It’s October, which means that bats are once again having their annual star turn, popping up on classroom bulletin boards and store windows across America. But this year, actual living bats in North America aren’t so abundant. They are being decimated by a deadly health epidemic.

In 2008, the city of Old Town limited the hours that people could register to vote. Old Town has a significant population of transient students, and Registrar Patricia Brochu presumably was concerned that they would show up in large numbers to register just when her office was most heavily burdened.

It was a(nother) great day to be a member of the Washington elite. On Wednesday afternoon, the House was steamrolling toward passage of a trio of free-trade agreements without a whisper of objection from the Republican side. Finally, hours into the debate, Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., rose to appeal to his fellow tea partyers to heed the people who elected them.

The ever-expanding universe of social-media technologies — including video-sharing, mobile phones and networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter that allow individuals to share and connect — is as ubiquitous as it is misunderstood. Apostles hail its power to oust dictators and bring us together; skeptics worry that it homogenizes our thinking and trivializes our relationships. Let’s separate fact from fiction.

What is the meaning of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement? For about a month now, protesters have camped out in a park in New York’s financial district, part of an “Occupy Wall Street” movement that has since spread to hundreds of other cities across the nation, including Portland, Maine.

The Taxpayer Protection Pledge is a one-sentence written commitment by members of the House and Senate to their constituents that they will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase total taxes.