Maine

Latest Articles

May you and Portlandia be very happy together!

O! Lucky you!
Thanks to Portlandia I now know way too much about you guys and your grody inner lives. It's not the show itself — it doesn't have that power. It's your horrifying enthusiasm for the show that has granted me this mirror.
By CHRIS BRAIOTTA | February 15, 2012

Maine's donkey party loves the rich and the poor — but can't protect both

Two-faced Democrats
In the current legislative fight over Republican Governor Paul LePage's lust to slash Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) programs because of a $221-million shortfall in its budget, Democrats say over and over that they want to protect the poor, sick, and disabled people from whom the governor wants to withdraw state assistance.
By LANCE TAPLEY | February 15, 2012

A weekend in Maine's North Woods teaches lessons beyond survival

Woman versus Wild
Tim Smith doesn't think the apocalypse is coming. He's not into high-tech gadgets or high-drama, made-for-TV survival situations.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 10, 2012

Will the next Keystone fight happen in New England?

Dirty business
We may have narrowly avoided Keystone XL (for now), but local environmental activists say that Maine and New England are not safe from "the dirtiest oil on earth," with a huge Canadian oil company seeking other routes to pump crude oil out of Alberta.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 08, 2012

No matter how you get fresh food, you can get it

No excuses
Even with Maine's short growing season, farmers all over the state are working to accommodate the needs of their customers who want to eat locally year-round.
By AMY ANDERSON | February 01, 2012

Don't let them take control

Maine's counties
There are worse things than Maine's antiquated system of county government.
By AL DIAMON | January 25, 2012

Will Ron Paul try for a win in Maine?

Primary School
Maine Republicans are gearing up for this state's presidential caucuses, scheduled for February 4-11 this year.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | January 18, 2012

Brian Zink, Marisa Martino, and Robin Mandel

By design
Zink's new show, "Assembled" at Howard Yezerski Gallery (460 Harrison Ave, Boston, through February 7), features handsome, hard-edged abstractions assembled from mod, jitterbugging patterns of flat Plexiglass tiles.
By GREG COOK | January 10, 2012

Small potatoes

Balls, pucks and monster trucks
There are too many ridiculous college football bowl games to really care about unless your alma mater plays in one.
By RICK WORMWOOD | December 28, 2011

#Occupy Media

Press Releases
The tent villages of the Occupy movement — including those here in Maine — are excellent visual reminders of, and ever-present embodiments of, the social- and economic-justice challenges that our society faces.
By JEFF INGLIS | December 14, 2011

Eat like the 1 percent

. . . but on a 99-percenter’s budget
Maine has some pretty amazing chefs and restaurants — many using our local bounty as raw materials for their incredible creations.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 07, 2011

Augusta occupiers show a political way to spring

‘Occupy the Capitol!’
The recent act of nonviolent civil disobedience by nine middle-aged and older Occupy Augusta supporters — arrested for refusing to leave the governor's mansion grounds — opens a new phase in Maine's Occupy movement.
By LANCE TAPLEY | November 30, 2011

The poetry of tough decisions

Writers talk
Nationally acclaimed poet Arielle Greenberg and her husband had a marriage license and a death certificate (of a baby that died in utero) from Belfast town hall, but until this summer, they still lived full-time in Chicago, where Greenberg taught poetry at Columbia College.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | November 30, 2011

Portland group asks city to create free-speech zone

Occupy Watch
As officials continue to pressure Maine's Occupy campsites in Portland, Augusta, and Bangor, the Portland Occupation is pushing back.
By JEFF INGLIS | November 30, 2011

Reducing solitary confinement

Exclusive Interview: How Maine’s corrections commissioner dropped supermax numbers by 70 percent . . . and became a national leader in prison reform (if anybody follows)
Installed by conservative Republican Governor Paul LePage last winter, Maine's new corrections commissioner, Joseph Ponte, 64, immediately set about reforming the prison system.
By LANCE TAPLEY | November 02, 2011

Mayors, media, masses

Press Releases
Portland's 15 mayoral candidates are missing an opportunity to connect with the people, both directly and through the media, by failing to publicize their support for OccupyMaine.
By JEFF INGLIS | October 19, 2011

Celebrate local craft breweries during Maine Beer Week

Party like a brewer
You might want to tell your boss now that you'll probably have some foggy mornings in mid-November, but only because you're supporting local business.
By LEISCHEN STELTER | October 12, 2011

Documentary films get some love at a great Maine festival

Hello, Camden!
We've all had that irritating waitress who, asked what she'd suggest on the menu, answers cheerily, "Everything is great!" Thanks for the help — and what credibility!
By GERALD PEARY | October 07, 2011

Maine sneaker-maker could provide military footwear

Born in the USA
As the only remaining manufacturer of athletic shoes in the United States — with three factories in Maine and two in Massachusetts — New Balance wants government assurance that military servicemembers wear American-made sneakers, not ones that are made overseas.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 21, 2011

Inside the TEDxDirigo conference

Big ideas for Maine
I arrived at TEDxDirigo on September 10 feeling rather less than confident about the state of world. The tenth anniversary of 9/11 — and the awful decade that unspooled from that sky-blue morning — was on my mind.
By MIKE MILIARD | September 14, 2011

Drawing a line

Bipartisan agreement
Remain calm. You've probably heard that a special commission has failed to reach bipartisan agreement on a plan to redraw the boundary between Maine's two congressional districts in order to make their populations as close to equal as possible. Don't panic.
By AL DIAMON | September 07, 2011

Before Irene, the Hurricane of ’38

Calamities
The winds kicked up near the West African coast and shot across the Atlantic Ocean. Two weeks later, they barreled past Puerto Rico and turned north.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | August 31, 2011

Green light for Maine’s biggest dispensary company

Marijuana Watch
It'll be a while before Portlanders with doctor's orders for medical marijuana have a local dispensary, but Northeast Patients Group may open its first facility in Thomaston in the next couple of weeks.
By JEFF INGLIS | August 31, 2011

Blues beyond pie

A closer look at Maine's most famous fruit
Here, a look at some blueberry characters and concerns.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 31, 2011

Spreading Maine ideas

Talking TED
"Innovation is part of Maine's legacy and DNA." So says Adam Burk, executive director of TEDxDirigo, the independent group working to create a local TED conference for Mainers.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 25, 2011

School reform comes to Maine

What we know, and what we have yet to learn, about changing education
Of all the conservative policies pushed through in the wake of Maine's Republican takeover last year, there is one on which the right and left may be able to find common ground.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 17, 2011

Dirty money

In memory of Brewster
As I walked down the corridors of the Ralph Owen Brewster Hospice for Decaying Political Ideals, there were no indications of despair, pain, or misery.
By AL DIAMON | August 03, 2011

Getting Celtic on the coast

Fiddle me this
Ask Randy Labbe what Celtic music sounds like and you're likely to get a fair amount of hemming and hawing.
By SAM PFEIFLE | July 20, 2011

Four-hour showstoppers and Malcolm McDowell come to Waterville

Into the Woods
Boasting a high-profile selection of archival prints and to-be-buzzed-about small films, the 14th Maine International Film Festival begins on Friday and runs through July 24 at locations in Waterville, primarily HQ Railroad Square Cinema. Herein, a guide to the festivities.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | July 13, 2011