I’m a minister and organizer for De-ICE Maine, a grassroots coalition working to end the inhumane treatment of immigrants. Our efforts are focused on stopping the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility under construction in Scarborough. ICE has a history of abuse. Detainees are subject to physical and verbal assaults, unsanitary conditions and, according to a […]

Re: March 10 letter by Anne Manganello opposing the historic district: Portland’s property tax revaluation, with values driven by high-end developers, will force many Munjoy Hill landlords to raise rents. A historic district would cool development fervor and the escalating prices that threaten to displace more residents than any gently-enforced historic designation ever could. Affordable […]

Now that the dust of insurrection is settling in the courts, Americans are more aware than ever that our election system needs fixing. Today, more than 40 states are considering changes to their voting laws, most of them unfair and unique to their state. Discrepancies among the states prove that Americans do not have an […]

Samuel Rosenthal’s recent letter to the editor (“Making Portland a more affordable place to live,” March 12) promoted a false notion of how Portland property owners would be affected by the city’s revaluation. Mr. Rosenthal uses a hypothetical example of an increase in a property assessment from $200,000 to $300,000 and asserts that the property […]

I read, with amusement, the Briefcase report in the Business section March 11 concerning inflation (“Consumer prices enjoy biggest gain in 6 months,” Page A8). Food and energy are two of the most expensive items that most citizens of this country face every month. So, to say that core inflation excluding these two items was […]

I am writing in support of L.D. 2, the bill that requires all state legislation to be assessed for its racial impact. Racist behavior exists on a policy level, not just an individual level, and it needs to be addressed on a policy level. Not only is racism morally wrong, it bleeds our society of […]

A tsunami of sympathy is starting to sweep the country for America’s latest sweetheart, United States Air Force veteran and whistleblower Reality L. Winner. In early 2017, the 25-year-old former National Security Agency employee exposed Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign by releasing one classified document to The Intercept. This document revealed that Russian […]

To quote Sandra Day O’Connor, “The practice of democracy is not passed down through the gene pool. It must be taught and learned anew by each generation.” So, in 2009, Justice O’Connor founded iCivics.org with the goal of modernizing civics education through the use of video games. She considers this to be her most enduring […]