Most negative perceptions of downtown Lewiston are unwarranted, but sometimes they seem all too justified.Like Tuesday, when a passerby was randomly shot by an ignoramus with a pellet-gun from an upper-floor window on Pine Street. James Casey, 24, was charged for allegedly shooting Paul Hodge, 43.Hodge, after the shooting, said his residence was “Lewiston, but […]

Few things are more frightening than dangerous chemicals that are everywhere, invisible, almost unpronounceable and near-impossible to spell. Few things are more difficult to legislate and regulate, too.Maine is one of 29 states considering, or enacting, laws to control presumably harmful chemicals in children’s products, such as phthalates (pronounced “thah-lates”), which are chemical compounds that […]

For a momentary delight, a cigarette has serious long-term effects on smokers, those around them, and the public.(And the smell is terrible, even for some smokers.)Tobacco companies – through their interminable silence on smoking’s health effects – have earned a reputation roughly equal to Beelzebub’s. The public has little sympathy for them, and don’t mind […]

“I don’t believe a committee can write a book,” the historian Arnold Toynbee once uttered. “It can, oh, govern a country, perhaps, but I don’t believe it can write a book.”Toynbee was right. Diversity of opinion is requisite for managing the affairs of the people, but too many viewpoints can make a simple effort hopelessly […]

Since terrifying analogies are now de rigueur for describing the economy (worst since the Great Depression, you know) let’s try another: The mortgage crisis sweeping Maine and the nation is just like the Titanic.The comparison is easy. The economy and the liner were grandiose behemoths sunk by unforeseen obstacles. We know what happened to Titanic […]

Wal-Mart thinking twice is a prime indicator of economic upheaval. This should send shivers through local government and economic development officials about Exit 80, long seen as a linchpin for Lewiston.It wasn’t the power of anti-sprawl activists or the failure of local salesmanship that scuttled dreams for a Wal-Mart at Exit 80 – there was […]

The worst thing FairPoint Communications can do, now that it’s the eighth-largest telecommunications company in America, is start acting like the eighth-largest telecommunications company in America.Regulators in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont experienced passing fright last weekend, when interest rates on FairPoint bonds were 5 percent greater than promised, adding $17 million annually onto a […]

A telling measure of the state’s difficult budget deliberations won’t be the fiscal or social impact of the many cuts, but how the memories of this difficult battle resonate with lawmakers.Late Monday, Gov. John Baldacci signed the budget, closing a $190 million shortfall by avoiding a dangerous duo: raising taxes or dipping into rainy day […]

With every person arrested trying to exploit Maine law to get a driver’s license, the state’s “not our job” rationale for not considering immigration status in granting licenses grows hollow.Now the Department of Homeland Security is holding the state’s feet to the fire regarding this policy, as part of its strong-arm strategy over a Real […]

A 1961 Cadillac is a classic, a sharp-finned throwback to the heady days of Detroit dominance and 10-cent per-gallon gasoline. But nothing about a driving a ’61 Caddy is either efficient or effective in today’s world.Neither is using a 1961 building, especially one as outdated and energy inefficient as one of those Cadillacs. Yet Auburn […]