“Are you ready for some football?”Then forget about ABC.After 36 years of prime-time, network coverage of the NFL, ABC is out of the football business starting with the 2006 season. Its sister network, ESPN – both are owned by the Walt Disney Co. – won the bidding war to broadcast Monday night football. ESPN will […]

Lawmakers and schools have a choice, delivered to them by Rep. Margaret Craven.They can continue to peddle foods and drinks loaded with sugar to kids as a way to raise money, push students to eat quickly and schedule the school day so there’s no time for physical activity.Or they can find solutions to the problems […]

On only the second day of the conclave, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was chosen as pope.The quick selection and the choice of Ratzinger, who then took the name Benedict XVI, sends a clear message about how the Catholic Church’s leaders see the world.Ratzinger served under Pope John Paul II as the chief enforcer of church doctrine […]

The Chinese government has been busy whipping up a nationalist furor over a new Japanese textbook that does not deal adequately with the “Rape of Nanjing,” a 1937 massacre that claimed as many as 300,000 lives.On Saturday, as many as 20,000 anti-Japanese protesters in China became violent, shouting anti-Japanese slogans, attacking the country’s consulate and […]

Identity theft is a growing problem in Maine.In 2004, 424 state residents reported that their identity had been stolen. That was up from 353 in 2003 and 306 in 2002. The numbers underestimate the depth of the problem. Because the data is collected by the Federal Trade Commission, which relies on self-reporting but doesn’t actually […]

President Bush has rightly ordered his administration to review new rules requiring U.S. citizens to show passports when re-entering the country from Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.As the former governor of a border state, Bush appears to have a better understanding of the economic and social impact such a restriction brings than do other members […]

Restrictions on the use of the ATM at the country jail make perfect sense.On April 12, a prisoner at the jail tried to use a Temporary Assistance to Needy Families benefit card to put money into his commissary account. The correctional officer stopped him.The TANF cards can be used like a debit or credit card […]

Left with a set of bad choices, Maine Democrats passed a two-year state budget last month that is built upon borrowing.Borrowing to reduce the amount of the state’s unfunded liabilities. Borrowing to fund increased education funding. And borrowing to keep the lights on.That borrowing is under attack and could face an ill-advised “people’s veto.”Passed without […]

The FCC, which recently has busied itself going nutters over indecency and trying to give the green light to a new era of media consolidation, has developed a new policy that will help TV viewers recognize government propaganda.On Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission ruled that television broadcasters must disclose the origin of video news releases […]

Rep. Mike Michaud has let down many of the hardworking people in his district struggling with credit card debt.On Thursday, he joined with 301 other members of the U.S. House of Representatives to vote in favor of a bill that puts the interests of the country’s largest credit card companies and the very rich ahead […]