The size of a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in Washington County has doubled.Facing stiff resistance from neighbors, environmentalists and Canadian communities adjacent to the Split Rock site of the LNG terminal, the news that the proposal had grown fourfold will only invigorate opposition.Oklahoma-based Quoddy Bay LLC is negotiating with the Passamaquoddy tribe to build […]

Whitewash.There’s no other word for what happened at the state ethics commission hearing Thursday.Rep. Tom Saviello, I-Wilton, had asked the commission to investigate his behavior as a member of the Natural Resources Committee and to determine if his job as environmental manager for International Paper in Jay created a conflict of interest with his legislative […]

After the Florida voting debacle tied the 2000 presidential election into knots, Congress passed a law to help states get their elections in order.As part of that law, Maine received $17 million in federal money to upgrade the state’s voter registration system, with a deadline of Jan. 1, 2006, for compliance.The Bangor Daily News reported […]

We don’t get why it’s so hard.Earlier this week, Lewiston increased the fares that taxi drivers can charge their customers. The hike, which increases fares by as much as $2.25 in some zones, follows a complicated increase enacted in September to offset high gasoline prices. Auburn also increased fares in September. Lewiston’s new fare structure […]

There are always good reasons to increase funding for schools.And in Lewiston, especially, the city has done a good job over the last several years of holding the line on tax increases. But when we heard that the city’s school committee is requesting a 6.4 percent budget increase, it stopped us in our tracks.The school […]

Bill Yeo, the Durham man preparing to climb Mount Everest, got us thinking about risk Tuesday, as did an article we did Sunday about the dangers of downhill skiing.Mountain climbers have probably faced one question since the beginning of time: Why? Why climb a mountain when you can do something far less risky?The answer has […]

Maine colleges are reporting double-digit hikes in applications, but no one can say definitively why that’s happening. It could be that more students are applying to college, or it could be that students are simply applying to more colleges to give themselves broader choices in selecting schools. It’s a head-scratcher, but it’s encouraging news.Traditionally, Maine […]

The Lewiston Public Library was closed in observance of Presidents Day on Monday. So was the Auburn Public Library. As were libraries in Lisbon Falls, Turner, Monmouth, Rumford, Mexico, Dixfield, South Paris and Oxford.The Norway Memorial Library was open, a pleasant and welcome surprise on a federal holiday.Ann Siekman, library director in Norway, explained that […]

Here’s our pledge: For the next two years, the Sun Journal will issue a quarterly progress report on the consolidation of municipal services in Lewiston-Auburn.We’ll do it alone, but we’d prefer if the city managers on both sides of the river agreed to join us in issuing that quarterly statement.We hope this will help ensure […]

It’s beginning to feel like the state motto should be changed to: It could have been worse.Last week, Bank of America announced that it was closing at least four call centers around the state, including one in Farmington that employs about 95 people.Gov. Baldacci and Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe all treated the announcement […]