As a professional classical musician and music historian, I love old things. Art from the past helps highlight the minutiae of our differences and the universality of our human experiences. As someone who spent 15 years “away,” I have also seen how great buildings and institutions can transform a city’s cultural and economic landscape. As […]

My Gothic Revival home, saved from urban renewal, made space for a Holiday Inn across from two historic buildings, the McLellan and Clapp houses, the L.D.M. Sweat Memorial, and 142 Free St., together forming Portland Museum of Art’s campus. The 1961 Union Station demolition prompted the formation of Greater Portland Landmarks. In reference to the […]

Thank you for your excellent piece about tenants being retaliated against by their landlord for reporting a legitimately illegal rent increase. One of my closest friends went through this: an offer to renew was rescinded for merely asking a question about rent control. They chose not to bring it to the rent board; finding another […]

I agree with Barbara Bowling’s May 9 letter (“Let’s demonstrate for the planet”). However, voting is a more effective form of protest over the lack of progress our federal government is making toward reducing the cause of global warming: burning coal, oil and gas. Current climate policies around the world put us on track to […]

Why do we have a Maine State Liquor Agency when only 17 states have a liquor agency? It is a leftover from the need to control the sale of liquor after the repeal of Prohibition. The state of Maine tries to control something that it doesn’t need to control — just let market forces operate […]

I liked and appreciated the letter from David Chase in the May 11 Press Herald (“142 Free Street is an asset, not a hindrance”). It was short and decisive. And it outlines a positive constructive course of action for the Portland Museum of Art at the present point in its life, bypassing the vexed issue […]

Why would former President Donald Trump’s advisers be concerned about how supporters might view a potential running mate who killed two animals when the Trump administration’s botched response led to thousands of deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic? Do they not remember the former president told a crowd, on Jan. 6, 2021, to “stop the steal” […]