We live in interesting times. Is it a curse or a blessing to be part of the struggle to save our planet? If you’re overwhelmed by the responsibility, you might retreat into cynicism, give up hope, and do nothing — leaving it to others to take action. But if you invest the time to understand […]

In the middle of the night recently, while crises whirled around the world, the U.S. made a major policy move. Not about Ukraine. Not about immigration. The Senate simply adopted a new temporary budget bill to keep the federal government running for six more months, setting up a crisis for just before the election. During […]

Tedford Housing’s effort to fund construction of a new, consolidated shelter facility received two significant public investments in March, catapulting our fundraising total to over $8 million and kicking off the final phase of the campaign. Maine Housing awarded Tedford $257,000 under the Emergency Housing Matching Grant Program, which was established in 2023 through enactment […]

Sometimes we get to see examples of human courage, and occasionally, I even catch a glimpse of my own, but not awfully often. If human wimpiness had been a required subject in school, I’d have gotten really good grades in it. I once had the honor of seeing raw grit in action. Twice. I thought […]

My 13-year-old goddaughter still can’t understand how telephone busy signals used to work. She can’t help it. At 13, she’s a member of the Gen Alpha generation, kids born between 2010 and 2024, which is the first generation to NOT know what life was like before social media and artificial intelligence were everywhere. I tried […]

Inside the State House, the process known as the “concept draft” is taking quite a pummeling. Some of these bills have been justifiably criticized as being little more than a title, with the committee of jurisdiction’s public hearing centering on something so vague it can hardly be intelligently discussed. Under the legislative rules, by the […]

When you’re responsible for other people’s money, mixing it with morality is a mistake. Not that climate change is a moral issue per se, but many of those who believe do so with a fervor that can be described as religious. Wall Street learned this the hard way. Public policy groups that studied the issue […]

The other night, I took a friend out for her birthday at an upscale French restaurant. The food is magnificent, as authentic as anything I tasted when I lived in Paris — cue the accordion music. But even perfection has its tics. Normally, service at this restaurant is sublime. But this night, I had a […]