Forget horses and water. How about, “You can give containers to residents, but you can’t make them recycle.”Compared to other Maine cities, Lewiston and Auburn’s recycling lags. At 27 percent and 23 percent respectively, our recycling rates lag behind those in Biddeford, Waterville, South Portland, Brewer, Brunswick and other service center communities.Of course, no two […]

“Unleashing America’s innovation” is a great soapbox phrase.In three words, it incites patriotism by referencing U.S. industrial strength, and the mind-bending achievements possible by our best and brightest. So, we ask America’s innovators:What do we do about the snow?Maine is running out of ideas. One town manager, Glen Holmes in Buckfield, has taken to apologizing […]

The 2007-2008 presidential election (it’s silly to confine the campaign to a single year) is just getting started.For the political weary among us, this is a heartstopping statement. American voters have already experienced loads of candidate debates, hundreds of television advertisements and other amazingly lifelike moments scripted to push one of several candidates’ candidacy.Yet it’s […]

In the business of helping business, Maine’s government can act like, well, a government – by pouring money into popular programs and initiatives that promise plentiful rewards, but suffer from poor accountability and limp auditing.The state’s Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability produced a report in December 2006 detailing the state’s potholed track record […]

Harley Lee has a legitimate complaint. The state’s wind power task force excluded Redington Township – the site of Lee’s twice-rejected wind farm – in mapmaking where wind projects should receive expedited review.This appears the lone dose of politics in the task force’s report, which is a refreshing, pragmatic assessment for changing Maine’s convoluted regulatory […]

For such an easy decision, debate about requiring residency for Maine driver’s licenses has grown difficult.A bill before the Legislature would require solid proof of Maine residency prior to the issuing of a driver’s license. Maine is one of a handful of states without this sensible requisite, and its proven exploitation by unsavory types has […]

Give Gov. John Baldacci credit – his nominee for insurance superintendent, Mila Kofman, is a qualified, experienced professional, with extensive background in studying and evaluating state health insurance initiatives.And she likely has fresher ideas about improving DirigoChoice, the governor’s oft-maligned state insurance program, than anybody in Maine.In partisan comments in the Senate, Republicans criticized Kofman […]

On Feb. 12, University of Maine Professor Todd Gabe released his economic projections for a casino in Oxford County. He estimated $89 million to $99 million could be generated by the presence of gambling in the River Valley.If true, these figures indicate gambling is not economic development – it is economic transformation. Yet Gabe is […]

Last Sunday, we said the Democratic caucus results should inspire debate about whether Lewiston-Auburn is changing. Both candidates have built-in constituencies here, and the eventual victor would speak volumes about us.Well, Lewiston went for Sen. Hillary Clinton, Auburn for Sen. Barack Obama. The collective result was tight – only a three-delegate difference in Lewiston for […]

A former Red Sox pitcher and his disreputable trainer led Congress on a five-hour sojourn into evasiveness, equivocation and embarrassment Wednesday, which ended withwell, it just ended.The testimony proved nothing about the dueling allegations of Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee except what was known: neither is telling the whole truth – just their respective version […]