Sometimes, when a football team has a prolonged losing streak, it creates a cycle that’s hard to break. The good folks of New England haven’t recently experienced this challenge (as evidenced by yet another Super Bowl trip – go Pats!), but unfortunately, the U.S. Senate is currently dealing with exactly that problem.

Happy midwinter! No doubt about it, time is marching on for all of us. So it is time to bring everyone up to date on what will be happening in the upcoming year for people who want to stay active, connected, engaged and have fun in our region (and who doesn’t?).

Threatening to deport young adults brought here illegally by their parents years ago, the “Dreamers,” is the same as threatening young legal citizens with a prison sentence because it was discovered that their parents had placed them in the getaway car during their bank robbery years ago.

We are happy to see that Maine’s federal delegation unanimously supports bipartisan legislation to end an arbitrary cap on the annual amount Medicare will cover for those who need outpatient therapy services. These arbitrary spending limits are preventing older Mainers from receiving the rehabilitation care they need from their therapists.

I’d like to think I’d be different, though I hope I never find out.

Tom Kawczynski was fired as the town manager of Jackman this week after his radical, racist agenda was exposed. After news about Kawczynski surfaced last week, I spent some time on his New Albion website and in the underworld of Gab, an alt-right Twitter alternative, and on Kawczynski’s Facebook page. While the white separatist and racist beliefs he espoused are terrible, I was more amazed by the openness with which he talked about his views and his goals of creating a white ethno-state in northern Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Nearly 30 million Americans have diabetes, including more than 137,000 Mainers. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, blindness in adults, and amputations not related to injury, and it is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S., claiming some 70,000 lives each year.

Last July, I wrote a column that implored you to ignore fundraising reports and polls in the gubernatorial contest. Today is your first test to see whether you listened or not.

Some Republicans, it appears, suffer from situational hearing impairment. Present in a room, listening to an audio tape, reacting to a reporter’s questions, members of the Republican Party aren’t able to hear clearly -- at least if they’re to be believed.

Obesity is a problem in our nation, and it’s a problem in Maine. But the USDA refuses to prohibit the purchase of soda and candy with food stamps.

Matthew Gagnon’s parents should be lauded for teaching him “not to label people, and to reject attempts at categoriz(ing) human beings.” Unfortunately, labeling and categorizing are endemic to our society.

Across the U.S. more than 40 million Americans provide care for parents, spouses, children and other relatives with disabilities or illness. Here in our state, about 178,000 Mainers care for their loved ones and help them live in their homes and communities.

As a small business owner who also represented a largely rural community in the Maine State Senate, I know first-hand the importance of access to broadband in communities like ours.

Terry Hayes, Maine’s first independent state treasurer and independent, clean elections candidate for governor, is honored to announce the support of Rep. Norman Higgins, I-Dover-Foxcroft. Treasurer Hayes will be campaigning in Piscataquis County on Friday, Jan. 19 with Rep. Higgins who represents House District 120.

It was an otherwise innocent stroll through Frank Harrison Middle School, where my oldest son goes to school, when my eye caught a display on the wall.

Give Gov. Paul LePage a break. Sure, his note to a 16-year-old who is concerned about the future of the internet was insensitive. Absolutely, he was tone deaf. And really, who doesn’t sign a personal note with a third-person job title? But the advice, despite the deeply flawed delivery, was sound.

On behalf of the 178,000 unpaid family caregivers who reside in our state, AARP Maine applauds U.S. Sen. Susan Collins for her leadership in sponsoring the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act.

After our recent visit from Winter Storm Grayson, I want to thank postal employees for making every reasonable effort throughout this storm to transport, collect and deliver the mail where it was safe to do so.