I just signed up to be a mentor at my law school, and did something that is atypical for me: Display a preference for female law students. It even surprises me when I look at that sentence, since my entire career as a columnist has been dedicated to the proposition that gender, race, sexual orientation, […]

Collins has failed BIW Susan Collins takes credit for every ship built at BIW, but when the chips are down she’s AWOL. BIW lost its last 2 contract bids, the $5.58 billion bid to build Navy frigates and the $936 million bid to build an Arleigh Burke destroyer. President Trump intervened in the frigate bid, […]

According to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who went up against Hitler and paid with his life, ignorance, being uninformed or misinformed is a more dangerous enemy of the good than evil is. Against evil, he maintained, one can protest; it can be exposed and, if necessary, stopped by force, but against a lack of […]

On winter mornings since 2013, the bronze statue of Melville Fuller in front of the Kennebec County Superior Court sometimes features a crown of snow. In an artful touch, he sometimes sports a toque, or stocking cap, that modifies without erasing his judicial mien. It’s there because Fuller, who grew up in Augusta, is the […]

As the least racially diverse state in the nation, it has been easy for white Mainers to ignore the structures of racism that exist throughout our society. This has caused our fellow Mainers to suffer greatly. Over 400 years of policies designed to segregate, marginalize and economically oppress racial, Indigenous and tribal populations have resulted […]

Vote Shaw, Hepler In November, Woolwich residents will be voting for two Selectpersons. The incumbents are Jason Shaw and Allison Hepler. I have known Mr. Shaw personally and professionally for 30 years. I have also interacted with him several times during his tenor as a Selectperson. He is fair, open-minded and confident. He knows what […]