Housing is one of the basic necessities of life, and most of us pay a significant portion of our income to keep a roof over our heads.

Growing old can be a solitary experience. But in Maine, it is also something we are doing together.

On the surface, it might look as if the U.S. Senate did Tuesday what it has become famous for doing: absolutely nothing.

Just before the Fourth of July holiday, North Carolina Republicans added a slew of anti-abortion restrictions at the last minute to a bill otherwise concerned with banning Sharia law (already a questionable endeavor, but never mind that now).

America’s rule of law is not an exact science. And it makes no promises to heal.

The first tragedy of the Trayvon Martin case is that it didn’t have to happen. George Zimmerman didn’t have to trail the teenager through the darkened streets of the gated Florida community, didn’t have to get out of his truck. He was told not to. But he did.

The shortsightedness of Gov. LePage’s crusade against MaineCare was exposed earlier than expected, when the federal government last week gave a Portland clinic $74,000 that it can’t use because its homeless clients are ineligible for health coverage in Maine.

The beat will go on at Florida A&M University, but administrators must ensure that the beatings do not. They have finally implemented anti-hazing policies to prevent the kind of tragic death that Robert Champion Jr. met at the hands of band mates in the strutting, gyrating Marching 100.

It is so good to see them again, healing and happier, and finally in control of their lives.