For evocative, it is hard to beat the conclusion of a Pentagon official who this week told reporters that “we’re at ground zero” in Kosovo. The unnamed official meant so little progress had been made that American troops were still carrying out duties that should have been turned… Read More
    Ever since Marconi sent his first radio signal from one side of an Italian hill to the other back in 1895, and particularly since the establishment of the Federal Communications Commission back in 1934, the airwaves have been considered public property. The award of licenses to use this… Read More
    One sees all sorts of oddities at Maine’s State House, but depending on the conclusions of a legislative commission, lawmakers may in the near future have computers on each of their desks from which they could e-mail each other about why giving laptops to all seventh-graders in Maine… Read More
    Certainly, tradition and rivalry are endemic to college sports — without them, the games schools play wouldn’t hold much meaning. But when traditions and rivalries escalate to violence among “fanatics,” the schools involved must take steps to impose sportsmanship and order. That’s the case with… Read More
    William Cohen this week became the first U.S. defense secretary to visit Vietnam since Melvin Laird went in 1971 to begin planning the American military withdrawal. Secretary Cohen is right to insist that this long overdue and necessary mission is about forging a future, not dwelling on the… Read More
    A 4-year-old we know (“Actually, four and a half, Dad”) can tell you precisely why lupine brighten Maine fields and hillsides and spill along the roadways. The Lupine Lady put them there. You know the Lupine Lady. She was Miss Rumphius and she wanted to make the world… Read More
    The state’s Department of Human Services set out six years ago to reduce the number of nursing home beds and increase home-care options, and it has been successful in this. So successful, in fact, that half of the remaining nursing homes have operating losses and 40 percent are… Read More
    Passage in the U.S. Senate and the House Aviation Subcommittee last week of a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration takes Bangor International Airport another step in its recovery from the effects of airline deregulation. The good news is meaningful, however, only if other parts of BIA’s… Read More
    Those who lived through the National Marine Fisheries Service hearings three years ago on proposed right whale protection rules remember well the panic and anger expressed by fishermen who felt NMFS was going too far and the just plain anger expressed by environmentalists who felt the agency wasn’t… Read More
    National Semiconductor’s announcement yesterday that it would provide support to the plan by Gov. Angus King to bring portable computers to all seventh-graders is not terrific news simply because it saves the state significant money in teacher training. And it’s not terrific news just as an example of… Read More
    Ever since Gov. George W. Bush launched his South Carolina campaign last month with a speech at Bob Jones University, school officials have defended their ban on interracial dating as being based upon Scriptures. Last week, BJU President Bob Jones III lifted the ban, provided students get notes… Read More
    The Legislature’s Natural Resource Committee recently put together a solid pilot program that helps get cleaner cars on the road and dirtier ones off it. It is a worthy proposal that deserves the full support of lawmakers. LD 2182 began as a plan to offer… Read More
    Three months of presidential primaries remain on the political calendar. The nominating conventions won’t be held for four months. Yet, thanks to one Super Tuesday, all that matters for Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush is the November general election, eight months away. Read More
    The Founding Fathers knew that having an accurate head count of their fledgling nation was critical to administering the nation. That’s one of the mandates held in the Constitution: Article 1, Section 2 calls for a national head count every 10 years. Since the first… Read More
    As southern Maine prepares for passenger rail service to return this year, state and local officials fear the region’s first large-scale public transportation service will swell the ranks of people who choose to live in Maine and commute to work elsewhere. Their fear is sprawl:… Read More
    Rather than be stuck in Washington during a campaign year, members of Congress make it a habit to spend increasing amounts of time talking than actually doing, applying their verbosity as a sort of balm on public expectation. So while any number of Medicare overhauls have been proposed,… Read More
    Maine citizens and businesses have spent a fortune in recent years cleaning up its rivers, lakes and coastal waters, from constructing municipal waste water treatment plants to replacing faulty septic systems to controlling the disposal of waste produced by agricultural animals. Yet every summer a good-sized city is… Read More
    The proposal for regional presidential primaries that Maine Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky detailed before the nation’s governors last week doesn’t resolve all the concerns citizens rightly hold about the primary system. But it fixes enough of them in a realistically achievable manner to be worthy of consideration. Read More
    Mainers who want to know what issues are likely to dominate political debate here over the next decade need merely look at the most recent edition of the Maine Policy Review and the article, “Whither Maine’s Population.” It is a compelling outline of changes lawmakers and the public… Read More
    An early whiff of spring last week brought Bangor residents to their local parks — where a whiff of the parks may have sent them home. The winter litter boxes for the canine set are thawing early this year, and the city is forced to step in, once… Read More
    There used to be something special and appealingly quirky about the way Maine expressed its presidential nominee preferences. The old caucus system had its flaws, but the face-to-face debate among supporters of the various candidates was street-level politics at its best, the slow trickle of results from town… Read More
    As a statement of where Maine should be going, Gov. King’s proposal Thursday to give laptop computers to all seventh-graders is bold and visionary. It is also, clearly, a work in progress, and will be made a success or failure based on Maine’s willingness to be receptive to… Read More
    In 1968, South Portland wanted to build a fire station on the west end of town, near the place where the Maine Mall would be built. So they found a 1.45-acre site and took it from the owners through eminent domain, paying $7,300 for the lot. Read More
    The coming of EnvisioNet to Orono is about a lot more than 1,000 jobs, although that alone is a lot. This expansion by the fast-growing Brunswick-based Internet support company is an encouraging sign that the transformation of the Maine economy from manufacturing to information is a promise with… Read More
    As Maine sifts through it s budget surplus, looking for additional dollars to help renovate its schools, it may receive a substantial boost from the federal government. And unlike many other gifts from the feds, this legislation doesn’t come with more conditions than dollars. The… Read More
    The Maine Insane Hospital was built 16 years before the birth of Sigmund Freud, who illuminated the unconscious world, and well over 100 years before the understanding that mental illness was at least as much a biological condition as an environmental one. When lawmakers today are presented with… Read More
    Will Rogers was rarely proved wrong about anything, but when he said, “I belong to no organized political party — I’m a Democrat,” he hadn’t anticipated Vice President Al Gore. Finally, after months of finding himself, Mr. Gore has not only organized his campaign, he has it poised… Read More
    As the number of wild Atlantic salmon returning from the ocean to the eight Downeast rivers being considered for Endangered Species Act listing declines to a few dwindling dozens, some 5,500 of their true brothers and sisters are swimming around in circles within sight of shore. They are… Read More
    Congress’ many short-term solutions to high oil prices not only are appreciated by constituents, they are necessary actions to prevent OPEC from gaining a chokehold on a vital part of the U.S. economy. But more important long term than releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or establishing… Read More
    New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has built his political reputation upon the dramatic reduction in crime in that city during his administration. The shocking details that emerged during the trial of the four NYC police officers acquited last week by an Albany jury of all wrongdoing in… Read More
    Nothing has united conservatives and liberals, here and abroad, in recent years as has global trade. This unlikely alliance would seem to assure that concerns about the transfer of jobs from developed nations to places with sweatshop wages and lax environmental regulations will not go away. Read More
    The Maine Senate last year killed a $63 million annual tax break for retirees with no better information than that the state probably couldn’t afford it. But thanks to a recent study by the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Maine has evidence that rejecting the… Read More
    The Legislature’s Education Committee is expected Monday to discuss rule changes that direct Maine’s Child Development Services, putting them more in line with federal regulations but setting off alarms with parents and providers for preschool children with special needs. The legislative committee is considering adding its opinion on… Read More
    In ordinary times, the request by Maine’s largest blueberry grower for an expanded irrigation permit would be controversial, the impact of the increased drawdowns on lakes, rivers, aquifers and wetlands in Hancock and Washington counties surely would be met with questions, concerns and downright opposition. Read More
    E.S. Cole’s Snow Scraper is something of a Maine institution. Large, heavy and wooden, its cross between plow, scoop and sled has, for 52 yeas, been a status symbol for Mainers: Spartan, rugged and reliable, just as they are. To own a Snow Scraper was… Read More
    Gov. George W. Bush blames his primary defeats in New Hampshire and this week in Michigan on Democrats and independents making mischief with the Republican nomination process. He says everything will be fine once the campaign trail reaches closed-primary states, where only registered Republicans count. Read More
    When The Nature Conservancy announced its ambitious fund-raising plan after agreeing to purchase 185,000 acres in northwestern Maine, cynics said it was just a matter of time before conservancy officers — having fallen short of their cash goal — had their hands out to the state. Now, with… Read More
    Navy Secretary Richard H. Danzig made a difficult decision when he agreed with the Maine congressional delegation on a compromise that would preserve jobs at the Cutler naval station. It’s not easy for a military leader to concede points to members of Congress. But to Secretary Danzig’s credit,… Read More
    The Maine Municipal Association’s weekly newsletter, Legislative Bulletin, is always a concise and enlightening look at what’s going on in the State House from the local government perspective. The Feb. 18 issue is no exception. The lead story is titled “The Last Property Taxpayer.” It… Read More
    Outdoorsmen, activists and legislators rightly express curiosity about Hillside Game Ranch, an Aurora-based game ranch where hunters can pay a fee to shoot exotic game. But they would be mistaken to confine their interest to an ethical debate over whether killing animals inside a fenced area is appropriate,… Read More
    They’re down. They’re up! They’re down. They’re up! The forecasts for Maine state revenues seem to bounce like basketballs at tournament time. But while the dribble of money coming into Augusta keeps program and tax fans cheering, lawmakers should keep a perspective on how small these forecasted shifts… Read More
    The Legislature’s Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee engaged in a heated debate last week on a bill to prohibit commercial game ranches — fenced enclosures in which hunters, for fees up to $2,000, sit in tree stands and bag corraled deer, moose and such non-native species as bison,… Read More
    Seiha Srey, the 17-year-old southern Maine boy accused of having stabbed to death a high school senior two years ago, will not attend Cape Elizabeth’s schools. At least, that has been the ruling of Cape Elizabeth’s school board. On Feb. 8, the board upheld its… Read More
    Legislators spend most of their time debating where to spend state tax dollars and how much to spend. A bill recently supported 7-6 by the State and Local Government Committee could also have them consider how well. LD 2461 raises the reasonable issue of what sort of businesses… Read More
    In his brief stop in Bangor Wednesday to get an earful from shivering Mainers, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson admitted his agency was partially to blame for not anticipating soaring prices and depleted supply. “Caught napping” was the expression he used. While such candor is refreshing,… Read More
    If nothing else, the fact that Northern New England governors are looking for a way to allow residents to save money by buying American-made prescription drugs in Canada gives the public a sense of the confused system of drug pricing. Their proposal is a free-market answer to a… Read More
    Chief Justice Daniel Wathen offered the Legislature many good suggestions for “faster, cheaper and fairer courts” in his annual State of the Judiciary address Tuesday. One of the best was his suggestion that legislators spend a day in court. Good things tend to happen when… Read More
    Staff at Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection must be asking themselves which will last longer — MTBE in the groundwater or the debate over the type of gasoline motorists will use. A solution to both could be at hand, however, if Congress gives Northeastern states some flexibility. Read More
    When serious questions arose a year ago about whether the benefits of the tax-exempt bonds Maine issues for student loans were being passed along to students, the Legislature did the wise thing. Rather than wish it all away or take a hasty stab at it, lawmakers formed a… Read More
    Unemployment low? Check. Job growth strong? Check. International trade up? Check. Wages rising? … Wages rising? Anyone? The check is in the mail on that one. Low wages — the state ranks 36th or 38th nationally in this category — remain a serious problem in… Read More
    The Reform Party — heir to $12 million-plus in federal election funds — is in a shambles. Its highest-ranking elected official, Gov. Jesse Ventura of Minnesota, abandoned it last week, calling the party “dysfunctional” and questioning exactly what the Reformers wanted reformed. Last weekend, a… Read More
    Better late than never, lawmakers today are expected to consider a bill that would pay most of the cost of alternative water sources for wild blueberry growers. The price of LD 2493 — $8.3 million — is steep, but all sides agree that no conservation plan for Atlantic… Read More
    The denial-of-service attacks against ETrade, Amazon.com, Yahoo! and several other popular commercial Web last week first were dismissed by company officials and high-tech experts as crude, unsophisticated vandalism that any 15-year-old with a mouse and a modem could pull off. But the notion that adolescent… Read More
    When a spending bill is co-sponsored by both Maine’s Senate president and House speaker, chances are strong it will pass, even if it comes in the second session of the Legislature. A particularly important proposal, sponsored by Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Kittery, and Speaker Steven Rowe, D-Portland, would increase… Read More
    The expected visit Wednesday from Energy Secretary Bill Richardson is, of course, welcome. His seeing firsthand the effect of OPEC’s oil trade war can only help the Northeast’s argument that he needs to do more than the ideas he has offered to date. Specifically, he needs to support… Read More
    At some future time, when tempers have cooled and concerns allayed, the ongoing uproar over fingerprinting and background checks for Maine school employees will make an excellent case study for civics classes on how not to make law. It’s hard to find one aspect of… Read More
    There’s always been something quirkily admirable about Steve Forbes’ presidential bid. For six long years he slogged unblinking down the campaign trail, a television-dominated environment fundamentally hostile to this singularly untelegenic candidate. He spent $66 million of his personal fortune wooing the public and got a handful of… Read More
    It would have been interesting if the latest report on the University of Maine System — released this week by the League of Women Voters of Maine — included a budget for the expanded and improved services recommended. The numbers would have at least given it something new… Read More
    From the dueling proposals for the use of Maine’s share of the tobacco settlement, an observer could get the idea that there is a debate going on over how the money should be spent. Actually, there isn’t; instead there are merely a couple of shades of difference among… Read More
    Look to Chechnya, where Russian troops have seized the capital they built 100 years ago and destroyed twice in the last decade. Throughout the assault on the capital and as the new offensive to chase remaining rebels from mountain strongholds in the south begins, the… Read More
    President Clinton’s final budget is also his final attempt at a health care proposal that does something about the growing number of people who lack coverage. Though his plans spend a lot of money, they do little to solve the underlying problems in the nation’s health care system. Read More
    A few years ago, the Legislature told the Passamaquoddy Tribe it couldn’t build a casino in Calais because casinos are not good economic development. The other day, the Supreme Judicial Court told the Passamaquoddy Tribe it couldn’t build a bingo hall on land it owns in Bethel Township… Read More
    The unexpected popularity of Maine’s new Community College Partnership between the technical colleges and University of Maine systems is evidence that what appeared to be a state quirk was really a lack of opportunity. Maine should be encouraged by the higher-than-expected participation rates and look for ways to… Read More
    Imagine that, as the nation heads deep into the presidential primary season, it had seven strong contenders from across the political spectrum with these credentials: an articulate advocate for social causes familiar with politics at the highest level; a former cabinet member and head of a large charitable… Read More
    Back in December, Maine taxpayers and lawmakers were hit with a triple whammy of proof that good times come at a price. Three major public construction projects — the redesign and consolidation of the state prison system, the renovation of a Vassalboro school into a police academy and… Read More
    Opponents of the bill to remove the word “squaw” from Maine place names can make all manner of arguments about the intended use of the word, the economic effect if it is removed and the lack of its common use as an insult. But the issue for them… Read More
    There’s no question that the Maine woods can be a dangerous place — not so much because of the flora and fauna, but because of some of the illicit human activities that take place there, from marijuana growing to organized timber theft. Few of Maine’s law-enforcement officers are… Read More
    By establishing a health care commission and asking the Maine public to wait a year before expanding services, Gov. Angus King raises expectations considerably. If the commission delivers anything less than a comprehensive overhaul of Maine’s failing health system, the year will rightly be judged time squandered. Read More
    Sometimes Maine residents lament their distance from the center of things; sometimes they wish the bridge across the Piscataqua River never had been built. The presence of heroin, brought up from more populated areas, generates the latter feeling. Heroin has found its way through Portland,… Read More
    The Maine Warden Service claims it needs the authority to stop people, based upon appearance alone, to properly defend the state’s fish and game laws. But this claim is refuted by the service’s own statistics. More importantly, it promotes a policy that would unreasonably impinge upon the civil… Read More
    The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created after the Arab Oil Embargo of 1973-74 to ensure that never again would the United States be so vulnerable to market manipulation and politically driven supply interruptions. Today, more than a half-billion barrels of crude slosh around in storage reservoirs clustered around… Read More
    In the final days before Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation primary, polls suggested that about half of New Hampshire voters planned to base their decision upon the candidates’ positions on specific issues, about half upon the less tangible question of character. Both Vice President Al Gore’s narrow win… Read More
    The buses of Maine seniors heading across the Canadian border to purchase prescription drugs should tell legislators all they need to know about the rising cost of pharmaceuticals here and nationwide. They can do something about this, or at least get the drug lobby’s attention, with legislation they… Read More
    Fashion on Ice, New York City’s annual exhibition of the latest in haute and cold couture, was disrupted when two young women from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals skated onto the Madison Square Garden rink to protest the wearing of fur. That the demonstrators wore nothing… Read More
    The tougher standards for Maine students through the Learning Results made it inevitable that standards for Maine teachers would be revised, too. The proposed changes, however, are not just about raising the bar, but about bringing more opportunity into the field of education. There is much to like… Read More
    President Bill Clinton recently borrowed half a proposal from Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Olympia Snowe of Maine to provide tax breaks to help more Americans afford college. Unfortunately, he borrowed the wrong half. The president chose to support a tax break for… Read More
    After decades of denial, the U.S. Department of Energy now concedes that many workers who built America’s nuclear arsenal likely became ill because of exposure to radiation or toxic chemicals. Compensation is being discussed — so too should be culpability. This reversal is based upon… Read More
    The new opposition by the Maine Education Association to fingerprinting teachers and other school staff provides the state with a chance to revisit this issue and, this time, fully debate it. A compromise amendment already may be at hand. What is offensive about the proposed… Read More
    No one questions Air Force Maj. Sonnie Bates’ service record. A decorated pilot and 14-year veteran of the Armed Forces, he is the highest-ranking military officer to refuse to be vaccinated against anthrax, raising the stakes in a dubious military plan to protect all 2.4 million active-duty and… Read More
    During the last 40 years, the State of the Union speech has been transformed from a dry daytime status report little noticed outside of Congress into a primetime combination of pep talk and legislative shopping list intended primarily for public consumption. In the final such… Read More
    Maine residents have two choices in approaching the hearing today with federal wildlife officials over the potential endangered-species listing of Atlantic salmon: They can stomp their feet, make threats and scream about the injustice of it all or they can go in and state their case calmly, with… Read More
    The most powerful moment of Gov. King’s State of the State address Monday was his closing passage on domestic violence. The sight of 12 empty gallery seats representing the 12 Maine women and children who died last year at the hands of batterers was moving, as was the… Read More
    A Department of Education advisory council is expected to meet today to hear requests from parents to expand the number of sites available to take public comment on a plan to change services for children needing special education. It is a reasonable request that the department should support. Read More
    When sprawl became an issue in Maine four or five years ago, this region might have been excused for seeing the problem as something for Southern Maine to worry about — the result of too many yuppies wanting large houses on large lots surrounded by faux wilderness. In… Read More
    Consider the words of Cape Elizabeth schools Superintendent Thomas Forcella, explaining why he has turned away the latest student to attempt to enter his high school: “There are a lot of uncertainties that surround this case. Even though it might be remote, there’s potential for some safety concerns… Read More
    Gov. Angus King’s State of the State was as it should be — at turns uplifting, thought provoking, serious, light-hearted, detailed and sweeping. And while lawmakers certainly wanted to know about the policies he believes are essential for carrying Maine forward during the next three years, the real… Read More
    Monday’s Supreme Court ruling affirming the power of states to limit campaign contributions is a long overdue decision that has the remarkable dual effect of preserving the status quo as it clears the way for change. By a 6-3 vote, the court upheld Missouri’s $1,075… Read More
    Three-fourths of Maine people die of just four groups of diseases: cardiovascular, including stroke; cancer; chronic lung disease and diabetes. Gov. Angus King properly took aim last night at reducing these diseases through programs funded by the state’s $55 million annual settlement with the tobacco industry. His approach… Read More
    The U.S. economy is in the midst of its greatest peacetime expansion in history, a rare combination of low inflation and rising productivity largely credited to high-tech in general and the Internet in particular. Along with this growth, though, come real concerns that rural America is being left… Read More
    The Legislature today faces perhaps the most important decision of this session. While it’s a stretch to say that L.D. 2504, An Act to Enhance the Conservation of Atlantic Salmon, is the last chance to save the imperiled species, its approval may be Maine’s last chance to retain… Read More
    Not content with waiting to find out whether Vice President Al Gore actually gets his job, President Bill Clinton last week proposed to Congress essentially the vice president’s health-care plan, or a smaller version of it, anyway — a mix of tax credits and Medicaid extensions. While certainly… Read More
    An exhaustive study released this week confirmed what anyone who draws a paycheck has long known — the wage gap between the low and middle classes and the high-income earners is wide and growing wider. Aptly titled “Pulling Apart,” the report by the Center on… Read More
    The larger question for Congress is not why the office handling congressional inquiries for veterans operated “in an atmosphere of total chaos,” as a recent report concludes, but how that chaos contributed to the already serious problem of delivering health care to veterans. It is well worth Congress’… Read More
    As construction of the new state prison in Warren begins, the town of Thomaston, long the home of the Maine State Prison, is staring down the pipe of a $100,000 revenue loss for its waste treatment plant. That’s how much the state pays the town to process 22… Read More
    Mainers are accustomed to state revenue forecasts that change faster than the January weather, but the latest turnabout is a true meteorologic phenomenon: Last Monday, Gov. King released his supplemental budget, including plans for spending $70 million in capital-gains taxes; less than 24 hours later, his revenue forecasters… Read More
    In the two decades since the Land Claims Settlement Act was signed, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians has acquired property, built buildings, organized and operated a council with a full staff, among many other things. In this, the Maliseets have acted much like the Penobscot Nation or… Read More
    Cheers to Suzanne Malis-Andersen, the sixth-grade teacher at Brewer Middle School who is taking a stand against state-mandated fingerprinting and criminal background checks for school employees. Children should be safe in school — safe from gun violence, safe from abuse and safe from predators of… Read More
    The fact that Maine policy-makers are scheduled to debate today whether a rebate for the purchase of a low-polluting car is as effective at cleaning the air as, say, an incentive for getting clunkers off the road is a positive sign in the fight against pollution. It means… Read More
    In the balancing of cost vs. coverage for health insurance, the two basic coverage questions are who and what — as in who is covered and what illnesses are covered. The legislature is going to spend much of this session thinking about the who; Wednesday, the Banking and… Read More
    Three years ago, then Gov. David Beasley of South Carolina said it was time to stop flying the Confederate battle flag over the state capitol. The moderate Republican paid the price with a defeat in the next election. Yesterday, some 20,000 South Carolinians rallied for the same cause,… Read More