When we first heard it we laughed out loud: The Maine Turnpike on a historic register? You’ve got to be kidding.Well, the person who told us wasn’t, and Turnpike Public Affairs Manager Dan Paradee confirmed it Thursday. A Federal Transit Administration committee went looking for significant stretches of the interstate highway system and Maine’s Turnpike […]

Candidate: Green Independent Pat LaMarche for governorTV ad: “I’m Voting for Pat”Length: 30 secondsProducer: Message Strategy Group, North YarmouthMarket: Statewide before the June 13 primary. The ad could return later in the campaign.Announcer: None.Visuals: The ad opens with LaMarche and her campaign logo and transitions to a series of testimonials from Mainers who are endorsing […]

“I just want to feel safe in the town where I live.”That was the plea of a cyclist who said he felt threatened by a group of Somalis while relaxing in Kennedy Park Wednesday.The man has lived in Lewiston his entire life; this city is his home. What he wants is what we all want […]

Maine already has one of the least-affordable higher education systems in the U.S., and last week the problem got much worse.To help shrink the federal budget deficit, the U.S. Congress cut $12 billion from federal student-loan programs and instituted a new formula that caused interest rates to jump.Students with Stafford loans saw their rates go […]

The Ford Mustang – one of America’s favorite muscle cars – is not made in America.The Chevy Suburban, a staple of the American suburbs, isn’t either.Made in America means 75 percent American-made parts and assembled in the U.S. The Suburban is 67 percent American, and the Mustang is only 65.Not a single pair of Levi […]

Talk is cheap.That’s why we urge Waterford residents not to sign a petition being circulated by about 15 residents – as best as anybody can discern – calling for the recall of Waterford Selectman Whizzer Wheeler.In a town of more than 1,400, 15 is hardly an uprising.Angered by Wheeler’s rough rhetoric and unabashed resistance to […]

Americans are proud people. We’re proud of our founders and our freedom, proud of the founders, especially, for seeking our freedom above all else.The American Declaration of Independence has been called the “want, will and hopes of the people.” The sentiment driving this unique document was one of desperation for fairness and a desire to […]

At first, we thought it was just hokey: Gov. John Baldacci and nine past and present legislators who have sponsored anti-tobacco legislation unveiling a highway sign promoting Maine’s smoke-free status.The sign at the Yarmouth Visitor’s Center is one of five that will be placed around the state advertising our smoke-free status.It didn’t take us long […]

It’s an embarrassment, and it ought to be front and center in the upcoming race for governor. Among all 50 states, only Maine and Louisiana experienced a decline in economic activity last year.We’re often skeptical of such rankings; too often they are compiled and promoted by groups with an interest in tax policy.But these dismal […]

The definition of ethical behavior is often said to be doing the right thing when no one is watching. And, by that standard, Joe Brooks of Winterport was a winner in the recent primary election, even though he lost on Election Day.Let us explain.Brooks represented House District 42 in Waldo County from 1996 to 2002 […]