In my May 9 column, I wrote about bonds, citing Rep. Justin Fecteau as the only Republican who has sponsored a bond this session. Wrong. The bond for equipment for career and technical education centers was sponsored by a different Fecteau, Democratic Rep. Ryan Fecteau. Sponsor Ryan Fecteau represents part of Biddeford and is the …
Finally the temperature is rising and Maine is beginning to blossom. It is an exquisite time of year, with tiny baby leaves cautiously unfurling, shoots of green popping up in the garden and, most beautiful of all, flowering trees showing off their ephemeral glory. The temperature is rising in Augusta, too. Statutory adjournment is …
Recent news about youth in Maine is alarming. A study in the Pediatrics journal of the American Medical Association says Maine is the state with the highest number of children with a mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety or attention deficit disorder. That translates to about 25 percent of our kids, or about six …
It is early in the year, but we might be ready to decide the winner of the annual “Why Didn’t I Think of That?” contest. Hands down, it’s Walmart and its recent request for a tax abatement to the city of Ellsworth. The request seems to be based on Walmart’s assertion that its retail properties …
Snow, rain, freeze. Snow, rain, freeze. That was the weather pattern for the heart of winter this year. Casts on arms were this year’s fashion statement, and stores sold out of “creepers,” the little picky things that go on over your boots to give you a fighting chance at navigating the sidewalks. It took …
It’s official. Maine’s state bird is a bird. A chickadee for sure, but whether we mean the arboreal or the black-capped chickadee, we just don’t give a hoot. LD 572 has been sent to the dead file. The bird pictured on the Maine license plate is the black-capped, so there is that in its favor. …
At this point in the legislative session there are 144 bills that have been referred to the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. What could be so wrong? A small number of those bills are in the “cultural” terrain of the committee, but the large majority of them are about education. Do we really need 144 …
It is town meeting season in Maine and in this era of dysfunctional government it is something for which we can be thankful. Usually. If that government is best which governs least, Maine towns got the memo. Town meeting is as direct as democracy gets. Of Maine’s nearly 500 municipalities, only Portland has a …
A bill before the Maine Legislature is embroiled in two classic arguments. How do we use science to support political decisions, and how do we balance our individual rights versus those of society? Hundreds of Mainers showed up in Augusta last week to testify on LD 798, An Act to Protect Maine Children from Preventable …
A recent radio call-in show featured two Maine legislators, a Republican and a Democrat, invited to discuss the legislative session so far. It went like this. Caller: “You’re familiar with LD ABC? About taxes?” Legislator: “Er, not that specific bill…” Next caller: “You know the bill about lobster fishing, LD XYZ?” Legislator: “Umm, I’m not …
In the pile of bills being considered by Maine legislators, there are some esoteric ones. A bill about cusk. A bill about spat. A bill about auricular acupuncture. Then there are the bills about Maine stuff, the designated symbols that allegedly reflect our state identity. They are proposed by ardent historians, horticulturalists, geologists and sometimes …
Snow, rain, freeze. Snow, rain, freeze. Basketball. That about sums up this part of the Maine winter. We are all doing the old person shuffle on the streets and sidewalks, and the actual old persons? Staying at home like the survivors they are. The Legislature? Not staying home. Neither rain, nor snow … Well, sometimes …
