Fishermen and conservation groups have long been at odds over regulations to curb overfishing and other issues. But, a poll released last week shows that these groups have a lot in common. Both groups believe commercial fishing and environmental protection are compatible. Both believe that ocean pollution and… Read More
The bond problem before Maine is simple enough, yet becomes complicated if not solved this fiscal year. That means a vote of the Legislature is needed before November, an event that could be helped by a meeting of the Appropri-ations Committee soon. The problem comes… Read More
Casino gambling, racing swiftly toward Bangor on the back of Gov. Baldacci’s latest racino-control plan, is said, by enthusiasts, to promote economic development and, by detractors, to create personal devastation. They may both be right, according to a study from last spring that Bangor officials should review as… Read More
Senate Republican leaders look longingly at the power of their Democratic counterparts and wonder why they rely on a seniority system for selecting committee members and chairmen when giving their leader appointment authority would do so much more to enforce party discipline. This is akin to asking themselves… Read More
Fifty-six hundred former soldiers, including 58 Mainers, this week will start getting orders for involuntary mobilization and likely assignment to Iraq or Afghanistan. The Army ordered the sudden and unexpected call-up as its latest move to expand its stretched-out forces to meet demands of the Iraq war and… Read More
Below is an excerpt from the document this holiday is about. Two hundred and twenty-eight 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. It argued eloquently… Read More
It has been more than 35 years since a Maine politician has been on the ticket in a presidential race. Then, as now, the country was divided over a war in a distant land and the presidential election was expected to be extremely close. The difference, however, was… Read More
What may be the nation’s biggest lawsuit is based on one of its longest-running debates: Are women paid less than men in comparable jobs with all the many factors of experience, years at a specific job, performance, etc., factored in? The Wal-Mart case could serve as the means… Read More
No one likes the taxman, but some artisans and collectible dealers are prematurely outraged at the Maine Revenue Service for a change in tax law regarding the state’s smallest businesses. The law, meant to cut down on fraud among those entities allowed to purchase items without paying sales… Read More
The Bush administration’s embarrassed discussion of the prisoner-torture issue has hit a new snag: a strange Justice Department memo that won’t go away. The Aug. 1, 2002, memo, written by a former top department lawyer who now is a federal judge, was an effort to… Read More
Two waterfront cabins on Daicey Pond in Baxter State Park are so popular that brave souls have long camped out at the park headquarters in January to ensure a stay at “Lookout” and “Outlet.” Now these two cabins are scheduled for demolition to make way for a modern,… Read More
Like many of his colleagues in the Capitol, Vice President Dick Cheney is a bit testy. Failure to get a resolution on the budget, disagreements over further tax cuts – much work in Washington comes to a standstill when the political parties are far apart in philosophy but… Read More
The surprise handover in Iraq to an interim government Monday was both smart tactically and a sign of how dangerous and uncontrolled that country remains. The questions of whether elections in January will be meaningful and Iraqi sovereignty actually can be gained will be determined over the next… Read More
As medical buildings go, the announced dormitory for students at Eastern Maine Medical Center is neither especially large nor nearly the most costly. But the commitment it represents to the region is substantial, and is a visible example of the hospital’s important teaching role and of its investment… Read More
The simplest way to reduce fuel consumption, cut the number of accidents on Maine roads and move goods at a lower cost across the state is to raise the truck-weight limit on I-95 north of Augusta above 80,000 pounds. This has proved to be a difficult change because… Read More
With 95 million Americans putting money into mutual funds, changes in corporate governance approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission last week should help diminish investor fears over the management of these funds. With so much money – much of it from working-class investors who don’t have time… Read More
The hope that United Airlines would declare solvency, leaving its long state of bankruptcy, depended on it getting federal loans designed to help airlines hurt by Sept. 11. It failed to do that last week, and, while applying again, goes to the front of the line of legacy… Read More
Legislators from both parties dropped the ball this spring when they failed to agree on a bond package. It is not too late, however, to put together a package that will fund necessary transportation and environmental projects and enable purchases of threatened land. This won’t happen if lawmakers… Read More
The latest polls show the change in how the nation views the link between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 attacks. What used to be a solid majority believing that he had a hand in it now has slipped to 40 percent. Alarmingly, nearly 50 percent believe the… Read More
A vote on a tax-cap referendum is still months away, but just the notion that the measure will be on the November ballot has prompted city officials to take unusual steps. Concerned that local residents will be more apt to vote for the tax cap if their property… Read More
Declassified memos explaining the Bush administration’s reasons for believing the Geneva Conventions did not apply to “our conflict with al-Qaida in Afghanistan or elsewhere throughout the world” describe an attitude determined to characterize the war on terror as something wholly new while at the same time urging interrogators… Read More
Typically, when organizations merge it is because one is in trouble and couldn’t survive without the other. So it is a bit unusual for the Bangor YMCA and YWCA to agree to joint operations at a time when both are thriving. The agreement, approved this week by the… Read More
Social Security is in better shape than usually thought, according to a new estimate by the Congressional Budget Office. Instead of going bankrupt in 2042 as supposed by this and previous administrations, the CBO says that won’t happen until 2052. The report should raise the expectation that Congress… Read More
A group assigned to fix a conflict in state rules that is causing dogs to be vaccinated against rabies more often than necessary deserves a pat on the head for agreeing on a simple solution to a decades-old problem. The group’s solution, to require that dog owners show… Read More
With another plan for restoring Atlantic salmon in Maine and another call for a lot of money to do it, policy-makers are at a critical juncture. A draft salmon recovery plan, released by the federal government last week, calls for a variety of steps to be taken to… Read More
Maine, having started only a few years ago to make serious investments in research and development, struggles to move new products to commercialization, as a conference in Portland last week called Bio-Innovation II emphasized. The challenge isn’t only with biotechnology but in many of its high-tech projects around… Read More
American officials recently disclosed a plan to reduce U.S. troops in South Korea by a third over the next 18 months. Such a move was overdue and welcome, though the process for doing it needs work. A half century after the U.S.-North Korean war, no… Read More
History has long overlooked the short-lived French settlement on St. Croix Island, devoting attention to the later but longer-lasting English endeavors at Jamestown and Plymouth. Now, 400 years after French settlers landed on the small outcropping between what is now the United States and Canada, St. Croix Island… Read More
A warning this week from a legislator about the new Dirigo health plan was disturbing. State Rep. Chris O’Neil of Saco, chairman of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee, essentially predicts Dirigo’s failure in several ways, leading to an unworkable system. His warning is useful… Read More
Even with the report of the Sept. 11 commission concluding that a connection but no meaningful cooperation in regard to terrorism existed between al-Qaida and Iraq, the defensive reaction from President Bush this week was unneeded. Instead, a fuller explanation would be welcome. The commission… Read More
Although scientists agree they lack important knowledge about past climate changes, especially those that occurred quickly, funding for a key climate change research program has been eliminated from the proposed federal budget, a portion of which will be considered by a Senate appropriations subcommittee later this week. Knowing… Read More
The victories in Iraq these days are small but deserve attention. The latest positive development was an edict this week from radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr ordering his fighters to put down their arms and go home. Mr. al-Sadr says he intends to enter mainstream politics. This likely… Read More
In an annual exercise that became more urgent after severe acute respiratory syndrome – SARS – spread disease and fear, President George Bush this week signed legislation that would bring Taiwan into the World Health Organization, an endorsement that is both crucial and merely a first step to… Read More
There has long been hand-wringing over the large number of young people leaving Maine. In fact, newly elected Gov. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain cited business attraction and youth out-migration as his top two priorities in his inaugural speech in 1867. Now, more than 130 years later, the fretting has… Read More
A report on the performance of a little-known intelligence agency during the Vietnam War has finally been published after being kept secret for 35 years. The agency is the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, known to insiders as INR. Historians are finding the report a valuable… Read More
A dormant law that is only now being enforced due to heightened security concerns is causing unnecessary anxiety for Canadian nurses and the hospitals along the U.S. border that employ them. A delay in implementing the law while better solutions are found could assure the security goals are… Read More
Maine Department of Education officials continue to negotiate with Apple Computer to keep the highly successful school laptop program moving, but they need help from local school districts if the next class of ninth-graders is to keep learning on this technology. The state’s current effort is commendable and… Read More
Those pictures of American soldiers abusing and humiliating prisoners in Iraq, standing one of them on a pedestal shrouded in a hood and with electric wires attached to him, threatening others with fierce dogs, and leading another like a dog on a leash, have horrified the world, shamed… Read More
Cracking the enemy’s code can make make all the difference, but the achievement must always be one of the nation’s best kept secrets. That was true in World War II, when American cryptographers broke the Japanese code, learned Japanese naval plans, and led to a decisive victory in… Read More
There is a growing propensity, under the pretense of saving money, to propose moving municipal offices and services out of town centers in favor of outlying locations. Fortunately, these efforts are being challenged because this troubling trend should be stopped. In Bangor, city councilors last… Read More
There are good reasons there were no celebrations at the Maine Municipal Association offices this week after voters – or at least a small portion of voters – approved the group’s referendum question on school funding. Passage of Question 1, which requires the state to provide 55 percent… Read More
The respected magazine National Journal a couple of weeks ago gave its readers an unusual perspective on President George Bush’s performance: a calm, reasoned analysis not from political spinners but toilers in the field of economics. The results should be remembered when the presidential race gets hotter this… Read More
Another study has found that allowing heavy trucks on the interstate, rather than the back roads, saves money and lives. The latest study, mandated by the federal government, found that allowing trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds on the Maine and New Hampshire turnpikes saved up to $4… Read More
Today our nation pauses to mourn and remember Ronald Wilson Reagan, who passed away Saturday at the age of 93. Mr. Reagan will long be remembered for his sunny optimism and unfailing faith in the greatness of American and the inherent goodness of its citizens. Praised for his… Read More
Gov. John Baldacci’s efforts to bring a variety of officials together to plot the future of the former Eastern Fine Paper mill in Brewer got off to a bad start when his intentions were mischaracterized as a Quixotic attempt to return papermaking jobs to the riverfront facility. Despite… Read More
Only recently drug importation was a topic of wonkish discourse but not an issue taken seriously on Capitol Hill. Now, the idea of importing lower-cost drugs from other countries is so popular that senators are sparring over what bill is best to allow the practice. Although recent news… Read More
Every year the federal government sends billions of dollars to states to improve their rural roads, and while the conditions of those roads matter to overall safety, a recent study by the General Accounting Office found that a lot of the death and injury on them occurs because… Read More
What a difference a year can make. Last March, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton had this to say at a centennial celebration for the National Wildlife Refuge System: “On this historic occasion, we invite every American to discover a wildlife refuge near their home and to join… Read More
George Tenet’s abrupt resignation as director of the Central Intelligence Agency opens the way for a reorganization of the entire intelligence system. The system has been plagued lately by serious failures, which are about to be itemized in detail in the reports by pending investigations by a congressional… Read More
In a recent lengthy memorandum to its readers, The New York Times acknowledged it had published a number of articles that turned out to be misleading or deceptive and helped persuade the American people that the war in Iraq was justified. The Times said that many of the… Read More
America lost a beacon of hope and strength Saturday with the death of Ronald Reagan. Mr. Reagan, who was 93, may well be remembered more for his personality and philosophy than for his policies, many of which failed. But, he will also be remembered as the president who… Read More
For years, fishermen in Maine and down the East Coast have complained that they have had to make major gear changes to spare right whales, yet ships, the major killer of the endangered cetaceans, have been let off the hook. That would change under a new strategy proposed… Read More
Question 1: Carry-over Measure Do you want the State to pay 55% of the cost of public education, which includes all special education costs, for the purpose of shifting costs from the property tax to state resources? The question’s first assumption is this: This initiative… Read More
If you want to lose weight – and the reasons for doing so are described in detail elsewhere in today’s edition – you will hear that it is simple: Take in more calories than you burn and you gain weight; burn more than you take in and you… Read More
George Tenet’s announced departure yesterday as director of the Central Intelligence Agency was the first major change since members of Congress and the public began wondering aloud why no top officials were being held accountable for intelligence failures before and since Sept. 11. But his reason for leaving,… Read More
Despite patriotic rhetoric from Washington, it is hard to imagine it treating service personnel much worse. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers were sent to Iraq without receiving the equipment and training necessary to deal with a populace that has greeted them with rocket propelled grenades and roadside bombs,… Read More
With enough votes to pass but perhaps not to overcome a filibuster, the long-debated Class Action Fairness Act finally is expected to get a hearing from the full Senate this week after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist struck a deal with Democrats. It has been a long wait… Read More
Police officers, by the nature of the work they do, are part of a community. They, and the station they work out of, belong in an easily accessible, visible location, not hidden away in the leafy outskirts of town. Bangor’s police station should remain downtown. Read More
Residents of Lincoln should be forgiven for their muted excitement about the reopening of the paper mill that has long been the center of town. They are pleased that 360 people went back to work yesterday at what is now called Lincoln Paper and Tissue Co. However, they,… Read More
Almost two years ago families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks sued the Saudi government for $1 trillion, claiming the Saudi royal family had paid protection money to al-Qaida, which in turn funded terror attacks elsewhere. The suit is nowhere near concluded, but it’s clear enough that… Read More
Some congressional Republicans last week might have wished Senate moderates, including Maine Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, would go away. Sen. Snowe said the other day that she wished those Republicans would come home to the party. A dispute over spending restrictions in the budget resolution has… Read More
Beware of bills that must pass Congress for government to continue to function. To them become attached legislation that would fail on its own, often because they are bad ideas. The 2005 defense authorization bill is carrying such dangerous cargo right now, and the Senate should relieve it… Read More
Long before sales and sports and the three-day weekend, Memorial Day was a day of mourning. Turning grim Civil War battle experiences into something lasting and inspiring, Gen. John Alexander Logan set aside May 30, 1868, “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves… Read More
Venus, like all the stars and all the other planets, can usually be seen only at night. In the daytime, the sun’s brilliance makes them invisible. A spectacular exception will occur on Tuesday, June 8, when the sun, Venus and Earth will form points along a straight line. Read More
The apocalyptic movie “The Day After Tomorrow,” which opens this weekend, overplays and rapidly accelerates the consequences of climate change. The general public, however, may need some Hollywood hype to make them take global climate change seriously. An ice age will not descend on New… Read More
A correspondent from Scarborough, temporarily living in Washington, D.C., recently sent us the following letter: I love to visit Washington’s memorials at night, when they’re quieter. More intimate. Just before midnight of the day it opened, I walked with friends to the new National World… Read More
Watchers of a proposed wind farm atop Mars Hill are right to be concerned about what precedent the project will set. Maine Audubon wants the project delayed and further study conducted so a precedent of leniency is not set, a valid concern but not reason to delay and… Read More
The last time the U.S. Post Office was reformed a first-class stamp cost 6 cents, the postmaster general was a member of the president’s Cabinet and the world’s first e-mail wouldn’t be sent for another year. That was 34 years ago, the Postal Service is now only a… Read More
The unexpected raid last week on the Baghdad home and office of Ahmad Chalabi is the latest evidence of failures of U.S. intelligence gathering efforts before and during the ongoing war in Iraq. Mr. Chalabi, long living in exile, was a favorite of the neo-conservatives in the Pentagon… Read More
Everyone should know by this time that North Korea is building nuclear weapons. But if you want to know what’s really going on there and how to deal with it, don’t listen only to either the fear mongers and the war hawks. Selig S. Harrison,… Read More
Maine prides itself when it is at the top of national rankings and typically frets and forms task forces when it is at the bottom. Here’s a ranking that deserves more than a little fretting and a lot of action: Maine is third worst in the nation when… Read More
The general knock against President Bush’s speech Monday was that it lacked specifics and restated the obvious. In his defense, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner said the president was “at his best tonight in laying a foundation, upon which he has to build every week… Read More
Everybody talks about tailgating, and many do things about it – most of them all wrong, according to traffic safety specialists. Some people slam on the brakes, to throw a scare into the bum about to climb into their back seat. Some drive erratically or… Read More
“Unless we change our communication and demonstrate a different image to the people on the street, then we’re gonna get to the point where we are going to be looking for quick exits. I don’t believe we’re there now. And I wouldn’t want to see us fail here.”… Read More
Most people know by this time that Maine has a serious problem of drug and alcohol addiction. A state-sponsored study in 1998 put the annual economic cost at more than $1.2 billion, and it’s gotten worse. The same study showed savings of $4 for every $1 spent on… Read More
The Camelot Index ranks states on the condition of their economy, health care, crime, education, social services and state management. There are many other indices like it and many of them come to roughly similar conclusions. But this one is noteworthy because it is a more comprehensive outside… Read More
Maine voters will face an awful situation on June 8 when they consider on the ballot a repeat of Question 1, which directs the state to immediately fund K-12 education at 55 percent of the total cost and all of special education. The impulse and sentiment of voters… Read More
Until recently, it was unusual for corrections officials and mental health advocates to work together. Carol Carothers was instrumental in changing this and for that she has been recognized by the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for her work as the director of Maine’s chapter of the National… Read More
Big trouble began for the United States in Iraq almost as soon as it seemed it could declare victory. Secretary Rumsfeld’s lean army didn’t stop widespread looting or safeguard huge stocks of Iraqi weapons. Guerrilla warfare broke out, Iraqi insurgents were joined by infiltrating al-Qaida terrorists. Suicide bombers… Read More
The battle over stem cells has long been polarized to the detriment of science. Now, there are encouraging signs that the scientific benefits of the embryonic cells are moving to the forefront of the policy debate. The subtle change is found in one sentence in… Read More
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz provided the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week with a rare admission of error. His observations may not be revelatory, but they give Congress an opening to assume more responsibility for what happens next in the war. Mr. Wolfowitz… Read More
Despite a recent flurry of activity to stop, or at least slow down, the West Old Town Landfill, the project is moving forward, as was expected. The Department of Environmental Protection last month granted Casella Waste Systems a license to operate and expand the landfill. Critics of the… Read More
Of all government welfare programs, the best loved might be WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. WIC emphasizes good nutrition, limits what clients may buy with their vouchers and, by many accounts, is an effective way to give poor kids a better start… Read More
No wonder seniors are confused. To help them save money on prescription drugs, the federal government rolled out a national program that requires senior to sign up for a discount card. Problem is there are now 73 competing cards and figuring out which one to sign up for… Read More
The Senate today is expected to try again to assemble a budget resolution – the blue print for its 2005 budget – that a majority can agree on. The sticking point is fiscal responsibility: Some Republicans and all Democrats want additional tax cuts along with new entitlement spending… Read More
Does it seem like every time you pass a gas station, the price of a gallon of fuel has gone up? There is not much you can do to lower gas prices, but there are things you can do to use less of it. The… Read More
Bangor officials are prudent to consider ways to save money on a much-needed new police station. However, moving the facility out of downtown may cost less now, but the city will pay for this decision for years to come. Next week, city councilors will be… Read More
New rules governing off-road diesel engines, announced last week by the Environmental Protection Agency and applauded by conservation and health groups, show that good policy can be developed when both industry and environmental interests are heeded. Not only are activist groups praising the rules, which will significantly reduce… Read More
With college commencement season in full swing, thousands of students will culminate years of study by receiving their degrees at a pomp-filled ceremony. Others will just pay a few thousand dollars and get a degree in the mail from a school that may not even exist. Read More
It’s a small point among so many issues surrounding education, but worth noting that when Education Week published its annual survey of technology advancements among states, Maine, the place that has made so much progress with its laptop plan, was not at the top. Nor was it in… Read More
Think twice if it looks as if someone is sending you free money. The mail recently carried envelopes to credit card holders with the notation “Check Enclosed” on the outside. Inside was a check for $15, payable to the addressee. Sounds like manna, doesn’t it?… Read More
The newly appointed Interim Gambling Council can be expected to hit the ground racing, since Penn National Gaming is ready to put 1,500 slot machines in the Bangor Raceway and rules will be necessary to govern their operation. Gov. John Baldacci, in signing the bill… Read More
It is likely that everyone who has been on the Internet has used Google to search for information. Now that the company has plans to offer more than $2.7 billion worth of shares of stock for sale to the public, many people are eager to invest in a… Read More
Anyone who has dragged a reluctant dog into the vet’s office for shots does not want to repeat the event more often than necessary. That’s why two state laws, administered by two state agencies (the Bureau of Health for rabies vaccinations and Department of Agriculture for licensing), that… Read More
Inevitably, whether through the honest means of the Bush administration taking responsibility for its actions or through leaks to the press, more pictures and more horrifying pictures will be released showing U.S. troops torturing, abusing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners. Perhaps murdering them. These pictures will be added evidence… Read More
For the 90 percent of the state that does not bask in the glow of Boston’s dynamic economy, the Blaine House Conference on Maine’s Creative Economy in Lewiston last week was inspirational and challenging. If Gov. John Baldacci is as serious about promoting Maine as part of this… Read More
All the exciting ideas about a creative economy, aired at length last week in Lewiston at a Blaine House conference on the subject, eventually are reduced to practical tasks. The person at the conference who may know those tasks best was John Barrett III, the mayor of North… Read More
Mental-health professionals seem upset that an Auburn businessman has opened “Vent-Line” – which charges callers $1.99 a minute to air their problems – and have refused to refer patients. The businessman, Philip Doyen, says the line is perfect for the frustrated Mainer who would like to yell about… Read More
Critics of the USA Patriot Act make much of the fact that the act was introduced and passed, with virtually no debate, in a couple of days, rather than the standard months or even years other bills as sweeping would normally take. This is not only a fair… Read More
The concession this week by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson that legalizing drug imports appeared inevitable should have emboldened 18 state attorneys general to ask for permission for their states to import drugs from more than just Canada. The prescription drug market is a worldwide phenomenon. Read More