The 2009 “Maine Piglet” book, from the Maine Heritage Policy Center, is billed as the encyclopedia of the pork in Augusta. It is filled with indiscriminate criticism; it attacks Dirigo Health and playgrounds equally, under the banner of waste. This hamfisted approach distracts from its most concerning revelation — the gulf between public and private […]

The Lewiston Police Department has picked a curious case to deviate from its policy on providing documents to the public, and has created the impression that political connections earn preferential treatment. So far, despite verbal and written requests under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act, the department has refused to release a police report regarding Matthew […]

Maine communities facing ugly facts and unsure futures will falter, if they believe their best days are behind them. It may sound a little hokey, but the best antidote to this fear or uncertainty is a strong dose of civic pride and relentless optimism. This is the foundation upon which revitalization is built. Too often, […]

It’s time for this country to have a serious conversation about debt. On Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported that homeowners with perfectly good credit scores, affordable homes and affluent incomes are “strategically defaulting” on their mortgages at rates unpredicted and unpredictable by any available financial information. What this means is that homeowners, who can […]

Getting arrested at a government meeting to protest the wanton destruction of Planet Earth makes for great television. There’s that super-cool sense of nobility in cause, yelling truth to power, sacrificing for the greater good and, of course, the mugshot for posterity. It doesn’t accomplish much, though. The handful of protesters arrested during this week’s […]

Cheers and jeers from around the news: • Jeers to Stand for Marriage Maine for attacking the credibility of school boards. Two spokespersons for the group, which is advocating for repeal of same-sex marriage, recently derogated school boards as being unresponsive to concerns of parents. Serving on a school board can be a thankless, tedious […]

According to a new federal evaluation, Portland and Lewiston received middling marks for their preparation and planning to prevent and treat pandemic disease. The cities were two of eight in the United States investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. The investigation was focused on how […]

Michael Heath, the inflammatory executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, announced his resignation this week. The league, which changed its name to the Maine Family Policy Center last year, said Heath was “moving on.” With a vote just weeks away on same-sex marriage, a signature issue for Heath and the center, his […]

It’s said a camel is a horse designed by committee. If so, the “free rider” insurance provision in the Senate’s Finance Committee health care reform bill is a definite dromedary. The free riders, in this case, are employers who would allow the government to pay for their employees’ health insurance, if their employees are eligible. […]

Government shutdown days are an unpopular necessity. State government now has them to offset its budget shortfall, and we wish it didn’t. Their scheduling into a string of extended weekends is proving convenient to nobody beyond the bureaucracy. Yet we grudgingly agree with their existence. The fact is, for “nonessential” government offices, the cumulative effect […]