In the Sun Journal’s coverage of the long-awaited counting of ballots in the Bates Employees & Staff Organization’s (BESO) vote to form a union, reporter Steve Collins’ conclusion and reporting demonstrate a lack of understanding of what workers faced at Bates in this campaign, or what workers in general face in most efforts to form […]
Alex Lear
A Maine native and Colby College graduate, Alex has been covering coastal communities since 2001. He lives in the Portland area with his wife Lauren, 4-year-old daughter Alaina, and 7-year-old bulldog Walter. He has released four CDs of original music and does occasional research work for Marvel Comics' collected editions.
Posted inLetters, Opinion
James Parakilas: Rep. Golden should take lead on climate change
U.S. Rep. Jared Golden has championed our lobster industry in its pleas to keep using traditional lobstering gear. Of course our congressman understands that his advocacy is useless if there are no lobster to catch. He also knows that, due to climate change, the Gulf of Maine is warming three times faster than the oceans […]
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Posted inLetters, Opinion
Jared Bristol: Don’t take away a person’s one shot at existence
Our Legislature is currently moving a bill toward the hearing stage that would make abortion legal through full term, with the approval of a qualified medical professional. It does not have an LD number yet and is still in the revisor’s office. If people are reading this, they were not aborted and got their shot […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Elizabeth Hamilton: NECEC’s clean energy claims are false
CMP’s New England Clean Energy Connect claims it would bring “clean energy” to Massachusetts from Canada (by tearing through the western Maine forest). It claims it “would allow Massachusetts to meet its future carbon reduction goals.” There is a problem with that claim. A big problem. That energy is not clean. In testimony at an Army […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Cecilia MacMillan: Life without parole uses ‘hate to fight hate’
Life without parole in our prisons is a reflection of the inhumanity that is in all of us. LWOP is designed to be harsh and final; less than 1% overturn this sentence. This is a punishment that lacks compassion and says more about the hate, resentment and darkness in society than it does about the […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Mary-Beth Taylor: Reasons to oppose RSU 16 budget
As a Regional School Unit 16 Budget Committee member, I would like to share why I voted “No” on the proposed RSU 16 budget; RSU 16 includes Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland. First, the budget, as presented, included a $185,808 “interest only” payment for the more than $5 million (over $7.86 million when interest is […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Robert Limoges: Weighing two ways to view being ‘woke’
One definition of “woke” today, according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, is being “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” For the liberal it means seeing the inequities that exist. For the conservative it’s being used as a pejorative (bad) label for liberals/progressives. What is America […]