We all know the saying ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease.’ I worked at an electric utility owned and operated by municipal government in the Pacific Northwest, and in my experience, the squeaky wheels were the people with political connections.
Op-Eds
Opinion columns from the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
The Maine Millennial: ‘Hot Labor Summer’ continues its valiant move forward
The major worker actions going on across the U.S. shine light on the fact that some workers – farmworkers, actors, even teachers – are considered less deserving of union protections.
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Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Hilary Koch: I am Batman
Knowledge is power. And this week I was schooled … I was about to pull into my garage, but my eldest son gestured to me to stay in the driveway. He was holding our small dog. He climbed into my car and started to relay the excitement. He didn’t get far. My husband emerged from […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Tragedy of capsized migrants barely noticed amid loss of Titan and its billionaire passengers
I know what it’s like to wait for someone lost at sea. When I was 20 years old, working at a music cafe in Charleston, South Carolina, I got the call that my mother’s boat was lost in a massive storm during a sailing race to Bermuda. I was assured that the powers that be […]
Posted inJ.P. Devine, Op-Eds, Uncategorized
J.P. Devine: These days it’s worth asking that old Johnny Carson refrain, ‘How hot was it?’
The longtime ‘Tonight Show’ host would use the bit in his opening monologue, and these days, with blistering heat descending on many parts of the world, there are plenty of ways to respond, writes J.P. Devine.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Community Compass: Sturgeon’s return show power of river restoration work
The city of Gardiner witnessed a river restoration miracle this summer. Atlantic sturgeon, once rare in the Kennebec, showed up in force at the mouth of Cobbosseecontee Stream to spawn just a few weeks ago. These giant fish, which have inhabited our planet since the time of the dinosaurs, are spectacular to see. People who […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Jim Fossel: Bipartisan 2024 White House ticket? Forget it.
It’s true that voters aren’t enthusiastic about a Biden-Trump rematch, but there’s little evidence that they want No Labels’ vague alternative.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: The farm bill is about more than farmers
Each time Congress debates its priorities for the farm bill every five years, as it is doing this year, it faces legislation that profoundly affects the economic well-being of Americans nationwide. From managing natural resources to rural development to funding labs and researchers at institutions across America, the farm bill is the most important tool […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Medical debt is making Americans angry. Doctors and hospitals ignore this at their peril.
For Emily Boller, it was a $5,000 hospital bill for a simple case of pink eye that took four years to pay off. For Mary Curley, it was the threatening collection letters from a lab that arrived more than 2½ years later, just as her husband lost his job and the family was fighting to […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Actors are striking because we’ve long been in crisis. It’s not just streaming or AI
In late 2014 I was hired to play friend #3 in a new commercial for Garnier Nutrisse, the at-home hair color line. The company offered me a payout of $100 for my likeness, which they would use online and elsewhere. I spent that paycheck on a cab to and from the shooting location in a […]