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Burning bridges

The brutal reality of a violent relationship
Even though it has been several years since her divorce, "Michelle" still wakes in the middle of the night from nightmares of her past life, only to realize that she is free from the physical pain, anguish, and feelings of utter fear and horror that were part of her 11-year marriage to "Tommy," her high-school sweetheart.

By DEB LANDRY | October 14, 2009

Stopping abuse

Is the justice system working for Maine’s domestic-violence victims?
It’s not dramatic, and it’s nothing like Law and Order: SVU .

By DEIRDRE FULTON | October 14, 2009

Ask the Black woman: 'Good Hair' edition

Diverse City
Time to don the official robe and mantle of Black Representative, and answer a question of "blackness."

By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | October 14, 2009

A child shall lead them

Balls, Pucks, and Monster Trucks
There's good news from Sanford: my hometown is experiencing a surfeit of leadership, and it's manifesting itself in a couple of areas.

By RICK WORMWOOD | October 07, 2009

Less than equal

State officials, including prejudiced human-rights commissioners, block inmate complaints
This story has a bias. It’s in favor of human rights for all people.

By LANCE TAPLEY | October 02, 2009

Less can be more

Going Green
It's one thing to shoot for an ecologically softer lifestyle -- one that's more deliberate, and less wasteful.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 30, 2009

Dangerous slurs

Gay rights in prison
A heavily tattooed, self-described Satanist serving a life sentence for savagely murdering two people in Augusta in 1998 — his 16-year-old stepdaughter and his 87-year-old former landlady — inmate John L’Heureux, 39, is probably not the man Maine’s gay-rights groups would choose to represent their cause in the state prison, if they were inclined to choose anyone there.

By LANCE TAPLEY | October 01, 2009

Politics on the ground

AJ Schnack opens the Camden International Film Festival with Convention
Convention , the opening-night feature at the fifth annual Camden International Film Festival, is a logistical triumph that chronicles a logistical triumph. AJ Schnack, the director of the Kurt Cobain documentary About a Son, organized a group of nine filmmakers to capture the breadth of the August 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | September 23, 2009

You're all guilty!

In his new book, Three Felonies A Day , Harvey Silverglate dissects the corrupt justice practiced by federal prosecutors
Silverglate's thesis is as provocative as it is simple: justice has become sufficiently perverted in this nation that federal prosecutors, if they put their minds to it, could find a way to indict almost any one of us for almost anything. It is a truly radical notion.

By PETER KADZIS | September 28, 2009

Freedom isn’t free

Press Releases
Campaign-finance reformers often object to the idea that money equals speech. But even for progressives, it does indeed.

By JEFF INGLIS | September 23, 2009

10 years later, we told you so

Ten years of being right (well, mostly)
Like many in the alternative press, we pride ourselves on being ahead of the game. Sometimes, of course, that means we're wrong about what might be coming down the pike — that's part of the risk of being "out front" and not just reacting to the news as it happens.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 16, 2009

I remember when...

(Or at least I think I do)
It's been a while, and I've been here for all of it. These moments are what I remember best, and what I wish there was more evidence of.

By MARC SHEPARD | September 16, 2009

A decade gone by

Where Portland has come since 1999, and why we can't really even imagine what's coming in 2019
This week, we at the Portland Phoenix celebrate 10 years of serving Portland and Maine as your news, arts, and entertainment authority.

By JEFF INGLIS | September 16, 2009

Diversity times ten

Maine's changing mainstream
Long-time readers may recall I have an ex, and I'll tell you we have a shared-custody deal.

By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | September 16, 2009

Building on green energy

Going green
This month, my landlord will install new energy-efficient windows in my apartment. This is great news: Better insulation will reduce both my energy use and my heating bills. I'm happy to be experiencing first-hand what many agree is the single most-important step in the fight against global warming: eco-friendly building upgrades and weatherization.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | September 02, 2009

Another Supermax hunger strike

Dungeon Watch
Protesting that nothing had been done by prison authorities to relieve the torture of prolonged solitary confinement, on August 17 inmates of the Maine State Prison’s 100-man Special Management Unit or “Supermax” reprised a hunger strike that had been abandoned last May.

By LANCE TAPLEY | September 02, 2009

The Granite State Gang

New Hampshire transplants live free — or die trying
Big bucks couldn't buy the viral awe and ire that the Free State Project (FSP) scored on August 11, when New Hampshire resident William Kostric arrived outside President Barack Obama's Portsmouth Town Hall meeting with a handgun on his right thigh — "open carrying" is quite legal in the Granite State — and a sign declaring IT IS TIME TO WATER THE TREE OF LIBERTY!

By CHRIS FARAONE | August 26, 2009

Talking points

Press Releases
Rich Connor's reforms have brought a much-needed sharpened focus to the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and its sister papers. Certain changes, though, are raising eyebrows not just for what they are, but because of how Connor is doing them.

By JEFF INGLIS | August 26, 2009

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