The Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee recently voted down LD 1097, sponsored by Rep. Denise Harlow, D-Portland, which would have had the Department of Health and Human Services develop educational material to inform the public about dementia-related conditions. These include recognizing signs of the disease; appropriate communication with those diagnosed; development of dementia-friendly public […]

Have you given a moment to consider the experience of actually crossing the existing Frank J. Wood Bridge and seeing raw nature in its wild and woolly state, with water cascading down the dam in a furor of torrential fervor heading for the open sea? Or the melt waters in spring that provide a cascade […]

Have you given a moment to consider the experience of actually crossing the existing Frank J. Wood Bridge and seeing raw nature in its wild and woolly state, with water cascading down the dam in a furor of torrential fervor heading for the open sea? Or the melt waters in spring that provide a cascade […]

I’m worried. No one, myself included, seems to be doing a decent job of having a respectful conversation these days. We either agree (cue the glitter unicorns) or disagree (in which case yelling and sulphur fumes ensue). I am neither the first, nor the most articulate, to point this out. There are many fantastic articles, […]

Red squirrels are definitely Republicans, gray squirrels liberal Democrats like myself. I base these judgments on morning hours spent sitting in a sunny easy chair observing the politics of my own backyard while I am supposed to be writing. The focus of communal life in the backyard is the bird feeder that hangs outside the […]

Gov. Paul LePage has proposed increasing the salary of the governor and hiking expense reimbursements for state legislators. No doubt, there’s a good reason for these changes, but I don’t have the faintest idea what it is. Nevertheless, I’m not opposed. Our elected officials deserve adequate compensation for the long hours they devote to making […]

Traveling Maine’s roads in spring is like taking part in an archaeological dig in some far-off locale. Instead of ancient shards of pottery and fragments of bone, however, the sides of Maine’s back roads, once blanketed by snow and ice from passing snowplows, but now melting in a long-awaited spring thaw, reveal the last six […]

Well, there goes Edgar Allen Beem again, blaming everything wrong in this world on President Trump. The reality is, Trump Derangement Syndrome has taken hold, and Beem should see a doctor and get that treated. The lamestream media has taken the collective psyche of the country down, first by selling Americans a crap sandwich named […]

It’s been eye-opening to understand the rationale, as argued at recent community meetings, of those who oppose Pride Portland’s decision this year to reduce branded “swag” (beads, Frisbees, etc). This is a reasonable policy, and the outcry by a vocal few has perplexed me until now. One person objected by arguing that a branded plastic […]

Regarding John Balentine’s column concerning officer-involved shootings, I won’t comment on why the individual was shot in the head, criticize the officer, or those investigating the incident. I wasn’t there and I’m assuming Balentine wasn’t, either. The officer had less time to consider what to do than the Monday-morning, armchair analyzers in the quiet comfort […]