Two weekends ago, inspired by some freakishly warm autumn weather, I spontaneously decided to take a nature walk, reasoning it might be my last opportunity to do so before southern Maine’s six-week spring begins sometime early next May. Before leaving on my stroll I grabbed a large cloth shopping bag, figuring I would do my […]

The LePage administration’s banner achievement of paying off several hundred million dollars of hospital debt will last about as long as it takes the people who are denied Maine’s Medicaid coverage to incur that debt again when they seek medical care. Even more so when emergency rooms are the resort instead of doctor’s offices or […]

The most contentious historical question in the country is not a dispute over whether the United States is at heart a revolutionary or conservative force in world affairs, nor a conflict over how deep was Abraham Lincoln’s devotion to the anti-slavery cause, nor even a battle over the origins of the Cold War. The most […]

On Nov. 4, Qgunquit residents voted to ban the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers on private property, except in emergency situations. The ordinance takes effect this January. The Portland Press Herald reported, “In 2009, Ogunquit voters approved an ordinance that prohibited the use of synthetic pesticides on public land. The new ordinance prohibits […]

President Obama’s greatest achievement, and perhaps his greatest failure, is the same piece of legislation ”“ Obamacare or, more officially, the Affordable Care Act. The intent of the ACA was ambitious: To provide health insurance for most of the 40 million Americans who had no coverage at all. Without health insurance, these people were likely […]

Editor’s note: Bernie Reim’s column was inadvertently left out of Thursday’s opinion page. This column is scheduled to run the first Thursday of each month. The days are gradually getting shorter now even as the nights are getting longer and colder. That natural cycle will reverse itself again right after the winter solstice, which happens […]

He started off as just a guy. With a cellphone attached to his ear, he gabbed to an unseen person as I was seated in front of my laptop waiting for a meeting to begin. He paced back and forth across the room, carrying on with great importance, as men on cellphones are want to […]