approval, called the vote a statement of intolerance. It isn’t — this interpretation would mean a […]

The most significant question on Maine’s ballot has turned out to be Question 5, the easy approval of which will create a network of nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries. We’re leery of the idea, especially the mechanics of its oversight, but the voters have spoken. One thing must be certain: Another decade should not pass before […]

FairPoint Communications is a victim of ambition and timing. Just when it started to run, the market meltdown took out its knees. Now the telecommunications firm is restructuring under Chapter 11, 98 percent of its shares are owned by creditors, and many accusations are flying about who is to blame for it all.  Blame reality. […]

Given our uber-connected society, there’s something terrifically old-fashioned about voting. A real person checks your voter registration, hands over a weirdly hued ballot, directs you into a flimsy booth with a thin curtain and, with a black marker, democracy is done. Considering we can now carry the works of William Shakespeare on our iPhones, this […]

The proponents of TABOR and the excise tax cut (Questions 4 and 2, respectively) think they’ve caught Legislative leadership doing something criminal. A private meeting organized by a lobbyist between transportation heavyweights and the Senate President and Speaker of the House about TABOR and the excise tax, they say, was a veiled fundraiser, since those […]

Election Day is Tuesday (as everybody probably knows). We’ve weighed in with our opinions on Questions 1 through 7 on the ballot. Now, it’s time for voters to cast their voyes. So, to refresh, here’s where we stand. Question 1: Let the people decide. Our preference on marriage would be the status quo; this is […]

Cheers and jeers from around the news: • Cheers for Halloween and cheers for our annual Sun Journal editorial reminder to not do anything crazy or unsafe during Saturday’s activities. Watch out for open flames around costumes. (That person is not trick-or-treating dressed as the Human Torch. He is on fire and needs help.) Wear […]

In response to concerns regarding Wednesday’s front-page article about panhandler John Stevens, we’d like to explain our thinking behind featuring his story so prominently. Stevens’ panhandling at an Auburn shopping center sparked a flurry of calls to our newsroom. “What is this guy’s story?” we were asked. Once, long before this week, a reporter asked […]

There’s a solution to the growing phenomenon of “serialized meetings” among elected officials: Make every e-mail they send or receive, that pertains to public business, part of the official record for public meetings. If put where everyone can see them, people could see what their representatives have been saying to their peers, to city or […]