The large majority of Mainers living in public housing wish their apartment buildings were smoke-free, according to local surveys. With the smoking rate among Maine adults down to 21 percent and a desire by most smokers to quit, landlords could reasonably conclude a large and growing number of… Read More
Fishermen, naturally wanting to stay in business, have long fought stringent rules to limit their catches in order to allow depleted fish stocks to recover. With last week’s closure of a portion of the Georges Bank fishery, the risk of that thinking is now too apparent. Read More
While it is admirable to encourage more Maine students to go on to college, a plan to use the Scholastic Assessment Test instead of the Maine Educational Assessment to measure student achievement in 11th grade needs much more review. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
With wolves in nearby states and provinces, the animals are likely to soon spread to Maine. When they get here, state biologists plan to have habitat ready. Beyond this, there is not much the state can or should do to prepare for the arrival of wolves even though… Read More
In border states and provinces, Canadians and Americans have long found ways to get along and work together. So, the threat by New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord to quash two proposals to build liquefied natural gas terminals in Maine is troubling. Mr. Lord correctly said… Read More
How often does Maine celebrate while losing 4,000 jobs? That’s what the base-closure process will do to a state: make it grateful that things weren’t worse and jubilant over the status quo. The added jobs at Limestone knock hardly a dent in the number lost in Brunswick, but… Read More
The city is spruced up, the sun is predicted to shine and Bangor is ready to launch The American Folk Festival. The festival, three days of music, dancing, food, arts and crafts, aims to build on the successful National Folk Festival, to which the city was host for… Read More
The Bush administration this week missed a large opportunity to improve the country’s energy security. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration unveiled a complex plan to let the heaviest vehicles continue to guzzle gas while requiring smaller ones to burn less fuel. Rather than a help to American… Read More
Base closure’s roller-coaster struck Maine yesterday as the closure commission voted to shut down Brunswick Naval Air Station and to rescue Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from the Pentagon’s dust bin. It was, in effect, the end of a loopy process that began last winter with assurances from experts that… Read More
Sadly, it is not unusual for bomb attacks to kill numerous Iraqi civilians. A recent trio of bombings were deadlier than most, killing 43 people, some of them children. What made these attacks different was not the death toll, but the public reaction. The difficult task for Iraqi… Read More
It is great news for people in Maine and along the East Coast that ozone pollution has been reduced. But the improved air quality is the result of stringent federal rules, not simply market-based trading, as administration officials claim. The lesson from ozone control programs is that mandatory… Read More
Starting Wednesday, the Base Realignment and Closure commission will vote on whether to accept hundreds of recommendations by the Pentagon to close or realign military facilities in all 50 states. Maine’s congressional delegation and its governor, along with a ton of support from staff, local groups and volunteers,… Read More
A plan to preserve wildlife habitat while providing affordable housing on Mount Desert Island exemplifies what should be the future of land conservation and development in Maine. Just as there cannot be unlimited development, there cannot be broad mandates against future development. Development will continue… Read More
Meat producers and buyers are slowly moving away from the routine use of antibiotics on farms and in feedlots, a welcome change that should be helped by the passage of federal legislation to require the phase out the use of most of these drugs. Earlier… Read More
The average price of college textbooks has been rising at twice the rate of inflation over the last 20 years, something some students might not have noticed because their tuition and fee rates have been rising even faster. But a recent study by the Government Accountability Office on… Read More
A proposal to have a portion of new tax revenue in the unorganized territories go to nearby service-center communities is worthy of further consideration. Such thinking is part of the state’s push to get communities to work together to reduce the costs of government. It also fits with… Read More
The recent national report by the Milken Institute showing Maine moving quickly toward the middle of the pack on the cost of doing business was good news, but not only for the obvious reasons. If it is true that Maine is now the least expensive state in the… Read More
DirigoHealth is Maine’s long-term response to the chronic problem here (and in all other states) of high health insurance costs and health care priced out of reach of too many residents. A new survey suggests that for thousands of Mainers, Dirigo is working well, but more important than… Read More
Rather than teach scientists how to write jazzy movie scripts, as the Pentagon is doing to encourage more young people to pursue a scientific career, the military brass may want to talk to the White House. Many in the Bush administration have ignored science when making decisions that… Read More
With gas prices continuing to rise, now would seem a good time for leaders in Washington to boost automobile fuel efficiency standards. The Bush administration, however, is prepared to back away from stricter requirements for the biggest SUVs. The administration also quietly held onto a report about national… Read More
President Bush, rightly, has resisted offering a specific date for U.S. troops to leave Iraq – American withdrawal should depend on having an Iraqi government in place. But the lack of a date has given terrorists there a reason for believing the United States has imperial designs on… Read More
Maine’s travel industry is stagnating, according to a recent evaluation. Fortunately, the same study provides valuable insight into what can be done to boost the state’s largest industry. If Vacationland is to live up to its name, those insights should be turned into policies and actions. Read More
When President Bush recently backed into the debate over intelligent design, scientists broadly and properly protested the idea of incorporating religion into the classroom laboratory. But scientists who have taught in those labs should also know that assaults on evolution gain support not only through the argument for… Read More
As state policymakers consider ways to keep habitual offenders of motor-vehicle laws off the road, they must ensure that their solutions are practical and will solve the problem without creating more. Increasing fines and penalties is a good place to start. A review of state… Read More
On the 25th anniversary of his death, what would Gov. James Longley have said about the 25 Maine lawmakers who plan to spend $1,500 to $2,000 each to go to a legislative conference this week in Seattle? We think it would be something like, “Can’t just five or… Read More
Gov. John Baldacci has made a good start in pledging $75,000 to keep the Down East boat-building school in Eastport for another year. But tough decisions lie ahead if Maine is to do more than just keep the school afloat. In recent years, it has been treated badly. Read More
If doubters in Washington and elsewhere have been waiting for evidence that alternative sources of electricity work and are increasingly popular, they should look to the marketplace. A proposed wind farm in Aroos-took County has been slowed down because it can’t get the turbines it needs because they… Read More
Nearly 1,000 new houses and two resorts, as Plum Creek Timber Co. allows for in a rezoning request for more than 400,000 acres it owns, would naturally add money to the Moosehead Lake area economy. To get that economic benefit – and Maine has long grappled with ways… Read More
Nearly 15 million Americans pay $300 million a year for pills, drops and lozenges made from the purple cornflower, echinacea, which looks something like the black-eyed susan. Western Indians used it a century ago for cough, hydrophobia and snakebite. Germans took it up, and it spread to the… Read More
Federal electricity regulators made two smart moves this week when they delayed a new rate plan to pay for power-plant capacity in New England and scheduled a hearing on the plan for September. Maine’s interest is in making sure that capacity remains reliably available while avoiding the kind… Read More
Like an evenly matched, long-married couple, Maine voters are about to hash over a sensitive but unresolved subject again, raising all the familiar arguments, resentments and wounded feelings, while rarely acknowledging the perspective of the other. But in this debate over whether to keep sexual orientation in the… Read More
Discovery is home.” With those words from Mission Control, Americans and NASA officials breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday morning. The safe landing of the space shuttle Discovery in California marked America’s successful return to space after the 2003 Columbia disaster that killed seven astronauts. While the return… Read More
As leaders, members of Congress may wonder why their view of global warming consists mostly of the backs of companies, states and other nations well ahead of them in the kinds of sensible changes in energy policies that climate change demands. The next example Washington will see comes… Read More
Some say that the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea are an imminent threat. A better word would be “challenge” – an opportunity for skillful diplomacy in search of mutually advantageous results. The Bush administration seems to be heading in that direction, after a history of frequent… Read More
The energy bill recently passed by Congress is so flawed that lawmakers were reduced to celebrating its doubtful benefit of an extra hour of light on Halloween. But even that portion of the bill was hastily assembled – ensuring America’s largest trading partner was in sync with the… Read More
Just as certainly as the public generally hated the recent Supreme Court ruling on the use of eminent domain, some states will overreact and set limitations on government so strict that the public good will be run over in the pursuit of protecting private property. Maine should make… Read More
For generations of TV viewers, Peter Jennings was a knowledgeable, reassuring source for the night’s news. That voice was silenced Sunday when Mr. Jennings, 67, died of lung cancer in New York. Mr. Jennings, the longtime evening anchor at ABC News, was part of the… Read More
The season of the mysterious veggie leavers is upon us. As summer heats up and gardens begin to overflow, vegetables and fruit mysteriously appear on doorsteps. Some have even been known to lock their car doors to keep well-meaning friends from filling the front seat with zucchini. Read More
The war on terror is over. Well, maybe. Late last month, the effort to combat terrorism got a new euphemism from the Bush administration: the “global struggle against violent extremism.” G-SAVE has a nicer, more altruistic ring to it. More hopeful than frightening, and no one keeps track… Read More
When a tragedy, like the recent highway accident that killed a 40-year-old Scarborough woman, happens it is only natural to want to prevent a repeat occurrence. A state review of motor vehicle laws and trucking regulations, which the governor has requested, is welcome. How-ever, state laws are useless… Read More
Through her blockage of the nomination of the secretary of the Navy to become the deputy secretary of defense, Sen. Olympia Snowe has raised important questions about the leadership and direction of the Navy. Although her tactic isn’t likely to be effective, those questions should be answered before… Read More
Summer was slow getting started this year. At Northeast Harbor, scores of the big sloops and yawls lay on moorings off the Hinkley Company boat yard waiting through days of fog and rain for some decent weather. It was the same up and down the coast. And the… Read More
A recent Superior Court decision to toss out charges against former Maine Maritime Academy graduates over whether their domiciles were here or elsewhere should be enough evidence to move lawmakers to pass a pending bill on the issue. The state has known for years that it needed work… Read More
A Republican lawmaker expressed shock – outrage even – that his great idea of using the state budget surplus to pay for projects included in the Legislature’s bond package was not possible because the money was already allocated. While Rep. Kevin Glynn was right to point out that… Read More
Whatever the reason – building a portfolio for a presidential run or true medical concern – Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s announcement last week to break from the president and support an expansion of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research was a significant breakthrough. Sen. Frist’s support… Read More
Environmental groups were quick to criticize a six-nation climate pact as too little, too late. They are right, but bringing China, the world’s fastest growing emitter of greenhouse gases, to the table to talk about climate change is an important step. The key will be quickly following the… Read More
Ask almost anyone in Ellsworth or Hancock about Luther Springer, and you’ll get a smile and a flood of memories about a man who became a local legend among sportsmen and among three generations of Mainers who rode the school buses he drove for 27 years regularly and… Read More
The seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery have to be among the bravest people from Earth. They willingly allowed themselves to be sent into space in an aged vehicle that NASA scientists, after two years and $1.4 billion worth of study and work, could still not protect… Read More
Traipsing through a grocery store in Europe may not sound like a vacation, but for Bangor grocer Doug Brown even a trip abroad was an opportunity to improve his local stores. That’s why generations of area residents referred to grocery shopping as simply a trip to Doug’s. Mr. Read More
The Bush administration gushed over the release of figures recently showing that the budget deficit for this year is expected to be smaller than originally predicted. While this is good news, it is not time for celebration. The smaller deficit is the result of many one-time events that… Read More
Whether the Chinese decision earlier this month to revalue its currency was a political move aimed at pacifying the United States or a genuine attempt at the beginnings of economic reform, the slight increase in the yuan is likely to have little impact on American consumers and workers. Read More
On Medicaid’s 40th anniversary the lesson from the program worth remembering is not just that it has provided access to medical care for millions of low-income Americans, but that it has produced results, improving health and saving money. As Congress tries to chop $5 billion or $10 billion… Read More
The evidence needed for Maine’s congressional delegation to make the case to save Brunswick Naval Air Station is in a letter sent from the Navy to Sen. Susan Collins this week. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which recently downgraded Brunswick from realignment to closure on its list,… Read More
Teenagers, as any parent knows, don’t want to be told what to do. This applies to their eating habits, too, according to a recent Pennsylvania study, which found that by posting health information about lunch entrees high school students more often chose the healthier alternative on their own. Read More
The current political cleansing of Washington, D.C., might be called a conspiracy if its perpetrators were not so boastful in interviews and on the Internet. This sort of boasting, by either conservatives or liberals, is usually and happily short-lived. The “K Street Project” is a… Read More
Like most Americans and like the rest of the world, Sen. John McCain was outraged by disclosures that American soldiers abused or humiliated uncooperative Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002 and 2003. Unlike most Americans, he knows about torture firsthand and he is in a position… Read More
President Bush took his mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, to Atlanta last week to combine the lack of enthusiasm for his Medicare drug plan and the hostility to his Social Security reform and somehow create support for both. It was a brave effort, but it cannot be… Read More
Assassination has proved itself once again as a powerful political tool. Its latest achievement poses a serious threat to Iraqi efforts to draft a new constitution by an Aug. 15 deadline. A gunman shot and killed Mijbil Issa, one of the 15 Sunni Arabs appointed… Read More
The removal of a liability waiver for the makers of the gasoline additive MTBE improves the energy bill currently being considered in Congress. But that is not enough to overcome the bill’s major weakness of continuing America’s reliance on coal, gas and oil – most of it imported. Read More
The impossible job of homeland security is apparent to anyone who considers the number of ways terrorists could attack any large group of Americans on their own turf. Subways and buses are now obviously vulnerable, joining airplanes and trains. Or, if people aren’t the immediate targets then it… Read More
For the seventh year in a row, Texan Lance Armstrong triumphantly rode down the Champs-Elysees as the winner of the Tour de France. This race, he says, will be his last. Many already wonder what the famed bike race will be like without him. There are other talented… Read More
Those readers who have been awakened most nights during the last month can thank Florida. It is largely Florida’s fault that trains now must sound their horns at railroad crossings nationwide, including those that until recently were exempted. The new rule is a safety precaution that, however helpful,… Read More
Take your pick of the huge bills Congress can anticipate in the next few years – interest on the debt, reform of the alternative minimum tax, the war on terrorism. What’s clear is that the federal government is spending considerably more than it is taking in now and… Read More
The laziest political position in Maine is to complain about the state’s heavy tax burden and focus only on the taxes collected. But a tax burden has two parts: taxes in relation to income, and Maine is in some ways worse off with income than with the amount… Read More
The decision this week to add Brunswick Naval Air Station to the list of bases being considered for closure was more bad news for Maine, adding the potential of another 800 lost jobs to the 4,000 already at risk. If there was a positive aspect to the news,… Read More
With yet another military report that prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay were mistreated by being intimidated by dogs, made to wear women’s lingerie and that one was led around on a leash and forced to perform tricks, an independent review of the treatment of prisoners held there and… Read More
Acknowledging that reported graduation rates have been less than accurate across many states, 45 of the nation’s governors, including John Baldacci, this week agreed to adopt similar, more thorough measures so that fair comparisons could be made. This was a good decision, but the governors should be clear… Read More
In nominating Judge John G. Roberts to the Supreme Court, President Bush made a conservative choice, and not only politically. But barring some new and negative information about Judge Roberts, his confirmation is assured, with Democrats likely to try to rough him up only enough to please constituent… Read More
With so many controversial items included in the energy bill being considered in Congress, a utility consumer protection act has gotten little attention. That’s too bad. The Public Utilities Holding Company Act has prevented utility megamergers of the kind that contributed to the stock market… Read More
Having better things to do with your time, you may not have heard about the to-do over the new Kansas quarter when that state’s coin finalists were announced last year. The most popular version had a buffalo thinking 25-cent thoughts on the back, thoughts that included… Read More
It was predictable that U.S. governors and mayors who have looked to Canada as a source of lower-priced prescription drugs for their employees would express outrage at the recent announcement from that country’s health minister that the supply of medicines to American buyers should be slowed. The outrage,… Read More
A second proposal to build an LNG terminal on Passamaquoddy Bay may demonstrate that Washington County is a good place for such a facility. It may also give state and federal regulators the luxury of picking between two projects to choose the one that is the most environmentally… Read More
President Bush says he will withhold comment until a special prosecutor completes his investigation into the release of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson’s name. For a criminal investigation, that’s fair enough, but the president should have a second concern over the fact that a reporter has named two… Read More
Congress, in 1986, told Acadia National Park to buy land to round out its boundaries. The park is currently looking at about 20 parcels it would like to purchase, but it has no money to buy land. Congress, if it wants the park to fulfill the mission lawmakers… Read More
A proposal in Bangor to give the city council veto power over specific portions of the city’s school budget is the wrong solution. There are already numerous opportunities for city councilors – and local residents – to help shape the city’s school budget. If necessary, those opportunities should… Read More
Federal energy tax credits may sound like arcane policy matters with little import to the average person. Such credits, however, are important to a Maine project that could help reduce pollution and reliance on oil. Without tax credits, an Aroostook County wind project will be delayed by a… Read More
Maine law enforcement agencies have teamed up to launch a common-sense approach that should help reduce teen driving fatalities, the leading cause of death among Maine youth. The aim of the SAFEGuard program, officially unveiled this week, is to notify parents of and encourage their involvement in stopping… Read More
It’s been more than six years since the federal government said it planned to take bald eagles, which once numbered only a few hundred in the continental United States, off the endangered species list. While the de-listing process is slow, the bald eagle recovery is a good example… Read More
When lawmakers meet Monday to consider a compromise bond package, their top priority should be to ensure that the money proposed to be borrowed provides a good return on the state’s investment, both in terms of jobs created and federal dollars that are leveraged. Maine has a good… Read More
It is time for an update on a warning by John Danforth, a conservative Republican three-term senator from Missouri and an ordained Episcopal minister, that the Republican Party has been taken over by the extreme religious right. As he put it in a New York Times article in… Read More
People who work on Mount Desert Island and the offshore islands and their families enjoyed a mammoth Fourth of July picnic and fireworks display on the shore of Somes Sound. The hosts, William P. Stewart and his wife, Barbara, threw their waterfront compound open to… Read More
North Korea’s offer to return to the negotiating table later this month could conceivably open the way for diplomatic progress toward a solution to the crisis over its nuclear weapons program. But it’s only a limited first step in reaching a compromise between adamant positions on both sides. Read More
The House last week included an important amendment to its 2006 transportation bill that would protect general-aviation flight service from privatized consolidation and preserve local expertise, maintaining safety in this area of flying. The bill, supported by Maine Reps. Mike Michaud and Tom Allen, still needs approval in… Read More
If there is any good news about methamphetamine coming to Maine it is that the state is among the last to deal with the problem and can learn from others about how best to prevent and treat abuse of this drug. In a report released last week, the… Read More
Now that the Department of Homeland Security and Congress agree that more needs to be done to protect the nation’s chemical plants from terrorist attacks, the challenge is writing new laws to do so. In the past the chemical industry has favored voluntary measures. These steps have failed… Read More
While it is important to ensure the New England states have enough electricity to light homes and power factories, the region’s utility customers shouldn’t be forced to pay for new power plants that may never be built. A plan proposed by ISO-New England, the company that coordinates the… Read More
Not only is it difficult to imagine the billions of dollars that make up the annual budget deficit of the United States, the White House during the last several years has initially overstated the size of the deficit so that when the actual number is announced it was… Read More
Just as citizens of the world momentarily became New Yorkers in September 2001, many Americans suddenly knew London this week. They recognized the destruction and the blood-splattered fear and they were outraged. But outrage alone is inadequate. Al-Qaida is growing stronger in Afghanistan. Even after… Read More
What may be most surprising about the recent security breaches at credit card processing companies and information brokers is how long it has taken them to notify authorities – let alone customers – of the problems. In the most recent incident, as many as 40 million credit card… Read More
Once protesters cut in on the industrialized world’s gigantic photo-op that is the G-8 summit, there seemed like even less purpose to it than before. Nations go, however, as they have gone this week, because it would be bigger news not to go, and there is the outside… Read More
New York Times reporter Judith Miller went to jail this week rather than reveal a news source while Matthew Cooper of Time magazine escaped imprisonment after he agreed to testify. The case is far from simple. Communications lawyers, news organizations and even reporters disagree on… Read More
Whatever you think of the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA, beware of the powerful American sugar lobby. It not only threatens the proposed treaty but does so while getting federal benefits at taxpayers’ expense for relatively few big producers, who keep the domestic price… Read More
The mystery Maine is left with after its base-defense delegation in Boston yesterday presented the state’s case for keeping its military facilities open is how persuasive they were not only compared with other state delegations but against the Pentagon’s broad vision of the military over the next two… Read More
On their way to withholding votes on 60 judicial nominations among a total of 225 nominations by President Clinton, Senate Republicans in 1997 proposed a unique interpretation of their advise-and-consent role. From now on, said Sen. Slade Gorton of Washington, President Clinton must get advance approval from Republicans… Read More
For years, Mainers have been told that ecotourism will play a growing role in the state’s economy. Now, with major development planned around Moosehead Lake, decisions need to be made about what ecotourism is and how it fits with the local and statewide economy. To… Read More
Just as consumers have overspent their credit cards, many homeowners are now taking on more mortgage than they can handle. Interest only and other alternative mortgages have become so prevalent that the federal Office of the Comptroller of Currency is considering issuing a warning about such products. The… Read More
As self-help programs teach, recognizing a problem is a key first step to solving it. So, although the Senate voted down measures that would have actually tackled climate change, they did take an important step in recognizing that greenhouse gas emissions are changing the environment and need to… Read More
Below is an excerpt from the document this holiday is about. Two hundred and twenty-nine years ago, representatives in the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and adopted their Declaration of Independence. It expressed frustration and anger with the policies of Great Britain and its king. Read More
There has been speculation for months that there would soon be a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. The surprise this week was that the justice leaving is Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the country’s highest court, and not Chief Justice William Rehnquist who has… Read More
The Bush administration recently proposed allowing fish farms up to 200 miles out to sea. A research project slated for central Maine looks the other way – to raising fish on land. Rather than going far from shore to lessen concerns about pollution, escapes and coastal community opposition,… Read More