Beginning in 2006, it will be more difficult for U.S. citizens to travel to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. By 2008, Mainers hoping to drive across the border into Canada will need a passport to come home, even if they just make a quick trip across the border.The passport requirement will do little to make […]

Talking about hubris.Members of the University of Maine System board of trustees are rightly upset with a portion of the state budget.Lawmakers, upset over plans to reorganize the system, put language in that forbids the trustees from making any structural changes to the system, including merging campuses or changing names.Some trustees, according to The Associated […]

ABC News anchorman Peter Jennings this week told the world he has lung cancer. Though he intends to work as much as possible while he undergoes treatment, his presence in the anchor chair will be limited.As Jennings said during the televised announcement, he had been a heavy smoker for years before quitting, starting and quitting […]

Smaller is better. That’s one of the most-often-uttered arguments against consolidating some of Maine’s schools districts.But a new report from the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center at the University of Maine finds evidence to the contrary. The size of a school district does not have an appreciable effect on quality. The study also finds that […]

Earlier this week, President Bush awarded the first Medal of Honor to a soldier serving in Iraq.Sgt. 1st Class Paul Smith was killed in a firefight near Baghdad airport.Smith, who was serving in the the 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, held off a brutal assault by at least 100 members of the Iraqi Special […]

Payday loans are a noxious entrant on the credit landscape.They take advantage of people who need money – and need it now – by charging them usurious interest rates. Legislation introduced this year in Augusta would have rewritten the rules for these operations, exploded the amount of interest they could charge, eliminated valuable consumer protections […]

Voters in Perry were the latest Mainers to reject the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in their community.They join voters up and down the coast – in Harpswell, most recently, but also in Cumberland, Yarmouth and several localities in Massachusetts – who have passed up the opportunity for new jobs and big payments […]

Microsoft dominates computer operating systems.It is the biggest fish in the Internet pond and the standard-bearer for much of what happens in the computer world, granting a tip of the hat to the few, but loyal, users of Apple machines.Given its place atop the computing food chain, we’re glad to see it has taken steps […]

Capping malpractice awards is a solution desperately in search of a problem that doesn’t exist in Maine.Legislation has been introduced in Augusta to cap jury awards for pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits at $250,000. The effort is similar to proposals on the national level and so are the arguments in its favor.Proponents of […]

“And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. …”Isaiah 25:7-8Today the world mourns the death of Pope John Paul […]