When Egyptian police opened fire on protesters in Cairo over the weekend, they ended not only scores of lives but also any chance of a peaceful resolution to Egypt’s burgeoning civil war. They also further exposed the Obama administration’s hypocritical policy of maintaining aid to the regime, despite U.S. law requiring a suspension.

The director of national intelligence announced on July 19 that a court had renewed one of the government’s most controversial surveillance programs — the collection of a vast database of so-called metadata from Americans’ phone calls.

Students who borrow to pay for college got some good news last week when a bipartisan group of senators, including Maine independent Angus King, passed a bill that will cut the interest rate on student loans nearly in half.

The ability to get and keep a job is a cornerstone of a healthy, productive adult life. That’s why it’s so important to get teenagers ready for the working world.

Time and distance are supposed to shrink in the Information Age. In Maine’s court system, however, things are moving in the opposite direction.

If you were listening to the radio on Saturday, you might have gotten the impression that lowering Maine’s energy costs is a simple matter.

Ever since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden dropped a slew of classified documents into the public’s view, the country has re-engaged in a vigorous debate about some — but not all — of the authorities the U.S. government claims to eavesdrop on electronic communications. But there is at least one loophole written into law that makes Americans vulnerable to unnecessary intrusions, is much more unsettling than a lot of the Snowden material and isn’t getting much attention.

Drones, developed for military use at war, are increasingly being deployed over U.S. skies, looking for everything from suspicious people along the border to missing people to fishing violations.

Islamic militants’ recent attack on a boarding school in Nigeria shows just how evil these people truly are.

Finally, something positive to say on the obesity front: According to new studies, obesity rates are leveling off — dropping, even. Hey, we must have done something right.