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Surviving Katrina

Suffering, damage in New Orleans
As one man walked down the street in New Orleans after the hurricane and subsequent levee-break, another man jumped off a building behind him and committed suicide. Later, as the man waded through the water covering a street, he stepped on something soft: a dead infant.

By ERIN RHODA | February 09, 2006

Numbers game?

Portland's Diverse-City
One of the interesting things about throwing around my opinion as a columnist in this publication is the interesting people who want to share their opinions with me at length, particularly if they disagree with me.

By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | February 08, 2006

A beautiful lie

Politics and other mistakes
In an era when “conservative” can mean favoring federal deficits and government intrusion into private lives, and “liberal” has become synonymous with support for states’ rights and opposition to activist judges, terms like “pro-choice” and “pro-life” have drifted into foggy territory.

By AL DIAMON | February 09, 2006

Maine-ufacturing consent - sidebar

By | February 02, 2006

Maine-ufacturing consent

Noam Chomsky himself is filtered by the news
Typical of the exposure given 77-year-old MIT linguistics professor and philosopher Noam Chomsky by most American news media, he was blanked out by the Portland Press Herald , and there was no coverage by the Portland TV news shows or Maine Public Radio.

By LANCE TAPLEY | February 02, 2006

God and Darwin

A teacher's private battle between fact and faith
Julie Raines has been teaching biology at Yarmouth High School for 25 years. She hasn't always taught evolution.

By RICK WORMWOOD | February 02, 2006

The trouble with the truth

Politics and other mistakes
I think I deserve considerable credit for not comparing Governor John Baldacci’s state-of-the-state address to the kind of memoir that wins an endorsement from Oprah’s book club.

By AL DIAMON | February 02, 2006

Bramhall Square (Portland dating column)

Waiting game
Somebody once said something about how the best things in life are worth waiting for. I’d love to know who that was. I hate waiting. As Dan Bern says, “like even for a bus or somethin’.” Yet it seems to be the name of my game.

By CAITLIN SHETTERLY | October 27, 2008

Missing in action

Scenes from Old Port
In the single key hour on Wharf Street — from 12:40 am to 1:40 am — on an unseasonably warm Friday night last week, no cops bothered to show up in uniform.

By JEFF INGLIS & SARA DONNELLY | January 25, 2006

Growing pains

After decades spent partying, is the Old Port — gasp — getting old?
Three years after his nephew was pummeled so hard in the Old Port one night he was sent to the hospital with face fractures, former bar owner Will Gorham, now a city councilor, is leading the charge to clean up Portland’s nightlife.

By SARA DONNELLY | January 25, 2006

Twisted

Politics and other mistakes
There’s got to be something more important in Maine to get your knickers knotted up about than the political convolutions currently contorting way too many pairs of skivvies.

By AL DIAMON | January 25, 2006

Pop goes the new year

Portland dating: Bramhall Square
While some people might have spent New Year’s popping the cork on cold bottles of Cristal, I was sitting on Cowboy’s back, pinning him down with my knees as I popped pimples in the interest of “cleansing” out the bad, and being squeaky-clean for 2006.

By CAITLIN SHETTERLY | January 19, 2006

Booze money

Politics and other mistakes
Discussing politics is a lot less fun than getting drunk. Two recent books, both collections of previously published material, demonstrate this axiom to perfection.

By AL DIAMON | January 19, 2006

Baldacci's re-election plan

Means higher taxes, or rent, for Portland
During the Legislature’s opening day this month, I was eager to know what would be the Big Thing of the session. In a gubernatorial election year, I figured it would have a strong political coloration. “The big thing is the repeal of the business equipment tax,” a state rep told me. “It’s Baldacci’s big thing. It’s an election year, and we’ve all got to get behind him on this.”

By LANCE TAPLEY | January 18, 2006

Here we go again

Portland Diverse-City
Thinking about Black History Month.

By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | January 11, 2006

A change is gonna come

Politics and other mistakes
I was raised in the south. It was the 1950s. The civil-rights movement was just getting started. Nobody in my fourth-grade class considered it unusual when our teacher told us racial segregation was the “natural” state of humanity.

By AL DIAMON | January 18, 2006

Sticking it to political reformers

Power play gives State House Democrats control of 'nonpartisan' activist group
State House Dems don't get mad, they get even.

By LANCE TAPLEY | January 12, 2006

Armory arts center -- sidebar

By | October 27, 2008

Armory arts center

South Portland's vacant landmark could be reborn as a cultural icon
A 25,000-square-foot building sits on just shy of three acres at the foot of the south end of the Casco Bay Bridge. Vacant since 1996, the former South Portland armory remains in limbo. Its owner, the moribund Museum of Glass and Ceramics, declared bankruptcy last year, before ever moving in.

By JEFF INGLIS | January 17, 2006

Politics and Other Mistakes

She's smart, honest, and running for Governor. What's not to love?
This year, I’ve fallen for the concept of a gubernatorial candidate who’s courageous enough to challenge both the left and right.

By AL DIAMON | January 05, 2006