As chair of the Maine Children’s Trust, I want to thank Sen. Susan Collins for her work to secure federal funding that will double investments in the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program over the course of the next five years. Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting funding supports the Maine Families […]

“Farce”: “A ludicrous and empty show” (American Heritage Dictionary). This strikes me as the perfect characterization of what Republican members of the House of Representatives are engaging in as they attempt to elect a new speaker. It’s also probably an accurate prediction of how they will proceed once they get through this first act of […]

My partner is a bird rescuer, who receives cat-caught birds on a regular basis. These birds don’t seem to be badly injured, so the kind people who rescue them figure they can be saved. Sadly, that often isn’t possible. It’s not well known that cat saliva carries many bacteria, and one, Pasteurella, is especially toxic […]

In response to Kate Dempsey’s Dec. 29 column (“2023 brings new chances to invest in Maine’s climate resilience,” Page A5): We’re sick and tired of gimmicks to make us feel like the Mills administration cares about high electrical costs. We’re tired of filling out forms and groveling before Augusta bureaucrats to keep warm. Will another […]

Re: “Utility’s doubling down on fossil fuels questioned after rolling blackouts” (Dec. 31): The Associated Press story you published on the Tennessee Valley Authority illustrates an extremely important, but woefully underutilized concept: We are all stakeholders in the policies of big organizations. The TVA plans to spend billions on new gas plants and pipelines. Those […]

Yesterday, my German Shepherd Buster and I were walking in one of our precious open spaces. He was attracted by something, went off the trail and got his paw caught in a spring trap. Let me say this first and foremost – Buster wandered off the public land 10 feet onto private land. Being his […]