In what has become an occasional feature for this space, welcome to another edition of “We’re all thumbs,” in which the editorial staff of Current Publishing picks proverbial winners and losers, heroes and villains from recent news stories:

• Thumbs UP to Maine’s war veterans. Last weekend, they were remembered with parades and ceremonies, but we really can’t thank them enough for their bravery and service. Our freedom isn’t something to take for granted, and our brave veterans have bled and died so we can be free.

• Thumbs DOWN to Westbrook Mayor Colleen Hilton for not terminating Bill Baker, who disparaged some of the city’s business owners and residents. No one is irreplaceable, and when leaders do something that exposes their ego as readily as Baker’s email tirade, then the only course of action is removal from office. We can’t understand why our leaders keep apologizing and say they are accountable for their actions but keep going on as if nothing happened. We expect more from the mayor, who, we recall well, made a splash firing high-level employees when she first came into office.

• Thumbs UP to the University of Maine system for tapping Glenn Cummings to lead the University of Southern Maine. As the former head of the University of Maine at Augusta, Cummings is familiar with the state’s education system. As a former Speaker of the House, he’s also familiar with Maine’s politics. Those two positions, plus time spent as a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education, will serve him well as he navigates the financial mess that is USM. We think he is up to the task of balancing the books and watching out for the needs of the thousands of students who attend the Portland and Gorham campuses.

• Thumbs DOWN to the state’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for proposing to install a weir in the Crooked River to study landlocked salmon spawning. Anglers are worried about fish attempting to spawn in the river only to be blocked by the weir, which is basically a heavy metal picket fence placed across the river. Fishermen say predators will lie in wait near the weir, that the state won’t patrol properly and that fish will be needlessly interrupted in the spawning efforts. With the last of the dams removed several years ago, the Crooked River, which runs from Bethel to Sebago Lake, is finally open after about 300 years. We need to keep it open and let nature take its rightful course.

• Thumbs UP to the Lakes Region Shuttle for providing a worthy service ferrying passengers daily from Bridgton to Portland and back. Ridership hasn’t been that great, however, so officials are seeking a 1-cent increase on the property tax rate of towns along the route to help subsidize the bus. While we don’t think the bus service should be taxpayer subsidized, we do feel the increase sounds reasonable, but only as a one-year trial. If after one year the bus still fails to attract adequate ridership levels, officials should give up their effort since the need is obviously not there.

• Thumbs DOWN to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for his recent Bizarro World dealings with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The notion that Goodell suspended Brady for four games, while accused domestic abuser Ray Rice only got two games, was crazy enough, but now Goodell says he is going to act as judge and jury for Brady’s appeal. How can Goodell rule on his own ruling? Talk about an inflated ego.

• Thumbs UP to the seasonal return of local farmers markets. We love the idea of knowing where our food comes from, knowing it wasn’t doused with a chemical cocktail, and that our money is going straight to the farmer who grew it. That’s a tasty combo.

• Thumbs DOWN to the Scarborough Town Council and School Board for foisting upon taxpayers a budget that increases total spending by about 6 percent. Here’s hoping all Scarborough homeowners also enjoy a 6 percent wage increase to help pay their tax bill. Either that or they should reject the proposal at the polls June 9 and force their leaders to come up with a proposal more in line with reality.

• Thumbs UP to Dan Foley for his ability to navigate the strange reality game show “Survivor.” The goateed Gorham man lasted right up until the last week of the competition, when he was voted off. Foley committed some serious gaffs along the way, especially when it came to his relationship with the women on the show. While those comments were definitely berating, we’re going to focus on his dynamic personality and willingness to sacrifice and play hard for his tribe mates. He won’t win any awards for diplomacy, but he did wear his heart on his sleeve and put himself out there more than most of us will ever do.

• Thumbs DOWN to the Maine Senate, which voted 30-4 last week to reinstate Cumberland County District Court Judge Jeffrey Moskowitz. In January, Moskowitz banned the media from reporting the testimony of a Standish lawyer accused of domestic violence. He later apologized, but we feel the decision to ban media access for the trial of a fellow lawyer revealed his general lack of good judgment and we wonder why the Senate couldn’t find a better candidate.

-John Balentine, managing editor