Traps are useless without lobsters. Paper mills are useless without trees. Innovative economies are useless without youthful, energetic workers to propel them.Unlike Maine’s natural resource-based industries, the ballyhooed “creative economy” depends on cultivated raw material: educated workers. College graduates don’t occur naturally, like pines or crustaceans, but are reaped through educational availability, investments and incentives.Lack […]

“Asia is no longer the ‘Far East,’” wrote Mary Brown Bullock, now a professor of China studies at Emory University, in a 1996 Chronicle of Higher Education article. “We are inexorably linked to this developing region.”Bullock’s words were prophetic – the rise of China as an economic power over the past decade has changed global […]

The following names are soldiers and civilians with Maine ties killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001. These men and women either lived here, were born here, or have immediate family living here.Master Sgt. Evander AndrewsMaj. Jay AubinCpl. Brian KennedySpc. Daniel CunninghamL/Cpl. Cedric BrunsSgt. Christopher D. CoffinSgt. Heath McMillenCW5 Sharon SwartworthSgt. Nicholas GoldingSpc. Jeremiah […]

There’s nothing sexy about the rubber bottom of an L.L. Bean boot.Leon Leonwood Bean’s signature footwear is made to stay dry in the muckiest conditions, from the deepest January snow to the slickest April mud. It’s a workhorse, perfect for Saturday’s morning trip to the dump, but just stylish enough for Sunday’s morning trip to […]

Elmer Berry picked the wrong issue on which to take a stand.The embattled chairman of the Androscoggin County Commission, for some inexplicable reason, decided to question the attendance of several deputies at memorial services in Washington, D.C., for Sgt. David Rancourt, a longtime Androscoggin County officer and military veteran who died on the job earlier […]

One thousand Iranian-Christian refugees are not coming to Lewiston-Auburn.We heard the rumor Wednesday morning, derived from a local coffee klatch. It seems plausible, on its face, given the Twin Cities’ growing refugee population, predominantly from Somalia. Lewiston-Auburn, in fact, has the highest concentration (not population) of Somali refugees of any city in the United States.But […]

School consolidation is mandated in Maine.The mandate is from taxpayers, tired of burdensome government spending and a dearth of bold initiatives from lawmakers. It was delivered with the narrow defeat of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights at the polls last November.With that vote, Maine taxpayers entrusted their government with reducing the tax burden, instead of […]

Earl Scott May is guilty of lying, and he’s guilty of conscience.The Rumford man inexplicably told friends last year he was a Vietnam veteran, although the battles ended before he left grade school. He lied, but not for glory, which is the usual excuse for wartime tale-tellers. May, 45, cannot, even to this day, quite […]

If the recent Board of Environmental Protection hearings regarding discharge permits for the Androscoggin River was a retrospective of environmental issues surrounding Maine’s paper industry, the gambit announced afterward by L.L. Bean is a preview of coming attractions.Maine’s most recognizable company declined to renew its contract for catalog paper with Verso, which has mills in […]

To find Rep. Terry Hayes’ explanation of LD 1878, one must locate her MySpace page (search for a 49-year-old Taurus in Buckfield, Maine), find her blogs, and click “Terry’s latest blog entry.”One could have found it easily from a link on Hayes’ personal Web site – hayesforhouse.com – but the freshman Democrat allowed her domain […]