Consumers already think they pay through the nose for what comes through the hose.

Will he? Won’t he? He will! He won’t! Finally, it’s official: He won’t.

Gov. Paul LePage used his weekly radio address Saturday to decry abuse of Maine’s system for providing unemployment benefits and vowed a crackdown on cheaters.

Let’s start by acknowledging that Maine’s Clean Election system, approved by voters in 1996, has been generally well-received by the public and the candidates for state office who have used it.

What do the state departments of Agriculture and Conservation have in common?

Newly released Census data demonstrate the chilling impact the recession has had on the current crop of young Americans, to whom the American Dream is increasingly becoming a historical curiosity.

Even if the latest promise of granting marginal political rights to Saudi women could be believed, it would be too little, too late. King Abdullah has good intentions regarding their position, but any step forward on rights tends to be matched by two steps back — and not just for women.

For several years, we’ve seen stories about people declared dead by the Social Security Administration. Many went through a lot of hoops to officially resurrect themselves. In the interim, they didn’t get the proper payments due. And for some people, this created a real hardship.

Most of the talk about bonding during the last legislative session had as much to do with politics as with sound fiscal policy.

It’s called the Essential Air Service, and supporters call it an economic lifeline for small, mostly rural communities. Critics call it a $200 million-a-year federal boondoggle. Like so many issues involved in the debate over cutting federal spending, they are both right — up to a point.