Usually periods of calm are harbingers of maelstrom, but Gov. John Baldacci’s contentious school consolidation plan, the “Local Schools, Regional Solutions” initiative, is apparently an exception.A tempest raged inside the Augusta Civic Center on Monday, during the lengthy public hearing about consolidation held by the Legislature’s Education and Appropriations committees.(Weather aside, Sen. Peter Mills also […]

What’s startling about the security surrounding the Daniel Roberts murder trial isn’t its strength, but its mere presence; we’ve become so accustomed to passive security inside Maine’s courthouses that metal detectors still seem strangely out of place.Nearly every court facility in Maine is equipped with security technology. Yet metal detectors and X-ray machines are idle […]

On Tuesday, Feb. 6, the City edition of the Sun Journal featured a reprint of the editorial page from Friday, Feb. 1. It was a printing error. The correct page is available to readers on www.sunjournal.com, or by calling Editorial Page Editor Anthony Ronzio at 1-800-482-0759, ext. 2285.

Some rhetoric surrounding the controversial Real ID program is getting ridiculous.For example: “This is almost a frontal assault on the freedoms of America when they require us to carry a national ID to monitor where we are,” Rep. James Guest, a Republican from Missouri, told the Associated Press last week in an apparent fit of […]

Last week, the bishop of Maine, Richard Malone, kicked off Catholic Schools Week with a visit to Trinity Catholic Schools in Lewiston. This newspaper published an image of the smiling Malone surrounded by schoolchildren, all amused because the bishop let a child wear his coveted purple zucchetto, or skullcap.Days before, the bishop stood before the […]

Oxford County Commissioner David Duguay is a grocery store manager by trade, and a pragmatist at heart. So when he decided to run for commissioner, the need to align himself with a political party – Democrat, Republican or other – just struck him as odd.For the record, Duguay is a registered Republican. But he feels […]

Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens must feel like they’re performing in a B-movie, where they, as the lead characters, appear to have emerged from a marijuana-induced fog to discover they’re wanted terrorists. Think “Dude, Where’s My Car?” except with Boston Mayor Tom Menino foaming at the mouth.As the free world knows by now, the dread-locked […]

Tuesday’s forum for Lewiston mayoral candidates at L-A College shows the audition to replace Lionel Guay has two leads, Laurent Gilbert and Normand Rousseau, and two supporting cast, Charles Soule and Leah Poulin.Candidates Soule, Gilbert, Rousseau and Poulin overlap little. Poulin is all optimism, with endless enthusiasm for changing Lewiston’s image, mainly through education. She […]

HELP WANTED: The town of Rumford, Maine, seeks a new town manager. MUST LIVE IN RUMFORD. All other applications will be filed in a circular receptacle.The right candidate must – besides reside in Rumford – be experienced in day-to-day management of a service center community, have strong communication skills and economic development acumen. Knowledge of […]

Tax the recliners. Televisions and computers, too. Tax books; if we’re reading, we’re not exercising. Spending a wintry afternoon curled with a novel is an “unhealthy lifestyle choice.”We’re kidding, of course. Taxing Mainers for unhealthy choices is far from frivolity, though, since the Blue Ribbon Commission on Dirigo Health has now recommended several “sin taxes” […]