Perilously perched halfway up a 100-foot tree, little kitty Olivia had her mournful call answered Friday when she was delivered back to solid ground by a community rescue effort.The 7-month-old cat found herself stuck for three days and two nights in a tree between Cram and Ridgewood avenues. Her owner and neighbors were at their […]

If somebody swipes your wallet and takes $50 without you knowing about it, it’s a crime. Period.It doesn’t matter if they intended to give it back in a few hours or a few days. The bottom line is the crook took your money without your knowledge or permission.If you use a debit or credit card, […]

Grandstanding notwithstanding, the matter of whether Poland Regional High School Committee members are violating the law with their e-mail communications is serious and needs to be addressed.On Wednesday night at the school committee meeting, Dave Griffiths, who’s a member of the committee, ambushed the others with a two-page statement condemning the board’s e-mail behavior. Griffiths […]

U.S. Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist has some splainin’ to do.Frist, from Tennessee, sold a large amount of stock in HCA Inc., a massive hospital company that his family founded, just before a poor earnings estimate sent its price tumbling by 9 percent. His wife, children and other large investors in the company also sold, […]

Thomas K. Wood is a sex offender, convicted of felony crimes against a girl younger than 14.He is also a Maine Revenue Services revenue agent, a field auditor whose work may include audits of individuals and businesses. He has the authority of the state to enter our homes, to review our financial records, judge our […]

Summer has officially subsided and the Oxford and Farmington county fairs are behind us.In Oxford County, the public warmly welcomed bull riders from away. In Farmington, a unique new vegetable – a cross between a pumpkin and a cucumber – raised eyebrows. And, at both events, Mainers celebrated the state’s agriculture and rural social culture.In […]

There’s a reasonable debate surrounding whether tax increment financing incentives are good public policy.Opponents argue we should not have to bribe private developers for projects that will already make them handsome profits.Proponents counter that in a competitive atmosphere in which communities compete for prime development, cities must do what they can to attract growth, even […]

The price tag for the post-Sept. 11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is often pegged at about $200 billion. That’s the figure the Department of Defense reports for anti-terrorism efforts through May 2005.Opponents of the war have zeroed in on the sum, often asking what better purposes the money could have been used for.A report […]

The United States’ airline industry is not suffering from the 4.3-cents-per-gallon federal tax on jet fuel.It’s suffering because many of the largest companies have failed business plans that have not been adapted to the realities of the marketplace since deregulation.The industry early this month asked Congress and the White House to give it a tax […]

Big ice normally doesn’t arrive in Maine until it can ride in on winter’s frigid winds. This year, thanks to a baffling decision by FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers, tons of it are arriving early – and by the truckload.If the Federal Emergency Management Agency had just waited a couple of months, it […]