More than 100 deaths linked to ephedra were not enough to spur the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to action. It took the death of a 23-year-old Baltimore Orioles pitcher, Steve Bechler, to get things going. He died of heat stroke on Feb. 17, and a medical examiner… Read More
Solving an environmental problem with a natural solution is often preferable to using toxic poisons. However, a proposal to allow grass carp to eat invasive plants in Maine lakes and ponds could cause more problems than it would solve. The bill, LD 1646, is well… Read More
For an informed examination on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, take a look at an excellent story by Barton Gellman in Wednesday’s Washington Post. The report is a detailed explanation of Iraqi weapons programs of the past, the effectiveness of post-Gulf War U.N. inspections, some of the possible… Read More
Supporters and detractors of racinos, combination horse-racing tracks and betting parlors, no doubt made good arguments yesterday for and against the lengthy set of regulations Gov. John Baldacci has proposed for the fledgling industry in Maine. Some of their arguments were no doubt convincing. But the truth is,… Read More
Do you remember the My Lai massacre, the 1968 slaughter of Vietnamese villagers for which Lt. William L. Calley Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment for premeditated murder? And the 1971 killing of 21 women, children and old men in a raid by a Navy SEAL team led… Read More
How fitting that in second-year legislative sessions new bills are supposed to be emergencies. As they return to business today, lawmakers will confront the unfinished business of tax reform, an emergency of amazing duration. Though a final vote remains on the Maine Municipal Association’s 1A option from last… Read More
The number of required provisions in health insurance has increased 40-fold since 1970 among states, which are beginning to become much more scrupulous about adding to the lists of mandated coverage. While Maine has only a small number of the 1,400 total required benefits, it has followed this… Read More
Among all the congratulatory speeches yesterday about the completion of part of the West Branch land preservation project, there wasn’t much talk about the change in mindsets necessary to complete the deal to protect land stretching from the West Branch of the Penobscot River to the Canadian border. Read More
By now the pattern is familiar. A family, or more likely many of them, moves to a formerly rural part of Maine to enjoy the country life. At first, the visitors to their back yard, perhaps raccoons and the occasional deer, are a delight. But soon there are… Read More
If a hallmark of the Reagan presidency was the New Federalism, in which funds to state and local governments were cut and responsibilities shifted downward, the current administration might be credited with encouraging a bottom-up Calculated Federalism, in which states align their governing with their funding. This may… Read More
Politicians suddenly care about free-trade issues again, especially those in an election and especially in Maine. The Bush administration has been conflicted, talking strongly about trade but slapping penalties on certain lumber imports from Canada and managing to offend both manufacturers and consumers by imposing and then lifting… Read More
The George Lucas Educational Foundation last month glowingly reviewed Maine’s progress with its laptop program for seventh- and eighth-graders, pointing out many advantages, including advanced and more meaningful learning experiences, lower absenteeism, etc., that those watching this program have come to expect. But it ends its story on… Read More
The crushing twin defeats of racino in southern Maine could be attributed to many factors, from an engorged sense of nimbyism to an improved understanding of how badly the state would fare under the proposal. But whatever their source, the votes in Saco and Westbrook should guide to… Read More
Given their valiant efforts to stop the continuing insurgency in Iraq while also rebuilding the country’s schools, power plants and police force, it was highly appropriate that the American GI was chosen as Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2003. They are, as the magazine said: “the… Read More
Once again, just like clockwork, it’s New Year’s Day. Once again, in a wave sweeping across time zones, the world has counted backward from 10. Celebrants have wished each other the best and meant it, at least for as long as the cup of kindness brims. Parades march… Read More
Smoking, as has been widely reported apparently because so little else is happening in Maine this holiday season, will be banned in bars here starting Jan. 1. Putting a law into effect, however, should not be confused with having an effective law. For that, expect time and public… Read More
The Land for Maine’s Future program has spent all its money, as it was supposed to, on land conservation projects throughout Maine. So, the time has come to replenish the worthy program’s coffers. It is unclear how many proposals will be considered by the Legislature… Read More
Government officials are right to point out that it is too early to panic over a single cow in America diagnosed with mad cow disease, although the two dozen countries that have already banned imports of American beef, as the United States did to Canada when one cow… Read More
Big ideas don’t have to be big. That’s what the World Bank found with its Development Marketplace, a grant program for small projects that can lead to economic, health, environmental and social improvements in poor countries. With a $108,000 grant, farmers in the Zambezi Valley… Read More
Indonesia, the world’s largest Islamic country, is often described as a crucial ally of the United States in the war against terrorism. Then why its sour reaction to the capture of Saddam Hussein? Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda told a Jakarta newspaper: “Indonesia did not share the international joy… Read More
Current investigations in Washington and Augusta involve questions of potential conflicts of interest. In both cases, the central figures have hired influential people who are well placed to do some good for those central figures. In Washington, Conrad Black, an embattled media baron and author… Read More
A recent legislative task force on out-migration of Maine youth makes several worthwhile observations and recommendations, but raised at least as many questions about what the state hopes to accomplish. Considering the condition of the state and its likely future, lawmakers should further clarify the problem and refine… Read More
No doubt the Food and Drug Administration is correct in asserting as it did recently that the cost of establishing a parallel inspection system for drugs imported from Canada would outweigh the benefits of the lower-priced drugs, especially if a system were designed specifically to cost more to… Read More
The National Folk Festival, according to recent rough figures from Eastern Maine Development Corp., helps the Bangor area by $3.7 million a year, a useful calculation as the city prepares to serve as host of the event for the final year. But the dollar figure is no more… Read More
The least-reported initiative of the Bush administration is the biggest foreign-aid endeavor in a generation. For a president who ran for office on a domestic-policy platform, Mr. Bush has created a surprising, outward-looking, cooperative set of international policies through his State Department that could have a significant effect… Read More
It is the beginning of the third millennium of the Christian era. The Roman legions once garrisoned in Palestine long ago returned to dust. But the passing of scores of generations of common men and of hundreds of kings and tyrants and presidents has made remarkably little difference… Read More
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are… Read More
Talk of a biomass-to-hydrogen conversion project is great news for the Millinocket area. Nearly a year ago, the region was rocked by the closure of the Great Northern paper mills, stalwarts of the local economy. Although one mill is back up and running, hundreds of people have lost… Read More
A holiday anti-terrorism alert upgrade to code orange, besides being based on fresh intelligence, comes as a useful reminder of where the true danger lies. Saddam Hussein is safely in custody, but the far-and-away No. 1 terrorist threat is Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida conspiracy. Read More
Groups working to set aside land in Maine, along with Gov. John Baldacci, like to think of themselves as taking a bold approach to forest conservation. But bold may have taken on a new meaning this month when environmental groups, timber and gas companies and indigenous peoples in… Read More
President Bush is right that the world is better off now that Saddam Hussein has been captured and can, for certain, no longer threaten his enemies and kill and torture his own people. However, the president is not right that it does not matter if weapons of mass… Read More
The nation’s economic recovery has been called jobless because even while some indicators say everyone’s better off, unemployment rates have barely moved, and in Maine, layoffs and plant closings will make it difficult for many families to mark any sort of holiday this season. So before you finish… Read More
Often when a government study commission looks into a difficult issue, its recommendations are quickly dismissed as impractical or too costly. Neither should apply to the suggestions of the governor’s ATV Task Force. The group came up with practical solutions, and though some of them will cost money,… Read More
North Korea and the United States remain in conflict over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but at least they are talking. Their halting but still continuing exchanges are over a possible resumption of the six-nation talks brokered by China. The first session, last August, ended with vague hopes… Read More
News reports that soft drink vendors had reached an agreement with the Maine Department of Education to stop selling and advertising soda in schools may have been premature. No agreement has been written, according to the Maine Soft Drink Association’s lawyer. Instead, there is an agreement to meet… Read More
James A. Baker III is President Bush’s debt envoy, assigned to renegotiate Iraq’s huge foreign debt. The debt certainly needs restructuring, and Mr. Baker should know a lot about the subject. He helped enlarge the debt and keep it large as secretary of the treasury in the 1980s… Read More
If the senior management at the Department of Human Services didn’t hear things clearly enough from Gov. Baldacci before, a recent news story spoke loudly. It is clear the governor has lost confidence in DHS officials and will no longer defend the agency. Given the many problems there,… Read More
A local physician likens the question of whether to get this year’s flu vaccine to a sweater worn on a frigid day – you might wish you had an overcoat, too, but lacking one is not a reason to ignore the sweater. The problem Maine is having now… Read More
The best political strategies anticipate three or four moves ahead, preparing for what will happen after the layers of reactions are revealed. President Bush may have been thinking of this wishing he could step back a couple of moves when he found himself scolding the president of Taiwan… Read More
President Bush’s emphasis on the certainty that Saddam Hussein would get a fair trial properly established the tone and direction of what happens next to the former Iraqi leader. Similarly, his refusal to urge that Mr. Hussein face the death penalty – President Bush said he has his… Read More
Hermon town councilors deserve praise for being forward thinking. While many in this part of Maine deny that sprawl is happening, Hermon has realized it had better plan its growth, with an eye toward maintaining open spaces, before it is too late. Some may see this as radical,… Read More
Despite outcry from some Republicans that Gov. John Baldacci is subverting the will of the people by trying to strengthen the law regulating racinos, the governor is right to seek to ensure that Maine doesn’t end up with some of the weakest gambling laws in the country. It… Read More
The capture of Saddam Hussein by about 600 troops from the 4th Infantry Division and Special Operations units Saturday evening was the long-awaited break in a war that threatened to ensnare the United States in a costly spiral of lost lives and lost confidence. Saddam… Read More
The draft timeline for overhauling and merging the Department of Human Services and the Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services extends through January 2006. It is an enormous undertaking, as comprehensive as anything any other state has attempted and affecting all of the 3,700 state employees in those… Read More
The community reaction to a decision recently by Eastern Maine Healthcare to remove Dr. Ted Silver as a member of Eastern Maine Medical Center’s board was so strong, in part, because it represents a larger pattern of instances in which the hospital and its medical staff have clashed. Read More
The University of Maine at Farmington is already going after some big givers in its fund drive for the first building in Maine to be designed for certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. So the new $8 million Education Center will not only help… Read More
Although opposition to some large scale conservation proposals remains strong, it is encouraging to see that more communities and local groups understand the potential economic benefits of outdoor recreation in the north woods. At the same time, the notion that forestry and recreational activities can co-exist is spreading. Read More
Maine’s declining school enrollment may not seem like an economic-development issue, but the number of kids in a community and its vitality are intimately intertwined. That is why countries with dwindling birth rates, especially in Europe, are desperate to reverse the trend. Maine can empathize. Read More
Before it slips into the memory hole, the three-hour battle in Samarra on Nov. 30 needs further attention. The bloody firefight in that city of 300,000, 70 miles north of Baghdad, was hailed as the biggest U.S. victory over Iraqi insurgents since Saddam Hussein was toppled in April. Read More
The hollowing out and slow collapse of rural America has been happening for a century or perhaps only since the nation rediscovered its cities in the 1980s or any of several other times in between depending on the point being made, but the trend is obvious and seemingly… Read More
It would be easy for the state’s judicial department to cut costs. Lay off a few judges, close a couple courthouses and the savings would add up. Doing so, of course, would cost the state in many other ways, ways that certainly would exceed the dollar savings. Read More
Doubters of the value of the Endangered Species Act need only drive across the Waldo-Hancock Bridge or, or in some cities, work in a downtown office building to see the dividends of the federal animal and plant protection law. Perched high on bridge spans, diving from cliffs at… Read More
Activists and homeowners along the Hudson River, near Albany, N.Y., have been fighting against the construction of a cement plant there for several years as their neighbors, eager for the jobs the plant offers, have rallied in favor. Outwardly, it has been a battle of yard signs (“Stop… Read More
After she confronted many of her most vocal critics Thursday night, there should be no confusion about Roxanne Quimby. She is not a radical. She is a shrewd businesswoman. Except for the fact that she advocates for a national park, she is not much different from the investment… Read More
You may think of skateboarders as noisy, self-centered pests. When it comes to Ellsworth skateboarders, think again. With the help of the James Russell Wiggins Downeast Family YMCA and the Ellsworth Rotary Club, they have designed and built their own park, agreed on a few… Read More
Accounts, comments and reminiscences of that terrible morning 62 years ago give dramatic emphasis to America’s need to commemorate Pearl Harbor. Dec. 7, 1941 was a colossal lapse and failure militarily and a tragic awakening to the realities of war and eventually to a new era in international… Read More
Too often the numbers associated with the University of Maine and research have been dismal. Take, for example, Maine’s embarrassing 50th-place ranking in the United States in terms of per capita investment in research and development. So, here is a number that should be trumpeted,… Read More
It is understandable that Shawn Scott wants to burst out of the starting gate with his racino in Bangor. But the governor’s office and the state’s Harness Racing Commission are wise to rein in the project while so many unanswered questions remain. There are questions about the regulation… Read More
Mike Leavitt, administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, said this week the EPA will rescind a ruling from 2000 that would force power plants to reduce mercury emissions, and instead will debate various methods of reducing this health hazard from the air. Whatever the merits of the alternatives,… Read More
Ambitious high school students have long availed themselves of the opportunity to take college courses to get a head start on further education. An innovative collaboration between Bangor High School and Eastern Maine Community College aims to help students who aren’t so certain about their future see how… Read More
Another sizzling quarter of growth in the economy barely affected the size of the bill Congress is leaving for future taxpayers, but it should force it to rethink some of the decisions it seems determined to make this winter. Planned tax-cut extensions, at a time… Read More
It is easy to argue that soda – the largest single source of excess sugar in the diet of American children – should not be sold in schools, especially at a time when obesity rates are rapidly rising. The hard part is not weaning students off the sugary… Read More
It’s back to the drawing board, now that Iraq’s most powerful cleric has come out publicly against key elements of the American plan to speed up the transfer of power and prepare for a reduction of the U.S. occupation force. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani unexpectedly demanded that the… Read More
Just getting those in the forest product industry, the conservation realm and outdoor recreation business to talk to one another is an accomplishment. Getting them to agree to a vision for Maine’s woods will be another matter. So, while it might not sound like much… Read More
Now it is clear why the drafters of the energy bill were in such a hurry to have it passed, though only a few members of Congress had seen or known what was in it. The bill, fortunately delayed by the Senate, is not unique in its abundance… Read More
Just try to buy an American-made brassiere in this country. Lots of luck. The tag may say “Made in USA,” but that could mean American materials were stitched together in Central America. Yet the Bush administration has slapped quotas on certain Chinese textiles including brassieres. Read More
How Maine gets itself out of its latest tax mess – a demand for tax relief on the local level and a huge shortfall of revenues at the state level – should be one of the more entertaining and frustrating events on the legislative calendar. Rep. Peter Mills… Read More
The danger of arsenic was brought home to Mainers earlier this year when 16 people were sickened and one died after drinking coffee tainted with the chemical in New Sweden. However, it doesn’t take intentional poisoning, as was the case this spring, for arsenic to cause harm. The… Read More
The latest numbers on poverty in Maine look a lot like previous numbers – Maine is worse off than the nation and Washington County is worse off than Maine. And so, to a lesser degree, are Aroostook, Somerset, Piscataquis, Franklin and essentially every place north of Augusta. The… Read More
Every week it seems there is news of a group of states, Maine often among them, suing the Environmental Protection Agency. The suit filed most recently was to block changes in clean air rules known as “new source review” that will allow plants to make major upgrades without… Read More
As the holidays approach, more and more people are choosing to give plastic gift cards. Sales this year are estimated at $45 billion, up 15 percent from 2002. Sounds like a nifty present, doesn’t it? Saves fretting over what Grandma or little Jimmy might like,… Read More
Harriet Beecher Stowe moved to Maine in 1850, with her husband, Calvin Ellis Stowe, a professor at Bowdoin College. In Brunswick, she wrote her famous ?Uncle Tom?s Cabin? and many stories about New England life, including ?The googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var… Read More
There are already disturbing indications that the current mutual fund malfeasance investigation is going the way of other recent corporate governance scandals. After much hue and cry over the misdeeds, regulators promise stepped-up enforcement and executives promise to play by the rules. In reality, nothing much changes. Read More
A recent alliterative observation about racino was memorable but probably off by one level of government. Of the November vote on the slot machines, Stan Bergstein, vice president of the Harness Tracks of America, identified developer Shawn Scott as “the man who sold the racino version of the… Read More
When a court last week awarded $56 million to a large group of blueberry growers who alleged price fixing among the state’s largest berry processing companies, the response from Washington County was one of shock, disbelief and confusion. The decision, of course, will be appealed, but in the… Read More
The limpest of trial balloons hanging over Washington as Congress takes a first step toward privatizing Medicare is the administration’s revival of Social Security reform that would push a portion of it too into private accounts. President Bush is correct to move slowly on this issue, but the… Read More
University of Maine Chancellor Joseph Westphal admits his request for $11 million from Augusta for financial aid for the state’s poorest students will be a hard sell given the current budget deficit, exacerbated by the $113 million Department of Human Services shortfall reported to the Appropriations Committee this… Read More
While a proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal on Sears Island may never come to pass – a plan to build a similar facility in Harpswell may negate this project – the prospect of development on the 940-acre state-owned island has already reignited the debate between… Read More
Forced to solve a years’-long problem in a couple of months, the Baldacci administration this week put client care above just balancing its budget to escape a $113 million shortfall at the Department of Human Services. The Legislature can help end this unfortunate episode by offering amendments to… Read More
The potential for conflicts of interest arise regularly with corporate governance, all the more so in smaller communities, so it was not surprising that the directors of Eastern Maine Medical Center and the trustees of its parent company Eastern Maine Healthcare were concerned recently about a potential conflict… Read More
Never have so many dollars been put to so little use. The $400 billion Medicare bill before Congress establishes what all sides agree is necessary – a prescription drug benefit – but blasts away at much of Medicare’s foundation. It is a deal that makes all previously rejected… Read More
Opponents of a casino at the Bangor racetrack, including this newspaper, had a lengthy opportunity to make their case to the public last June, before a local vote, and again before the November elections. In both cases, voters supported the racino. That should be more than sufficient evidence… Read More
While Congress was trying to decide whether to encourage Americans to save money on prescription drugs by shopping in Canada and the Bush administration was trying to persuade the Canadian government to stop the exporting, Canadian pharmacy regulators asked their government to temporarily exclude Americans from making purchases… Read More
There is good news about smoking in Maine. Youth smoking rates have been cut in half and adult tobacco consumption has also declined sharply since 1997. That means that 22,000 fewer children are smoking now than six years ago, saving lives and $74 million in medical costs and… Read More
The Bush administration’s new plan to turn over power and responsibility to the Iraqis by next June offers a way out from an increasingly dangerous mess. The old schedule – several more years of American-led occupation, a long drafting of a constitution, national elections, and finally a hand… Read More
In a Supreme Court ruling last spring that said those accused of a serious crime could be forced only under certain circumstances to take medication to make them competent to stand trial, the dissenting minority worried about the effect the ruling would have during the middle of trials. Read More
It would be easy to poke holes in a healthy eating program unveiled in Portland last week. The program, for example, has signed on 25 restaurants with hopes of netting 100 by the end of the year, a tiny portion of Maine’s restaurants. The biggest hole is that… Read More
Howard Dean’s remark about wanting the votes of men in their pickups with Confederate decals has been condemned, explained, analyzed and apologized for until most people are sick of the subject. He can take comfort that had he been trailing the pack of Democratic presidential candidates instead of… Read More
President George W. Bush presented his Nov. 6 speech, “Iraqi Democracy Will Succeed,” as the introduction of a seminal doctrine, comparable to President Reagan’s 1982 speech at London’s Westminster Palace declaring the failure and imminent collapse of Soviet communism. He recalled also Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points and Franklin… Read More
With college costs rising and job growth slight, it is troubling that members of Congress want to cut financial aid for the neediest students. A provision in an appropriations bill for the Departments of Education, Labor and Health and Human Services, now being debated in conference, could reduce… Read More
The best thing that could be said of the long-awaited energy bill announced yesterday afternoon is that it no longer contains a plan to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But conference leaders have been so reluctant to release their work that it is hard… Read More
A proposal to move the University of Maine System offices to downtown Bangor is great news for the city and local businesses. Having 120 additional people working downtown and their visitors coming to the UMS offices for meetings will be a boon to businesses that could sorely use… Read More
The reported deal among leaders of the Medicare conference in Congress leans toward the House version of the massive, complex bill, raising serious questions about its helpfulness to seniors. But of at least equal importance is the lack of time most members of Congress will have to consider… Read More
The commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division offered an interesting theory in The Washington Post yesterday for the worsening situation in Iraq. Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr. concludes that the constant attacks on U.S. and allied forces were part of Saddam Hussein’s plan all along. Knowing… Read More
The New England Fishery Management Council has taken a lot of well-deserved heat lately. Just last week, there was outrage from all sides about the council’s proposed rules for reducing overfishing. Such criticism is frequently directed at the eight such councils nationwide. Fishermen complain that the commission’s rules… Read More
No Child Left Behind has created in the last six months more anxiety than a decade’s worth of senior proms. Some of the anxiety over the federal education policy act is justified as the new standards and accountability measures have proved cumbersome or in some way unrealistic. Other… Read More
There’s a saying that if no one is happy with a hard-fought decision then it must be a good one. In the case of last week’s New England Fishery Management Council rules for rebuilding groundfish stocks, the widespread unhappiness indicates something else. No one likes the rules, which… Read More
It is understandable that members of the state’s two largest Indian tribes are upset about the defeat of their proposal to build a $650 million casino in southern Maine. There is reason for them to be confused by the voters’ resounding defeat of the casino question, while voting… Read More
Terrorism, the war in response and the war in Iraq give Veterans Day special urgency today. The nation is encountering new types of warfare, wondering about old enemies and, appropriately, recalling with new respect the veterans of wars past and present. All of this gives the origins of… Read More
You wouldn’t know it from the way the economy is usually discussed these days, but its rate of growth matters much more than just as a political topic. Families’ well-being, students’ and young workers’ hopes for careers, older workers’ desires for a comfortable retirement – these aren’t issues… Read More