Voters in this June’s primary election will likely take part in a huge experiment, if the novel system of ranked-choice voting is used here in state elections for the first time. First approved by Maine voters in a 2016 referendum, RCV could yield some surprising results, and the candidate who gets the most votes in […]

State Rep. Heather Sirocki of Scarborough should explain her decision to garner support from the local and national offices of ACT for America for her bill to end female genital mutilation (“Scarborough legislator’s bill backed by purported hate group”). I am disappointed in her choice to work with a group that openly discriminates against Muslims, […]

Who do Republicans in Congress think they’re fooling with their phony memo purporting that the FBI is out to get Donald J. Trump? Probably not the 65 percent of Americans who disapprove of Trump. Just the hard-core 35 percent who would remain loyal to him even if he had sex with porn stars, took golden […]

After losing the 2010 election, then-state Sen. John Nutting took his political career out in his back pasture, and put a bullet through its head. Figuratively speaking. What Nutting fired off weren’t bullets, but words, ones that disparaged his victorious opponent and the people who voted for him. Not the sort of thing one does […]

The building committee promoting consolidation of the South Portland middle schools is not providing accurate information. Instead, its goal is clearly to score “free” state money. Such issues as actual costs, quality of education and community life have been swept under the rug with anecdotes and misleading presentations. Not since 1980 has a significant study […]

I was concerned when I learned about a bill before Maine legislators that threatens new residential solar installations, but am very encouraged to hear that Scarborough’s Sen. Amy Volk and Rep. Karen Vachon support solar projects in Maine. New rules, which will be implemented in just a few months, impose an additional fee for using […]

I was concerned when I learned about a bill before Maine legislators that threatens new residential solar installations, but am very encouraged to hear that Scarborough’s Sen. Amy Volk and Rep. Karen Vachon support solar projects in Maine. New rules, which will be implemented in just a few months, impose an additional fee for using […]

My favorite movie is “Hannah and Her Sisters” by Woody Allen. I love the New York atmosphere, the actors and the characters they portray, the realistic storylines and Woody Allen’s gallows humor. There is something comforting about the way Woody’s Mickey overcomes his existential dread and how auteur Allen wraps things up neatly in the […]

The shocking discovery that Allen’s Coffee Flavored Brandy (motto: Now With Even More Allen) is on the verge of being replaced as the best-selling liquor in Maine by Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey (motto: Any Resemblance To Actual Whiskey Is Coincidental) prompted Republican Gov. Paul LePage to take swift action. LePage issued an executive order requiring a […]

My mother taught English for 40 years to a cross-section of youth at a junior high school near the U.S. Navy submarine base in Groton, Connecticut. She taught the works of Charles Dickens and Emily Dickinson, the grammatical differences of two, too and to, and how to write poetry and a five-paragraph essay to a […]