Many I spoke with during the course of my research for a book on the history of the use of beagles in scientific research, especially within activist communities, predict an end to their use within one or two decades. Whether they are correct remains to be seen, but understanding our debt to beagles and their role in over a century of scientific discovery is as vital as ever.

Over 40 million people rely on the stressed Colorado River for water. Water levels in the river’s two big reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, are at historic low levels. Meanwhile, the other source that has provided water forever, underground aquifers, are drying up. Climate change and growing populations are making shortages worse.

The flat tax would eliminate the class envy argument, abolish the hated Internal Revenue Service, and put more money in the pockets of people who earn it, instead of sending greater amounts to the government, which only knows how to spend and misspend it.

Faith communities and faith leaders have courageously stood with Maine families during these past years of COVID pandemic. We need Maine faith communities to walk with Maine workers in recognizing workers’ rights and once again making economics a centerpiece of a moral horizon.

Student debt has been the obsession of Biden and his supporters. They deny it, of course, but their focus reflects a deeply held, profoundly insulting assumption that those who have earned university degrees are more valuable and worthy than all those Americans who haven’t.

The buildup of weapons, the proliferation of cameras, the increasing fear among some that our government is no longer on “our side” reminds me of the lyric from a song by The Police: “Every move you make, every breath you take I’ll be watching you.”

In 1957, the Yokohama “Battle of the Bulge” focused on bras as something that would help keep servicewomen looking good. Today, military leaders’ attention to servicewomen’s undergarments reflects a new focus on making sure all members of the nation’s defense team are ready. It’s a recognition that readiness can look different for men and women, even while acknowledging that gender should not be the main determinant of a service member’s role.

Although he had firm principles, Lincoln was always a political pragmatist and fundamentally a party man willing to maneuver as necessary. Cheney’s post-Jan. 6 approach bears less resemblance to Lincoln’s than to that of William Lloyd Garrison, the uncompromising abolitionist publisher who took unabashedly radical and unpopular positions and expected the world to move toward him.