Rep. Mike Michaud was caught in an election-year trap set by Republican leaders. We believe he made the wrong choice to get out of it.On Sept. 29, the House of Representatives voted to end the District of Columbia’s tight gun laws. In a vote of 250-171, including a yes from Michaud, the House voted to […]

If President Bush was hoping for good news on the jobs front Friday, he was probably disappointed.Businesses added 96,000 jobs in September, according to the Labor Department. It’s fair to say everyone – except maybe Sen. John Kerry, who will use the slow growth to bludgeon the president – was hoping for more.Jobs are a […]

The Bush administration is standing in the way of a plan that could reduce the cost of prescription medicine for people living in Maine.Gov. Baldacci unveiled a new plan Sept. 30 that would have the state work with the Penobscot Indian Nation to re-import drugs from Canada in bulk.Drug prices in Canada are significantly less […]

Drive into downtown Lewiston on Lisbon Street, make a right on Maple and you’ll see a sight that’s common in many urban areas: a pair of tennis shoes, tied together and thrown over the power lines that cross the road.Urban legend holds that such shoes are advertising for drug dealers or used by gangs to […]

Chicago Tribune, Oct. 3 Almost exactly three years ago, the U.S. and its allies began bombing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. At the time, Americans heard a drumbeat of ominous predictions of military catastrophe. Some self-anointed experts feared that America would be mired in an unwinnable war against an enemy that hid in caves and […]

A historic opportunity to bring tobacco under the regulation of the Food and Drug Administration has been missed.The failure, though, should not be laid at the feet of a single United States senator, namely Maine’s Olympia Snowe. It starts with the House and Senate leadership, and trickles right through the minority leader.Earlier this year, Congress […]

Secrets breed suspicion.It’s as true for good ideas as it is for bad ones. And Ed Desgrosseilliers, who spoke Tuesday night at a joint meeting of the Lewiston and Auburn city councils, raised a valid point when he questioned why the cities’ two mayors were keeping mum about who will sit on the Lewiston-Auburn Commission […]

A crisis developed this week when the British government suspended the operations of one of the two companies that makes flu vaccines for the United States.While it’s unclear why the vaccine maker was shut down and vaccines deemed unsafe, what is clear is the pinch the United States faces.The company, Chiron Corp., produces between 46 […]

The Supreme Court last week agreed to hear a case involving the ability of the government to seize private property.Eminent domain touches on some of the core values of America’s success. The rights of individual property owners are sometimes pitted against what government defines as a collective good.In the case before the Supreme Court, seven […]

Tonight’s debate between Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John Edwards offers a big opportunity for both sides.The vice president has the chance to stop the swing in momentum that has followed the first debate between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry. Kerry made a strong showing, besting the president on subjects – foreign policy […]