Future students of public policy will find a valuable lesson in Maine’s long and fitful debate on regional emergency dispatching services: Opposition based upon the vague concept of local control eventually gives way to the very specific desire to save money. Students of physics will find here a… Read More
Maybe it takes a conservative attorney general to help a president hunt down a cunning and powerful terrorist godfather and his gang of co-conspirators. But as Attorney General John Ashcroft and President George W. Bush chart the end game for the first phase of the war on terrorism,… Read More
Fall is about gone, and signs of approaching winter are everywhere. Motels and summer eating places proclaim: “Thanks for a great season” and “See you in the spring” along with the new “God Bless America.” (An adult drive-in movie lot near Mount Desert Island used to say, “Clothed… Read More
Relations between Eastern Maine Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor have degraded in the last few years from a useful competition to a costly Cold War, with duplicative services, a lack of cooperation and increased pressure from administrators for physicians to choose sides. None of this… Read More
Before Sept. 11, one of the hottest debates in Washington was over Donald Rumsfeld’s plan for defense reform – first by modernizing aging military equipment and investing in new technologies, then (and here’s where the heat got turned up) by restructuring the branches of service to eliminate overlapping… Read More
Americans have missed a rare opportunity to size up Osama bin Laden, to watch his gestures and body language, to hear unexpected variations in his speech, to puzzle over his new choice of targets of his hatred, to judge whether he is self-confident or getting rattled. The chance… Read More
Under the guise of passing an economic-stimulus bill, Senate Democrats and Republicans seemed determined to fight over which group of lobbyists should be rewarded for their campaign generosity. Democrats have certain agricultural interests in mind; Republicans favor some top earners and corporations. The economy benefits, when it does… Read More
The American Cancer Society has tried all sorts of eye-catching gimmicks in its Great American Smokeout campaign. In ’93, the society offered beefcake model Fabio and this breath-taking statistic: Up to age 64, smokers make up about 27 percent of the population. After 75 years of age, smokers… Read More
All those recent weeks of worry about whether the northern alliance would ever stir from its trenches suddenly seem like ancient history. Within just a few days, the alliance rolled through the key city of Mazar-e-Sharif in the north, then the Afghan capital, Kabul, and now is closing… Read More
For decades, environmental and forestry groups, government agencies and think tanks have battled over the sale of timber from public land at prices that lose money for the government. Not long ago, Congress asked the General Accounting Office to look into the issue, as it has before, and… Read More
President Bush’s speech Thursday to firefighters, police officers and postal workers in Atlanta, and to the nation, was another solid effort. Though less stirring than his address immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, it was a well-crafted and well-delivered call to courage and optimism. The closing tribute to… Read More
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine shelled out nearly $382,000 opposing Portland’s nonbinding referendum last Tuesday on single-payer health care, more than 20 times what proponents spent – and still lost. In the post-election mop-up, Anthem offered this assessment: They actually won because they didn’t lose… Read More
There has never been a Veterans Day quite like this. A war against terrorism is being waged both abroad and here at home. The men and women being honored by a holiday that has managed to keep its solemnity are not just who wore the uniforms of the… Read More
The disparity between the prosperous and growing parts of Maine and the poor and dwindling parts has been obvious for years, so obvious that in February 1998, just weeks after the worst ice storm here in a century, Gov. Angus King offered comfort with what at the time… Read More
An important story in this week’s Maine Sunday Telegram highlighted a fault in the state’s mental health system wide enough to drive a consent decree through. County sheriffs properly point out their jails do not have the resources to safely house mentally ill inmates. The larger question for… Read More
At any time, the Call to Service Act introduced to Congress this week would be a welcome piece of legislation. At this particular time, its comprehensive expansion of civilian volunteer and military-service options is crucial for two reasons. First, as the sponsors say, they will… Read More
Not only did Question 2, the $5 million bond for biomedical and marine technology, go from being considerably behind in the polls just a month ago to winning (barely) Tuesday, a stipend raise for the Bangor City Council passed after being soundly defeated six years ago. Voters, perhaps… Read More
With Election 2001 now history, Maine’s 2002 gubernatorial race can begin in earnest. Candidates pursuing victory here would do well to follow the course laid out by the winner Tuesday in Virginia. Virginia’s governor-elect is Democrat Mark Warner, a telecommunications multimillionaire who has never held… Read More
Everyone should know by this time that too many Maine children are overweight. The standard proposed remedies are better eating habits and more exercise. Leading health specialists believe that’s not enough. One of them is Andrew F. Coburn, director of the Institute for Health Policy… Read More
It has been more than four years since the Justice Department sued Microsoft for antitrust violations, alleging that the company used its operating system monopoly – the ubiquitous Windows – to stifle competition and innovation in the software industry. Supporting that central allegation were claims that Microsoft forced… Read More
The last off-year election was in 1999. Although the Maine ballot lacked high-profile candidates, it offered, amid the routine mix of bond proposals, such highly emotional attention-grabbers as partial-birth abortion and medical marijuana. Maine was still a national leader in voter turnout, but with an average of less… Read More
The conflict now playing out at Eastern Maine Medical Center is as specific as nighttime staffing levels and as general as the state of the nation’s health care system. EMMC cannot solve all of these problems, but it can and should fix a range of legitimate complaints outlined… Read More
Just as lower mortgage interest rates have encouraged plenty of homeowners to refinance and free up some of their incomes and zero-interest car loans have persuaded people to buy new vehicles now rather than later, the idea of a 10-day sales tax holiday will likely get more consumers… Read More
It was a tough gamble for the Bush administration, when it detected signs of a possible new imminent terrorist attack last week. If the new strike doesn’t come soon, will officials be blamed for crying “Wolf”? They made the right decision and issued the warning,… Read More
Get your flu shot now, but only if you are in a high-risk category. Others should wait until the third week in November because there is a temporary shortage of flu vaccine, says Dr. Dora Mills, director of the Maine Bureau of Health. High-risk people… Read More
Do you favor a $36,700,000 bond issue to make improvements to the state’s public universities, the Maine Maritime Academy and other learning centers? This hefty bond is what happens when a state wants its university systems to perform as well as those in other states… Read More
The ballot description of Question 5 is so long that it cannot be printed in its entirety here. The $17 million bond covers needed environmental and agricultural improvements with a small grant tossed in to help downtowns. Individually, each of the 10 proposals are worth supporting, so voters… Read More
Do you favor a $61,000,000 bond issue for improvements to highways and bridges, airports, public transit and ferry facilities; development of rail, trail and marine infrastructure; and improvements to intermodal facilities statewide that makes the State eligible for up to $120,800,000 in matching federal funds?… Read More
Do you favor a $15,000,000 bond issue to capitalize the State’s School Revolving Renovation Fund for repairs and improvements in public school facilities to address health, safety and compliance deficiencies, general renovation needs and learning space upgrades? The bond for the school-renovation fund shows plenty… Read More
Question 2: Do you favor a $5,000,000 bond issue for biomedical and marine research and development by Maine-based nonprofit and state research institutions? Pick any study or prod any political candidate about what makes for a strong economy and everyone will provide an answer that… Read More
Do you favor a $12,000,000 bond issue to provide: 1. The sum of $10,000,000 to address the affordable housing crisis in Maine; and 2. The sum of $2,000,000 to provide housing for victims of domestic violence? This is, in a sense, a trick question. Maine,… Read More
A natural question for Bangor voters next week as they contemplate an increase to the annual stipend for city councilors from the current $400 to $2,000 is whether the councilors are worth that much. It’s a natural question, but it’s not the right question because the stipend is… Read More
The six bond issues on the Nov. 6 referendum ballot accurately describe the type of investments states must make in themselves to be competitive as places to live and to do business. Housing, research and development, transportation, secondary school renovation and repair, safe drinking water and other environmental… Read More
War correspondents aren’t what they used to be, and modern presidents, the Pentagon, and evidently a majority of American citizens like it that way. In the Civil War, Mathew Brady and his crew roamed the battlefields with their big primitive cameras and produced a classic… Read More
For the exotic new threat of bioterrorism, a congressional task force offers the mundane antidotes of food inspections, border security, protection of water supplies and improved law enforcement. They are the kinds of measures that have been debated many times in Congress and defeated many times because they… Read More
How would you like it if a police officer stopped you on the street and asked you to show your identification card? Of if you were visiting in a strange city and you had to show your I.D. card and register at the local police precinct station? Many… Read More
Handgun and ammunition sales are way up in some Maine stores, with retailers seeing increases of 25 percent or 30 percent. Wal-Mart, a major seller of handguns, earlier reported sales increased by 70 percent in the week after Sept. 11. People are arming themselves against an enemy that… Read More
Though you wouldn’t know it from the way the question is worded on November’s ballot, a proposal to spend $5 million for biomedical and marine-based research brings in additional $40 million in federal funding. Nothing else comes close to that 8-to-1 match and that’s not even the most… Read More
Considering the utter unfamiliarity of the terrain the nation has been on since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has navigated well in a time of crisis, anger and uncertainty. The exception, which the administration itself now properly admits, has been anthrax. There is no need… Read More
Maine’s retired senator and active diplomat, George Mitchell, is a specialist in intractable conflicts. After pointing the way toward settlements in Ireland and the Middle East, he has turned his attention to the current trouble between the United States and an extremist Islamic terrorist network. His ideas are… Read More
A look at the current economic slowdown immediately suggests two sources that would benefit immensely from a federal economic stimulus package and would, in turn, benefit everyone else. The latest House package, naturally, all but ignores them. Thirty-one states, including Maine, have shortfalls and are… Read More
Precisely what led the Irish Republican Army to destroy some of its weapons this week may never be known. Perhaps the decades-long policy against disarmament was reversed by the realization that the soil of Northern Ireland has soaked up too much blood, perhaps it was the current worldwide… Read More
If Maine tourism officials are interested in remaking Penobscot and Piscataquis counties into something of a Maine Highlands, as a recent marketing initiative from the Penquis Tourism Coalition proposes to do, its first stop should be to check in with the Ardersier & Petty Environmental Society, dedicated to… Read More
Opening Department of Human Services child protection hearings to the public would lessen the shame felt by the children who are the subjects of those secret proceedings. Either that, or opening the hearings would add to their trauma. Such 180-degree disagreement is nothing new when… Read More
Breaking the hold that Middle Eastern oil has on America should now be seen as a patriotic imperative that can end the main supply of cash for terrorists and make this nation stronger economically. But greater energy independence cannot occur merely or even primarily through more domestic drilling… Read More
Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is the only department in state government funded primarily by those who use its services – more than two-thirds of its $24 million budget is generated by license fees. This arrangement creates a special relationship between the agency and its constituents. Read More
While Prince Alwaleed’s gift wasn’t warmly received in New York, terror relief funds there are approaching $1 billion, a monumental expression of generosity and empathy from donors worldwide. But just as the donations to the victims and their families of the attack will be badly needed this year… Read More
Ten million dollars sounded like a wonderfully generous contribution to former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s charity to benefit survivors of uniformed workers who died in the attack on the World Trade Center. The donor, a Saudi Arabian prince who is No. 6 on the Forbes list of the world’s… Read More
No less an authority on the subject of allies than Secretary of State Colin Powell has said, repeatedly for more than five weeks now, that the United States has had since Sept. 11 no greater ally than Pakistan in the war against terrorism. Likewise, British Prime Minister Tony… Read More
Once seen merely as a way to move people efficiently between Boston and Portland, the decade-old Amtrak proposal has grown to such mythic proportions in the minds of some Mainers that even the usually calm Gov. Angus King called the train service “a great event in the history… Read More
President Bush’s trip to China has been on his calendar since he took office last January. The agenda for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum has changed dramatically in the last month – talk won’t be of trade but of terrorism. The tone has undergone a… Read More
Number of deaths from recent anthrax attacks: 1. Number of confirmed cases of anthrax infections: about 50. Headline in Wednesday’s copy of The Times of London: “America paralysed by 2,300 anthrax scares.” For a nation trying to recover from the devastating attack of Sept. 11, this level of… Read More
Maine has done just about all it can on its own to persuade the pharmaceutical industry to bring down the price of prescription drugs. But when legislative leaders travel to Vermont tomorrow to meet with lawmakers from several other states, it can do and learn more about this… Read More
Secretary of State Colin Powell began his trip to South Asia with two objectives – to strengthen the support of key nations in the war against terrorism and to plan for the post-Taliban future of Afghanistan. Mr. Powell’s greatest accomplishment on this trip, however, will be to keep… Read More
Colby College has honored the memory of its alumnus Elijah Parish Lovejoy this year in a particularly appropriate manner. Mr. Lovejoy, who graduated in 1826 from Colby (then called Waterville College), was an early-day martyr for freedom of the press. He campaigned against slavery and slave owners in… Read More
Congress is moving aviation security and anti-terrorism legislation with speed that befits the circumstances. The sticking points between House and Senate versions of these crucial bills suggests, however, that some of the special-interest and partisan baggage has not been left behind. The Senate version of… Read More
Thinly populated and lacking major transportation hubs, Maine may seem an unlikely target for the sort of terrorism the nation has seen in the last month. But just as hijackers apparently saw the Portland jetport as a low-risk place to begin part of their murderous attack, so too… Read More
Last Wednesday afternoon, Gov. Angus King announced a press conference would be held the next day to announce the date for the start of the long-awaited Amtrak service between Portland and Boston. Four hours later, he announced the previous announcement was canceled, citing difficulties in coordinating the schedules… Read More
As a potential criminal matter, the Florida anthrax case remains a puzzle. Authorities now believe the appearance of the deadly pathogen was not a natural occurrence, yet the means, motive and opportunity for an intentional act remain unknown. Exposure seems to have been limited to… Read More
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the White House, Congress and every federal agency with even the most remote connection to the issue have been furiously addressing all aspects of national security. All aspects, that is, except the one in which this nation is the least secure –… Read More
Fall colors are at their height, but the climax this year falls short of the glorious display of last year. Sure, some of the maples have turned a brilliant red, as have some of the sumac bushes and red oaks. And an occasional sugar maple or, even better,… Read More
On the other hand, there are times when openness is not a virtue and honesty entails honoring a promise to keep a secret. President Bush has been burned by congressional leaks of classified information twice since the Sept. 11 attacks and he is justifiably hot about it. Read More
Once again, the State Department has tried to muzzle the Voice of America. This latest flap involves an interview that a VOA correspondent got with the leader of the Taliban militia, Mullah Mohammed Omar. The correspondent included brief quotes from the mullah in a background reaction report after… Read More
Some high schools in our area are edging toward following the lead of Orono High School in switching their vending machines from junk food to nutritional items. But switching is tough. The junk food providers offer hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in commissions – money that helps… Read More
Until precisely one month ago, Tom Ridge never imagined he would not today still be governor of Pennsylvania. That he now has a job that did not even exist one month ago – director of the Office of Homeland Security – is but one example of how much… Read More
Anger was the first reaction of most Americans. Now that allied air raids on Taliban targets in Afghanistan have begun, anger continues to be the uppermost response to the Sept. 11 attacks by pseudo-Islamic terrorists. Here and among allies abroad, there is overwhelming public support for the airstrikes,… Read More
If Americans had a sense of the Sept. 11 attacks by, say, noon on that day, they were hearing from the I-told-you-so contingent by 3 p.m. Indeed, many experts recognized years earlier the nation’s vulnerability and lack of preparation for this sort of attack and now new safeguards… Read More
The airstrikes by American and British forces against al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Afghanistan are only the first element of what will likely be a long and difficult military campaign against terrorism. As this battle unfolds, there almost certainly will be special forces infiltrating the hostile countryside… Read More
Maine’s school-funding formula will return next legislative session as Sen. John Nutting tries again to remove the consideration of local income levels as a factor in determining which school district gets how large a share. Since the formula is meant to compensate towns unable to raise money because… Read More
Congress has thought of all sorts of interesting ways to spend $50 billion to $75 billion in economic stimulus but one obvious and effective measure has yet to receive as much attention as it deserves. State governments, nationwide, are hurting and with many of them, including Maine, constrained… Read More
Slowly, building by building, Bangor’s downtown is re-emerging from its 1980s destitution of empty storefronts and abandoned hope to economic renewal. Too many places remain vacant to call the revival complete, but businesses are coming back and so is the hope for better days ahead. Read More
Good idea of the week: With Congress offering a $15 billion bailout to airlines and the president urging Americans to “get back on board,” reader Peter Dufour of Old Town, who rightly wonders why we’re paying for unfilled seats instead of getting paid to fill them, suggests an… Read More
After five years of pumping up Maine’s potential as a relocation destination for affluent retirees, state officials must have found the medical panel discussion at the Governor’s Conference on Retirement and Aging this week to be about as welcome as a needle in a balloon factory. Nothing deflates… Read More
To understand why the Bangor school system was right to enthusiastically join an unusual partnership with a Massachusetts-based China studies group, just look at the complex and subtle relationships the United States is encountering and creating in its pursuit of the Sept. 11 terrorists. Knowing what is going… Read More
For years, critics of the state’s economic-development programs have complained about a lack of standards – public money goes out with no measurement of the public benefit that may, or may not, come back in. That criticism finally seems to have had an impact. Unfortunately,… Read More
State Education Commissioner Duke Albanese was respectful but blunt in an op-ed commentary yesterday about the problem of annual testing in President Bush’s education proposal. If Maine’s congressional delegation doesn’t hear that message, they and other members of Congress are bound to get a similar one now that… Read More
The United States and Canada share the longest demilitarized border in the world. On one awful day three weeks ago, the border long hailed by both sides as open became criticized as porous, talk suddenly turned from increasing the free passage of people and products to tightening security. Read More
When the U.S. Supreme Court entered its fall term a year ago, its most important and controversial case wasn’t even on the horizon. The November 2000 election was still a month away, Bush v. Gore was still for the voters, not judges, to decide. In… Read More
While the public will not soon know the full reasons that NATO yesterday concluded the United States has provided sufficient evidence linking Osama bin Laden to the Sept. 11 attack, it should gain confidence from the deliberate preparations led by the Bush administration. Congress, with the help of… Read More
Not all the hard-playing basketball players, cheering cheerleaders and enthusiastic fans who annually celebrate the victories and suffer the misfortunes of their high school teams during tournament time at the Bangor Auditorium can fail to notice that the old arena is in sad shape, with a faulty roof,… Read More
It would be easy to misinterpret former Secretary of Defense William Cohen’s recent advocacy of quiet diplomacy in defeating terrorism as something less than the muscular response pledged by President Bush. But Mr. Cohen’s advice, which has been echoed by the president’s father, is solid and should be… Read More
Who could have predicted the economic straitjacket states from Maine to California now find around them, with tax cuts passed in recent years, a recession or near recession looming and budget shortages everywhere? Actually, a Washington-based group modeled just such a possibility in 1999 and 2000 and found… Read More
Plain old economics is emerging as a persuasive argument in the growing national debate over the death penalty. People may differ over the moral issue of taking a life, the practical issue of whether capital punishment works as a deterrent, and the human issue of whether the friends… Read More
From the beginning of the years-long campaign to list Atlantic salmon under the Endangered Species Act, advocates defended their case for federal protection with two major points: 1) the greatest threats to salmon recovery, agriculture irrigation and salmon aquaculture escapees and disease, are problems that can be solved… Read More
Congress has two battles to fight: one against terrorism and the other against recession. It is more likely the second that will invite partisan politics and therefore requires more members of Congress to define just what effect they hope any economic stimulus package would produce. Advice this week… Read More
Six outstanding Maine women received the Deborah Morton Award this week in a convocation at the Westbrook College campus of the University of New England. They join a corps of 135 women who had received the award in the past 40 years. Significantly, four of… Read More
Just a month ago, members of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee were wrestling with the question of whether to hold field hearings on the Maine Department of Human Services’ child-protective system. In the end, the committee decided that enhancing the public’s opportunity to participate in the… Read More
Members of Congress may have thought the Sept. 11 attacks lifted the threat of closure to local military bases, but Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the attack merely made closures more urgent. “The imperative to convert excess capacity into warfighting ability is enhanced, not diminished,”… Read More
Shawn Walsh left the University of Maine and all of Maine with some of the best lessons possible in how to be a winner, but not just a winner in a tough game or a division championship and not just in sports. Mr. Walsh’s teams sacrificed and prepared… Read More
War has a language of its own, and the word with the most currency lately is “blowback,” which is the boomerang effect of supplies and support given to a group or a country that later uses them against the supplier. The $3 billion or more that the CIA… Read More
The days of bright blue skies with their crystal-clear views of mountains, lakes and ocean are gone, at least for a while. They were beautiful, but they brought with them one of the driest summers on record. They reminded some climate specialists of 1965, the driest year in… Read More
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge has a reputation as a man of courage and determination; as a political leader, he is highly regarded for his innovative thinking and his ability forge consensus among competing interests. These traits will be surely needed, and sorely tested, in his new position as… Read More
Though hardly unexpected, the announced layoff of 475 from Dexter Shoe jolted Dexter last week into contemplating a future without the source of local jobs and local identity. Employees are understandably nervous, as are town officials, about what happens next and while both may see the global forces… Read More
A study of child sexual exploitation released Sept. 10 and understandably lost in the news that followed the next day is worth revisiting because it shows that the problem is far more widespread than previously thought and crosses lines of race, class and gender. The… Read More
Few presidents have given a speech under the circumstances President Bush faced in his address to Congress, the nation and the world Thursday night. No president has ever risen to the occasion with more clarity and confidence. His closing words, “I will not yield, I will not rest,… Read More
A passage from “Here is New York,” written by E.B. White in 1949, keeps coming back to us, adding to the general gloom of the hour. The recalled passage was this: “The subtlest change in New York is something people don’t speak much about but… Read More
Back in 1997, when the federal government accepted a state conservation plan for Atlantic salmon in lieu of an Endangered Species Act listing, it was clear the impact of agricultural irrigation on salmon habitat was among the most crucial problems to be addressed. Two years… Read More
The Bush administration’s initial offering to the airline industry – $5 billion for operating losses, $3 billion for improved security – is a small fraction of what the industry wants, and probably needs. But coming swiftly and with a minimum of conditions, it is an intelligent response in… Read More
Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia has snubbed a demand by Pakistan to surrender prime suspect Osama bin Laden and instead left his fate in the hands of a council of Islamic clerics. Since this council consists of the type of clerics who have perverted a noble and peaceful religion,… Read More
In the week after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the initial shock is fading into other emotions. For some, an awful sadness takes hold. Along with the sadness, people seem to feel a new sense of community. Drivers give way instead of plowing ahead. New… Read More