Last year Congress failed to agree on an energy bill partly because of a proposal to protect makers of MTBE from liability for water contamination caused by the gasoline additive. The House recently passed its version of the massive bill, which again contains the MTBE waiver. For this… Read More
A proposal to significantly alter the state’s tax system by broadening the sales tax and simplifying the income tax is likely to be quickly picked apart by lawmakers and lobbyists. That is unfortunate. The concept plan, offered by the chairmen of the Legislature’s Taxation Committee,… Read More
As any economist can tell you, there are two sides to the supply and demand equation. When it comes to energy, however, the country’s CEO is prone to consider only one side – supply. So, it is no surprise that President Bush is urging Congress to move forward… Read More
The president suggested a reasonable sounding way to fix Social Security Thursday night – cut benefits to the wealthy while ensuring that low-income workers get more. The problem is that this deceptively simple sounding solution could actually harm middle-income earners. Worse, the whole problem could be more easily… Read More
When Maine’s Department of Human Services was overhauled last year, legislators should have known the reform wasn’t the end of the department’s troubles, but a possible turning point in them. The reaction, however, to yet another report on DHS accounting from three or four years ago suggests at… Read More
After a long, tough winter and a mud season that seemed endless, spring has come at last to our part of Maine. Now is the time to get out into the woods and along the seashore, while there’s still a nip in the air and before the black… Read More
Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate reached a deal Wednesday night with a sufficient number of party members who wanted to preserve Medicaid as Congress crafted a budget, allowing for a vote on the budget resolution today. But agreement or not, it is still a budget that, in… Read More
Poisonous lead levels in the blood of young children have fallen dramatically since the 1960s, as laws removed leaded gasoline and paints from general sale. But unlike lead in the air, the millions of tons of lead painted onto walls in older homes persists, and Maine’s stock of… Read More
Having heard the complaints from legislative Republicans about the details of the state’s new budget, Democratic Gov. John Baldacci offered a means for compromise this week that Republicans should embrace – with a couple of observations of their own. Republicans recently initiated a googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
We should be getting a definitive answer before long to a question that from the start has dogged the Bush administration’s sweeping education law, the No Child Left Behind Act. The much-debated question is whether the federal funds distributed under the law are enough to cover the state… Read More
As written, Maine’s requirements for renewable energy appear to be the most ambitious in the country. However, because the state has long generated more than 30 percent of its power from hydroelectric projects, biomass plants and municipal waste to energy facilities, the renewable standard didn’t mean much. Read More
With the Maine Legislature recently in the throes of trying to balance the budget and Congress struggling with an increasing deficit, this seems like the right time to put in a good word for taxes. A good word? And for taxes? Yes, indeed. googletag.cmd.push(function ()… Read More
The only way for Republican leaders to restrict the use of the filibuster on federal judicial appointments is to break their own rules. If they are willing to do that, the Senate, traditionally the house of thoughtful debate with consideration for minority views, would become the servant of… Read More
As spring firmly takes hold and children can venture outdoors without layers of clothing, here’s a sad statistic to consider: Maine children spend more time watching television and sitting in front of a computer playing games than they do playing outdoors. This “screen time” leads to weight gain… Read More
When Sen. Susan Collins meets tomorrow with Stephen Johnson, the president’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, she’s bound to have a long list of questions. Likely to be near the top of her list is a question she and several Senate colleagues have been asking for… Read More
It could happen at any time. Say you are rolling along with a big balance on your credit card, paying the minimum on time every month and comfortable with a low annual percentage rate. Suddenly you are hit with a change to a high rate of 20 or… Read More
Shipbuilding in Maine was given a reprieve this week when the Pentagon overruled the Navy’s request to award the construction of the next generation of destroyers to a single shipyard. However, the Pentagon’s decision is not final and will be subject to further review. Officials at Bath Iron… Read More
It is good to hear that lawmakers this year are more open to the idea of repealing or restricting term limits. Limits on the number of terms legislators can serve in Augusta have not been the political cure-all that their early backers promised. Instead, high turnover in the… Read More
Reducing diesel emissions and protecting wetlands are important environmental gains. However, rather than touting these small improvements, which the Bush administration has done in southern Maine on recent Earth Days, this year, the administration should do something bold. This Earth Day, it should talk about developing federal rules… Read More
When the College of Cardinals gathered this week to choose a new pope, two qualifications must have always been on their minds: charisma and conservatism. The man who was chosen, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, certainly possesses the latter. Whether he has enough of… Read More
With graduation around the corner, gift cards are soon to be in demand. While the cards, which are offered by stores and banks, are handy, especially for relatives who may not have seen the graduate for years, they often come with hefty fees and a lot of restrictions. Read More
Gov. John Baldacci has two helpful initiatives under way. One seeks to increase the state’s production and use of alternative energy, including wind power, and the other hopes to improve cellular phone reception across Maine. So, why not marry the two? The primary hurdle to… Read More
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has muddled the constitutional separation of church and state by joining with conservative Christian leaders in a campaign aimed at “reining in our out-of-control courts.” That phrase is from a Family Research Council announcement of a huge nationwide televised protest… Read More
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, recently decided it wanted to do something about urban sprawl. The corporation announced last week that it was contributing $6 million toward a project to conserve more than 300,000 acres in Washington County. A gift of this size must be deeply appreciated, and… Read More
Opponents of the business equipment tax in Maine have a lengthy argument on why a state rebate for property tax combined with a local exemption of the tax does not constitute, in legislative jargon, a double dip. But of course it does, and the fact that some companies… Read More
Listen, my children, and give a pause for the midnight ride of William Dawes All right, so Longfellow knew he could get a better rhyme out of “hear” and “Revere,” but the result of his famous poem from “Tales of a Wayside Inn” is… Read More
With gas prices at record highs and concerns about energy supplies growing daily, lawmakers should get to work on crafting energy efficiency standards for appliances and to boost fuel efficiency standards for cars. So what is Congress eager to do? Tinker with the clock. Last… Read More
Maine is among only a half dozen states that mandate broad consumer protections for health insurance. Opponents of these requirements – to guarantee coverage, cover a range of medical services, limit charges based on health – say they add cost to Maine’s health care system, push out competition… Read More
The risk with asking experts what’s wrong with a government program is that they are likely to tell you – and expect that something will be done about it. The Maine experts who recently critiqued the No Child Left Behind education program for Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia… Read More
President Bush’s pledge to reform the federal tax code was welcome news to anyone who has recently labored over a form 1040. Simplifying the code is much easier said than done. It is also troubling that to many reforming the tax code means lowering taxes. These are two… Read More
Righting a past wrong is not an easy process, but Maine has come a long way in trying to compensate former students at the Baxter School for the Deaf for the horrific abuse they suffered at the state-run school. Lawmakers now have the opportunity to completely fund the… Read More
Having stripped Republicans of their ability to influence the budget this session, majority Democrats now seem surprised that a GOP group has turned to the public for help. Amending a budget through citizen’s initiative, as the group proposes, is about the least-efficient way to conduct the state’s business,… Read More
Horrifying as it is, the outbreak of the Marburg virus in Angola probably won’t explode into a mammoth pandemic like the bubonic plague or black death of the Middle Ages or the worldwide pandemic of the flu in 1918-1919. This tentative conclusion seems to be… Read More
With new equipment and responsibilities, police work has changed a lot in the last six decades. The State Police’s system of barracks and patrols has not. An assessment of the force and where and how it works is now under way and should bring the police up to… Read More
With control of the budget in Congress, Republicans largely remain determined to cut Medicaid and other social service programs while insisting on huge tax cuts, producing a dangerous double of fewer government services and deeper debt. Seven Senate Republicans, however, are looking for quiet ways to protect those… Read More
The governor appoints the University of Maine System board of trustees and gives the board “final authority over all matters within its jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the board relates to, and is exercised over … all educational, public service and research policies, financial policy and the relation of… Read More
How does a moderate Republican vote on the confirmation of John R. Bolton, known for his bitter denunciations of the United Nations, as United States ambassador to the international body? Hearings by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are under way, and a committee vote is expected this week. Read More
Whatever you may think about Terri Schiavo’s saga it provides a useful lesson: By acting ahead of time, you can control what will happen to you when the end approaches even if an accident or illness renders you unable to make health care decisions for yourself. Read More
The news that Mainers going to Canada would need passports in a few years was met with immediate outcry. Residents of communities with strong ties to Canada are naturally concerned about increasing border restrictions and their effect on everything from business to cultural ties. An additional document does… Read More
University of Maine System trustees and Chancellor Joseph Westphal have a complex decision to make in choosing the next UMaine president. Without suggesting that these issues supersede all others, the person chosen must have a strong grasp of Maine’s desperate need for investment, encourage its emerging biomedical growth,… Read More
Communities along the Maine coast have rejected proposals to build liquefied natural gas facilities in their midst. Such sentiments may not matter if the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has its way. The commission is pressing Congress to give it more authority to decide where LNG terminals should go. Read More
Buried in the back pages of this newspaper recently was a legal notice about Bangor and Brewer jointly seeking proposals from companies wanting to pick up the cities’ trash. Although it wasn’t big news, the notice is proof that the cities are working together. While a joint trash… Read More
Although the Senate last month approved drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge there are many hurdles still facing exploration advocates. The first is the budget process itself. Because the House and Senate approved vastly different budgets, a joint committee must now try to reconcile the… Read More
An annual percentage rate of 520 percent is apparently not good enough for the payday loan operators. They want to be able to charge up to 910 percent on an annual basis for Mainers who live paycheck to paycheck and need cash in the meantime. The industry has… Read More
Equipped with aging boats and helicopters, the Coast Guard in 1997 developed a replacement program and aimed to upgrade its fleet within 20 years. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Coast Guard’s work has grown substantially and it was asked to revise its equipment replacement program. Read More
Repeatedly sending soldiers overseas, and keeping them there for extended periods, is hurting military recruiting and retention. Although Congress hoped to help this problem by approving 30,000 new slots in the military due to concerns that U.S. forces were stretched too thin by lengthy deployments in Iraq and… Read More
Both halves of Bangor’s city budget – municipal and school – are likely to rise by between 4 and 5 percent next year. Among the reasons are the obvious to anyone who has paid a health care premium or a heating bill, but a year after a long… 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… Read More
In bits and pieces, the signs are everywhere that the conservative Christian religious movement is directing the policies of the Republican Party. But it took a conservative Republican politician – who is also an ordained Episcopal minister – to put them all together and say so. Read More
The world mourns the passing of a remarkable man of God, a man of peace. Pope John Paul II’s death brought tears of pity and pain everywhere, not only for him but for what everyone, in the Catholic Church and outside, has lost: His clarity and understanding, his… Read More
Government officials and others who are opposed to the Kyoto accords, the international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in hopes of slowing global climate change, should talk to Cathy Lee and Paul Nace. Both run businesses in Maine that are profiting, or hope to, from opportunities arising… Read More
The new Measures of Growth study from the Maine Economic Growth Council reports that median home prices are rising faster than income in Maine, which means, apparently, all that marketing of the state is paying off as more retirees buy homes here and, in some places anyway, those… Read More
Once again Maine, and several other states, has sued the Environmental Protection Agency to compel it to do its job. The states are suing the agency over a recently released mercury pollution rule that the EPA’s own inspector general said were improperly crafted. Despite that warning and calls… Read More
The death of Terri Schiavo can be met with only one emotion – profound sadness. Sadness at the tragedy that befell her 15 years ago, leaving her severely brain damaged. Sadness at the acrimony that developed between her husband and parents, resulting in a seven-year legal battle that… Read More
A news story the other day pointed out that yet another no-tax governor had experienced the epiphany that ruining public services in order to save a buck was shortsighted or, worse, destructive. The news should be interpreted here not as a free pass to raise taxes but to… Read More
Conservative activists are threatening to use the case of Terri Schiavo to press for more right-leaning judges on the federal courts. Current judges, they say, are ignoring the will of the people and abusing their powers. Aside from running afoul of this country’s long history of separation of… Read More
If energy companies wondered about the prospects of building facilities in Maine, their questions were answered this week. With a vote in the Washington County town of Perry, communities up and down the coast have rejected terminals for the delivery of liquefied natural gas. Absent changes in federal… Read More
An expected Republican parliamentary maneuver in the U.S. Senate is properly called the “nuclear option.” The drastic measure is intended to assure confirmation of President Bush’s nominees for judgeships by overthrowing a 200-year tradition of unlimited debate. But it could trigger an equally drastic Democratic response that brings… Read More
The debate between industry representatives and environmentalists over water quality standards for many of the state’s largest rivers should have quieted last year after lawmakers set a dissolved oxygen standard for these waterways. The new rule is already being challenged as too lenient although it has yet to… Read More
University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal is being punished by the Maine Legislature for following its direction to run the system more efficiently. His proposed reform last year actually contained reforms and that was unacceptable to lawmakers, who have put in the next state budget a measure… Read More
A plan to require $10 permits for canoes and kayaks was in the state budget just long enough to generate enough angry phone calls to lawmakers to persuade them to take it out. While lawmakers are right that such a change shouldn’t be hidden in a massive budget… Read More
A startling piece of news appeared deep in a Wall Street Journal report last week on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s tour of the Far East. It said that she offered “new diplomatic language” for China to pass along to its ally, North Korea. Among her points was… Read More
Let someone else point out the irony of two shipyards afraid to fight for a winner-take-all contract from the Department of Defense. The fact that the nation has but two shipyards to build large surface ships is reason enough for Congress to recognize the risk of such a… Read More
A major dispute between Republicans and Democrats over the state budget is whether it prepares Maine to face its future with less debt and smaller budget gaps or sets the state up to fail and require large tax increases. A document as large as the upcoming budget has… Read More
Lawmakers were right to try to keep uninsured motorists off the state’s roads. However, the system put in place clearly doesn’t work and money and time are needed to fix it. In the meantime, softening the tone of letters the Bureau of Motor Vehicles now sends out –… Read More
A ruling last week by the State Superior Court that says legislative leaders could not deny lawmakers special-session pay last year will represent a tiny ding in the state coffers but a large warning to the Legislature. Majority Democrats are busily ignoring that warning now. Read More
Doubts that central Maine, and Bangor in particular, is a good place to expand a business or locate a new one should have been erased yesterday with the announcement that the state’s retail giant L.L. Bean plans to open a call center here. Late last year,… Read More
Identity theft is a growing problem in America, affecting millions of people and costing victimized individuals and businesses more than $50 billion a year. While businesses and government agencies are working to reduce identity theft, individuals are in the best position to stop these crimes by carefully guarding… Read More
Perhaps as shocking as reports that more than 100 people have died, nearly a quarter of them in homicides, in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan was the lack of outrage over this news. While Congress has been busy trying to save a single life and questioning baseball… Read More
A governor’s bill, expected to be introduced today by Republican Sen. Karl Turner to the Judiciary Committee, adds “sexual orientation” to the Maine law that makes it unlawful to discriminate against people in the areas of housing, employment, public accommodation, credit and education. Though nearly half the nation… Read More
The Department of Marine Resources last year slashed the number of days when urchin harvesting is allowed, but DMR believes the species remains in decline. Fishermen, on the other hand, say that urchins are plentiful and they should be able to spend more days looking for them. Both… Read More
For years, the University of Maine System and, first, the Maine Technical College – now Community College – System have tried to clear a path for Maine college students that is low barrier and low cost but leads to a four-year degree. Last week, they got much closer… Read More
The frenzied activity in Washington this weekend belied a crisis. House members returned to their chambers during a holiday recess to vote. President Bush, for the first time in his presidency, returned to Washington during a vacation. The political theater surrounded Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at… Read More
Put articulate physicians on one side and articulate attorneys on the other and the result is long, elaborately reasoned arguments for and against, in this case, restrictions on awards in malpractice cases. Here’s something considerably less freighted with detail: In his new book “Blink,” author… Read More
A plan by the Federal Aviation Administration to close control towers at dozens of small airports, including Bangor’s, needs to be re-examined. In the case of Bangor, the nightly closure would slow Air National Guard operations, potentially harming military missions. It would also harm operations at the commercial… Read More
Simply accounting for a way to pay the state’s bills does not make for an adequate budget, yet that’s what legislative Democrats are planning to do to avoid compromising with Republicans. It is a shortsighted plan, one that badly serves Maine because it does not prepare the state… Read More
By rejecting President Bush’s cuts to Medicaid, the Senate Thursday revived hope that states would be able to continue programs that deliver health care to the poor and those just above the poverty line without health insurance. The vote on $14 billion worth of Medicaid cuts was a… Read More
Maine’s Legislature has taken an important first step in protecting what’s left of the state’s working waterfront from escalating property tax increases. The House and Senate unanimously approved a bill to tax waterfront land used for fishing and fishing-related boat building based on current use rather than the… Read More
Despite Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s recent threats to cut off oil exports to the United States in protest of President Bush’s international policies, this isn’t likely to happen. The United States now buys 60 percent of Venezuela’s oil exports. Mr. Chavez is looking for new… Read More
President Bush’s choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency isn’t likely to face real opposition from Congress, but Steve Johnson, a longtime EPA staffer, should expect lots of questions from Maine’s senators. They should expect detailed answers. Although it is clear the Bush administration is… Read More
Until recently, Maine could track the care and costs of respiratory disease, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), only through hospital visits, which accounted for only a small part of a much larger story. Starting this month, however, a data-collection program begun three years ago… Read More
Anyone who has driven the state’s back roads can attest to their danger. Combine narrow winding roads, speed and large trucks and the result is often deadly. A recent report confirms this: 81 percent of highway fatalities in Maine occur on rural roads, the second highest percentage in… Read More
If Chinese President Hu Jintao wanted to establish his role as newly appointed chairman of the state Central Military Commission, he could have chosen a far better way than to threaten Taipei with a needlessly harmful and provocative “anti-secession” law. The Bush administration reacted quickly and appropriately to… Read More
Democratic and Republican legislative leaders are having trouble agreeing on whether they are having a disagreement. Democrats contend that there is bipartisan agreement on the overwhelming majority of Maine’s next biennial budget and no reason to wait much longer to pass it. Republicans say the budget is being… Read More
One of the biggest problems with freedom of information laws is that people, both government officials and citizens seeking documents, often don’t know what the laws entail. Maine has taken many steps to remedy this by clarifying and centralizing its information laws and educating public officials about what… Read More
Laugh and be well,” British poet Matthew Green wrote in 1737. It turns out Green’s most famous poem, “The Spleen,” from which this line comes, offered good medical advice. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner =… Read More
It has long been assumed that high mercury levels in animals and plants was a problem associated with aquatic ecosystems, so researchers were surprised to find high levels of the toxic element in forest-dwelling animals. The findings, released last week by the Maine-based BioDiversity Research Institute, highlight the… Read More
The memo could have been reprinted from Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22.” Togus VA Medical Center, which has worked assiduously over the last several years to reduce its waiting lists for care, solved the problem in recent years several ways, including attracting more staff. The regional directors noticed that this,… Read More
Maine’s paper mills rely on the state’s railroads, so when that service is unreliable, as they say it is with the state’s largest rail carrier, it threatens their business, which in turn hurts the state economy. While the state may not be able to fix the situation, it… Read More
Federal fisheries regulators have proposed new rules requiring changes in fishing gear to reduce the chances that endangered right whales will get entangled. The gear changes will likely cost Maine lobstermen millions of dollars. Sen. Olympia Snowe has already proposed a buy-back program to reduce the burden on… Read More
One thousand Mainers are expected to meet tomorrow in a high-tech version of a town meeting to help decide the future course of health care in Maine. They will spend the day at 10-person tables – 30 to 35 tables at three different sites: Jeff’s Catering in Brewer,… Read More
At some point in the budget debate in Washington you are likely to see a story that pits a few moderate Republicans, including Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, against the rest of the party on the question of whether to account for both new spending and… Read More
Reforming the United Nations is one thing. Nominating as U.S. ambassador there someone who openly derides the institution and multilateralism in general is something else. John R. Bolton, the nominee, once said that, if the U.N. Secretariat building in New York “lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a… Read More
Because a state funeral inspector took brains from deceased Mainers without the consent of their families there is a well-founded fear that some families may now eschew organ donations for transplants. That would be unfortunate given the dire need for organs for transplants coupled with the state’s efforts… Read More
The sponsor of a bill to make Maine’s Legislature nonpartisan realistically doesn’t have much hope for getting the idea through the Legislature, but lawmakers ought to understand the benefits of such a system. LD 428, sponsored by Levant Rep. Chris Greeley, gives the State and Local Government Committee… Read More
If form follows function, as the architectural adage claims, then how Congress builds the foundation for spending over the next five years is crucial. When the congressional budget committees this week begin shaping a budget resolution, they will not only propose to cut spending for programs such as… Read More
More than 40 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court looked at the way Tennessee spread its legislative representation by county without regard to the population of its counties and declared the state violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Two years later, in 1964, it declared… Read More
The plague of methamphetamine addiction has already gripped other parts of the country, and it is now headed for Maine. “We think it’s the beginning of an epidemic,” says Kim Johnson, director of the Maine Office of Substance Abuse. She likens it to the explosion of OxyContin abuse… Read More
Bush administration officials have been badmouthing Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, publicly and privately for years and have just lost a campaign to prevent the Egyptian lawyer’s re-election for a third four-year term. Other candidates, including some recruited by the United States,… Read More
Drivers who are using cell phones are more likely to be in accidents. Bigger dangers, however, come from fiddling with radios, talking with other people in the car and watching what’s going on outside your car. So, while the intent of LD 525, which would ban most uses… Read More