The author of a recent letter to the editor (“Truth about voting in Maine distorted,” Sept. 23, Page A10) said Sen. Susan Collins “chose to lie to a national audience about Maine’s system of voting.” Sen. Collins said Maine has “one of the highest turnouts in the country… .” Sen. Collins is right. According to […]

I agreed with Tae Chong’s Sept. 24 commentary that we should focus more directly on the achievement gap for students who are Black, brown or in poverty, rather than political correctness and feel-good spending. I recently moved here from San Francisco to Falmouth, and my three Latino and African American kids like that the schools […]

Mainers should not be fooled by the lies and distortions coming from the opponents of Question 1. This referendum is about protecting the western Maine mountains. The first part of the referendum bans high-impact transmission lines in the Upper Kennebec Region. The second part ensures that future projects like this one receive legislative oversight to […]

Come November, to support cleaner, more-accessible hydropower, Maine voters need to vote “no” on Question 1. It is not hard to do. Loretta Mackinnon Yarmouth

In August, the Commonwealth Fund issued a report comparing health care in the U.S. to 10 other high-income countries. The U.S. compared dismally, ranking last in health care affordability and health equity. The U.S. health care system also has the highest rate of infant mortality and deaths that would have been prevented with good health […]

We all shop for food, most of us at some combination of Hannaford, Shaw’s, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Where we shop depends on many factors: It’s an open market. For New Mainers (immigrants, refugees, asylees), those choices depend on proximity, availability of certain stock items and price. Understandably, the Forest Avenue Hannaford serves, among […]

The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication conducts Climate Change in the American Mind surveys of American voters twice a year, in March and September. It may come as no surprise that given the number and breadth of extreme climate events that the U.S. has endured this year, the most recent survey is showing that […]

Apparently, the enrollment gap between Portland and Deering high schools, which started in 2019, continues. The Portland school board’s suggested solution is the holding a three-school lottery for students. This is not a good solution for several reasons. First, clearly there is a problem. Holding a lottery won’t fix it – it will perpetuate it. […]