Ed Muskie must be rolling over in his grave. The longtime icon of Maine and national politics, whose lofty titles ranged from governor to U.S. senator to secretary of state, may well have become Maine’s first and only president but for what may (or may not) have happened on the stormy afternoon of Feb. 26, […]
Bill Nemitz
Bill Nemitz has worked as a journalist in Maine since 1977, when he became a reporter for the Morning Sentinel in Waterville after graduating from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
He moved to Portland in 1983, working first as a reporter for the Evening Express and later as a city editor and assistant managing editor/sports for the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram. He began writing his column in 1995. While focusing on Maine people and issues, his work has taken him three times to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan, where he was embedded with members of the Maine Army National Guard and the Army Reserve; to Belfast, Northern Ireland, for the 1998 referendum on the Good Friday Peace Accord; to Manhattan for the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks; to the Gulf Coast for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; and to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. Nemitz is a past president of the Maine Press Association and for many years taught journalism part-time at St. Joseph's College of Maine in Standish. He also served for eight years, including three as chairman, on the board of trustees for the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland. In 2004, the Maine Press Association named Nemitz Maine Journalist of the Year for his reporting on the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion in Iraq. In 2007, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the New England Newspaper Association. In 2015, Nemitz was inducted into the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame. Nemitz lives in Buxton with his wife, Andrea. They have five children and four grandchildren.
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Bill Nemitz: Nattering nabobs of ‘negativitis’
It’s not what you might expect to find right next to a stack of Town Council workshop agendas. But desperate times, at least for the beleaguered citizens of Windham, call for desperate measures. “It is as pervasive as the common cold, but far more damaging,” warned a handout that mysteriously appeared last week at the […]
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Bill Nemitz: Help parents live ethically, and kids will, too
Put yourself in this mother’s place: You’re relaxing with your 4-year-old son in a hotel’s hot tub. Except for the two of you, the area is deserted – until a hotel attendant happens by. “How old are you?” the attendant asks your little boy. “Four,” he replies. “I’m sorry,” the attendant tells you, pointing to […]
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Bill Nemitz: Plane truth is that Donald Sussman’s private jet flew dying Mainer home
RAYMOND — He lay in his bed Tuesday morning, his paralyzed legs propped up on two pillows. No, Anthony Napoleone said in a barely audible voice, he’s never met the man who provided a private jet to bring him home to Maine so he could spend his final days near his two young sons. But […]
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Nemitz: What now, tea party? It’s game on
Election 2010, for better or worse, is over. No more rat-ta-tat TV ads. No more rallies. No more mad-as-hell Maine “patriots” and “refounders” living for the day when they can go to the polls en masse and, as one of their websites so succinctly put it, “Take Back America!” Welcome to the day after – […]
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Nemitz: Maine tale of diamondlost forever, and then …
More than once in the past few days, Deb King’s friends have told her she should go out and buy a lottery ticket. And more than once, she’s shaken her head in disagreement.
“This is not about luck,” Deb said this week. “This is about an answer to a prayer.”
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Bill Nemitz: A clever e-mail sales idea turns sour, fast
It looked like a marketing bull’s-eye for the Kittery Trading Post. But then it backfired. “We sincerely apologize for any privacy concern or distress this may have caused and hope that you will allow us the opportunity to regain your trust and confidence in the future,” Kittery Trading Post President Kevin Adams and co-owner Kim […]
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Bill Nemitz: A way to know our donations help Haitians
We all know the drill. A natural disaster strikes in some faraway place like Haiti. We stare in horror at the live images on the TV screen, reach for our credit card (or, sign of the times, pound out a quick text message) and instantaneously send $10, $25 or whatever we can to help. And […]
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Bill Nemitz: Front-runner Paul LePage doesn’t let the truth get in his way
Dear Paul LePage, I’ve been trying to think of a nice way to say this, you being a major-party candidate for governor and all. But I’ve been through my thesaurus front to back and I’m still stuck on one word, and only one word, that accurately describes your behavior in recent days. You’re a liar. […]