I must call out state Sen. Brad Farrin for his letter of Jan. 29, “Thank Sen. Collins for standing firm, pursuing common-sense election reforms.” For all of the words, he moves the ball no farther down the road. The inflammatory language, “Democrats’ so-called ‘voting rights’ bill,” is unnecessary, setting a fighting tone from the first […]

I am amazed to hear that many individuals are complaining that inflation is at the top of their list of societal concerns. Inflation is driven by demand, and we can influence demand by our buying habits. By simply refusing to buy a brand-name item in the grocery store, we are reducing demand. There are always […]

What to do with Maine’s surplus? Two things come to mind: • First: Can we fund more rehabilitation services for Mainers suffering because of the opioid crisis? Can we provide naloxone to all our first responders and schools and to any citizen who requests it? • Second: Can we address mental health? Can we build […]

We don’t have to wonder why there is such a divide between the folks who identify as Democrats and as Republicans when you hear the statements that were uttered by our very own Sen. Susan Collins last week, regarding the seating of the next Supreme Court justice, specifically: “This time there is no need for […]

Is Maine seriously considering changing the labels we put on people who break the law? I refer to the recent story about what I consider the “not-a-problem” idea of stigmatizing lawbreakers. We should change “inmate” to “resident of a jail”? And that’s because we don’t want to stigmatize them? So we’re going to pay someone […]

There have been multiple news reports and alerts for medical professionals and parents published in the past few years about TikTok videos that challenge their viewers to take increasing doses of over-the-counter Benadryl to induce hallucinations. Benadryl is an antihistamine often used for allergy symptoms. As a pediatric ICU doctor in Maine, I have seen […]

Re: “Letter to the editor: Elected officials are the wrong people to run Maine’s utilities” (Jan. 27): Letter writer Donna Raymond’s description of the proposal for a consumer-owned utility to replace Central Maine Power and Versant Power is way off the mark. The proposed consumer-owned utility will be governed by an independent board, elected to […]

Right now, the state of Maine has an $800 million-plus budget surplus. Money is pouring into the state to fix roads and bridges. Yet Maine levies a 30 cent-per-gallon excise tax, which (supposedly) goes to road construction and repair. Can someone in Augusta tell Mainers why, with regular gas prices hovering near $4 per gallon, […]

In a 1967 NBC News interview, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared what had become of his vision of equality for Black Americans: “That dream … has turned into a nightmare.” These words clash with our collective memory of the man, and it has a lot to do with normalizing revisionist voices. Dr. […]