It’s been an honor to have state Sen. Cathy Breen, D-Falmouth, in the state Legislature. I appreciate the breadth of Sen. Breen’s interests, from supporting small businesses through the Small Business Ombudsman program, to streamlining credentialing for veterans with critical workforce skills. I worked with Sen. Breen on several early childhood safety and education bills […]

On Nov. 18, 1980, I used my BritRail pass and Campaign for Real Ale guidebook to track down a pint of Adnams Best Bitter at the Bell & Steelyard Pub in Woodbridge, Sussex. Carolyn, my lovely bride of just one month, had a full day of classes at King Alfred’s College, so, having nothing better […]

Dillon Bates has a surname less suited to politics than to a remake of a classic Hitchcock horror movie. And, it appears, proclivities to match. Until Aug. 20, Bates was a Democratic state representative from Westbrook. He resigned that post nearly a month after The Bollard magazine published an in-depth report filled with evidence that […]

School has become a political battleground. What we teach, how we teach, why we teach, and, of course, how we protect the kids are all topics important to many inside and outside the educational system. We’ve put a lot of effort and taxpayer money into reforming education. No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, […]

I walk into French class. The teacher asks, “Quoi de neuf?” (“What’s new?”) This question aims to have us talk without notes, converse spontaneously. I cheat and plan, “I’ll talk about seeing ‘Mamma Mia Here I Go Again.’ How do you say ‘movie’?” I look it up and scribble notes, my French not fluent, not […]

John Balentine’s recent column (“Non-citizen voting a disturbing prospect”) states “This is what American soldiers die for – the right to vote.” As America didn’t really have much in the way of immigration and naturalization law until well after the Revolutionary War, it can be argued that a lot of non-Americans also lost their lives […]

The Southern Poverty Law Center has served for nearly 50 years as a civil rights advocacy organization, best known for monitoring and fighting the KKK, dangerous white supremacists, and other hate groups operating on the dark fringe of American society. The SPLC should be thanked for shining a light on these hate groups that like […]

A letter writer on Aug. 24 complained that Edgar Allen Beem has lost his rationality when commenting on GOP behavior. I am mystified that not a single commentary that I have read since Trump was inaugurated has compared the behavior of the Democrats currently in Congress to that of the Republicans during the Obama years. […]

So Town Manager Tom Hall can’t fathom the citizens of Scarborough understanding the Scarborough Downs TIF proposal well enough to vote on its approval or disapproval? Every voting-age citizen of this town is capable of understanding when the wool is being pulled over their eyes and more wasteful spending is being shoved down their throats. […]

I am glad to say I have voted for Cathy Breen previously for the Falmouth Town Council and for the Maine state Senate. I will proudly vote to re-elect her in November to the state Senate. I am thrilled to have a fair-minded and level-headed woman participating in governing our state. She believes that our […]