Last week, I read a front-page headline in The Times Record indicating that there is an urgent need to increase the amount of funding for public defenders. The Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, or MCILS, is asking to double the funding for legal services to criminal defendants who cannot afford their own attorneys. Josh […]
Times Record Opinion
Columns and opinion news from the Times Record.
Posted inTimes Record Opinion
Christine Flowers: Student loan forgiveness shifts money to wealthy
My roots are blue. Not the political blue of the current climate. Blue-collar blue. My maternal grandfather had a third-grade education and spent almost three decades picking up trash for the city of Philadelphia. Neither of my four grandparents went to college, and only one of them finished high school. My mother was the first […]
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Posted inTimes Record Opinion
The Conversation: Some refugees stay in temporary status indefinitely — how they still manage to create homes and communities
More than 6.5 million Ukrainian war refugees are now scattered across Europe and North America, most with temporary emergency residency allowing them to stay in host countries for one to three years. But roughly half a year into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the war looks unlikely to end soon. Ukrainians may be unable to return to their home […]
Posted inTimes Record Opinion
Peter Roff: Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will make things worse
Marching in lockstep, the Democrats pushed a $700 billion spending bill through Congress, claiming it would reduce inflation. We know that to be a lie. Independent analyses from the Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Joint Tax Committee, and Penn/Wharton all show the badly misnamed Inflation Reduction Act would do little to nothing to stop the […]
Posted inTimes Record Opinion
The Conversation: If you thought this summer’s heat waves were bad, a new study has some disturbing news
THE CONVERSATION — As global temperatures rise, people in the tropics, including places like India and Africa’s Sahel region, will likely face dangerously hot conditions almost daily by the end of the century – even as the world reduces its greenhouse gas emissions, a new study shows. The mid-latitudes, including the U.S., Europe and China, […]
Posted inTimes Record Opinion, Uncategorized
The Conversation: 4 reasons why abortion laws often clash with the majority’s preferences in the US
Kansas voters opted against overturning a state constitutional right to an abortion on Aug. 2, 2022. A few days later, Indiana lawmakers banned nearly all abortions. Both are conservative-leaning states that supported President Donald Trump’s reelection bid by near-identical margins in 2020 – 56.1% to 41.5% in Kansas and 57% to 41% in Indiana. So what explains the different outcomes? […]
Posted inTimes Record Opinion
Sen. Eloise Vitelli: In Augusta and at ballot box, diverse perspectives make us stronger
Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. It’s the most straight-forward way that we, as citizens, can make our voices heard when it comes to choosing our leaders, funding essential services and supporting policy changes. Beyond voting, it’s our unique perspectives and opinions that make our democracy strong. However, through much of our country’s history, the […]
Posted inTimes Record Opinion
Just a Little Old: A joyous celebration of our 80th birthdays
Ours is a second marriage, 33 years and still going strong. Tina and I each have two sons, and they’ve known each other since they were in elementary school back in Cockeysville, Maryland, a suburb of Baltimore. They played on many teams together, most notably the Gilman School swim team. In fact, the four of […]
Posted inTimes Record Opinion
Gordon Weil: America’s culture of political violence
Ballots, not bullets. A government of laws, not men. When politicians talk about the nation’s shared values, that’s part of what they mean – a non-violent, lawful, democratic system of government. What we really get is something much different. Four presidents assassinated plus 15 threatened. Historic assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Threats […]
Posted inTimes Record Opinion, Uncategorized
Douglas Rooks: Tale of a smartphone and a giant tree
As we head toward Labor Day weekend, the traditional end of summer, at least in New England, it’s worth taking stock of where we are. Last year at this time, I express some guarded optimism about the possibilities of working people getting a fair shake from employers, and from their fellow laborers. It was already […]