One of the least productive public debates in American society today is the debate over abortion.

Later this week, we’ll mark the first 100 days of Gov. Janet Mills’ administration. President Franklin Roosevelt used the first 100 days of his administration as a milestone to measure the progress that he had been made – under difficult circumstances – to right the ship of state in 1933.

“Heigh Ho, Come to the Fair” is an old English folk song, and the fair I’m going to tell you about is two months away. But if you’re like me, your calendar fills up and you might want to jot down the date so you don’t miss it.

When I hear people complain about the Central Maine Power right of way that is being considered, it makes me think about how people must have felt when they saw the first telephone poles going up.

Stopped in my Ford Focus last month at a long traffic light, I switched off Miles Davis “Live at the Plugged Nickel” on my MP3 player, and switched on my FM radio to a state news update of a public hearing before a Florida legislative committee.

I’ve never been all that moralistic about public officials. While I am certain that there are good people who hold public office, in my experience the truth has been that power and influence attract only the worst among us.

Democrats and progressives in Maine are ready for 2020. They are so ready. They’re so ready, in fact, that they might be having a little trouble remembering that it’s just April of 2019.

The impeachment ship is foundering in the breakers of the Mueller report. From blaming Trump election despondency for their obsessive reporting to outright denial, the old guard media is at a loss to explain how their spin got “unspun” before the eyes of the nation. The old ships are taking on water.

I recently wrote a column about two of the non-population federal censuses, agricultural and manufacturing, and promised I would write about other special censuses of value to genealogists. One of my personal favorites is the mortality census. Many genealogists haven’t heard of them but they can be of enormous help in finding the death date of an ancestor if that ancestor happened to die at a certain time.

Bullying in schools can have severe impacts on students and their families. Families should know that they have legal rights when it comes to bullying and there are resources in our community that families can reach out to for help. Here is some information for families.

My dad died six hours ago. His name was Chester B. Fish, Jr. At age 93, dad outlived my mom by two years. And among his parents and two brothers, dad was the last man standing.

We all like to think that we make rational, sound decisions based on our own quality judgment. We roll on with life, evaluate the facts we see in front of us and act accordingly.

With the recent tragedy in New Zealand, Hollywood elitists approved of the recent enactment of stricter gun control in that country. This from a group of writers, directors and actors that spend their lives in a fantasy world.

Our Canadian neighbors to the north want to sell surplus hydropower through Maine to Massachusetts.

Democrats took control of the US House of Representatives with a consistent and constant focus on issues that matter to voters, namely health care. In Maine’s 2nd Congressional District and the race for governor, health care was the No. 1 issue for voters. And the candidates treated it that way.

Voters in Dover-Foxcroft will have a second chance to weigh in on three proposed land use ordinances (LUO) rejected by the town last November. These ordinances are the result of many years of hard work by the Planning Board (PB) focused on creating a more robust regulatory framework to govern land use within our town.

I am writing to support with enthusiasm Gov. Mills’ work toward making preschool available to all children in Maine. As a teacher of English and communication, I have had the opportunity to work with a broad spectrum of students from middle school through college.

Maine should go after Amazon to build their new headquarters here. Why? Because a massive, modern building would look so much better than a 145-mile transmission line that would supposedly create temporary jobs and destroy acres of forest.