News

A mighty wind

New England plays catch-up in the green-energy race
This past Earth Day, President Barack Obama, speaking at an Iowa wind-turbine factory, delivered a gusty peroration. "The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy," he said. "America can be that nation. America must be that nation."

By MIKE MILIARD | August 24, 2009

Holding a finger to the wind

An energy expert forecasts a blustery day ahead for the region
Across New England, there's currently less than 150 megawatts worth of wind turbines installed and operational. That's small change compared with what's happening in places such as Texas and California. But it's a whole lot more than existed just a few years ago.

By MIKE MILIARD | August 19, 2009

Why wind power blows

Why we shouldn't overload our energy basket with wind eggs
The world is looking for a no-brainer solution to the 21st century's impending energy crisis, and wind power seems to provide many of the right answers.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 19, 2009

Whole Foods health-care boycott gathers momentum

Human Rights Watch
Unfortunately for Whole Foods Market CEO and founder John Mackey, those who appreciate his store for the healthy, eco-friendly (read: left-leaning, progressive) lifestyle it promotes are the same citizens who support universal health care.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 24, 2009

Down in the flood

Politics and other mistakes
A few years ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (motto: Cornsistently Rong Abowt Everyting) informed me I was buying a house in a flood zone. FEMA had a map that showed where the waters of the semi-mighty Carrabassett River had surged over its banks a decade or so earlier and inundated my property.

By AL DIAMON | August 19, 2009

Ask the black woman

Diverse City
I've lived in Maine for seven years and been writing for this fine publication for about five, and during that time I've covered a wide array of subjects on the issue of diversity in Maine.

By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | August 19, 2009

Law review

Musicians hit by new tax
We know — tax-law changes are boring and probably don't affect you. Until they get confusing and apply directly to how you eke out a living here in Maine.

By JEFF INGLIS + PORTLAND MUSIC FOUNDATION | August 19, 2009

Letters to the Portland Editor: August 21, 2009

Letters to the editor
Regarding Lance Tapley's latest effort on the Maine State Prison Board of Visitors (see "Secret, Unaccountable, and Co-opted," August 14), what he sometimes refers to as advocacy journalism might be more appropriately termed agenda journalism.

By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | August 19, 2009

Photos: Stetson Wind in Maine

Images of Stetson Wind
Photos of Stetson Wind in Washington County, Maine

By MIKE MILIARD | August 19, 2009

My first, um, cornhole

Balls, Pucks, and Monster Trucks
Last month, while at my friends Bill and Sarah Paradis’s Walton Street home for some backyard grillin’ and chillin’, Bill asked if I wanted to play cornhole. I was taken aback. Cornhole? Where I grew up, “cornhole” was a rough synonym for “anus.” I wasn’t sure how to take Bill’s offer. What was he actually asking? Imagine my relief when he explained that cornhole is a beanbag-tossing game, a derivative of horseshoes that has become pretty popular. Pheeew!

By RICK WORMWOOD | August 12, 2009

Secret, unaccountable, and co-opted

If the prison Board of Visitors had done its job, it might have helped prevent several recent tragedies
The state prison in Warren has been hammered in recent months by an inmate murder and other violence, a prisoner hunger strike, legislative investigations exposing mismanagement and poor guard morale, and a request by human-rights groups for a federal probe of prisoner mistreatment.

By LANCE TAPLEY | August 17, 2009

Letters to the Portland Editor - August 14, 2009

Letters to the editor
Letters to the editor

By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | August 12, 2009

Back to basics

MENSK revisits its original purpose
Sometimes the biggest stumbling block for our fantastic ideas is a small, seemingly insignificant hurdle — a missing piece of paperwork, a logistical snafu, one degree of separation too many.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 12, 2009

Miraculous Appearances

Phoenix questions prompt action
Two weeks after the Phoenix began its prison Board of Visitors interviews, which revealed the group had not produced annual reports as required by law and had not met with the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee in years, reports for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 suddenly materialized.

By LANCE TAPLEY | August 17, 2009

Escape from the chicken coop

Politics and other mistakes
In olden times, before unlimited numbers of free-range office-seekers were allowed to be-fowl — er, befoul — the airwaves with messages less clever than that poultry — er, paltry — pun, the general rule of politics was that one dumb cluck per election season was plenty.

By AL DIAMON | August 12, 2009

Budget cuts

Prison staffing crisis hits perilous level
“Things are as tough at the prison right now as I’ve seen them in a long time,” state Corrections commissioner Martin Magnusson told the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on July 29. He spoke about the consequences of the staff cuts that the 915-inmate, 410-employee Maine State Prison in Warren has had to endure.

By LANCE TAPLEY | August 05, 2009

Dead like me

Tonya Hurley's high-school afterlife
"Perception vs. reality. In high school, they are pretty much the same thing." So writes Tonya Hurley, author of ghostgirl and ghostgirl: Homecoming (Little Brown), two books ostensibly written for young adults but with elements that are just as appealing to grown-ups.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 05, 2009

Off the track

Politics and other mistakes
I've been thinking about what makes a first-rate kook.

By AL DIAMON | August 05, 2009

Granite grind

Same-sex marriage ignites partisan battle in New Hampshire
Much of New England joined the march toward marriage equality this year, but in the comparably conservative Granite State, its legalization has heated up a partisan battle for control of the governorship in 2010, promising that this political war isn't quite over.

By ASHLEY RIGAZIO | August 04, 2009

Just the beginning

The battle for marriage equality really starts now
More than a few people asked us why we are publishing this special section now — now that gay-marriage opponents have filed their People's Veto signatures, now that same-sex marriages will not be taking place at least until after Mainers vote on the issue on November 3.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | August 04, 2009