Sally Papciak: COVID-19’s effects on adults with disabilities living in group homes

Individuals in a group home require between three and eight, or even more, trained professionals daily. Direct support professionals assist with grooming and hygiene, ensure safe and healthy meals, prompt individuals to interact with others appropriately, and help individuals work toward achieving goals. Among countless other tasks, the direct support professionals ensure a clean, safe environment for all residents.

Cartoon for Saturday, Jan. 16

Greg Boardman: Death penalty needs to go

Lisa Montgomery died at our hands by execution this week. Driven mad by the cruel abuse she endured as a child, she lashed out in her own twisted sense of justice, and took a life as recompense for her own destroyed life. Are Lisa Montgomery’s abusers not accomplices in her act of murder? Are we […]

Dawn King: CMP pro-corridor ads spread fear, misinformation

As a Mainer who has spent countless hours volunteering my time to qualify the “No CMP Corridor” referendum for the ballot for a second year in a row, I am deeply offended by Central Maine Power’s latest ads against our volunteer effort, which are designed to instill fear and spread misinformation. The Maine Constitution recognizes […]

Andrew Whitney: Threat of voter fraud is real

Voter fraud or not, the threat is real. Which side of the aisle one sits on is not relevant in this conversation. Chaos is not beneficial to anyone. We’ve all learned recently how fragile democracy is. It doesn’t matter if voter fraud actually occurs; the mere threat or perception that it could occur is enough […]

Leavitt trustees raising funds for auditorium dedication

TURNER — Leavitt Institute trustees are kicking off a fundraising effort to dedicate the Leavitt Area High School auditorium in memory of Elaine Chenard. The funds will be used to design and install signage and create an account that will assist with the ongoing upkeep and improvements to the auditorium for years to come. Chenard […]

Bob Neal: The Countryman: Police, in the community or of it

Over the years, this military approach to police work starts to attract not the Norm Carons of the world but the cop who screams at a lost old man, the sergeant who pumps up his crew with stark warnings. In, but not of, the community.

Well done news for Saturday, Jan. 16

Auburn student presents at Lasell symposium NEWTON, Mass. — Naiv Luciano Velez, a Lasell University student from Auburn, presented at the university’s Fall Career Readiness Symposium in December. Velez was a member of the university’s course on Black Psychology, and helped to organize African Diaspora Day educational activities for symposium. Velez facilitated a panel discussion […]

Leonard Pitts Jr.: ‘Let ’em up easy’?

The world is watching. It must see every single rioter who can be identified prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law. And it must see Trump held to answer for his crimes, must see him punished – or else let us never again hold ourselves up as a beacon of democracy or a nation of laws. We let ‘em up easy once before, and we’re still dealing with the repercussions.

Martin Luther King Day service set for Farmington

Farmington Area Ecumenical Ministries will hold a Martin Luther King Day service at noon Monday, Jan. 18, at Old South Church, 235 Main St. in Farmington, via Zoom. The service also will be streamed to Facebook and available on YouTube. Guest speaker will be Dr. Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D., director of the Maine Center […]