Cartoon for Sunday, March 21

Leonard Pitts Jr.: He was having a bad day

So said Cherokee County Sheriff’s spokesman Jay Baker by way of explaining last week’s mass shootings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors.

Cal Thomas: Now come the taxes

Anytime is a bad time to raise taxes, but raising them while people are still struggling with the consequences of government shutdowns is immoral.

In rebuttal: Sam May and Sen. Rick Bennett: Flanagan speaks for Spain, not Maine

We welcome foreign investment, but we insist they participate by playing by our rules and working for our benefit, not just theirs. When it comes to a regulated utility like CMP, the state has the absolute right and responsibility to protect its citizens’ interests.

Robert Pelletier: Trim ‘pork’ in city management

With the new municipal budget in the forecast, it’s time to back off on the taxpayers, and tell department heads to tighten their budgets. It seems, every July 1, the city wins the lottery. Brand new trucks and equipment roll into the Public Works yard like they’re going to stop making them. The pork in […]

Cartoon for Saturday, March 20

Bob Neal: The Countryman: The game of theories

Some folks tell us that the basis of support for today’s Republican Party is racism. Others say, no, it’s people who have lost or fear losing jobs and status who are trending Republican as America becomes more openly and more clearly diverse. Each position is probably right. At least partly. But neither tells the entire story.

Randy Wadleigh: Don’t hit restaurant industry while it’s down; leave tip credit alone

If the tip credit were to be eliminated, waitstaff would earn the standard minimum wage, but for most this will mean a drastic pay cut, because the median hourly earnings of waiters and waitresses in Maine can range from $21-$30 per hour. It would mean a triple-digit increase in tipped labor costs, and because restaurants operate on very tight margins that would be crippling, even under normal circumstances.

David Katende: U.S. healthcare system is ‘completely broken’

I am a veteran and an immigrant. I love this country, I love this state. But our healthcare system? It’s completely broken. I grew up in Uganda, and during political upheaval there, I lost both my parents and one of my sisters. I had family here in Maine, and moved when I was 22. I […]

Ellen Field: Support for pandemic relief package

I’m sure that most people who follow politics through newspapers and television news programs which employ fact checkers are aware that not one Republican voted in favor of the bill that President Biden recently signed. In spite of this fact, apparently at least one Republican is trying to take credit for it. This pandemic relief […]