The galloping sounds emanating from the State House recently came from the cloven hoofs of devilish subprime lenders, after lawmakers, in bipartisan fashion, slammed the barn door of Maine’s real estate market behind them.Gov. John Baldacci signed the Homeowner Protection Act on June 11, enacting sweeping anti-predatory lending restrictions designed to prevent consumers, especially homeowners, […]

Earners and savers.If either describes you, then the taxation reform plan before the Maine Legislature is musical, as reduced taxes on your income will mean more funds directed into your bank account. This is a good thing.Homeowners should benefit too. The elderly especially, through a laudable tax-deferral plan, others through increased Homestead exemptions and Circuit […]

And the count goes on.That’s was the word Wednesday, from some towns experiencing their first referendum, following retirement of the traditional town meeting. Whereas sentiments from the meeting’s floor were easily tallied, the ballot box proved more time-consuming, in voting, and counting.In Rumford, for example, voters were offered well-lit seats and magnifying glasses to use […]

Though state regulators accelerated stringent new pool rules for child care centers following a toddler’s drowning in Westbrook earlier this year, ample time remains for policymakers and providers to negotiate the long-term solution.The death of Andrew Thurston, a 3-year-old who crawled unnoticed into his day care’s swimming pool on March 26, exposed weakness in the […]

One of comedian Bob Marley’s routines revolves around buying marijuana. It’s too hard to get the drug, Marley jabs, because you have to know somebody, who has a friend, whose cousin lives in Lewiston.Ouch.Marley’s bit means to draw laughs, and it does, but it also underscores a pervasive problem: Lewiston makes a great punch line, […]

Mainers can agree on precious few issues, for sure, but there’s one item all Pine Tree State residents always find consensus: our roads, for the most part, are awful.In Lewiston, Webster Street’s pockmarked pavement has earned the designation of “most deterioriated in Maine” from a national transportation nonprofit, TRIP, which released an assessment of Maine’s […]

In discussing a community’s “social capital,” it’s easy to get lost inside social science gibberish, as the field of measuring community interconnectedness is an ambitious exercise in quantifying the unquantifiable.This is what makes it so frustrating, and so intriguing.Social capital in Lewiston-Auburn was assessed in 2000 and 2006, the latest study released this week. In […]

The Lewiston City Council is looking in the wrong places for solutions to the evergreen problem of Park Street.Latest council action about this occurred June 5, when the board extended a moratorium on liquor licenses in the neighborhood for 90 additional days, while granting an exemption for a new coffee shop/eatery on Middle Street, Guthrie’s. […]

An American flag flies over Tambrands.“The new flag came in today,” said Rick Malinowski, the employee relations manager for the Auburn manufacturer, on Tuesday. The flagpole, however, was bare for several weeks.“Our (old) flag was torn. We had taken it to the American Legion and had it destroyed,” he explained.Old Glory was not, contrary to […]

With local control comes local responsibility.This should become the Legislature’s new mantra, following approval of hard-fought school consolidation plans within the state’s $6.3 billion biennial budget. Gov. John Baldacci signed the cooling piece of volcanic legislation into law on Thursday at the State House.Rural lawmakers, led by independent Rep. Tom Saviello of Wilton, pushed to […]