An international team of astronomers recently grabbed headlines by announcing the discovery of a planet circling Earth’s nearest neighbor star in its “Goldilocks” zone, not too hot, not too cold. It is only 4.22 light years from Earth. Stephen Hawking and other science and business leaders recently announced Breakthrough Starshot, a project designed to send […]
Ben Lounsbury
Posted inLetters
Sheats dedicated to public service
One needs only to read Bettyann Sheats’ list of experiences to understand that she is dedicated to public service: West Point graduate; Army helicopter pilot; member of the advisory committee of the St Mary’s Food Pantry; board member of the Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport; member of the vestry committee of her church; helped pass a bipartisan […]
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Posted inLetters
Raise oil, gas taxes to fix infrastructure
I am happy for all those people in Maine, the U.S. and all over the world whose standard of living has gone up because oil prices have gone down. But I am depressed by the lack of response to this great opportunity to fix what ails the state and nation: decaying infrastructure and dependence on […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Ben Lounsbury: Ranked choice voting would bring more civilty, no spoilers
I and many of my friends are deeply disturbed by trends we see happening in our elections, including: negative campaigning (fear-mongering); excessive influence by large, often out-of-state, campaign contributors who pay for negative ads; and polarization of the two major parties. Polarization discourages independents and moderates from running for office for fear of being labelled […]
Posted inLetters
B. Lounsbury: Better than ‘politics as usual’
Most people agree that polarization has severely limited the ability of governments to do their jobs, especially the federal government. The situation is not so dire in the state of Maine, but there is a polarization problem here, too. Fortunately, Maine has a history of electing independent governors who have served the state well. Very […]
Posted inLetters
B. Lounsbury: Burning wood better for environment
The Sun Journal article on Sept. 15 about heating fuels used in Maine was very informative; however, I was disappointed that climate change was never mentioned. Using renewable fuels can go a long way toward reducing climate change. Switching from oil, propane, natural gas or electric heat to wood or wood pellet heat can reduce […]