Late spring in Maine brings new beginnings, including college and high school graduations. They are ceremonies of passage, leaving one place, one step in life, and leaping to the next. America’s youths are worldlier and possess more technological aptitude than any generation before them, giving them tools to meet challenges unforeseen barely a decade ago. …
America’s federal debt now exceeds $21.2 trillion, and each citizen’s share of that debt is more than $64,500. The Congressional Budget Office, in its “Budget and Economic Outlook: 2018-2028,” said that our federal debt is projected to be on a steadily rising trajectory throughout the coming decade. Debt held by the public, which has doubled …
Read any good books lately? The state is on tenterhooks awaiting the results of this week’s election, and we really don’t want to think about anything else. Those results might be another four or five days coming, as the state processes Maine’s first ranked-choice voting ballots. In the meantime, what? Well, Vacationland is open for …
By Todd R. Nelson My father could hold a conversation with anyone. Some of my favorite recollections are of him doing just that. His print, radio and television journalism career took him to myriad places and stories in 40 years of reporting. He earned a living starting conversations with unlikely people in unlikely places. As …
To the Editor: As one of the islandwide middle school track team coaches, I would like to take the opportunity to speak about our program. Recently there was a much-appreciated article about our team in the Islander called, “Young Runners.” This article acknowledged some very spectacular performances in our final competition of the season. However, …
To the Editor: As a teacher of nearly 30 years, I have a deep interest in the issue of school safety, and I completely reject the idea that putting more guns into our schools offers any kind of reasonable solution. My mind boggles that people who consider themselves leaders are saying that teachers should be …
To the Editor: Sometime this winter, I wondered if the taxonomists had come to their senses and changed the scientific name of bunchberry back to what it was. Unfortunately, they had not. But I did learn that bunchberry catapults its pollen into the air in one of the fastest reactions known in the plant world. …
Bar Harbor and other Mount Desert Island communities are reeling this week from a horrible one-two punch: the death of a young local woman and the arrest of a young local man in connection with her death. The closeness and generosity among people and families in our towns is enormous. Community support has helped, and …
The Municipal Review Committee voted last Thursday to allow member towns to rely, temporarily, on their former trash-to-energy partner, the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company, for garbage disposal. The decision was rational and expedient. It also was painful. Had everything gone according to plan, the Municipal Review Committee’s 115 member towns would be sending their trash …
The primary election is next Tuesday, June 12, but we already know some of the names that will appear on the November ballot. Those would be the independent candidates who qualified by the June 1 deadline. Their names will appear on the November ballot in addition to those party candidates who win their primaries next …
