Living in Maine, not far from where the recent mass shooting occurred, five lessons emerge. First, bad things happen in good places. Having grown up in Maine, near Lewiston, the shock for everyone in this community — in this state — was enormous, unfathomable. In Maine, as most know, we grow up trusting, and help anyone […]
Op-Eds
Opinion columns from the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Maine’s state gun policies are flawed – by design
Lawmakers in Augusta have had opportunity after opportunity to enact effective gun safety laws. None have been taken.
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Maine Compass: Vote yes on Question 3 to reject the disinformation from foreign for-profit utilities
Maine was served by home-grown electric utilities for over a century. Today, CMP and Versant are for-profit foreign corporations that sent $187 million in profits out of country last year. They have fossil fuel interests in Spain, Canada, Norway, and the Middle East and are so afraid of losing these profits that they are spending […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: State ownership of Maine’s grid system is unwise
There is no reason to believe that putting Mainers in charge of our electricity grid would produce better results.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Douglas Rooks: A tipping point in the fight against gun violence
The ripples of last week’s “mass shooting” — an inadequate term, but all we have — continue to spread, but gradually the shock waves are receding from the days immediately following the horrific events in Lewiston. For a time everyone locked their doors, while the search for the man who took 18 lives, not including […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Gun ownership and gun safety laws can and do coexist
The policy change most of us desperately want will only come if we demand it.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: The ocean of yesterday is not the ocean of tomorrow
The massive algae bloom in the Gulf of Maine this past summer serves as a stark reminder of the need for new and better data.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Maine Compass: Securing older Mainers’ healthcare: Sen. Susan Collins can lead the way once again
During the tumultuous attempts by Senate Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the eyes of every Mainer — voters, health care practitioners, and passionate advocates — were fixed on the repercussions of these actions. We closely examined how ACA’s potential repeal would affect our lives, our families, and our patients. There […]
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Maine Compass: Rep. Jared Golden makes courageous stand on guns
It’s the kind of message that has the potential to break the national logjam on gun safety.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Our failed immigration policy is causing a child labor epidemic in the US
Children are now mainstays in migration policy debates and news, with unaccompanied minors at the border drawing much attention over the past decade. The systemic violence and poverty that displace thousands of children from Central and South America have a long history. While these factors have only worsened in recent years because of climate change, […]