Watching Red Sox starting pitcher Matt Clement fall to the ground Tuesday night was horribly stunning.As the All-Star lay on the ground, barely moving, the anguish among his teammates and the Florida crowd was palpable, even for those fans watching the game on television.Clement was conscious and talking when he was carried off the field, […]

By Jack Z. Smith,Knight Ridder Newspapers When running for president in 2000, and early in his first term in the White House, George W. Bush praised Social Security and stressed that surplus payroll tax revenues flowing into the program must be devoted to paying future benefits.On May 15, 2000, while campaigning in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., […]

Even with some of the improvements that have been made during negotiations, the energy bill being hashed out by U.S. Senate and House negotiators is running on empty.Thankfully, provisions to give the makers of MTBE, a fuel additive which has caused billions in damage to affected communities, liability from an estimated $30 billion in cleanup […]

There is no evidence that capping medical malpractice awards – and otherwise undermining the ability of people to sue when they have been injured – will reduce insurance premiums for doctors.Nonetheless, the U.S. House of Representatives could take up legislation as soon as today that would deny many people the ability to be compensated for […]

Recidivism among drunken drivers is a dastardly problem without a simple fix.But it’s not enough to admit the obvious and then for society to throw up our collective hands and move on. A combination of tougher punishments, better treatment and more conditions for release must be put in place to stop drivers who just won’t […]

In an editorial published July 22, the Sun Journal incorrectly identified which level of government receives the revenue from traffic citations. Money collected goes into the state’s General Fund.

By Marc Fisher,The Washington Post WASHINGTON – You can follow the next two months of political thrashing and hullabaloo over the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, or you can get the whole thing over with by looking at how he handled a single french fry.Thanks to a ninth-grader at Deal Junior High […]

It’s too bad that we live in such a litigious society that snoops are traveling around the country trying to catch musicians who don’t have a license to perform.But that’s where we are, and Lewiston is doing the right thing by trying to follow the exact letter of copyright laws.Lawyers from the American Society of […]

Call it aggressive marketing if you want.We prefer a different word: Lying.Recently, we’ve found that the circulation drives of some national magazines have gone from persistent to downright threatening and misleading.A case in point: An elderly woman – the mother of a member of the editorial page staff – received a threatening letter from the […]

On the front of today’s Perspective section, writer Joel Garreau posits that J.K. Rowling and her fictional creation, Harry Potter, have inherited the cultural post once held by poet and singer-song writer Bob Dylan.Dylan captured the restless spirit of a generation divorced from the conventions of their elders. He came of age during a time […]