Quick takes on issues in the news this week in central Maine …

Casino gambling is still in its infancy in Maine, and little is known about the impact of the casinos in Bangor and Oxford. Less than a decade since the legalization of slot machines, many important questions remain unanswered.

What do small-business owners, low-income mothers and Acadia National Park and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employees have in common? All are at risk of being collateral damage from a political war of words that won’t touch its ostensible target: the federal health care reform law known as “Obamacare.”

There is no question that education reform has been a top priority for the LePage administration since the governor took office in 2011. There has been considerable debate, however, about Gov. Paul LePage’s goals and intentions.

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman got it right: War is hell. There’s not much gallant or noble about it. It’s blood and body parts and wailing.

If you value human life, demand a change in our border policies.

Every year around this time, the Congressional Budget Office issues a report about just how grim the nation’s long-term financial health is. A few lawmakers wring their hands and say they will get serious about fixing the problem, but then they don’t. We, as a nation, rush toward a debt-induced disaster if no one heeds the warning.

So, what is this thing called Obamacare? That was the question posed by Maine Sen. Angus King in a floor speech in Washington last week that followed a 21-hour oration by Texan Ted Cruz. In about 21 minutes, King answered his own question, dispelling five years of smokescreen and horror stories that Cruz and the anti-Obamacare forces have been churning up to derail a much-needed reform to a broken part of our social fabric.

Last September, high phosphorous levels led to a sudden algae bloom in Lake Auburn that killed about 200 trout. It is likely that heavy rainfall and erosion washed the phosphorous into the lake, where higher-than-usual temperatures spurred the growth of the plant, which pulls oxygen from the water as it decays, suffocating the fish.