We know love when we see it, and it wasn’t love that compelled Steven Lake to kill his wife and two children in Dexter on Monday morning. Lake was a bully, a coward and a classic abuser, a man so consumed with rage that his wife and children must have lived in constant, paralyzing fear. […]
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Legislature drops building standards for rural Mainers
The Maine House gave final approval Tuesday to the “Substandard Rural Housing Guarantee Act of 2011.” That’s as good a name as any for LD 1416, which removes the word “Uniform” from what had been Maine’s Uniform Building and Energy Code. Adopted just last year, Maine now rejoins the ranks of 10 backward states where […]
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Soule scandal leaves Lewiston with questions
A bizarre incident on a cold night in 2005 should have been an ominous warning to city officials that the man they were trusting to develop the most prominent piece of real estate in Lewiston deserved close scrutiny. That’s the night developer Travis Soule wrecked his car in two Auburn locations, leaving a trail of […]
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Gambling bill cries for veto
Gov. Paul LePage is right. Hollywood Slots and Black Bear Casino had to run the campaign gauntlet of public opinion to earn approval for their respective gambling projects. So, too, should the backers of similar projects in Lewiston and Biddeford/Washington County. If we could roll back time it would have been better if — years […]
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Correction: Ryan a Congressman
In an editorial published Thursday, June 9, on Page A8, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan’s title was incorrect. It was a reporting error.
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It’s only a matter of time
New York Congressman Anthony Weiner will resign, he just doesn’t know it yet. He will be hassled by reporters, heckled by the public, shunned by friends, denounced by enemies and ridiculed by comedians until he does. At some point he will realize that his effectiveness as a member of Congress has come to an end. […]
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Congress can’t muster courage to do the right thing
It was longtime House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill who famously said, “All politics is local.” But it is a sign of national failure when the U.S. Congress cannot rise above local politics, even when it is clearly in the national interest to do so. Examples abound. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the […]
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A look back at the week’s news
A healthy and hearty cheer to the Appropriations Committee for sustaining the purpose of the Fund for a Healthy Maine by protecting its funding from a spending raid. Funded through Maine’s share of the Tobacco Settlement Fund, the money is used for education and support for smokers and quitters, and the prevention of smoking. The […]
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Maine needs renewables now more than ever
Thursday was a record-breaking scorcher in much of the Northeast, and ozone danger warnings were issued for southern Maine. Oil prices shot up Wednesday as oil-producing countries failed to agree on increasing production targets. Doctors warned, meanwhile, that asthma rates in the U.S. are soaring. All this as Maine’s governor and Legislature move toward repealing […]
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Let’s cut cost of health care, not just benefits
Medicare is unsustainable. That’s not politics, it’s math. Given the current level of benefits and projected increases in the cost of medical care, the program eats up more and more of the federal budget. In 1965, when Medicare was adopted, it was 2.6 percent of federal spending. In just five years, it will be more […]