At about five o’clock, on the way home from work, Eileen called me from the road craving “real food.” I agreed to meet her at a nearby restaurant we frequent. Once seated, we scanned the menu, choosing our meals before our waiter arrived. At our table moments later a waiter asked, “Can I start you off with something to drink?” Eileen asked for water. I ordered an iced tea, unsweetened, with lemon.

Recently this newspaper published an article about the possibility of the town entering into a lease agreement to place a solar array on the Dover-Foxcroft airport property. The town manager, Jack Clukey, was quoted as saying, “In order to do that, the site would no longer function as an airport.” Unfortunately, there is far more to this story than what this quote suggests. A follow-up story suggests that local pilots opposed the solar project, hindering something which could potentially have financial rewards for the town. This is simply not true.

As I write this column, Maine's Legislative Council -- which consists of 10 lawmakers, six Democrats and four Republicans -- is beginning to work through the process of considering the roughly 400 bill requests submitted by lawmakers for the second session of the Legislature.

The first text from my daughter arrived at 10:40 Tuesday morning. “I’m in lockdown.” “It’s not a drill.”

In my 9/21/18 column, “Give Political Thugs the Bum's Rush,” I told a story of Maine Senate Democrat Leader Beverly Bustin’s 1995 reaction to Maine voters electing Angus King as Governor, and a new Republican majority to the Maine Senate.

All of us should be celebrating Maine Forest Products Week, Oct. 20-26. Maine’s forest products industry has a long and successful history in our state. From our earliest days, Maine’s vast timberlands have been an important asset, sought after first for masts for the king’s navy, and today for lumber and paper. The future will include any number of forest products from composites to bio tech to uses that have not even been imagined yet.

Unfortunately, in 2019, most of the people who post quotes like these on social media are not interested in actually living by those quotes. Instead, they wish to be seen signaling their own virtue, and by associating themselves with great and inspiring figures like Dr. King, hoping they too will be viewed as profound.

It wasn’t a wild animal that distracted me. It was a wild phone call, an argument about work, no less. I wasn’t paying close attention to where I was. I wasn’t driving with the care we all should expect of one another. And I made a mistake.

Looking through the sliding glass doors out over the Atlantic Ocean, 3:15 in the morning, I can see a solitary white light on the dark horizon. It’s probably a commercial fishing boat. The almost full moon, nearly hidden behind clouds, casts moonlight enough to see white foam on cresting, crashing waves roll up the beach and disappear in the sand.

On two separate occasions this week, Americans have offended China, and prompted the country to react.

Outrage is in right now. And there’s plenty to be outraged about: The president has asked other countries to help him smear a political opponent, he’s abandoning Kurdish allies in Syria and he continues his relentless attacks against LGBTQ people.

Is there ever a time to stop working on your genealogy and declare it done? The answer is, it depends.

I recently visited Red Hill, Patrick Henry’s last home in Virginia, and was surprised to learn Mr. Henry left me a note. Written not long before his death, Patrick Henry tucked the letter into a small bin on his writing desk.

Let's be honest, this was always the way this was going to happen. As we all know by now, on Aug. 12, a whistleblower complaint was filed with the inspector general of the intelligence community by a CIA officer who had worked at the White House. The complaint, as we now know, alleged wrongdoing by President Donald Trump.

I’m nervous about next week. Really anxious. The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on three cases that have the potential to upend the lives of LGBTQ people across the country.

With the orange stand-up paddle board under my right arm, my swim gear and paddle in my left hand and under my left arm, I walk down the weathered wood steps to the sandy beach. It’s a short hop to the water’s edge. I step in, ankle deep, lowering the SUP board onto Bear Pond.

On Monday, the United Nations held its 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, which was intended to push the world into advancing "climate action" on greenhouse gas emissions. It featured government officials, speakers, activists, intellectuals and academics, and of course plenty of scientists.

Signers beware. That’s the first lesson all Mainers should take away from the recent people’s veto effort targeting vaccine regulations in the state.