The U.S. Senate has a chance Monday to stop a new EPA rule that allows some of the country’s largest polluters to circumvent the Clean Air Act by continuing to pump tons of mercury into the atmosphere.In March, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled rules governing mercury emissions. The new rules fall far short of what’s […]

The rights of U.S. citizens mean nothing during war.That’s the essential message of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Jose Padilla. On Friday, the court ruled that the president can indefinitely detain an American citizen arrested on U.S. soil.Criminal charges aren’t necessary. A trial isn’t necessary. All the president has to […]

Long before Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans flooded, it was a failed city. Despite the image of the Big Easy, carefully manicured to draw big-spending, heavy-partying tourists to the French Quarter, many of the city’s residents were abandoned by society long before federal, state and local disaster managers left them adrift.The poor – in New […]

On Sept. 2, the headline screaming across the front page of the Sun Journal captured the horror in New Orleans: “Anarchy, desperation.”With so much going wrong, with so many dead and perhaps millions left homeless, the clouds of despair can cast a shadow over just about everything else.We can’t let that happen.That same day, another […]

Republican members of the Legislature gathered Tuesday at a gas station to demand action by Gov. John Baldacci and to protest the high cost of gasoline. Unfortunately, they’ve also decided to use high prices as a vehicle to reduce state spending on health care.They presented a list of ideas on how state government could help […]

Michael Brown is a political appointee swamped by a disaster he is incapable of handling. As the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he doesn’t have the experience or skills necessary to lead the efforts in New Orleans and Mississippi.President Bush should fire him for his agency’s lack of preparedness, slow reaction and general […]

Since his nomination to the Supreme Court in 1971, William Rehnquist set a conservative course.Early in his court, he often found himself dissenting from the more liberal majority. But over time, his views on states’ sovereignty and on the Supreme Court’s ability to limit the authority of the federal government have come to dominate conservative […]

Lewiston City Councilman Stavros Mendros is at it again.His effort to repeal Maine’s law that prohibits smoking in bars and restaurants flopped, but there’s a new front in his crusade to protect smokers’ “right” to poison themselves. Mendros is among those trying to collect enough signatures to have a people’s veto placed on the ballot […]

Procedurally, Kingfield should have taken a donation from Poland Spring water to a town meeting before accepting it. That was a mistake.Morally, it might be fair to question whether the large water bottling company was hoping to curry good favor with the town as it is considering building a new facility there. It probably didn’t […]

By Elaine L. Chao,Secretary of Labor On Labor Day, we pause to celebrate and remember the contributions of America’s workforce to our nation. It is also an appropriate time to focus on another set of heroes who are entering America’s civilian workforce – the veterans of America’s armed forces.Through their service, our nation’s veterans have […]