This weeks’s top picks of the tix are two popular Broadway musicals that focus on a pair of female nightclub performers. Both are fictitious, but they’re fascinating characters. In Brunswick, “Sister Act” is a recent Broadway show that revolves around the story of a brazenly worldly wannabe diva who takes refuge in a convent. In […]
Portland Forecaster
City-wide news from The Forecaster.
Posted inCoastal Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Northern Forecaster, Portland Forecaster, Southern Forecaster, The Forecaster
Intentionally Unreasonable: The flag isn't South Carolina's only problem
There is an old Scottish proverb with more than a little Biblical linkage: “Confession is good for the soul.” Always aspiring to provide goodness to the soul (mine or to others) I go forth today with a timely and topical deep-fried confession. For many years now I’ve held an ugly truth about my past. Though […]
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Posted inCoastal Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Northern Forecaster, Portland Forecaster, Southern Forecaster, The Forecaster
Capitol Notebook: Country finds grace, LePage faces a fall from it
Friday, June 26, dawned like many recent June days; gray clouds hung in, and an unexpected rain had dampened the ground over the night. When that day ended, the world had shifted, moved by two stunning events. The United States Supreme Court affirmed that same-sex marriage is legal in every state, and later, President Obama […]
Posted inPortland Forecaster, The Forecaster
Portland school dropout rates fall, even as alternatives increase
PORTLAND — When Kirkley Lowe was 17, he realized something: he wasn’t going to graduate from Casco Bay High School. “The work they gave us was too difficult,” Lowe, now 18, said. “I felt it was college level starting my freshman year.” Lowe said he made the decision to stop going to school after he […]
Posted inCoastal Journal, Northern Forecaster, Portland Forecaster, Southern Forecaster, The Forecaster
Dishin' That: Restaurant salaries follow a closely guarded recipe
A reader in Durham emailed her Rubik’s Cube of a question at a most serendipitous time. “My friend’s son cooks at a high-end restaurant, and after five years there, he makes all of $12 an hour. How is it fair that the waitresses earn $350 a shift? Cooking the food is certainly at least as, […]
Posted inCoastal Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Northern Forecaster, Portland Forecaster, Southern Forecaster, The Forecaster
The Universal Notebook: Reactionary laws have unintended consequences
Back in 1993, in response to a ballot-tampering scandal, Maine voters imposed term limits on members of the Legislature. The idea was to unseat longtime Speaker of the House John Martin, D-Eagle Lake. It didn’t work. Reactionary laws rarely do. Martin is now a member of the Maine House, having bounced back and forth between […]
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Abby's Road: Sunscreen has long-term benefits, short-term pitfalls
Trying to apply sunscreen to a child is like trying to pick up a greased watermelon that moves like a slinky and protests like a march on Washington. I have had seven years to hone my technique. I always feel as if it is my first time introducing SPF to someone who cannot spell SPF. […]
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Short Relief: Assistance for asylum-seekers is a balancing act
The 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees and 1967 Protocol articulated standards, procedures, rights and benefits for the protection of persons fleeing persecution. Since then, about 150 countries have joined the convention. They have been trying to harmonize and align their laws, standards and procedures, with varying degrees of success. In theory, people who have […]
Posted inCoastal Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Northern Forecaster, Portland Forecaster, Southern Forecaster, The Forecaster
Letter: No excuses for LePage's pattern of abuse
It can be said the governor of Maine is approaching a breakdown. In a terribly short span of time, he would have a cartoonist shot, have Lewiston lawmakers rounded-up and executed in the public square, has exercised abuse of power threatening a cut-off of state funds to a private charter school if they hire a […]
Posted inCoastal Journal, Forecaster Opinion, Northern Forecaster, Portland Forecaster, Southern Forecaster, The Forecaster
Letter: Protecting asylum-seekers is a cost worth bearing
Asylum is a prescription to heal from and prevent government persecution, including genocide, that Maine Republican legislators now resent as a “budgeting problem.” To be granted asylum in this country, asylum-seekers must provide observed medical and psychological evidence of wounds suffered from past persecution and proof they will suffer again at the hands of their […]