It is interesting but confusing to hear and read all the various designations used for the terrorist group in Syria and Iraq – ISIS, ISIL, “the so-called Islamic State,” “the self-declared Islamic State” and maybe others. Here is another thought, and a way to separate this group from legitimate nation-states that are primarily Muslim: Let’s […]

Is it just me, or is anyone else amazed that Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew has kept her job? After the day-care licensing blunders, the no-bid, plagiarized consultant report, the costly mismanagement of Riverview Psychiatric Center, and the string of fiascos at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, this reader wonders […]

I am a 76-year-old with 55 years of experience as a union representative. I have to admit that these last few years have caused me to become a bit cynical about young American workers. It’s so obvious that many have little or no understanding of where their rights came from: the right to stand up […]

As a teacher, I find it encouraging that Congress is revisiting the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Since 2002, when the law was renamed No Child Left Behind, student learning has taken a back seat to testing. For the sake of the students who are our future, that has got to change! Congress should restore […]

Reader Bill Harnsberger of Portland paints Republicans and Democrats with a broad brush: All economic policies of the Democrats are, by definition, good; and all policies of the Republicans are evil (“Letter to the editor: Republicans create prosperity for all? Yeah, when elephants fly,” Feb. 18). If only the distinction were that easy. But before […]