When it comes to end-of-life decisions, what should be most important are a person’s wishes, not the color of the form or whether a doctor has signed off on it.Maine law currently requires that “Do Not Resuscitate” orders must be printed on blaze orange paper and include the signature of a doctor. Other forms of […]

The Passamaquoddy tribe doesn’t need to follow state freedom of access laws as it negotiates with an Oklahoma firm to build a liquefied natural gas facility in Washington County.At least that’s the ruling from the Superior Court, issued in December.The tribe was sued by the Bangor Daily News and The Quoddy Tides newspapers last year […]

New England is being used as a guinea pig for a new profiling program that hopes to spot potential terrorists before they board an airplane.Airports in Portland, Bangor, Boston and Rhode Island have implemented a pilot program that uses specially trained security agents to spot “suspicious” behavior by travelers. Called SPOT – Screening Passengers by […]

Warnings of a debacle were all over the place, but the federal government failed to recognize the precarious situation into which it was throwing senior citizens with the new Medicare Part D prescription drug plan.Gov. Baldacci and his administration, on the other hand, saw the light at the end of the tunnel and recognized it […]

There’s trouble in recall land. The troops are demoralized, and the leaders are out of sight.Chalk it up to the holidays or the realization that recalling the majority of the Auburn City Council is not practical, either way the effort is running into difficulty.One of the leading organizers of the recall is out of the […]

Maine’s ethic commission took a strong stand Thursday against corruption in state politics.The commission fined two candidates and two consultants record amounts for their misdeeds during 2004. More importantly, the commission recognized the seriousness of the situation and handed the case over to the Attorney General’s Office for possible criminal charges.Former candidate for the state […]

A tumultuous first day for the Legislature ended the same way it began: With Democrats clinging to a tenuous one-seat advantage and maintaining – just barely – majority-party status.On Dec. 30, former Democratic Rep. Barbara Merrill of Appleton left the party, creating a 73-73 tie, with four independents and one Green. Merrill’s move appears a […]

By Eric Peters,Knight Ridder News Service WASHINGTON – It seems that America’s longtime love affair with the family automobile is shifting toward a passionate embrace of public transportation, and the romance will only grow stronger with time.America’s gasoline prices have risen steadily in recent months, reaching all-time highs in the wake of two devastating hurricanes, […]

The lawsuit filed Wednesday against Maine for its new regulations on automobile emissions didn’t come as a surprise, though it is an unfortunate legal ploy that unnecessarily challenges progress against air pollution.Automakers have challenged most attempts made by states to exceed federal rules on the emissions of greenhouse gases from cars and trucks. Maine is […]

The first day of the legislative session was supposed to start off easily.It didn’t.What’s surprising is that we’re surprised at all.The first item for consideration was a bill to provide $5 million in emergency heating assistance to low-income Mainers, a move broadly agreed upon by the leaders of both political parties. Federal assistance for heating […]