Maine has led the way in improving the way elections are funded.Last week, Connecticut followed along.Ripped by scandals that led to the downfall of Gov. John Rowland, Connecticut’s legislature is the first in the country to limit the campaigns of its own members. In Maine, campaign reform was adopted at the ballot box through the […]

Referendum elections are notorious for low turnouts.Even in a state with Maine’s participation pedigree, ballot questions typically draw only about 34 percent of eligible voters to the polls, well below the nearly 70 percent who turn out for presidential elections.Voters this year, however, improved on the mark. Slightly more than 40 percent of the state’s […]

The Sun Journal is looking for spectacular Christmas displays in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties. If you have one or see one in your neighborhood, please contact Bonnie Washuk at 1-800-482-0759, ext. 2306 or e-mail: [email protected]. Please include a telephone number where you can be reached during the day.

As the old joke goes, a camel is just a horse designed by committee.Same with Dirigo Health.The health care reform was designed with input from many quarters – businesses, insurers, consumer advocates, politicians, hospitals. Its design combined private insurance with expanded Medicaid eligibility, cost controls and comprehensive statewide health planningThe goal was universal coverage, with […]

Paris has a problem with its drinking water system, but the town won’t likely have to face the problem alone.In November, the town’s water tested positive for E. coli bacteria. The state warned residents that they needed to boil their water to be safe.The immediate public health hazard has passed. The water is being chlorinated […]

Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection did the right thing Thursday when it adopted tougher emission standards for new cars and trucks.The new rules will bring the state into line with California, New York, Washington, Oregon and Vermont, which have already adopted the standards, and are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by […]

The Sun Journal is looking for spectacular Christmas displays in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties. If you have one or see one in your neighborhood, please contact Bonnie Washuk at 1-800-482-0759, ext. 2306 or e-mail: [email protected]. Please include a telephone number where you can be reached during the day.

The murder of 14-year-old Marlee Johnston has left the community of Fayette – the entire state, for that matter – wondering what happened.Another 14-year-old, Patrick Armstrong, also of Fayette, has been arrested and charged in the girl’s death.While police are being needlessly tight-lipped about their investigation and the circumstances of Marlee’s death, the details won’t […]

Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection has made a midcourse correction on its treatment of the Androscoggin River, and it’s good news.At a meeting Wednesday to set a schedule for appeals concerning discharge permits for the paper mills in Jay and Rumford, DEP Deputy Commissioner David Littell made public that the permit for International Paper would […]

Medical breakthroughs and new treatments have changed the face of AIDS in the United States.Contracting the disease here is no longer an automatic death sentence. New drug treatments are leading to longer, quality lives for HIV/AIDS sufferers. New infections among intravenous drug users and African-Americans actually dropped last year for the first time since AIDS […]