Gov. Paul LePage has continued the push to cut Medicaid in an effort to close a projected shortfall in the state Department of Health and Human Services’ budget, and denounced a plan from the Maine Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee this week. Despite public outcry from voters and this new proposal from the appropriations […]

Sunday night did not end the way New England Patriots football fans wanted. Once again, they had to sit through a Super Bowl that saw the New York Giants beat their beloved team, and watch New York quarterback Eli Manning lead his team to a last-minute touchdown for the Super Bowl win. Once again, they […]

I was up early enough one morning last week to watch the sun rise. The day followed an unseasonably mild one, and the air was still heavy with the moisture that keeps temperatures more elevated than they normally would be this time of year. The trees swayed in a strong breeze, and crows flew between […]

Poor Punxsutawney Phil. His annual 15 minutes of fame got pre-empted this year. Last Thursday’s top “news” story involved not a Pennsylvania groundhog, but two serial attention hogs. Mitt Romney and Donald Trump held a joint seven-minute news conference proclaiming the latter, who at one time professed to have interest in being president of the […]

Thumbs down to the current Central Maine Power proposal to run new transmission lines through part of the Springvale Recreation Area. The new 34.5 kilovolt transmission line is a needed upgrade to bring a substation to Lebanon, where the power service could use a boost. However, it should be done along a path that offers […]

Whenever I go out to dinner, I start with the same thing: Diet Coke, no ice. Most of the time, the server gets it right. But not infrequently, my drink will arrive with ice, thereby doubling the server’s task. Of course, the drink can be removed and a new one brought in its place. But […]

Arundel has been in need of a new town hall for many years now, and we’re pleased to see the selectmen finally moving ahead with the process. Last week, the selectmen voted in favor of getting requests for proposals from architectural firms that could give a cost estimate and draw up plans for a new […]

An appeals court this week upheld Maine’s campaign disclosure law that requires a national anti-gay-marriage group to release its donor list. Although the group, the National Organization for Marriage, plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, this is an important ruling on the side of full disclosure. NOM has sought to shield its donors […]

Newt Gingrich has a Super PAC called “Winning Our Future.” Mitt Romney’s is called “Restore Our Future.” I know, technically Super PACs don’t belong to candidates. But only innocents like Boy Scouts and the Supreme Court believe that. In the real world, this new kind of political action committee, created in the wake of a […]

Gay marriage ”“ one of the most hotly divisive issues of our time ”“ is expected to come back to the ballot again in Maine this November, after petitions were submitted last week. Most will recall the vote in 2009, when the Legislature chose to legalize gay marriage and it was later defeated by people’s […]