News

Behind the scenes at Portland’s new movie-making facility

Special Features
If local moviemakers can’t depend on better financial incentives to foster the film industry in Maine — and they can’t, in this budget climate — they can at least focus on creating the infrastructure to support future endeavors.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | February 04, 2010

Anti-solitary campaign expands

Stopping Supermax Torture
As the February 17 State House public hearing approaches on the bill to restrict solitary confinement at the Maine State Prison, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), which sparked national debate about Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo, has announced its support.

By LANCE TAPLEY | February 03, 2010

Operators are standing by

Blah Blah Tourism
Here's the ugly truth about Republican 2nd District congressional candidate Jason Levesque.

By AL DIAMON | February 03, 2010

Ask a Black Woman: Harry Reid edition

Diverse City
Just in time for Black History Month, another installment of "Ask a Black Woman," thanks to JT in Portland who in early January asked me: What's your take on the Harry Reid thing?

By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | February 03, 2010

Trying times for Obama

Tough times for the nation
It was only a matter of time before President Barack Obama turned into a deficit hawk. But it is a measure of the desperation sparked by Scott Brown's election to Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat that Obama hatched before the conclusion of the 2010 congressional elections and unveiled a spending freeze.

By EDITORIAL | January 27, 2010

Jane Austen + Grinder Girl

Balls, Pucks, and Monster Trucks
Occasionally, my editor would remind me that I have written about balls and pucks, but never monster trucks.

By RICK WORMWOOD | January 27, 2010

Starting to clear Maine’s broadband backlog

Mapping the Internet
The biggest obstacle between Mainers and more, better, faster broadband Internet access is actually a very basic one: there's a lack of information about what kind of Internet service is already available where.

By JEFF INGLIS | January 27, 2010

Bus fares set to climb

Transport Watch
A quick primer on local bus fares and ridership, and whether (and how) to raise those numbers.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | January 27, 2010

Second choice

The ills of instant-runoff voting
The word "instant" makes me suspicious.

By AL DIAMON | January 27, 2010

Department of conjecture

Letters to the Portland Editor, January 29, 2010
The Haiti disaster will not serve to turn a state from toss-up to safely Republican as the George W. Bush Administration's calculated response to Hurricane Katrina did in Louisiana.

By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | January 27, 2010

Tea-bagger Brown triumphs

Obama must rally independents
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley may be a good person and a dedicated public servant, but thanks to her gut-wrenching loss to tea-bagging Republican Scott Brown in the race for the US Senate seat held by the late Ted Kennedy, Coakley is now — quite rightly — a figure of local scorn and national derision.

By EDITORIAL | January 20, 2010

Obama's year two to-do's

What Have You Done for Me Lately Dept.
This week marks the one-year anniversary of Barack Obama's inauguration. Can you believe it?

By MIKE MILIARD | January 20, 2010

Boston organization fighting good fight in Haiti

Quake Response
Good news from Haiti: the catastrophic earthquake that struck this Caribbean nation last week did no damage to the 10 Haitian-run hospitals and clinics aided by the Boston-based charity Partners in Health (PiH). Each of the 10, which offer free care to all comers swung into action immediately after the quake struck.

By JEFF INGLIS | January 20, 2010

Disaster, then détente

Politically speaking, Hurricane Katrina this was not
From the first days after the earthquake struck Haiti — long before anyone knew how dire the situation was, let alone how the US government would respond — pundits were wagging their tongues about the potential political implications. A poor response, they said, would invite comparisons to the Bush administration's bungled handling of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 25, 2010

How Brown won

While Massachusetts Democrats assess blame for who lost the Senate seat, the truth is that Scott Brown won it
As the Massachusetts US Senate election unfolded yesterday, all that the pols and pundits wanted to talk about was how Martha Coakley managed to lose the race. And there is plenty there to dissect. But there is another part of the story, and that is how Scott Brown managed to win it.

By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | January 22, 2010