The U.S. health care system is pretty good at the complicated stuff. A perceptive practitioner can suss out what’s wrong with us or pass us along to a specialist. Blood tests, imaging and now genetic studies can pinpoint what has gone awry, and the medical community is getting better and better at finding a cure …
Having passed Election Day 2019, a ho-hum if ever there was one, we are now entering the countdown to the “real” election when the whole nine yards is on the table. The president, all members of Congress (the House, not the Senate) and all Maine legislators will be on the ballot. The electorate is already …
The second regular session of the 129th Legislature is taking shape, even though it doesn’t start until the new year. It is the “short” session, the second year of the biennium, and per the Maine Constitution is limited to considering legislation “limited to budgetary matters,” bills submitted by the Governor’s office, bills reported out of …
Remember this? “Welcome to Maine. Now go home.” That was how tourists were allegedly greeted by the stereotypical, taciturn Mainer. Times have changed. Now Maine is much keener on laying out the welcome mat for visitors from around the world. A lot of effort is put into the “visitor experience,” but what is on display …
Mills for president! Our Governor has been making a splash on the international scene, giving a much more favorable impression of Maine than some other politicians we could mention. First it was the United Nations, where she addressed the UN General Assembly at a Climate Action Summit; then it was meeting with the prime minister …
After 24 years of service, Gary Fortier’s tour of duty on the Ellsworth City Council is coming to an end. Read the list of positions Gary has held in Ellsworth and you will have to lie quietly with a cold cloth on your forehead to recover. Men and women like Gary are what makes the …
All the political oxygen has been sucked out of the room by the monumental snarl surrounding the U.S. presidency. This may be why the appearance on stage of another Democrat contesting Sen. Susan Collins’ seat has received little attention. Nevertheless, here he is. Yes, “he.” Jonathan Treacy of Oxford has become the fifth candidate to …
After a string of sparkling but brisk days, wham, it’s summer again. The sun stayed out and the thermometer rose, delighting the tourists who choose fall for vacation time. The little people have returned to school so the crowds, at least on weekdays, are generally an older demographic and a bit more subdued than the …
Who are we, and what do we want? Those are the questions on the mind of every candidate, campaign staffer, political analyst and pollster as we approach the one-year mark before the next election. The answers are many. We care about health care. The economy. We care about the “direction” of the country. We worry …
If you were thinking of taking refuge from the crowds in Bar Harbor by slipping off into Acadia National Park, think again. On Aug. 29, David Bernhardt, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, issued a “secretarial order” which “simplifies and unifies regulation of electric bicycles (e-bikes) on federal lands” managed by his department. The order …
In a one-day legislative session, the Legislature laid three bonds to rest but passed the biggest one. The $105-million transportation bond was the lone winner. Governor Janet Mills pared down her overall bond request from $239 million to $163 million and broke it into four pieces, as Republicans requested. A fat lot of good it …
We’ve reached Labor Day, the end of our all-too-brief summer. It may come with a sigh of relief for the maxed-out hospitality industry, but those of us who favor flip flops and morning dips, days on the lake or evenings on the porch are not all that keen on the arrival of fall. At one …
