Thumbs up to the Saco City Council’s decision to schedule a public hearing on the city’s proposal to purchase and demolish the former Notre Dame de Lourdes church on Cutts Avenue. The church has been closed down since 2009, and the city is proposing to purchase it and the abutting rectory building for $399,000. Plans […]

I am excited to share with you that I was recently appointed to serve as Senate chairperson of the Committee on Maine’s Workforce and Economic Future for the upcoming legislative session. As you may recall, I served on this committee this past session, and we worked with Mainers from across the state to create a […]

With the implementation of additional provisions of the Affordable Care Act set for January, debate is heating up once again about health care in America. It’s a debate that touches on many deeply held beliefs for people, in arenas such as ethics, finances and the role of government. It seems as though no one is […]

The political battles over the role of government continue. The U.S. House of Representatives, where conservative Republicans set the agenda, voted for a farm bill that dropped the food stamp program. And the House voted for the 40th time to repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. Soaring Medicare and Social Security costs also […]

Two determined local men are leading the charge to reform the country’s energy policy ”“ one town at a time. In a recent interview with the Journal Tribune, Tom Cashin and Gavin Maloney explained their effort to get towns and cities in Maine to urge Congress to develop a national energy policy. To date, Acton, […]

In the entire supermarket, there is no aisle more wondrous, more whimsical and magical, than the cereal aisle. That fantastical corridor, brimming with smiling chocolate vampires and mischievous rabbits, has actually resuscitated some of my crabbier moods. When I die, there would be a thousand worse fates than to have my ashes sprinkled somewhere between […]

Outrage seems to be lacking from the American public these days, despite a recent explosion of evidence that our Constitutional rights are being undermined. Former CIA and National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden recently put his life on the line in the interest of open government, revealing information he had sworn to keep secret, due […]

Just last week, Maine sent its information about proposed health insurance coverage to be offered through the state’s exchange on to the federal government for approval. Enrollment for the health care exchange is set to open in just two months’ time, and Maine’s Bureau of Insurance released hundreds of documents last week about the two […]

Fame can be difficult for many people to handle, especially in today’s world of instant social media that has turned regular people into quasi-journalists who can easily report what celebrities are doing at almost any time of the day. No one, especially well-known people, is safe from this intense scrutiny. This has never been more […]

I’ve had plenty of time to follow the news this summer, which is how I learned that Maine’s professional baseball team, the Portland Sea Dogs, had been shut out in three consecutive games recently. Perhaps that concerned some people, but my reaction was that being shut out is far preferable to being shut in. For […]