CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Lacey Chabert, 36; Marion Cotillard, 43; Jenna Elfman, 47; Fran Drescher, 61. Happy Birthday: Evaluate your position emotionally, financially and physically. You may feel you need to make some changes, but before you decide to take a gamble, go over all the ramifications that could unravel should you make a […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Education funding highlight of 128th Legislature
The 128th Legislature has finally adjourned. History will soon forget the challenges, drama, dysfunction and battles of this Legislature. There were several significant challenges to consider this session, but none more important than funding Maine’s public schools. It is here that we find probably the crowning achievement of the 128th Legislature. As much as Democrats […]
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Posted inMark LaFlamme, sj-web
Mark LaFlamme: So, what're you wearing?
Shots fired! No. There were no shots fired. I’m sorry to scare you like that. Go change your underpants. It’s just that for reasons I can’t quite fathom, fireworks seem to be all the rage again in Lewiston. In all corners of the city people are firing off Big Jimmies, Little Louies, Poodle Rockets, Banana […]
Posted inDear Abby, sj-web
He doesn’t feel her needs are important
DEAR ABBY: I have been married to a wonderful man for 17 years. The drawback is he’s a workaholic. We have not spent even one day together doing something fun in more than 10 years. We both work full-time and live on a small farm. My husband is a carpenter. He collects tractors and works […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Voters must get involved, take back power, restore democracy
In 1788, the nation’s Founding Fathers, understanding the dangers of vesting too much power in one leader, determined that a representative government would best safeguard people’s rights. The Congress and Senate would provide checks and balances on the powers allocated a president. Men and women would be chosen by the people to represent them in […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Perspective, sj-web
Can you benefit if your insurer gains access to your Fitbit data?
Life insurance company John Hancock made a splash last week with the news that soon all of its policies would come bundled with the option to let the company track your fitness – via either a website and app, or through the use of a fitness tracker like an Apple Watch or Fitbit. The move […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Perspective, sj-web
Why the gig economy may not be such a great gig
WASHINGTON — The “gig” economy might not be the new frontier for America’s workforce after all. From Uber to TaskRabbit to YourMechanic, so-called gig work — task-oriented work offered by online apps — has been promoted as providing the flexibility and independence that traditional jobs don’t offer. Yet the evidence is growing that over time, […]
Posted inPerspective, sj-web
Gig-economy workers are the modern proletariat
Karl Marx defined the proletariat as laborers “unencumbered by any means of production,” increasingly impoverished by the rise of machines. In that classic form, Marx’s favorite class doesn’t really exist in the rich world of today – except in the so-called gig economy. Reports from the International Labor Organization and the JPMorgan Chase Institute describe […]
Posted inbPlus, sj-web
Face Time: Stefanie Mahr Damien — Sewing, designing and predicting the next hot shade
Stefanie Mahr Damien moved to Maine in 2015 after falling in love with an Auburn man. She started Refresh, an interior design, staging and sewing company now in the Pepperell Mill, the next year. She talks design, sewing corn costumes, selling Jaguars and gently steering people away from a case of the color regrets. Name: […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Why survivors don't report sexual assaults
During Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination process to the Supreme Court, two (and possibly more) women have come forward to talk about a sexual assault that happened many decades ago and naming Kavanaugh as the offender. That has raised many questions about the motivation of the accusers, the truthfulness of their accounts and why they would […]