A new vaccine law was passed in the Legislature last session that removed the ability for parents to claim religious and philosophical exemptions to the required vaccines children need to obtain in order to enter schools. This makes the mandate impossible to get out of, unless you have medical reasons for not getting your children vaccinated.

So here it is. My last column before the March 3 election, and it’s time to come clean. Here’s the round up of my votes. I’m sharing them not because I think that you should vote the same way that I did, but because as I was making my decision, hearing and talking to others helped me make up my mind.

This year, 2020, I set personal goals. One goal is simple: keeping a list of books I read this year. The key is finding one convenient place to keep a running list, remembering to add to it as I finish reading each book.

Did you have an ancestor who changed his or her name? This was quite common in the past. If our ancestors didn’t like their given name and preferred a nickname or middle name, they usually didn’t feel the need to legalize a name change in a court of law as we do today. They just went ahead and used whatever they preferred.

Maine stands at the crossroads again of individual liberty and choice or government control and subjugation. Will we choose liberty or bend to out-of-state interests again? For the sake of freedom, let Maine's independence rise up and vote yes on Question 1!

House Republicans remain concerned that excessive spending, combined with a lack of true priorities, will result in hardship and tax increases down the road. Democrats created a state budget that is 11 percent higher than the last one.

We are in the middle of the misinformation age. The latest is the recent effort by a people’s veto group Reject Big Pharma to use the ploy of claiming that Big Pharma is behind the new law requiring vaccinations. I am writing to set the record straight. I have many beefs with Big Pharma, but they are not driving the law to require vaccination of children. Science is.

Michael Bloomberg has a lot of money. To fully understand just how much money he has, consider the following: Donald Trump is, by far, the wealthiest person to ever hold the office of president. His current net worth is estimated to be roughly $3.5 billion.

Gov. Janet Mills’ $127 million supplemental budget is both conservative and deferential to the Legislature -- including its Republican members.

Question 1 would allow those who oppose vaccines for non-medical personal reasons to send their unvaccinated children to school. Those personal beliefs would expose other children -children who then carry the virus home and into the community. This puts us all at risk, especially the vulnerable, aged, infants and pregnant women.  

Did you know that patients fighting cancer need more blood than patients fighting any other disease? Cancer patients use nearly one-quarter of the nation’s blood supply. In fact, five units of blood are needed every minute to help someone going through cancer treatment. Yet, only 3 percent of people in the U.S. give blood.

As the long lines of cars turn off Main Street into the Cross Insurance Center this high school basketball tournament week, it's hard not to reflect on the people inside. They are moms and dads, brothers and sisters, grandparents, cousins, family friends, classmates and, perhaps most significant, the plain but oh-so-reliable hometown basketball fans who cheer on the team, year after year.

Reactions on the Piscataquis Observer Facebook page to last week's column are interesting. Especially comments critical of my praise for the new campaign to repeal ranked-choice voting (RCV) in Maine. A few criticisms referenced parts of Maine history with which I was unfamiliar, so I did some digging on the internet for a better understanding.

Ignorance or arrogance -- I haven't quite figured out which one it is that drives people to blatantly ignore the law, or (at the very least) fail to exercise common courtesy. I live in Corinth and travel Route 15 to and from Bangor quite frequently. I don't mind saying that it has become a very disturbing drive. 

Joe Biden has been running for president for more than 33 years, and has never won a single primary.

When voters go to the polls on March 3, they’ll also be asked whether or not they want to reject a new state law that ended loopholes that allowed some people to inappropriately avoid vaccinations for their kids. Voters should reject the People’s Veto and vote “no” on Question 1.

Matthew Gagnon's column praising Tulsi Gabbard for doing the "human thing" toward those with differing opinions and refraining from celebrating in others' misfortunes or tragedy is well received. It's a powerful approach when seen from a U.S. representative.

Word this week of a campaign to block use of ranked-choice voting in Maine's 2020 Presidential election, and to instead allow the people of Maine to vote on repealing RCV, is warm news on a cold winter day.