Ben Bragdon is deputy managing editor for local news, overseeing enterprise reporting projects for the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. Ben was previously editorial page editor for those newspapers and Central Maine Sunday for more than 10 years. Before that, he was managing editor for weekly newspapers at Current Publishing in Westbrook. He began his career as a reporter at the Piscataquis Observer in Dover-Foxcroft and editor at the Moosehead Messenger in Greenville. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston University.
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PublishedMay 2, 2024
Commentary: Voters can’t tell between the arsonist and the fireman
If you were shopping for toaster ovens and your choice was between one that posed a 1% chance of setting your house on fire and a competing one that would not only 100% set your house on fire but proudly guaranteed it right on the box, then you would probably go with the 1% model. […]
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PublishedMay 1, 2024
Commentary: Does social media rewire kids’ brains? Here’s what the science really says
America’s young people face a mental health crisis, and adults constantly debate how much to blame phones and social media. A new round of conversation has been spurred by Jonathan Haidt’s book “The Anxious Generation,” which contends that rising mental health issues in children and adolescents are the result of social media replacing key experiences […]
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PublishedApril 30, 2024
Commentary: Multigenerational households are key to better support for kids of single mothers
Decades of research show that on average, children who grow up with parents who are not married and living together have worse achievement and behavioral and well-being outcomes than children of two-parent homes. Despite this evidence, rates of nonmarital childbearing have risen dramatically in the U.S., especially among the noncollege-educated. What then can be done […]
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PublishedApril 27, 2024
Commentary: FTC ban on noncompetes is a victory for the US economy
It’s easy to understand why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is so upset about the Federal Trade Commission’s decision to ban noncompete agreements. The problem for businesses is not that they will lose trade secrets or valuable investments in workers to competitors. It’s that they just lost bargaining power to workers — and that’s exactly […]
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PublishedApril 27, 2024
View from Away: Only dictators have immunity from criminal acts while in power
It seems unlikely that the Supreme Court will embrace Donald Trump’s outrageous claim that as a former president he enjoys absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions that he allegedly took to overturn the 2020 election and cling to power. This is a relief. To do otherwise would allow the office to become, as Justice […]
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PublishedApril 24, 2024
Commentary: Ukraine aid shows MAGA hasn’t cowed Johnson
House Speaker Mike Johnson endured a titanic struggle to get Ukraine aid through the House, one that demonstrates the benefits of cooperation and the pitfalls of extremism. His ultimate success on Saturday, however, came at a dear price, one paid by Ukrainians in blood and in the countless lives that might have been saved had […]
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PublishedApril 22, 2024
Maine Compass: Across Maine, small businesses are thriving through the franchise sector
If our communities are the heart and soul of the Pine Tree State, then hard work is the heart and soul of our communities. From the seacoast to across the interstate, each town has its own distinct qualities, but passion and grit are the foundation of them all. For my family, that hard-working Mainer spirit transformed […]
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PublishedApril 22, 2024
Commentary: Think life just keeps getting worse? Try being nostalgic — for the present
Nostalgia seems harmless enough, and then someone starts earnestly — absurdly — glamorizing the Stone Age. “Damn can you imagine being a human during the paleolithic age,” tweeted a self-described “eco-socialist” podcaster in September 2021. “Just eating salmon and berries and storytelling around campfires and stargazing … no jobs no traffic no ads no poverty […]
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PublishedApril 22, 2024
View from Away: If 10 straight months of record-breaking heat isn’t a climate emergency, what is?
Californians have had weekend after weekend of cool, stormy weather and the Sierra Nevada has been blessed with a healthy snowpack. But the reality is that even the last few months have been more than 2 degrees hotter than average. The planet is experiencing a horrifying streak of record-breaking heat, with March marking the 10th […]
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PublishedApril 17, 2024
Commentary: Will former Trump officials vote for America first?
Conservative Republican Trump insiders are confronting the fact that they have a tough decision they must make.
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