Residents of Whiting are understandably upset about a marine communications company’s plans to erect a 330-foot-high tower in their town. Their concerns about intrusive lights blinking day and night, the possibility that space on the VHF tower could be leased for microwave transmissions, aesthetic issues and diminished property… Read More
The second largest managed care company in the country, United Healthcare, now will allow physicians to make the final decisions regarding treatments for their patients. United, which covers 14.5 million people, said this stunning policy change was based on the fiscal reality that its review process was costing… Read More
For nearly 65 years, the federal unemployment insurance program, part of the 1935 Social Security Act, has provided a vital safety net for people who have lost their jobs though no fault of their own and who are actively looking for work. For nearly seven years, the 1993… Read More
Bipartisan accord among legislators is usually good. The across-party-lines condemnation Maine lawmakers had this week for the state’s Y2K preparations is hardly that, but if the allegations of misspending and wastefulness are even partly true, it certainly is understandable. After reviewing the efforts by state… Read More
As people throughout the world celebrate peace this year while others struggle to stop years of strife and war, it will be meaningful once again to pause this Veterans Day to ponder the holiday’s origins and remember its true significance. Congress voted Armistice Day as… Read More
Last Friday, after the close of the stock market, federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson released his preliminary findings in the government’s year-long anti-trust trial against Microsoft. He found that Microsoft used its monopoly in the computer-operating system market to thwart and stifle companies that dared to compete against… Read More
Former President George Bush was in Berlin this week to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. The president who lived and breathed foreign affairs deservedly was named an honorary citizen of the city that was the Cold War’s Ground Zero and hailed for his… Read More
Whatever the shortcomings of the state’s recently completed study of an east-west highway, Gov. Angus King has offered two ways that supporters of connecting this half of Maine to the rest of the continent can improve the odds of getting a much-needed route built. They are an opportunity… Read More
Last week, President Clinton proposed regulations to protect patients’ medical records from easy access by employers, marketers, researchers and others who, at this time, are not required to gain permission from patients themselves. While these regulations are an improvement, Congress must go further to ensure that Americans regain… Read More
The best part about the Eastern Maine Children’s Museum is not the recent news that it is well ahead of its fund-raising goals but that, 2 1/2 years after the idea was proposed, enthusiasm in the community remains as strong as ever. With a year left before the… Read More
With its vote of support Tuesday for Maine Public Broadcasting Corp.’s $9.4 million digital-conversion bond issue, this state has joined the nationwide march toward new television technology. By an odd yet timely coincidence, The New York Times reported Monday that nearly half of the nation’s… Read More
The House of Representatives passed a bill last week that prohibits physicians from assisting in a patient’s suicide by prescribing medications, in direct opposition to Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. The House measure has its shortcomings, but contains an important benefit: It gives physicians increased latitude to prescribe… Read More
Maine’s commissioner of education became the first educator to soil his fingers in the pursuit of the criminal this week when he was fingerprinted and his background was checked for illegal behavior, such as child molestation. Given the limited amount of time the commissioner spends in one-on-one contact… Read More
The Clinton administration’s second attempt to craft a major trade deal with China shows once again how badly U.S. corporations want access to the communist country and how badly this nation’s core beliefs are assaulted with each new round of talks. President Clinton’s policy of economic engagement with… Read More
Maine voters are to be congratulated for showing up in stronger numbers than expected Tuesday. The 45-percent turnout is still pathetic, but at least it is better than the 30 percent generally expected at off-year elections. Those who did vote must be feeling financially flush, because what most… Read More
The chronic shortage in Maine of the kinds of jobs that provide high wages and stability is well known. What may be less understood is the effect this has on Maine workers and their families. A new report by the Maine Center for Economic Policy called Getting By… Read More
As head of the Christian Coalition of Maine, Paul Volle was part of a large network of individuals and organizations backing the referendum question decided yesterday on partial-birth abortions. At the same time, Mr. Volle almost single-handedly shredded Maine’s well-meaning but flawed laws regarding the public disclosure of… Read More
Maine prides itself on being among the top states in the country for voter turnout. Given the declining numbers here and across the nation, it’s a distinction increasingly earned by default — Maine’s average of less than 38 percent for off-year referendum votes is hardly laudable. Read More
Racetrack owner Joe Ricci and other civic leaders in the Portland area are dreadfully unhappy these days because the U.S. Postal Service, after a five-year, 45-site study, chose Lewiston-Auburn as the place for its new distribution and processing center. While these leaders may have an actual complaint about… Read More
New Hampshire continues its search for a way to pay for schools without actually paying for them. Under court order to eliminate the funding gap between rich and poor towns, lawmakers last spring enacted a statewide property tax, but the court struck that down, ruling that the phased-in… Read More
A new survey reveals that more than one-quarter of Americans believe their best chance to build wealth for retirement is not by patiently saving and investing, but by playing the lottery. It would be easy to dismiss the findings of this study, commissioned by the Consumer Federation of… Read More
Of course officials of Togus medical center can tell veterans as they did this week that 9 percent of staff positions can be cut without changing the level of services there: Plenty of veterans aren’t receiving the services they need now and they won’t in the future. No… Read More
The first debate between Sen. Bill Bradley and Vice President Al Gore demonstrated more agreement than conflict between the two contestants for the Democratic presidential nomination. Both are former senators, both occupy the center of the Democratic Party, although Bradley is willing to display his (hide the children)… Read More
Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to require that a petition for a people’s veto be voted on at the next statewide or general election, rather than at a special election? This Question is a reflection of Maine’s increased use of the referendum… Read More
Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to allow for reduced property taxes on property that will be maintained for historic preservation or for scenic views of significant vistas? Question 9 seems like a well-intentioned idea that requires a couple more drafts before it… Read More
Do you favor a $50,000,000 bond issues to purchase public lands and easements statewide from willing sellers for conservation, water access, outdoor recreation, including hunting and fishing, wildlife and fish habitat and farmland preservation, to be matched by $25,000,000 in private and public contributions? In… Read More
The Reform Party electrified the electorate back in 1992 when despite, or perhaps partly because of, candidate Ross Perot’s quirky behavior, it captured nearly 20 percent of the presidential vote. The fundamental message of ending government by special interest resonated with the public. The echoes… Read More
Do you favor a $26,420,000 bond issue for infrastructure improvements at Maine’s 7 technical colleges that must be matched by at least $7,000,000 of private or in-kind donations? Maine’s technical college system is coming to voters for the first time in 10 years to improve… Read More
Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection last week properly approved new rules designed to reduce oil spills from tankers. As important, the BEP reasserted the state’s right to remain an overseer of the tankers. Maine has had rules for tankers in place for more than a… Read More
Do you favor a $9,400,000 bond issue for the conversion to digital broadcasting by the Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation? The transition of the nation’s broadcast television system to digital format is inevitable. The benefits of crystal-clear reception, of multiple-channel programming, of increasing the options for… Read More
The unexpected death of Sen. John Chafee, Republican of Rhode Island, was a sad loss for his home state, the nation generally and for Maine, which benefited from this longtime summer resident’s vision, compassion and understanding of the region. Sen. Chafee, who had announced his… Read More
Do you favor a $56,042,031 bond issue for improvements to highways and bridges, airports and state-owned ferry facilities; development of rail corridors and marine infrastructure; and replacement of public transportation fleets statewide that makes the State eligible for up to $112,000,000 in matching federal funds?… Read More
Do you favor a $12,500,000 bond issue for the following purposes: 1. $7,000,000 to construct water pollution control facilities, providng the state match for $12,500,000 in federal funds; googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes = [[300,250]]; var new_slot_sizes = []; var has_banner =… Read More
Do you want to allow patients with specific illnesses to grow and use small amounts of marijuana for treatment, as long as such use is approved by a doctor? The arguments in favor of medical use of marijuana are well laid out in a 1997… Read More
Do you want to ban a specific abortion procedure to be defined in law, except in cases where the life of the mother is in danger? You know the endlessly described procedure called partial birth abortion must be wrong except under highly limited circumstances. You… Read More
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the most-commonly used index for the stock market, has seen daily 200-point changes in both directions in recent weeks. Not so long ago, a 200-point drop was tantamount to a crash. Now, it’s just daily activity. The producer price index was higher than… Read More
The Bangor City Council is expected Monday to consider a policy that would have the city establish an ethical criteria to guide purchases of such items as fire and police uniforms, footwear and textiles. The criteria, based on a resolution crafted with the help of the Bangor Clean… Read More
President Clinton has the right idea in trying to save Medicare dollars though discounted purchases. But his plan announced this week misses the fastest-growing cost in health care: prescription drugs. Before he tries to wring more money from hospitals, he should find a more effective, lower cost delivery… Read More
On the surface, the Senate’s failure Tuesday to get a modest campaign-finance reform package past a Republican-led filibuster looks like the same old collision with the same old brick wall. Beneath the surface, cracks are beginning to appear. The reformers, led by Republican Sen. John… Read More
The Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States has concluded that American military forces in Europe at the end of World War II “generally behaved in a commendable way” in returning Nazi loot to the Jews from whom it was confiscated — “with one notable… Read More
Give credit to the Maine Democratic legislators, those savvy politicos know when they have a winning issue. Continually assaulted by both Gov. Angus King and state Republicans to finally end what is left of the antiquated system of state-operated liquor stores, the Dems have held fast and protected… Read More
Businesses have long emphasized the link between education and ecomonics. This observation usually implies that those communities and states that make the upfront investment in educational excellence will reap the rewards of economic growth. The announcement by MBNA that it will build a University of… Read More
In the debate on the value of setting aside land for wilderness — or the 1990s version of wilderness, anyway — President Clinton last week raised an entirely sensible point when he proposed making the land the federal government already owns more forestlike. The idea, in general, already… Read More
The announcement last week by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt that the federal government would step in and proceed with an endangered-species listing for Atlantic salmon came with the clear implication that Maine’s plan to restore the imperiled fish was fine — the state simply had not done enough… Read More
With state officials properly touting Maine as the best place in the nation to raise a child, a group in Bangor will be meeting tomorrow to make sure the achievement is true of this region, as well. The Greater Bangor Communities for Children is a worthwhile effort that… Read More
Twenty-two months is not nearly long enough to determine whether Maine’s plan to revive its Atlantic salmon population is working. But it is enough time to see if the state is putting in the sort of effort that would lead to improvements. The decision this week by Interior… Read More
In a shockingly partisan vote on an issue in which partisanship has no place, the Senate Wednesday rejected the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. This blunder should have the American public wondering if nothing is above the gaining of political advantage. It should have the world wondering just how… Read More
Most of the chattering classes agree that Vice President Al Gore is going to eventually defeat challenger Bill Bradley, he must distance himself from his boss because the country has grown tired of all things Clinton. But as shown by his quest for the endorsement of the AFL-CIO,… Read More
Maine’s seven technical colleges are on the Nov. 2 ballot, requesting $26.4 million for infrastructure improvements. As voters consider the issue, they might think of it as an upgrade of the state’s best job-generating machine. Most of today’s expanding business sectors are technically oriented, requiring… Read More
Any number of studies by citizen-interest groups have shown that big money from single sources have bought and owned the votes on Congress on a range of issues, yet opponents to campaign finance reform continue to perversely base their opposition on the grounds of freedom of speech. The… Read More
Bangor International Airport is both a cause and a symptom of the economic health of this region. Keeping it profitable and vibrant is in the entire state’s interest, yet as a NEWS series concluding today shows, this will not be easy. BIA has experienced a… Read More
In the largest study ever done on obesity and mortality, researchers reported findings last week that made clear the link between being overweight and early death. The study, conducted by the American Cancer Society and published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine,… Read More
Now that it seems fairly certain that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty cannot get the 67 votes in the Senate needed for passage, it has become a political tool for congressional leaders and the White House. But like the nuclear weapons it seeks to defuse, mishandling of the… Read More
It has been clear from the start that Maine lawmakers are uneasy with the law they passed in 1995 requiring fingerprinting and FBI background checks of public school employees, in particular the requirement that teachers, administrators, custodians and bus drivers pick up the $49 tab. Read More
So what if the King administration was a bit clumsy in the way it handled an outside audit of the state’s Y2K preparedness (you remember — the audit that either didn’t exist, that existed but was too sensitive for the public and lawmakers to see or that was… Read More
From the United States Congress comes this good news for the University of Maine: The new Transportation Bill contains $1.2 million for wood-composites research, some of which may find its way to the school’s Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center. From the state of Ohio comes… Read More
Gov. King’s “achievable vision” for improving east-west transportation in Maine may emphasize the readily achievable over the truly visionary, but it is a good start, a most welcome acknowledgment that the state can no longer simply count on economic growth to seep up from the south. Read More
While society is awash in a wide array of hurtful behavior these days, none is more poisonous than domestic violence. It is not love gone awry, it is personal oppression and tyranny. Domestic violence is the attempt by one person to control another person he or she claims… Read More
If world events were the only measure, the time would be right for Senate ratification of ther Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. But this is politics, and the timing could not be worse. Nuclear weapons technology is no longer the exclusive property of the seven-member nuclear… Read More
It’s good that the New England governors and the Eastern Canada premiers at their 24th annual meeting in Rockport this week agreed to get serious about the region’s transportation network and its role in shaping the region’s economy. The late start, the slow approach and the clear signs… Read More
When the late George Huskins arrived as facilities manager at what is now the University College at Bangor, it was more military base — its former life — than college. When he died of cancer last year after 25 years of service within the university system, it was… Read More
Kudos to the Maine Democratic Party. Their excellent choice as keynote speaker for their annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner, held in Bangor this year on Oct. 23, will be Tipper Gore. Called a “cultural terrorist” by none other than the late Frank Zappa (who wrote songs… Read More
In these times of balanced budgets, spending caps and military cutbacks, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott continues to defy gravity. While others tighten their belts, the defense industry in Sen. Lott’s Mississippi bellies up to the trough. Actually, bullies up to the trough would be… Read More
The exhibition “Sensation” opened last week at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Among the 90 works are the preserved corpse of a pig cut in half, a bust of a man made from his own frozen blood, a statue of naked pubescent girls with erect penises for noses,… Read More
The Korean War is sometimes referred to as The Forgotten War, bracketed as it was by the larger World War II and the more domestically contentious Vietnam War. But a recent Associated Press report suggests the Pentagon and the American public need to revisit Korea of the early… Read More
Presidential candidate Bill Bradley’s health care plan is, as he says, more ambitious than the proposal recently supported by his opponent, Vice President Al Gore. But it is also cut of the same cloth, with the same incremental ideas about expanding access and expecting businesses to foot much… Read More
Advocates of an east-west highway are bitterly disappointed at the conclusion reached by consultants in their final report this week that modern transportation will not significantly help Northern Maine prosper. All Mainers should be utterly baffled that this considerable expense of time and money produced a document so… Read More
One presidential candidate officially stepped into the race this week, while another, mercifully, stepped out. Sen. John McCain of Arizona announced his candidacy for president in Nashua, N.H. McCain pledged to lower taxes, pass more rigorous campaign finance controls and increase military spending, but also made numerous references… Read More
Northeastern states, including Maine, properly fought to force dirty power plants in the Midwest to clean up their emissions before downwind neighbors took more drastic steps at home. But a federal court tossed out rules by the Environmental Protection Agency to do this, a compromise between regions failed,… Read More
After the intractable fight between Congress and the White House over tax cuts, the bipartisan agreement on raising the minimum wage comes as refreshing reminder that Washington still is able to split its differences and reach compromise. Credit this breakthrough to a well-deserved triumph of… Read More
As a strict measure of its faithfulness to letting the market choose winners and losers, the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact fails entirely. As policy for promoting economic diversity, food safety and open space, however, it is an important program for the region. The compact helps… Read More
It is no great secret that the road to good schools and good students goes through the home. Unfortunately, that road is often blocked by barriers that prevent parents from becoming full partners in the education of their children. The Parent Involvement Summit this Saturday… Read More
So worldly and yet so sheltered. Europe’s astonishment over the boorish behavior by the United States players and fans at the Ryder Cup golf match last weekend showed that the team from across the water ignored one of the prime rules of competition: Know your opponent. Read More
A new report in the journal Education Week rates Maine tops in the nation in outfitting its schools with high-tech hardware, near the bottom in actually using it. It is inevitable that this finding will generate the old knee-jerk complaint about throwing money at education. Read More
As misinformation goes, the story about Craig Shergold has been of the more harmless sort — though expensive for its recipients. If only they could get it to stop. Millions of people know Craig Shergold, or think they do. He is the boy in England… Read More
State Sen. Peter Mills may hold the record in the Legislature for proposing the highest number of perfectly reasonable changes to state law that go unheeded, often because of political pressure or a lack of legislative stamina. In the latest issue of the Maine Policy Review, he presents… Read More
An impressive finding from the Bangor School Department last week offers an important opportunity for Maine’s future. Its results in a study of first-graders suggest that schools can take a giant step toward having more of its children ready to learn by the end of kindergarten. Read More
With the acute interest of local, state and federal officials, Bangor International Airport is in the rare position to take control of its future in a positive way for the entire region. The trick will be to keep each level of government committed long enough to improve the… Read More
Maine commercial fishermen often complain that they spend more time at legislative and regulatory hearings than they do actually fishing. It’s a legitimate complaint and one that only underscores the importance of a Senate field hearing Saturday on reauthorization of the Sustainable Fisheries Act, the cornerstone of the… Read More
Intelligent Learning Corp. hopes to have its virtual Portland College online and teaching courses by next fall. The process by which the state approves the authority of any new college to grant degrees consists of multiple steps and offers ample opportunity to address the multiple questions. Read More
First lady and U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, fresh from her difficulties with the fate of Puerto Rican terrorists, indicated this week that she is ready for round two of her universal health care battle. Here’s hoping she has learned something in the last six years about… Read More
In times of scarcity, people protect what they have. In the case of extending I-95 north, it is no surprise that the good citizens of Houlton are worried. They have watched the slow erosion of their town over the years and fear further harm if the highway no… Read More
The Medicare posses were rounded up in Washington and Seattle, New York and Los Angeles, Chicago and Honolulu. They were off to fight fraud, and the federal government was telling these senior citizens right where to find it: Doctors and hospitals, the Clinton administration reported last winter, were… Read More
More than 200 officials from Maine’s 16 counties gathered last weekend for their annual conference. At the top of the agenda was the question of how county government can fulfill its promise to be an effective regional provider of cost-effective, consolidated services. It’s hard to… Read More
The Task Force to Study the Implementation of Alternative Programs and Interventions for Violent and Chronically Disruptive Students has a job as daunting as its name. Still, with just one meeting — its first, last Thursday — the panel’s nine legislators, educators and public members already have identified… Read More
The U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century is a 14-member panel that includes former Sens. Warren Rudman and Gary Hart, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, along with other diplomatic, military, academic, media and business leaders. Its charge is to assess America’s safety in… Read More
Congress has finally decided to revive funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, money from oil and gas production on outer continental shelf areas to provide recreational opportunities and preserve fish and wildlife. The current debate is over how much money will be put in and how… Read More
The Legislature’s message to electric utilities for the last three years has been unmistakable: Though transmission and distribution will remain regulated, electric service in Maine is about to experience the risks of the marketplace — and the utilities better get used to it. Central Maine Power not only… Read More
Some 8,686 New York City third- and sixth-graders were assigned to summer school after a standardized test showed them failing in core subjects, with mathematics the greatest area of weakness. Now that summer’s over, the testing company, CTB/McGraw-Hill, admits it goofed; the scores were calculated incorrectly, summer school… Read More
When mothers became fed up with the number of deaths from drunken driving several years ago, they got organized and changed the culture. Closer to home, when Bangor officials decided that pedestrians should be able to cross the streets without serving as traffic targets, police got serious and… Read More
When the White House and Congress reached agreement two years ago on the Balanced Budget Act, it was hailed by some as a historic stand for fiscal prudence and tough decision-making, derided by others as unrealistic, feel-good legislation, a veritable recipe for baloney. Guess who… Read More
More than two years ago, state and federal officials shook hands over a volunteer-driven, grassroots salmon conservation plan that promised to prevent an endangered-species listing for seven Maine rivers many feared would devastate the struggling Down East economy. Now it is clear that the underfunded,… Read More
No doubt Americans within easy driving distance of major airports think the deregulation of the airline industry is just great — low prices and lots of flights. Perhaps some of them have even noticed a recent increase in the number of airplanes available. But if you are sitting… Read More
The success Big Tobacco enjoyed for decades in manipulating politicians and winning courtroom battles is crumbling like ashes at the end of a cancer stick. Impressed with the way the states’ attorneys general engineered a $206 billion settlement for past and future health-related costs, lawyers… Read More
With timing that shows he knows plenty about how campaign games are played, Gov. George W. Bush recently posted a list of all his campaign contributors to date — some 100,000 of them. He did this just as the House began its debate on the latest version of… Read More
Managed care and health insurance companies currently have the right to deny treatment prescribed by a patient’s doctor. If the patient appeals the decision, the health insurer rules on the appeal. There is no way for the patient to go to an independent arbiter. Regardless of the honor… Read More
After a long summer vacation, Maine lawmakers have just two weeks to complete their first assignment for the upcoming session, the two-year cycle’s second half, the one (theoretically and constitutionally) devoted to leftovers and emergencies. As in the past, the Oct. 1 deadline for new… Read More
The Maine State Planning Office and Department of Transportation won’t have a final report on their study of an East-West Highway across the state for a couple of weeks, but the interim information they have offered and advances in other states suggest that Maine must makes its transportation… Read More
The current issue of Journal of the American Medical Association features an article co-authored by Dr. Michael Collins, a Hermon native and University of Southern Maine grad, exploring the association between concussion and neuropsychological functioning in college football players. Coaches and parents of high school athletes need to… Read More
Ignorance of the law is no defense. Unless, it seems, the law is broken by those who want a job making laws. No one expected the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections to hammer the five 1998 state-office candidates who accepted contributions to retire… Read More