We all shop for food, most of us at some combination of Hannaford, Shaw’s, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. Where we shop depends on many factors: It’s an open market. For New Mainers (immigrants, refugees, asylees), those choices depend on proximity, availability of certain stock items and price. Understandably, the Forest Avenue Hannaford serves, among […]

The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication conducts Climate Change in the American Mind surveys of American voters twice a year, in March and September. It may come as no surprise that given the number and breadth of extreme climate events that the U.S. has endured this year, the most recent survey is showing that […]

Apparently, the enrollment gap between Portland and Deering high schools, which started in 2019, continues. The Portland school board’s suggested solution is the holding a three-school lottery for students. This is not a good solution for several reasons. First, clearly there is a problem. Holding a lottery won’t fix it – it will perpetuate it. […]

Want to explode the heads of the self-righteous? Point out facts exemplifying their years of ineptitude failing to solve a problem they present as “our top focus.” This is what City Councilor Tae Chong did when he criticized the failure of the Portland school board, the Portland Public Schools superintendent and the “progressive” groups who […]

Why is it that so many people have such short memories? When some big, often-tragic event happens, we are all outraged or saddened and there are many calls for action. A few examples I can think of were the Newtown massacre of children in school; the horrible climate events this past summer in the U.S. […]

A $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed in the Senate. A $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package (that also includes a lot of infrastructure) has moved in the House. And everyone’s hair is on fire because that adds up to a whopping $4.5 trillion. But what everyone forgets, passes over or ignores is that this enormous amount […]