“Michael wishes to apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter,” Billy Martin said last week, referring to his celebrity client, dog killer Michael Vick.Does that include the eight dogs he killed and the countless others he abused? Does it include the ones placed on treadmills, whose jaws were pried open with […]

On the whole, the legislated obsolescence of analog television is a fine idea. Most Americans (about 92 million, or 85 percent of the viewing populace) subscribe to satellite or cable services anyway, while the remaining 15 percent – about 16 million people – are still watching over-the-air.Abandoned frequencies will be earmarked for public safety or […]

“Michael wishes to apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter,” Billy Martin said last week, referring to his celebrity client, dog killer Michael Vick.Does that include the eight dogs he killed and the countless others he abused? Does it include the ones placed on treadmills, whose jaws were pried open with […]

If an elected official wants to “take it outside,” they should, and never come back.Frank DiConzo, a Rumford selectman, made this unvarnished threat to a firefighter earlier this week, amid a heated meeting about department costs. DiConzo accused firefighters of abusing overtime, and believed one in the audience was smiling about it, which triggered this […]

Though credit ratings may be crunched, the Federal Reserve’s credibility should remain platinum.The national bank – despite growing crises in world markets – cannot deviate from putting the needs of every American first, not just those of investors who might lose their shirts.Some have criticized the Fed as lagging, with its seemingly timid response to […]

Maybe Lewiston should erect playground equipment from Maple Street Park inside the city council chambers. Though kids around Knox Street don’t have a place to play, childish behavior is still welcome at city hall.Only petty politics – like that played by Councilor Normand Rousseau and Mayor Laurent Gilbert – could derail a noble notion like […]

In Maine’s correctional system, overcrowding has left jailers no freer than the jailed.Though identified as a problem years ago, cellblocks statewide still brim over. Jail administrators are forced to maximize every inch of their cramped facilities, while dealing with serial recidivists who ebb and flow through the corrections system like the tide.Warehousing prisoners out-of-state or […]

Lt. William Alfred Bujold, of Rumford, will be interred in his hometown Friday, more than 64 years after his bomber was shot down during a nighttime run over Papua, New Guinea, during World War II.It seems like mad science, for one lost soldier from a conflict that killed millions to be coming home after all […]

The story about not showering during a lightning storm? Not an old wives’ tale.A Livermore man now exemplifies this, after being shocked while getting out of his home’s shower during a fierce thunderstorm on Thursday. Christian Hussey, 30, was hospitalized following the sudden strike, which reportedly occurred when lightning struck his house while his hand […]

Life isn’t a sentence for killer Michael Woodbury.It’s a privilege.The smug triple-murderer smirked his way through a sentencing hearing Friday, blaming everybody but himself for carnage he wreaked inside a New Hampshire Army Barracks Store last month. By pleading guilty, Woodbury at least prevented the spectacle of his trial.For somebody who has relished the spotlight […]