In January, I schedule “maintenance” appointments. Eyes. Skin. Bone density. Blood work. Like that. With each doctor, the conversations usually go like this: Q: Are my glasses OK? I don’t see distances well. A: Your eyes have degenerative changes, consistent with your age. May not get better, might get worse. Q: Why is my cholesterol […]

Our nation’s top colleges and universities are working very hard to achieve something the Portland Public Schools already has: diversity. These institutions of higher learning aren’t trying to look more like us to be “politically correct.” Instead, they know that diverse campuses are educationally beneficial for students. BestColleges.com, a college-ranking site,  sums up the benefits: […]

In a deeply cynical political world, a truly optimistic moment seems difficult to comprehend. And in a world full of critics, it is challenging to suspend disbelief and embrace a political moment that could bring welcome progress in addressing Maine’s challenges. Maine has found such a moment, and last week’s buoyant inauguration of Gov. Janet […]

I want to thank Gov. Janet Mills for striking a blow in the fight against cancer and increasing access to Medicaid for more than 70,000 Mainers. Her decision to implement the will of Maine voters will help protect our communities from cancer’s deadly toll. A critical factor in determining whether someone survives a cancer diagnosis […]

The older you get the more fleeting the present. It’s frightening how fast eight years of Paul LePage went by. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I joined hundreds of others in Augusta to protest one of LePage’s first boneheaded moves: ordering the removal in 2011 of the mural in the Maine Labor Department […]

Everyone wants to live by the water. They look forward to finding a flooded river flowing through their living room. They like the idea that the lake is slowly turning their front yard into a swamp. And they can’t wait for the day when the ocean’s rising tide will officially claim their property as part […]

It’s been eight years since Maine had a new governor, and we’ve only had two in the last 16 years: Paul LePage and John Baldacci. New governors don’t come around very often, so it’s fitting to note their arrival. This was done with a fair amount of pomp and circumstance at last week’s inauguration of […]

I like Brunswick, and I am glad I moved here. It’s a pretty town, great schools, good walking trails, funky little theatre, and more restaurants than a person needs. It’s a nice life. There’s just one major missing piece: friends. I don’t mean to imply that people here are not friendly. They are. Very. At […]

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, deflected a question from “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd on Sunday when he asked “when is enough, enough?” In other words, when will Collin’s frustrations with the Trump administration be enough to cause her to stand against policies with which she claims to disagree? For example, the unnecessary government […]

We deserve a government that’s working to protect us, not hurt us. The shutdown is unnecessary and hurts us all. It is past time to end the government shutdown that is wreaking havoc on so many of our public lands and halting important Environmental Protection Agency programs. We see the impacts here in Maine, with […]