Chuck, your insurance agent, calls. “We’re running a special offer on health care insurance — three years for free,” he says. “What’s the catch?” you ask. “Nothing,” he says, “other than that the price will go up in three years.” “Hmm,” you say. “Three years for free? Then the price will go up?” “Sorry, Chuck. […]
Our View
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It’s time to phase out ethanol gas
Say we had a product that consumers hated, that drove up food and gasoline prices and that caused as much or more environmental damage than a similar, less costly product. What would our government do about it? Force us to use more, of course. That’s the illogical direction we are headed since the U.S. Environmental […]
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A dishonorable level of sex crimes among the ranks
In 2011, Newsweek published a sobering piece on sexual assaults in the military. The magazine reported that women are more likely to be sexually assaulted by a fellow soldier than to be killed in combat. And, according to the Pentagon, sexual assaults in the military have increased 35 percent since 2010. That’s astonishing, and it’s […]
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Don’t allow obstinacy to kill good ideas
There’s an old expression about “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory,” and we hope practical politicians in Augusta will not allow that to happen. Maine needs to pay its hospitals and it can provide health insurance to its working poor — but only by reaching a sensible compromise. It’s safe to say Democrats didn’t come […]
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MaineHealth seeks control of hospital market
An old TV cartoon, “Pinky and the Brain,” always featured two mice and the following bit of dialogue: “Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?” “The same thing we do every night, Pinky — try to take over the world!” Every few years, the executives at MaineHealth, like The Brain, come up with […]
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Correction: Lewiston Strong event was Monday
LEWISTON — A story about the Lewiston Strong — Fire Response: Lewiston Unites event published Monday on Page A1 should have said it was Monday afternoon.
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Dying churches, groups leave us emotionally adrift
It’s reassuring to walk into a local restaurant and see the morning coffee klatch. It’s usually older folks, sometimes speaking French, who gather to talk about news, sports, politics or, we suppose, other people. They seem like people who have known each other a long time, perhaps from living in the same neighborhood, working at […]
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Old housing, poverty plague toughest area
We were surprised to see a headline in another newspaper last week announcing that the three recent fires here “unveil (a) crisis in Lewiston’s housing stock.” Actually, the fires didn’t unveil anything that people living here didn’t already know: Much of the housing stock in Lewiston’s core is old, poorly maintained and tightly packed. We […]
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We are proud to call this city our home
We’ve all seen it. The occasional nasty comment about Lewiston and its residents posted on social media. We’ve read the tee-heeing and tried to ignore the ugly barbs. But, in the shadow of Monday’s devastating arson fire that left 75 people homeless and another fire Friday night that left 100 people homeless, we’ve seen enough […]
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Frenzied move to shortchange public process
On Thursday morning, Senate President Justin Alfond and House Speaker Mark Eves sent a joint “committee guidance memo” to legislators alerting them to an emergency measure instituted to help them finish their work. The guidance offered was to waive advertisement of notice for public hearings and work sessions, to finish all public hearings by next […]