Businesses celebrated July Fourth two days early this year, not with fireworks but instead a health care reprieve from the Obama administration.

For too many K-12 students in Maine, summer vacation is a mixed blessing. When school’s in session, these children and teenagers get free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches. After school lets out for the summer, however, they lose access to these sources of food.

The health care system is in crisis, but compensation for top Maine hospital executives remains healthy.

President Barack Obama’s push to put a new emphasis on curbing greenhouse gas emissions had the feel of wishful thinking. He knows that Congress has little interest in the effort, so he plans to focus on what he can do by Environmental Protection Agency rule-making. The exercise of such regulatory power tends to be a slow grind through government bureaucracy, though, and he may not be able to get much of his agenda accomplished before his term ends.

The Affordable Care Act, known as “Obamacare” to friend and foe alike, is the perfect target to organize against.