Re: “Letter to the editor: Obamacare advisory board sounds like a death panel” (April 19): Mark Kilburn is right: Almost a third of Medicare’s budget is spent on the beneficiaries’ last year of life – most of it the last month. This is spent, in large part, on “heroic” intervention. This does nothing to improve […]

In the recent kerfuffle regarding budget cuts at the University of Southern Maine, President Theodora Kalikow announced plans for USM to become a distinctive “metropolitan university.” As I recall, these plans were to appear in early April (on a Wednesday). To my knowledge, they have yet to emerge, at least publicly. In the meantime, the […]

Under the current model, there is no conceivable scenario in which the University of Southern Maine’s all-source revenue can match its operating and capital expenditures. USM has basically three sources of revenue: tuition, state appropriations and private giving. USM cannot increase tuition without pricing itself out of the market. Because of other demands on its […]

I would like to thank William Keith for his letter to the editor of April 23 (“In move to Gray, Narrow Gauge Railroad would give up ocean view”), asking some important questions regarding the relocation of Maine Narrow Gauge to the town of Gray. While he claims to be an uneducated man, I would say […]