It’s early to be talking about the 2006 election. We haven’t even had the 2005 election yet.But Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Jean Hay Bright visited Lewiston Wednesday as part of her bid to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe.Hay Bright has her work cut out for her; so far she’s the only announced […]

It doesn’t really matter if the man whose videotaped beating at the hands of New Orleans police is guilty of being drunk in public. Or of resisting arrest. Or of any of the other charges he faces.He didn’t deserve what happened to him.Robert Davis, a 64-year-old retired teacher, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of […]

When the U.S. Department of Defense targeted the only active-duty airfield in the Northeast, it relied on faulty logic and shortsighted reasoning to make its case.Now that Brunswick Naval Air Station is destined to be closed, the Defense Department is making the same mistake again. Earlier this month, the Navy announced that it would not […]

It turns out that the information that prompted New York City to increase security for the subway wasn’t entirely credible.Sources within the Department of Homeland Security and FBI were skeptical of the information, which was provided by an Iraqi informant. But enough of the information checked out that Mayor Michael Bloomberg thought it necessary to […]

Scott Hewitt continues to tie Maine’s judicial system into knots.On Friday, a Kennebec County Superior Court judge reduced Hewitt’s bail to $75,000 cash or $300,000 surety bond. That amount could eventually be reduced if Hewitt manages to find some organization willing to monitor his release to make sure he follows the conditions set by the […]

The suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan continues, even as the activities of the deaths squads have somewhat slowed.Lewiston doctor Stephen Sokol is in Sudan, working with several relief organizations to help thousands of refugees who have been driven from their homes and collected into large camps for internally displaced persons – a maddeningly […]

When we first saw reports that scientists were trying to recreate the 1918 influenza virus that killed 50 million people worldwide, our first thoughts jumped to the potential for a deadly mistake. Maybe we’ve see “Outbreak” reruns on cable TV one too many times, but the idea of engineering one of history’s biggest killers was […]

For the umpteenth time, it’s not about same-sex marriage. It’s about ending discrimination.A group of 46 prominent lawyers and legal scholars, including several members of the University of Maine School of Law, released last week their analysis of Maine’s new anti-discrimination law. They found it provides no legal basis for gay marriage, and suggestions that […]

How many times does the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments need to hear the same answer before it accepts the truth?After being told by the Auburn tax assessor, the appeals board and the city that it owes taxes, AVCOG now hears it from a state legislative committee. The quasi-governmental organization owes Auburn $77,785 in taxes. […]

The U.S. Army is making dangerous calculations about how best to fill its ranks.The Army fell 7,000 recruits short of its goal of 80,000 active-duty soldiers this year. The reasons are pretty obvious. It’s harder to recruit soldiers during a time of war when the chances for a foreign, combat deployment are much higher. Coupled […]