On Sunday (March 29), President Donald Trump said that if the United States can keep the death toll down to 100,000, "we all together have done a very good job." I pray we can do much better than that.

My old-style landline phone surprised me when it rang that night. I wasn't expecting a call. I really wasn't expecting a call from the caller: drummer Jim Gordon.

One additional new program available to people in the region who are self-isolating at home or anyone who is having trouble doing grocery shopping due to concerns about risk, illness or disability is called Community Pulling Together. This is a program funded partly with a small grant from The New England Grassroots Environment Fund COVID-19 response program awarded to The Commons Energy Collaborative.

The Center Theatre announced that they are asking for volunteers to help communities keep in touch while we are all keeping our distance. According to Patrick Myers, the Center Theatre executive director, the Theatre is working to help people stay connected  and hopefully bring a little joy into their daily life.

Hospitals across Maine are steeling themselves for a possible spike in patients with the coronavirus by stocking up on equipment and freeing up beds and workers. But while those efforts are critical from a public health perspective, they could make it harder in the long run for rural hospitals to sustain their current operations when many of them are already struggling to pay the bills. 

Please stop talking about the electability of a woman to be president of the United States. It is racist or sexist to elect or not elect a person based on race or gender. When the person with the same agenda and values as the majority of people in this country runs for office, they will win the nomination regardless of race or gender.

Fishing regulations, like any rules or regulations, are not easy to love. Some time ago, as fishing law books got thicker and the water-by-water rules got increasingly complex with multiple S-codes and exceptions to the General Law, a cynic made the observation that a serious law-abiding angler needed two companions with him on the water: a Sherpa to carry the law book and a lawyer to interpret the regulations and S-code for each body of water.

State courts in Maine will again cut back the hours they are open to the public Monday to help limit the community transmission of COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.

The coronavirus which originated in Wuhan, China is turning our lives upside down. Kids are at home instead of being at school; families can’t visit their aging parents and grandparents; and our economy is in trouble. Six short weeks ago our economy was the strongest in 50 years. Workers were taking home bigger paychecks, help wanted signs blanketed Maine, and our unemployment rate was the lowest ever recorded. 

I believe Hydro-Quebec is currently trying to buy the expected Central Maine Power corridor referendum in November with their ads. A loophole in Maine’s election law allows a foreign influence to spend money in a referendum election. Some ads even compared Baxter State Park with The Jacques-Cartier National Park in Quebec to promote Quebec’s care for scenic beauty.