Brutal. Senseless. Horrific. The adjectives come quickly in the aftermath of Monday’s bombing at the Boston Marathon. Three people are dead, including an eight-year-old boy. Others, including the boy’s mother and sister, sustained severe injuries. Some spectators had legs or feet blown off in the blast. If we think about it, we realize that horrible, […]
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Maine can afford to wait on drone regs
We wonder how long it was after Orville and Wilbur Wright launched their first airplane that a police officer thought to use an aircraft to spot or chase criminals. We’re not sure, but 28 years after the Wright brothers’ famous flight the New York City police department established the first police aviation unit. As far […]
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Manufacturing jobs, not output, have left U.S.
In 2001, Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson published a book titled “Untruth: Why the Conventional Wisdom is (Almost Always) Wrong.” In his Post column April 7, he attacked a familiar piece of conventional wisdom that we all hold near and dear — that our manufacturing economy is largely gone and its successor, a service economy, is […]
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Shifting casino money would ignore voters
The Oxford Casino that voters approved in 2011 is growing and fulfilling its mission of providing jobs and tax revenue. But one promise made to voters has already been broken and another is now being assailed in the Maine Legislature. The strongest selling point for the Oxford Casino was that it was supported by established […]
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These students eager to become their own bosses
Two stories on Sunday’s front page caught our eye. The first reported how the number of Americans in the labor force — those working and those looking for work — dropped by half a million from February to March. Meanwhile, the worker participation rate, the percentage of working-age adults in the workforce, dropped to 63.3 […]
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Targeting fear to create a secret permit
In the middle of the day Wednesday, a poll revealing that a majority of Mainers support public access to concealed carry permits was released. The margin in favor of public access was small, but clear. Several hours later, in a 10-3 vote, the Judiciary Committee supported closing access to those permits — against the majority […]
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Putting guns in schools is a naive idea
The National Rifle Association revealed a plan Tuesday to arm teachers and volunteers to guard U.S. schools. The plan is naive, dangerous and expensive, and here’s why: First, we have all seen too many movies and television police shows where a handsome cop rips off a round or two and cleanly nails someone shooting at […]
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Gov. made mistake vetoing tanning ban
Gov. Paul LePage vetoed a bill yesterday that would prohibit anyone younger than 18 from using commercial tanning beds and booths. That was unfortunate. LePage trotted out the nanny state argument, claiming the “bill tells Maine parents that Augusta knows better than they do when it comes to their children.” Yes, and we also know […]
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Attorney General must investigate shredding charge
An accounting office at Enron. A collateralized debt department at a Wall Street bank. Perhaps the central offices of the Atlanta School System. Desperate people destroy evidence when large amounts of money and long jail sentences are at stake. Or when embarrassing political skulduggery might be revealed. Wednesday, a veteran state official said her superiors […]
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Congress stalls as memory of Newtown fades
Three months ago, just after 27 deaths in Newtown, Conn., we predicted there would be great sound and fury about gun control followed by little or no action. “As we have done before,” we wrote four days after the tragedy, “people will go back to their lives and Congress will go back to wringing its […]