Call it an exercise of good intentions, yielding a bad result. A little-known bill, LD 1183, was enacted earlier this year to protect kids from predatory marketing, particularly through the Internet, definitely regarding health. There’s justifiable concern that children are easy pickings for companies purveying miracle cures, or prescription drugs. And there is equal concern […]

Is bottled water a “scam?” If so, we’re all suckers. Scam is the word used by the Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson, who wrote Tuesday about the declining thirst for bottled water. The recession has sent water sales southward. Nestle, which owns Poland Spring here in Maine, has said its sales are off 5 […]

When the chairman of the Federal Reserve becomes the victim of identify theft, then you know the rest of us should be worried. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s personal checking account was looted, the Associated Press reported Friday, after his wife’s purse containing her driver’s license and Social Security number was stolen from a Washington coffee shop. […]

Three cheers and a jeer: • Cheers to the Citizens Commission on Lewiston-Auburn Cooperation for continuing its important work, despite the fact that Auburn turned its back on the group and Lewiston did nothing to resurrect the commission’s efforts. Commission members carried on, meeting Thursday to approve their final report, trustfully fulfilling their mission to […]

There are clearly differences between George Bush and Barack Obama. But on at least one issue, the detention of terror suspects, Obama is gradually coming to some of the same reluctant conclusions as his predecessor. After boldly promising to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Barack Obama has yet to come up […]

The tragic death of a 7-year-old New York City girl visiting Maine’s Acadia National Park has saddened and troubled us all. But what possible purpose did Gov. John Baldacci’s helicopter fly-over of the area near the famous Thunder Hole on Wednesday serve? Does the governor hope to assure tourists to Maine that this won’t happen […]

Say about three months, or so. That’s when “cash for clunkers” should be revisited, to weigh its success or failure as a policy. As a government program, it’s an absolute smash, as U.S. consumers and automobile dealers burned through $3 billion in taxpayer dollars faster than AIG planning a weekend retreat. As a policy, though, […]

Last week, the Lewiston City Council clashed again, this time over who has authority to name a citizen committee to review applicants for the city’s top job. Mayor Laurent Gilbert says it is his, while his fellow councilors say they should have a choice. This debate bogged what should be a simple procedural discussion: how […]

Last week, the state of Maine and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission signed an agreement to streamline the permitting process for tidal energy projects off the coast, a move hailed as a signal to industry that Maine is serious about its future here. In fact, John Ferland, the president of Ocean Renewable Power Co., which […]

Meet the face of cybersecurity. He’s Albert Gonzalez, the 28-year-old criminal wunderkind who is the alleged mastermind behind the information breach at Hannaford Bros., plus many others. For years, he served as a FBI informant into the world of cyber-criminals, showing authorities how easy it is to steal another’s identity. Then, almost to show off, […]