Lawrence and Maurice Binette reminisce at an early birthday party at the Maine Veterans’ Home.

Banker, Yellen predict interest rate rise in 2015 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said in Hong Kong on Friday the central bank will probably raise interest rates in the second half of next year and the timing will depend on the pace of inflation. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said at a press […]

When children speak the truth, adults often squirm and shut them up. That’s apparently what happened to Zachary Golob-Drake earlier this year after he delivered a speech titled “In the Name of Religion” to his fifth-grade class at Patel Partnership School in Tampa, Fla. The teacher initially applauded Zachary’s speech, awarding him first prize and […]

When Barack Obama became president, surveys showed most people thought the United States was going in the wrong direction. In his sixth year in office, that opinion is held by even more Americans. Obama was expected to make a difference. At the outset, a strong majority thought the president was doing well. Now, only two […]

Excerpts from recent editorials in newspapers in the United States and abroad: The Kansas City (Mo.) Star on federal health care insurance: It’s down to the wire, folks. Under the new federal health care law, March 31 is the deadline for signing up for health insurance, either through the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov., or from a […]

Construction is set to begin on an open-air pavilion over the skating rink in downtown Kennebunk this April, which will create a year-round gathering space for town activities. There’s just one glitch: Not all of the money for the project has been raised yet. The pavilion is expected to cost $660,000, but the town has […]

It’s hard to get your mind wrapped around Russia’s annexation of Crimea and seizure of Ukrainian military bases there. It was ”“ and many Ukrainians say still is ”“ part of a neighboring sovereign country until mid-March. And it seemed like Europe had transcended that kind of old-school warmongering. Just two years back, the Nobel […]

Dress codes are typically only hot topics in schools nowadays, with the lesson of what’s appropriate to wear typically learned by the time adults enter the workforce. That’s apparently not the case in Lawrence, Mass., however, where the mayor recently instituted a dress code at City Hall. The change is causing controversy, just as it […]

It finally happened. I knew it was going to eventually. It’s an unavoidable rite of passage, and unlike other milestones, like a first kiss, or first shave, this particular life event has an ominous quality ”“ a whiff of age, and the future promise of joint pain in a living room that smells strongly of […]