Archive for ‘Opinion’

  • Earth Notes: Coyotes — Nature’s tick control

    By Lega Medcalf Predators, such as coyotes, are part of a healthy ecosystem and are especially beneficial because they control the population of rodents and therefore the population of ticks. Data from long-term Lyme disease studies in both the United States and Europe shows that the risk of contracting Lyme disease is greater where there […]

  • Small World: Messing with elections — theirs and ours

    By Henry Precht BN Columnist One set of facts finds agreement among the opinions of most commentators on the Russian scheme to interfere in our 2016 elections. It seems pretty clear that Moscow really didn’t want to see their harsh critic Hillary Clinton take charge in Washington. They much preferred to deal with friendlier candidate […]

  • What does Universal Healthcare mean?

    By Stan Cohen Guest Column Most advocates of some kind of health care coverage reform support the following basic concepts: • Access to affordable health care is a basic need. Like police and fire services it should be available to all, not just the privileged. • Health care in America is too expensive today and […]

  • On My Corner

    By Bob Casimiro The deadline for a federal budget agreement is Friday, Feb. 15, 2019 and it looks like there might not be a deal forthcoming, so we are facing another government shutdown. Another “Perils of Pauline” moment for the country brought to you by those incompetents in Washington, D.C. A 2015 poll showed the […]

  • Earth Notes: Earth matters

    Earth Matters By Joyce White “The Earth is what we have in common.” — Wendell Berry We humans, with our big fore-brains, have been responsible for creating a stupendous variety of marvelous and useful material objects and systems. But we also appear to be the most stupid of all living beings in that we are […]

  • The Black Side: A hard but valuable lesson

    By Perri Black The ongoing partial government shutdown makes me angry. It seems that the “powers that be,” who are immune to its effects, are playing politics with little consideration for how it impacts people’s lives. One of the random talking heads out there in TV land called the whole situation “asinine” — I call it […]

  • Earth Notes: The more I learn…

    “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” — Mark Twain By Alice Darlington “The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.” Every day I agree more with Mark Twain. Every day I read about some new atrocity and retreat into the soft fur of my dog. […]

  • Small World — Our culinary calendar

    By Henry Precht BN Columnist How many times a week does your wife ask you what day it is? Or vice versa, how many times do you ask her the same question? These questions are almost certain to be part of your conversation if you are, like us, retired and without steady — or unsteady […]

  • Our View: Vote will significantly shape Bridgton’s future

    Tick…tick…tick…tick… For Bridgton, a day of reckoning is approaching. When local voters head to the polls on Tuesday they face a critical decision in regards to Bridgton’s immediate and long-term future. Three referendum questions will shape whether Bridgton moves forward in terms of economic growth and environmental protection, or whether the town halts its potential […]

  • Small World: Our first president’s last words

    By Henry Precht BN Columnist Our present president is not especially celebrated as a widely read or scholarly leader. Coming to his defense, I would imagine that he is familiar, however, with the advice George Washington bequeathed to his 40 or so successors in the presidency. “Avoid,” he advised them, “entangling alliances.” The first president […]