Nearly one in six positions in state government is vacant due to the state’s inability to recruit and retain workers at the current pay rates.
Op-Eds
Opinion columns from the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: The solution to ending encampments is shelter
Maine must first commit to providing the most basic of needs: a roof over every head.
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Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Jim Fossel: Slow and steady negotiation best route for Maine tribes
It’s not going to be easy to address tribal relations in one fell swoop. So let’s try another way.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Maine Compass: Meet me on the Merrymeeting Trail
Imagine a trail from Augusta to Brunswick, offering rare and breathtaking views as it traces the Kennebec, Cathance, and Androscoggin rivers. Running along an inactive state-owned railroad corridor, it would attract tourists from around the country, benefit small businesses in our town centers, and provide opportunities for exercise, alternative transportation, and connection to people of […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Why Donald Trump’s federal indictment is as breathtaking as it was inevitable
In one sense, it was breathtaking: the first ever indictment of a former president by the Department of Justice he once oversaw — and therefore the most important federal charge in U.S. history. In another, it was expected. Once Donald Trump had received a formal target letter from the department, his fate was effectively sealed. […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Allyship during Pride Month has to be a serious business
When LGBTQ youth live in communities that do not stigmatize their sexual orientation or gender identity, these young people not only survive, but thrive.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: There’s no place for hate in Maine
Our fear is that homophobic, transphobic and xenophobic rhetoric is slowly becoming routine, even expected. Let’s work together to ensure that’s not the case.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Maine Compass: Maine research array is necessary next step for coastal resilience
Climate change is the challenge of our times. Maine has 145 coastal towns, nearly 3,500 miles of coastline, and a critical coastal economy, all of which are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Intensifying winter storms. Rising sea levels. Sunny day flooding. Ocean acidification. Rapidly warming waters of the Gulf of Maine, pushing lobsters […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Douglas Rooks: Report on Attorney General Aaron Frey falls on deaf ears
A much-anticipated report on the conduct of Attorney General Aaron Frey — who began a romantic relationship with an assistant attorney general he supervised eight months before he publicly disclosed it — was released late last Friday afternoon as the weekly news-and-commentary cycle was ending. It’s a time-honored Washington device to deflect unwelcome attention. In […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Biden, Feinstein, Trump — how do we know when our leaders are too old?
In politics, as in life, it’s all too easy to write off old people, especially when they are frail or disabled. President Joe Biden’s fall on stage during the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony on Thursday immediately raised questions of fitness. Even I, a geriatrician and anti-ageism advocate, looked at Dianne Feinstein’s recent return to […]