Joyce Bucciantini: LD 1622 a ‘win-win’ for Maine workers

Many of us grew up hearing the phrase, “a penny saved is a penny earned.” Yet for many Mainers, being able to save seems out of reach. LD 1622, “An Act to Promote Individual Retirement Savings through a Public-Private Partnership,” was approved by the Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services with overwhelming and […]

Froma Harrop: 2020 brought us startling, weird numbers

The country as a whole last year grew at its slowest pace since 1918 — by only 700,000 residents, or 0.2%. Some of that low count reflects deaths from COVID and a lower birthrate. The number of babies born in the U.S. hit a 4 million high in 2015 and has fallen every year since.

Cartoon for Tuesday, May 25

Crystal Ward: Water rate hike ‘drastic’ in trying times

At its May 17 meeting the Lewiston City Council approved a water rate increase of 23%, 7-0. This is a drastic increase in a very trying time. The only information provided to the public was a one-page blue sheet of paper from Public Works. Very little information was provided as to the great need for […]

Cathy Harris: LD 759 ‘an attempt to save lives’

When I was 16, many years ago, I used to babysit my neighbor’s children. One evening their 5-year-old son pointed a revolver at me. I managed to coax him to give me the gun. To him it was a toy. When I told his parents, they were shocked. They thought it had been locked in […]

Cartoon for Sunday, May 23

Steve Bien: Health Care Affordability Fund a good deal for Mainers

As a physician, I am supporting LD 1463: An Act to Make Health Care Coverage More Affordable for Working Families and Small Businesses. This bill would continue the federal health insurance assessment on a state level, and it lays out how it would use the potential $30 million in revenue to lower health care costs for Mainers.

Silver Moore-Leamon: Police need reforming, not defunding

“Prosecutor finds deputies justified in shooting Black man,” a headline in May 19’s Sun Journal reads. “… (b)ecause he struck a deputy with his car and nearly ran him over while ignoring commands to show his hands and get out of the vehicle,” the article states. Did we really think they would be found guilty […]

Rich Lowry: The GOP future is bright

There’s no denying that much of the party has been too willing to indulge or look away from wild theories about the 2020 election and the Capitol riot, but this shouldn’t obscure the fact that the Republicans are well-positioned to take the House next year.

Froma Harrop: The 2022 midterms might surprise us

Tradition tells us that, come the midterms, the president’s party loses seats in the House. If this tradition holds in 2022, that could be bad news for Democrats, whose House majority now stands at only nine seats.

But history of late doesn’t seem to be commandeering the driver’s seat.