As you likely already know, the Maine Legislature adjourned in the early morning hours of April 19 with a great deal of work left undone. We returned on Wednesday, May 3 to act on various bills that the Governor had vetoed. That day I voted to extend the session one day to take up some important bills. The vote failed.

Once again the media and the political establishment have anointed who they think should be the candidates, explained to the voters why we should just except their established infallibility, and just embrace the inevitable by voting the way they indicate. So again, it's the same old, same old. Two candidates, who the “powers that be” have foisted upon us, to which we are expected to accept without question.

Is the proposed citizen initiative question legal according to the Maine Constitution?

John Williams is an accused cop-killer. The police believe, with a great deal of very credible evidence, that Williams is responsible for the shooting death of Cpl. Eugene Cole, after a confrontation in Norridgewock.

The dysfunction – and frankly, absurdity – in politics today has forced the courts to be the arbiter of last resort on issues that rightly should never come before them.

Three days ago sunny, low 60-degree weather melted the last of the thick layer of ice covering Camp Marlene pond all winter. Migratory ducks — mergansers, golden eye, wood ducks, and mallards — were back scouring shallow shoreline water for water vegetation, insects, and fry.

I had found that our yearbook collection was missing copies. In March I sent out an appeal for donations to complete our collection. The response was wonderful. We were missing 31 different years. Due to the generosity and help of our community we now are only missing 12.

Maine’s progressives have been selling the benefits of the minimum wage increase using faulty analysis. Don’t buy the hype.

The Grange is now just over 150 years old. On Dec. 4, 1867, sitting around a plain wooden table in Washington, D.C., seven men organized the Grange. They were all men of vision -- had faith in God, their fellow man and the future. Their focus was on agriculture and the principle that life would not exist without farming. From these humble beginnings, a fraternal order known as the Patrons of Husbandry was born.

Andy Torbett, I am mightily concerned about the exaggerated statements in your (April 18 column) “The Plight of Small Town Maine.”

After “finding a public policy problem, invite to the table experienced people with all points of view, truly listen to each other, and find a solution. In the process, always remember we’re dealing with people. It’s not enough to simply change public policy. We have to make sure we have help for the people the policy change leaves behind. That’s the philosophy of the symposium,” said Kandyce Powell, RN.

Americans paid their 2017 federal and state income taxes this week. Filing taxes isn’t a pleasant or easy task, but the lack of action by Democrats in the Legislature will make filing a nightmare next year.

In the last gubernatorial race, I published a series of articles reviewing the candidates for governor entitled “Through the Conservative Prism.” It is my intent to publish one overview of the Republican gubernatorial candidates under the same title. The primary race comes down to two contenders, Garrett Mason and Shawn Moody, in my opinion, and I will explain why.

About a month ago, I installed an extension on my web browser that allowed me to curate out posts on Facebook that contained certain keywords. If a word on my list was contained in a post in any way, it would no longer be displayed.

As a 17-year newsroom veteran, not counting my time writing a weekly column for the Bangor Daily News, I feel pretty confident in my ability to spot “fake” news. But when I read a story this week in the BDN about the Republican candidates for governor and their campaign contributions, I was left checking the URL to make sure that it wasn’t satire.

On a cold and windy day earlier this month, I toured the Pleasant River Bridge with Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt and Milo Town Manager Damien Pickel. The bridge is now 82 years old, rusted, too narrow and well past its original design life. Together, we saw firsthand how time, the elements and collision damage have taken a severe physical toll on this bridge.

Do you ever wonder what your next meal will be? Do you think about what is not in your cupboards or how to stretch what you do have on hand to make a meal for you and your family? Well, there are some of our neighbors that do have these questions.

As the legislative session enters its last weeks, Democrats are sitting on their hands, hoping voters won’t notice they have avoided making the tough decisions that affect your families, businesses and wallets.