Want to lose weight? Don’t go on a diet. That was the message from a recent study by researchers who reviewed dozens of studies on weight loss and found that while most lose weight while on a diet, they don’t keep it off, often gaining more weight than… Read More
By agreeing to remove a sunset provision in its bill on Child Development Services, the Department of Education properly lifted the possibility that regional CDS sites and their governing boards would have been eliminated. Now it can go even further by supporting a bill that renews Maine’s commitment… Read More
The last ambulance had yet to leave Virginia Polytechnic Institute on Monday before the first conclusions about the tragedy barged into the public’s grief. As might be expected, the conclusions were mostly inappropriate if not outright harmful, and they mostly turned to guns. As of… Read More
Not in Maine yet, but in two dozen other states the bees are disappearing. The question is why. And an even bigger question is what can be done about it, since it is not their honey but their pollination that affects so much of what we eat. Lack… Read More
As if figuring and filing your taxes weren’t frustrating enough, the IRS encourages you to file electronically and then charges for a service that makes the agency’s work easier. Congress has a chance to rectify this with a bill that would let taxpayers file electronically for free. Coupled… Read More
Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will have nearly endless variations of similar questions for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales when he appears before them on Thursday. But if the questions are to be useful, they should focus on three areas, one of which already has… Read More
Two hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money for a year’s supply of a biotechnology drug, even considering that it can save a life and is costly to produce. The Democratic-controlled Congress, with support from several Republicans, including Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins, is considering legislation that could… Read More
Having suffered the double embarrassment of a basketball coach acting unprofessionally in the early morning hours last fall and now paying that coach up to $100,000 to leave campus, university officials should rewrite future contracts to avoid another indignity. Women’s basketball coach Ann McInerney announced… Read More
President Bush has offered to meet with Democratic leaders to talk about Iraq, but has made it clear that he won’t change his mind about vetoing a defense spending bill that includes timetables for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. One way out of the stalemate is… Read More
The promise implicit in the state’s school-funding mechanism, Essential Programs and Services, is that communities can expect to receive from Augusta no more than what they need to operate strong schools and that Augusta will take seriously its responsibility to ensure that the funding is delivered adequately and… Read More
Opponents of casinos may well disparage the economic impact of gambling as backhoes break ground on a $131 million Hollywood Slots facility in Bangor. But with the presence of this slots facility, approved statewide by voters, the question of gambling’s expansion becomes, as a matter of equity, a… Read More
In the 1990s, members of Congress instituted more extensive cost-benefit analyses in an attempt to monetize human and environmental protection – how many lives should the purchase of an air-pollution scrubber improve for it to be governmentally worth requiring? With climate change, as the fourth… Read More
If you trade on the stock market, you may feel an inclination to invest in socially responsible companies, deemed supportive of the environment and active in combating global warming. But questions have arisen as to who does the deeming and how well it’s done. The… Read More
A Supreme Court ruling that carbon dioxide emissions can be regulated by the federal government got a lot of attention last week. Another ruling on the same day will require power plants and manufacturing facilities to reduce pollution, a decision that should improve air quality in Maine, but… Read More
While President Bush and Congress struggle over how to finish up two wars in some satisfactory fashion, it’s time to begin thinking about what’s next. Public and congressional opposition to the Iraq war has been mounting, but it has focused mainly on its management. Most… Read More
By buying prescription records and combining them with medical association data on physicians, pharmaceutical firms, according to a former drug representative in a news story last year, have “our greatest tool in planning our approach to manipulating doctors.” And that, a Bangor cardiologist recently told the Legislature’s Health… Read More
A group set up to foster discussion of tribal issues has done a lot to improve relations between lawmakers and the state’s Indian tribes. The Tribal-State Working Group should be continued so it can get to difficult issues that have resulted in litigation in the past. Lawmakers should… Read More
New, slightly lower revenue projections for Maine couldn’t have come at a better time because the projections, reducing the amount of money available by $74 million over three budget years, are not so low to decimate the budget but demonstrate beyond doubt that spending must come down. Lawmakers… Read More
A prepared military needs places to practice its maneuvers, which are often loud and disruptive. To meet its readiness requirements, the military should find the best place to do this training with the least disruption on the ground. It is unclear that a proposal from the Massachusetts Air… Read More
While the amount of money the federal government spends on private contracts has risen from $207 billion in 2000 to more than $400 billion last year, the number of competitive contracts fell from nearly 80 percent of the total to less than half. Boosting competition and keeping an… Read More
By sending prisoners out of state, letting some out of jail early and moving others to underused facilities, the Department of Corrections will temporarily lessen prison-overcrowding problems. A longer-term solution is to require lawmakers to consider the consequences of mandating jail terms for some offenses and requiring longer… Read More
The pattern for what comes next in the case of students sharing music files without paying for them could be as predictable as the latest rap hit offending parents. Just as the Napster flurry in 2000 set the “greedy” recording industry – which, after all, only created the… Read More
There are two ways to get the logging trucks and other huge tractor-trailers off the side roads and streets of Bangor and Old Town and Unity and back on Routes I-95 and I-395 where they belong. One way is for Maine state officials and Maine’s… Read More
Although the Land for Maine’s Future program looks assured of inclusion in an upcoming bond package, many supporters of the program will say the money is too little. Rather than rely solely on bonds, lawmakers should authorize a study to find a feasible and sustainable mix – and… Read More
When legislative Republicans announce Maine’s Medicaid program is unsustainably expensive the day before Democratic Gov. John Baldacci describes reforms to lower health care costs, all of Maine can rejoice in the cooperative spirit that permeates Augusta. Or perhaps that’s a little optimistic. Still, the movement… Read More
Maine disburses about $200 million a year in economic-development funds but doesn’t know what it is getting for its money, according to a review of 46 state-run programs done last year by the Office of Program Evaluation & Government Accountability. To begin to fix this, Sen. Richard Rosen… Read More
A U.S. Supreme Court decision this week offered a strong rebuke to the Bush administration’s policies on climate change. Now it is up to Congress to enact emissions rules so that automakers aren’t faced with differing standards from states or groups of states. California’s standards, which have been… Read More
Maine lawmakers worked together well this session on a multiyear bond package designed to promote economic development, support education, increase safety and protect the environment, among other things. The cost of this plan is a hefty $295 million plus interest. To it, they should add a little bit… Read More
One of the most interesting revelations from congressional hearings on the FBI’s mishandling of the expansive powers it gained under the Patriot Act was that the secrecy necessitated by the act was a source of many of the problems. If the process had been more open, the bureau’s… Read More
When Congress passed chemical security legislation last year it deliberately, for political reasons, did not address a key issue – whether federal regulations would pre-empt state and local rules. Predictably, the issue has already come before lawmakers again at the same time the Department of Homeland Security prepares… Read More
President Bush has dug in his heels on the issue of whether to close the war prison at the U.S. military base on Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay. His decision runs against the advice of his new defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, his secretary of state, Condoleezza… Read More
Rebuilding the state’s commercial fishery through research and development that leads to more lobsters, clams and fish in Maine’s waters is a project with merit. Rep. Ian Emery of Cutler has proposed a $55 million bond to do this. While this is more money than the state can… Read More
An Allagash Wilderness Waterway advisory council will provide a needed forum for airing, and in some instances resolving disagreements while allowing the waterway to be managed without the distractions and delays caused by trying to accommodate differing views of how the 92-mile river should be run. Read More
What should worry legislators even more than the news this week that state revenues will be lower than expected is that these shortfalls are happening in relatively good times. The fragile condition of the state budget demands a new response from lawmakers and new responsibility when they propose… Read More
Whatever their differences, the Iraq and Vietnam wars have in common congressional efforts to end them. Despite protests, both conflicts were escalated in hopes of bringing them to some sort of satisfactory conclusion. The current Bush surge has added some 25,000 troops to the U.S. Read More
Lawmakers today are expected to begin the difficult task of sorting through dozens of requests to determine what areas most merit bond funding. A key consideration must be that the borrowing will pay a good return on the state’s investment. Money for land acquisition through the Land for… Read More
Though neither the state nor the computer firm that built the state’s Medicaid billing system could have wanted to continue a relationship in which together they created a $58 million well-publicized mess, both were right to find agreement on continuing until the state finds an alternative to its… Read More
Uncertainty over exactly what the governor meant when he proposed merging the Department of Economic and Community Development and the Department of Professional and Business Regulation meant the original proposal wasn’t fit to pass. The new DECD commissioner, John Richardson, has worked up a new, more specific plan,… Read More
Change is coming after six long years of systematic growth of secrecy and restriction on the people’s right to know about the workings of its own government. This month, overwhelming bipartisan majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives passed a package of measures that would undo some of… Read More
Positive signs within an Appropriations Committee subgroup suggest school district reform continues to progress as the group acknowledges that some regions of the state cannot fairly meet district size goals and that local involvement with any reform will be crucial to its success. There remain a hundred small… Read More
A bill from legislative leaders would strengthen conflict-of-interest standards and increase the transparency of the state’s ethics commission. These are necessary changes, and lawmakers should support LD 1008. One of the biggest changes suggested by Senate President Beth Edmonds is to allow the public to… Read More
The early weeks of spring arrive with their cherished events: Crocuses lift through the thawing earth on the sunny sides of buildings, children begin searching for the baseball gloves they left somewhere (under the bed, maybe) and the Bangor Daily News appeals to scofflaws of Bangor’s pooper-scooper ordinance… Read More
Faced with a request to build a restroom along Route 9 between Brewer and Calais, where there are few facilities during the drive, the Maine Department of Transportation said it can’t do this because such a facility would cost $625,000 and require $100,000 in annual maintenance and staffing. Read More
Although the Coast Guard has reclaimed control over a portion of its modernization program, lawmakers must continue to forcefully oversee the project, demanding such basic evidence that boats float, for example, before authorizing any more money for the work. A bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe, would help… Read More
Sending a member of a hazardous response team to evaluate the mercury “contamination” from a broken compact fluorescent light bulb, which the Department of Environmental Protection recently did, caused more alarm than necessary. This is compounded by warnings from the DEP on its Web site to wear protective… Read More
At $1.4 billion in the coming state budget, Medicaid is second in cost only to kindergarten through grade 12 education, at $2 billion; together they account for more than half of the total budget, making any attempt to lower Maine’s tax burden unlikely without examining these areas. Gov. Read More
Before congressional Democrats make the mistake of overplaying the events around the firing of eight U.S. attorneys by the Bush administration, they would serve the public if they described what constitutional crisis they think has occurred. A fair reading of the situation would show less a need for… Read More
The state Senate unexpectedly voted in favor of a bill to allow police to stop motorists who are not wearing seat belts. This is an overdue positive step toward reducing motor vehicle fatalities and serious injuries in Maine and should be followed by an affirmative vote in the… Read More
Slowly, the Bush administration is starting to do something for the thousands of Iraqis who have been helping the American effort to pacify and rebuild their country. Officials seem fearful that any help will sound like defeatism. These people have been risking their lives to… Read More
A bill by House Speaker Glenn Cummings would require students to fill out at least one application to post-secondary schools before receiving a high school diploma. The intention of the bill is commendable, but unless it is accompanied by a lot more than a pen and a set… Read More
U.S. senators this week will be offered the chance to take one of the least-glamorous step any politician can: self-imposed fiscal discipline that will earn one day of praise and a whole year’s worth of hard choices. They should take it, and begin explaining to the public some… Read More
Allowing voters at the polls to rank their choice of candidates rather than simply voting for one person sounds like an easy way to empower third-party candidates without putting them in a spoiler role. What hasn’t been answered, however, is how instant runoff voting would work in Maine. Read More
With so many public bond requests in Maine and so much legitimate need, Gov. John Baldacci’s proposal for spending on research and development is not as large as it might otherwise have been, but his proposed $125 million over three years is welcome for several reasons. Read More
Just as the bank doesn’t let you skip your mortgage payment because you spent money buying a car, the state of Maine cannot escape paying for its roads and bridges, universities and colleges, land and water cleanup just because it has spent tax dollars on high schools and… Read More
Without knowing where mercury emitted from power plants and other facilities ends up, it is hard to know how best to minimize such pollution. To rectify this problem, Sen. Susan Collins last week introduced legislation to create a mercury monitoring system. The information collected by the system will… Read More
The public doesn’t make decisions about what drugs best manage diabetes or what treatments are most effective for lowering cholesterol. Yet, Maine law allows local voters to decide whether fluoride should be added to their water. This leads to situations like the recent vote in which Mount Desert… Read More
If all goes well today, thousands of Mainers will gather on village greens to protest the war in Iraq, just as protesters are gathering in Washington to recreate the 1967 march on the Pentagon that marked the turning of public opinion on Vietnam. We hope their voices are… Read More
Both Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush fell back on the tired, evasive, noncommittal nonapology – “mistakes were made” – as evidence mounted that the White House and the Justice Department colluded in a two-year plot to purge federal prosecutors they judged to be disloyal to the… Read More
Barbara McKernan is mostly remembered as the mother of former governor John McKernan. But, in addition to counseling her son while he occupied the Blaine House, she ran a newspaper, led the Maine Municipal Association and helped Bangor Savings Bank grow. The active and accomplished former “first mother”… Read More
Critics continue to question whether North Korea can be trusted, as working groups meet this week in Beijing to carry out the first phase of a step-by-step agreement to resolve the crisis over the communist country’s nuclear weapons program. The agreement, still in its early… Read More
With the Legislature having been handed, from the governor, a top-down, dramatic school-district reform, and, from the Education Committee, essentially mush, lawmakers on the Appropriations Committee have a chance to start yet again on this overdue reform. That demands a mix of state mandates, local collaboration and a… Read More
The problem with relying on cigarette taxes to balance the state budget is evident for the very reason anti-smoking groups want to raise the tax. These groups know that it is an effective way to persuade people to stop smoking. State government, which has vigorous campaigns to get… Read More
A long-standing concern with the USA Patriot Act has been that it infringed on personal privacy to investigate terrorism. Now a report by the FBI’s inspector general confirms those fears by finding that the agency misused its powers under the act to get information without the required approvals… Read More
A recent story about the owner of several Subway sandwich shops being surprised that he owed Maine’s 5 percent use tax on the free meals he provided employees was a good reminder for the Legislature to examine this and other niggling taxes that bring in small amounts of… Read More
Ads that promise home loans despite bad credit sound enticing, and millions of people, some who borrowed more than they could afford and others who got loans they shouldn’t have qualified for, have what are called subprime mortgages. With rising interest rates and falling housing prices, many consumers… Read More
Maine’s vehicle excise tax has long been viewed as unfair, in large part because it is based solely on a vehicle’s sticker price. Basing the tax on the vehicle’s value and taking into account depreciation, as calculated by a nationally recognized source such as the National Automobile Dealers,… Read More
What began as scattered reports of the firing of some top federal prosecutors has suddenly erupted into a full-blown scandal with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the defensive, scrambling to appease his critics and possibly even to hold onto his job. As recently as Wednesday,… Read More
The Legislature’s Education Committee soon will serve as mediator between the department it oversees and distrusting advocates and parents of developmentally delayed young children. The committee can carry out its work most effectively by removing from legislation sunset provisions that could wipe out regional oversight of programs for… Read More
Daylight-saving time begins Sunday, three weeks earlier than usual. While Mainers are eagerly anticipating the additional daylight, that change was supposed to be about saving energy. In 2005, Congress didn’t raise fuel economy standards, didn’t boost appliance efficiency standards and didn’t support incentives for more renewable energy generation. Read More
A proposal to build a new power line in Aroostook County could be good news for local residents and the state, but only if the line brings benefits to the area and does not merely pass through it. The challenge for regulators and elected officials is to ensure… Read More
Sen. Susan Collins last week persuaded the Department of Homeland Security to agree to a substantial delay in requiring REAL ID, the planned new and improved identification card. The delay is welcome. It could give officials time to work out the program’s cost – states, understandably, don’t want… Read More
More than any congressional investigation, the guilty verdict in the trial of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, chief aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, reveals what the White House was willing to do and say to shape public opinion about the invasion of Iraq. The verdict’s power is not in… Read More
What is one to make of the furor at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.? The Washington Post described a shocking scene of filthy rooms, mice and cockroaches, black mold, and confusion and red tape aggravating the already stressed out wounded who have been shipped back… Read More
The Legislature’s Education Committee is expected to send its school-district consolidation plan to Appropriations this week. The plan is a pale shadow of what the governor proposed two months ago, as lawmakers have heard from school boards, educators, administrators and concerned parents. Astoundingly, the group that has barely… Read More
Cataloging what land is open to the public in Maine and what activities are allowed on it will be helpful. But a task force created by the governor last week will do a bigger service if it dispels the perception that a growing amount of land is off-limits… Read More
Two Canadian actions have restored traditional civil liberties that had been restricted in traumatic reaction to global terrorism. Canada’s Parliament voted on Feb. 27 against extending two measures that were part of a package of antiterrorism laws enacted weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks on… Read More
Competing bills before the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee try to draw a new line to determine when citizens must report their political activities to the state. Neither gets it right entirely, but both have elements of a solution within them. The issue affects… Read More
The Maine Development Foundation’s annual rating of the state’s living conditions, Measures of Growth, has become the most commonly relied-upon source for a snapshot of the Maine community, environment and, mostly, economy. The 13th edition of the report was released last week and a summary of that summary… Read More
The Land Use Regulation Commission has major responsibilities planning for growth and development in the state’s 10 million acres of Unorganized Territory but it does not have the authority, mainly for political and financial reasons, to match its responsibility. Rather than address this lack of authority by requiring,… Read More
Increasingly businesses are making what may be viewed as environmentally friendly decisions because they help their bottom lines. Wal-Mart, for example, has committed to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2012 and to make its truck fleet 30 percent more energy efficient. This week, the… Read More
A recent lawsuit by the Humane Society of the United States highlights that whales and lobstermen can have a tough time living together. Improved relations will come, in large part, from changes in lobster gear to reduce whale entanglements. North Atlantic right whales face possible… Read More
A review of new Census data by the Associated Press this week shows that dependency on public assistance continues to grow despite rules established more than a decade ago designed to reduce welfare rolls. The new numbers are in some ways encouraging, and in others yet another signal… Read More
Maine has among the lowest rates of residents without health coverage in part because it has extensive MaineCare programs that target children and their parents. This coverage is not certain, however, and Maine will run short of funds this year under current projections and will have more trouble… Read More
The towns that make up House District 20 – Eddington, Bradley, Clifton, Dedham, Holden and part of Brewer – may have thought it was their idea to elect Rep. Benjamin Pratt to his first term of state office last fall, but it turns out the Democrat’s success was… Read More
GrowSmart President Alan Caron has a quick and effective answer for critics of a proposal to increase the Maine lodging tax to 10 percent from the present 7 percent. He asked those attending a Husson College business breakfast to raise their hands if they had ever phoned ahead… Read More
There is no doubt that Maine’s groundfishermen are having a difficult time financially. As lawmakers consider changing state law to allow these fishermen to catch some lobster, they must first decide whether the change is enough to ensure Maine boats that now unload and sell their catch in… Read More
One third of women decline breast cancer screening tests for fear of losing their health insurance coverage or having to pay higher rates. It is unacceptable that many people are putting their lives at risk rather than taking a test to determine if they are at risk for… Read More
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has again delayed rules that would require all trucks crossing the border to be inspected and to pay a fee to help pay for inspections. It should use the additional time to search for less burdensome ways, other than inspecting every truck, to… Read More
Maine voters have long been frustrated by confusing, and sometimes deceptive, wording of ballot questions. A bill that a legislative committee will consider this week could help by seeking more public comment before a ballot initiative is finalized. Ensuring questions are straightforward and accurate will benefit everyone. Read More
Leaders in Canada’s capital, who have threatened legal action to stop proposed liquefied natural gas facilities in Washington County, should take a cue from the premier of Maine’s neighbor New Brunswick. Instead of threats, Premier Shawn Graham has said he opposes the projects but is prepared to allow… Read More
It’s been more than 70 years since the Quoddy Tides project promised inexpensive, clean, renewable energy from Maine’s rising and falling ocean. That project, as well as other tidal power efforts, quietly disappeared for lack of funding. With the recent renewed focus on the need for alternative energy… Read More
The impending departure of British troops from Iraq is part of the plan for the war-torn country, according to the Bush administration. While the situation in southern Iraq is very different from that in Baghdad, the region is far from secure. So, what is the plan that allows… Read More
Now that a study, requested by Sen. Olympia Snowe, has found that the Environmental Protection Agency’s rewrite of rules for reporting the use and release of toxic chemicals didn’t meet the agency’s own standards, won’t save companies much money and will leave the public with much less useful… Read More
Although a Bangor ordinance that prevents drivers from smoking while carrying kids in their cars appears to have reduced the dangerous practice, other communities are hesitant to follow Bangor’s lead. That is too bad, but not reason for advocates to give up their campaign to make such bans… Read More
European authorities are proving more determined than the Bush administration in cracking down on torture as a wartime intelligence device. While the U.S. Justice Department has mostly prosecuted enlisted men and women for torturing prisoners, European judges have now indicted several dozen CIA operatives on charges of kidnapping… Read More
No one should blame Rep. Scott Lansley, R-Sabattus, for trying to help out a farmer in his district whose crops were being devoured by deer attracted by feed left out by his neighbors. A legislative committee rejected his bill, which would have imposed hefty fines… Read More
U.S. officials have recently derided Europe as an anachronistic, weak ally. Is this an accurate assessment? Europe’s role in world affairs is the topic of this year’s Camden Conference, the annual symposium on international issues. The conference, which begins Friday, will examine the continent’s role in a changing… Read More
Nearly a decade ago, 14 of the country’s major airlines signed an Airline Customer Service Commitment that outlined what they would improve in areas such as handling delays and baggage. Many of the commitments are not being met, the Department of Transportation’s inspector general recently concluded. That, coupled… Read More
It would be naive to think that a proposed advisory council for the Allagash Wilderness Waterway will end the decades of disagreement, which has gotten more heated in recent years, over the river. Instead, the advisory council will provide a forum to express, and in some instances, resolve… Read More
Reintroduced federal legislation to regulate tobacco is long overdue. A bill in the Senate recently offered by Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Cornyn provides a bipartisan opening for the Food and Drug Administration to do more to protect children from the harm of tobacco. The bill could further… Read More