Ben Bragdon – Page 37 – Centralmaine.com

Staff Writer

Ben Bragdon is managing editor of the Sun Journal. Prior to that, he was deputy managing editor for news at 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.

Op-Eds, Opinion

Carl P. Leubsdorf: 60 years ago, in Dallas

by Carl P. Leubsdorf November 18, 2023November 17, 2023

It was one of those mild November days, typical of Washington autumns, the temperature pushing 70. Because I worked nights, I was trying to nap between picking up the 3-year-old at play school and her older siblings at 3. But excited voices interrupting the music on my favorite oldies station jostled me awake, talking of […]

Op-Eds, Opinion

Commentary: The Supreme Court finally has a code of ethics, but it has a fatal flaw

by Erwin Chemerinsky November 17, 2023November 16, 2023

Although it is welcome and overdue that the Supreme Court finally adopted an ethics code for its justices on Monday, the approach is seriously flawed in that it includes no enforcement mechanism. Instead it continues to leave it to each justice to decide whether to be recused in a particular case. Until Monday, every judge […]

Op-Eds, Opinion

Commentary: American Muslims and Jews must stand together amid tragedies in Middle East

by Sabeeha Rehman and Walter Ruby November 13, 2023November 9, 2023

Two years ago, the two of us, a Muslim-American woman, and a Jewish-American man, wrote a book together, arguing that American Muslims and Jews cannot afford to allow the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to divide our faith communities here at home. We believe in that principle today as much as we did then; but as we watch […]

Op-Eds, Opinion

Commentary: Rise in infant mortality shows US needs to take better care of moms

by Lisa Jarvis Bloomberg Opinion (TNS) November 11, 2023November 9, 2023

New provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offer a horrible statistic: The infant death rate in the U.S. rose by 3% in 2022 to 5.6 deaths per 1,000 live births, the first significant increase in about 20 years. It’s too soon to know if this is the start of a terrible […]

Op-Eds, Opinion

Commentary: Gun case forces Supreme Court to confront its own illogic

by Noah Feldman Bloomberg Opinion (TNS) November 10, 2023November 9, 2023

The good news is that the U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to reverse a Fifth Circuit decision that said police can’t confiscate guns from domestic abusers. The bad news is that the high court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which guided the lower court’s ruling, remains firmly in place. Bruen is among the worst-reasoned Supreme Court decisions […]

Editorials, Opinion

Our View: Metal mining has no place in future of Katahdin region

by The Editorial Board November 9, 2023November 8, 2023

There is too much of a chance of something going wrong if Maine allows a mine in such an environmentally sensitive place.

Op-Eds, Opinion

Sen. Brad Farrin: Important decisions on electric cars should be made by Legislature

by Sen. Brad Farrin November 7, 2023November 7, 2023

You’ve likely heard that several Maine environmental groups petitioned the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) to adopt California’s aggressive Advanced Clean Car and Truck rules for Maine. The goal of the groups Natural Resources Council of Maine, Sierra Club and Conservation Law Foundation is to bypass the Maine Legislature and force their own climate […]