The world is upside down. Once a global leader, the United States has turned in the worst performance on the planet in managing the coronavirus. Countries that have done far better are getting back on track, starting up their economies and beginning to welcome visitors, as long as they are not from the United States. Weeks ago, Dr. …
The primary election is just two and a half weeks away. This is no ordinary year. Are you sure you know how to vote? And when? First of all, you must be registered to vote in the municipality where you live. You must be 18 years old to vote in the general election, but if you’re 17 you may …
On we stagger, wondering what will become of us as the reopening plan for the hospitality industry goes from Keep ME Healthy to Keep ME Guessing to Driving ME Crazy. But just as many were feeling all is lost, the tourists began to find us. It is nothing like a normal season, but almost overnight something changed. There …
President Donald Trump came to Maine last Friday to visit Puritan Medical Products, the Guilford manufacturer producing swabs for COVID-19 tests. The century-old company has a right to be proud. They took a traditional Maine resource—wood—and turned it into highly successful products that, like Maine itself, are more practical than glamorous. The humble toothpick, with a touch of mint flavoring added? Genius. And …
For the past four months, Maine Governor Janet Mills, like all governors, has been confronted with questions as novel as they are complex. With a new virus threatening lives around the globe and already killing over 100,000 Americans, it has been a daunting task to develop and understand the science surrounding the coronavirus and to …
Memorial Day weekend, the official send-off of the summer season, was an occasion of toned-down events and generally respectful visitors. As a test of preparedness, we did okay. There were rumors of lodging occupied by travelers other than “essential workers,” the only people entitled to rent rooms before June 1 under the current travel restrictions. …
Maine lobstermen are in a world of hurt, caught in a two-pronged assault on their livelihood. The pincer claw is the pandemic, causing their market to collapse. The crusher claw? That would be the latest lawsuit over whale rules. The coronavirus pandemic is no small problem. A major domestic market, at least in Maine, is restaurants …
The days of following the science are gone. Where once we were horrified at a COVID-19 death toll in the hundreds, now it seems to be a price we are willing to pay to get back to “normal” as deaths pass 80,000. That, of course, is as blanket a generalization as all the other blanket …
The moment of truth has arrived. We have been socked in the gut by the coronavirus, scrambled through disbelief and fear to develop a new lifestyle, and now? We’re sick of it. We are still afraid. We are peering at the eyes above a face mask, trying to figure out if it’s a friend …
There’s an old musical from the early ‘80s called “Barnum,” and one of the songs from it is “Thank God I’m Old.” Amen, brothers and sisters. If ever there were a time to be grateful for the later stages of life, it’s now. We are labelled “elderly” at the tender age of 65. In a fit …
