On Nov. 11, 2025, I hope to quietly celebrate my 101st birthday. I walk with difficulty, have degenerative arthritis, a fractured spine and partial vision in my right eye. I am a WWII U.S. Navy veteran of the Pacific Ocean war against the Japanese Empire. My ship landed 800 U.S. Marines of the Sixth Division […]

The originators of referendum Question 1 (pertaining to absentee voting and a voter ID requirement) have many pernicious goals, foremost, under the cynical guise of voting security, the hidden but obvious attempt to tip results to the right. We should know of one effect of Question 1 that is not commonly mentioned. The Legislature’s roll-out […]

As I read Jim Fossel’s Sept. 14 column (“A good federal budget is not an omnibus budget“), I once again grow weary of a misleading statement too often promoted by the president and his supporters:  “…more than half the country voted for Trump…” That is not correct. Trump, of course, won the Electoral College and […]

I am writing to correct the misapprehension of one of your readers who wrote in a letter published on Sept. 21 (“Politically, Maine isn’t what it used to be“) that the “Democrats always seem to get us into wars and the Republicans bail us out.” Just to set the record straight, the Republicans were responsible […]

A revenue-neutral approach that would be of major benefit to Maine seniors is to freeze their real estate taxes at the current (or other) level, but let the taxes that would otherwise be paid accumulate, with interest, to be paid upon the person’s transfer of the property. The municipalities would receive the benefit of all […]

Child care workers deserve to earn a living wage. They educate our children during the most critical years of development. However, the proposed minimum wage increase in Portland to $19 by 2028 presents a serious challenge for child care. We cannot simply raise prices or absorb additional costs. Every dollar we pay must come directly from […]

How about building apartments on the empty parking lot at the Maine Mall? As a side benefit, they would increase sales at the stores. Harley MarshallPortland