You never forget when murder at gunpoint hits close to you. It was January 1995. I saw my friends being interviewed on the news about their beautiful, talented 18-year-old musician son Brendan. He was robbed on public transit in Chicago and shot through the eye. The shooter had a criminal record and had served time […]

The 30-year ‘Transit Tomorrow” plan for public transportation in greater Portland is commendable. I wish the planners, who came up with the proposed Metro bus routes, shared the same vision. By detouring the No.8 bus route away from West End housing, Congress Street, and Hannaford Forest Avenue, they are not making “public transportation easier to […]

Tux Turkel’s article on enormous batteries to store “green energy” during periods of low electric demand raises the issue of ultimate disposal of these monsters, and reminds me of the furor over disposal of spent nuclear rods at decommissioned nuclear plants, including Maine Yankee. There are differences, of course, but the bottom line is the […]

Re: “Maine Voices: Why Yogi Berra could’ve run for office, and more about malapropisms” (March 21, Page D3): It is ironic/unfortunate that the print version of Roger Bowen’s column about malapropisms seems to have included one of his own, nestled like an Easter egg inside one he was poking fun at (“Déjà vous all over […]

I’m writing in response to Micah Engber’s letter of March 21. He writes that he was not personally offended by the opening sentence in the Maine Millennial column of the previous week but felt inspired to write a seven-paragraph letter explaining why he felt it was inappropriate. I disagree. As any regular reader of The […]

When I read Victoria Hugo-Vidal’s March 14 Maine Millennial column about her decision to schedule a mammogram, and read the sentence “during a recreational evening, a gentleman friend noticed a lump in my breast,” it was almost possible to hear pearls being clutched statewide. Thanks to Micah Engber (“Letter to the editor: Millennial’s oversharing spurs […]

I cannot believe you had the audacity to publish a large story on Page 1 of Section B on March 16, about the death of “Maine’s longest-serving prisoner”! This is not a tribute to a good man. Albert Paul was a murderer, among other things. How dare you provide more than a simple small obituary […]

Gov. Mills’ moratorium on new offshore wind projects in state-managed waters is a dazzling mistake. Yes, when new ideas are being explored along the coast, all stakeholders – including our fishing families – need to sit down together at the table. That’s only fair. The ocean is a commons, and it belongs to all of […]

I have recently moved to Portland from Colorado and was saddened by the news of the shooting in the King Soopers market in Boulder. This incident reignites the issue of gun rights versus public safety. The arguments are always framed by the contest between rights assumed protected by the Second Amendment and those who wish […]