It’s been a sweet summer so far, at least on the base paths. Two of our local boys’ baseball teams are closing their 2005 seasons with state titles.Saturday, St. Dom’s won its first-ever state baseball title. Brady Blackman pitched a complete-game three-hitter as St. Dom’s eked out a 2-1 triumph over George Stevens Academy at […]

Gov. John Baldacci should not stand in the way of a public vote in November on whether to allow a racino in Washington County.The people of Maine made the distinction between a casino and a racino last November when they rejected a $650 million casino resort on the coast but approved 1,500 slot machines at […]

Raising the excise tax on cigarettes from $1 to $2 is estimated to raise $125 million more in excise tax revenue in two years’ time.While impressive, that estimate is low, given current smoking rates.There are about 260,000 smokers in Maine. If each smokes, as the average smoker does, 15 cigarettes a day, that equals about […]

The Good Shepherd Food-Bank was first a dream to feed Maine’s neediest people.The pantry’s modern and spacious warehouse in Auburn was once a dream to feed people better.Now, there is a dream for the pantry to turn a used beverage truck into a rolling grocery to feed people even better.The pantry and its warehouse are […]

Yes, some people really ARE jerks.Consider the pretend TV journalists in London Sunday who asked Tom Cruise for an interview, held a microphone to his face and then squirted him with water.The four pranksters were later identified as actors in a comedy sketch being filmed for a British TV station. The station apologized for their […]

The days of online tax-free shopping may be coming to an end. It won’t be too soon.A California appeals court last week found bookseller Borders Inc. liable for $167,000 in California sales taxes.A 1992 Supreme Court decision found that mail-order merchants need not collect state and local sales taxes, unless the merchant has a physical […]

The realities of the war in Iraq are making the debate over the role women should play in combat obsolete.Consider Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester.A 23-year-old soldier from the Kentucky National Guard, Hester on Thursday was awarded the Silver Star for valor in combat. She’s the first woman since World War II to receive the citation, […]

Have you ever heard the expression, “If you were really sorry, you wouldn’t have done it in the first place”?It stretches logic to begin with, but falls completely apart when it’s one generation trying to make amends for the crimes of the past.On Monday, the United States Senate apologized for its failure to pass anti-lynching […]

Safety must take higher priority in Maine’s courts. Underfunded, understaffed and underutilized, upgraded security tools at Maine’s courthouses are sitting dormant most of the time, daring someone to carry a weapon in and dispense his or her own justice.It’s not a case of being overly dramatic. Courthouse security around the state is always porous and […]

John Madigan is the town manager of Mexico.He may also, starting next week, be the town manager of neighboring Dixfield.Dixfield selectmen recognize these River Valley towns of similar size have similar problems and similar attributes. Appointing a single person to manage both makes financial sense, but it also makes management sense.Mexico and Dixfield have already […]