I have been a nurse at Maine Medical Center for 26 years. Today I received my union ballot from the National Labor Relations Board. For a number of reasons, I have voted no. Firstly, I would never leave my patients to participate in a strike. Pro union colleagues tell me nurses’ unions rarely strike. Yet […]

Last Sunday’s article “Bills seek to ban female transgender athletes from girls’ school sports” (March 27) outlined a complex issue but didn’t offer much of a solution. The nuclear option of completely banning female transgender athletes from sports is terrible. The camaraderie and inclusion of school sports can be a lifeline to many who participate. […]

Gov. Mills has kept Maine’s COVID-19 infection and death rates among the very lowest in the country. Her amazing performance puts her in the top tier of world leaders who amassed miraculous records in fighting the pandemic. And Gov. Mills is up for re-election in two years, and there’s plenty of time to tout that […]

The decision to cancel this year’s Maine Lobster Festival is steeped in unjustified fear. It is an outdoor event (including the “restaurant”), social distancing is easy, requiring masks is easy, vaccinations and vaccinated persons by August will be high. This would almost guarantee not acquiring severe disease, even if exposed. I mean, really, Maine cases […]

With members of Congress facing so many consequential decisions, I am disheartened that few demonstrate a willingness to vote for the honorable thing. In 1966, my father, Brig. Gen. Harrison Thyng, a distinguished ace in both World War II and Korea, was on the list to receive his coveted second star. But he was troubled […]

Maine voters still live in a darkened room called the closed primary. In a 2014 New York Times op-ed, Sen. Chuck Schumer urged America to adopt a top-two open-primary system. Sen. Joe Baldacci is sponsoring a top-two open-primary bill in Maine, L.D. 1121. It’s truly democracy in action! In an op-ed in the Bangor Daily […]

Your excellent March 28 editorial, “Our View: Transit plan lays out route for future growth” (Page D2), demonstrates the need for a transportation plan for the whole state if we are to avoid sprawl and keep the quality of life people love in Maine. There are two vital, forward-looking initiatives being heard this year by […]

As a Maine citizen, I am very proud of the engagement of our voters and their high rates of participation in elections, even in the most challenging of times. I believe we can further encourage and support Maine citizens’ engagement and participation by adopting an online voter registration system, proposed in recently introduced legislation. In […]