Gerrymandering: GOP power grab

January 14, 2022

Republicans who have controlled the state Legislature for all but four of the past 27 years have been able to do so partly because of gerrymandering. Several generations of GOP legislative leaders steadfastly have rejected creation of a nonpartisan citizens commission to draw new electoral maps every 10 years, following each census. In 2011 the Republican majority devised a legislative district map so badly gerrymandered that the state Supreme Court precluded its use in the 2012 elections. The final map for the 2014 elections — the current map — skews Republican by more than 8 ...

COVID and school rules

January 11, 2022

It’s not that testing and quarantine rules are too strict or schools too cautious. It’s that too many people are sick. So many bus drivers were out sick with COVID this week that the Bonny Eagle school district, one of the largest in the state, was forced to cancel classes for a day, then send most of its students to remote learning for the rest of the week. Keeping kids at home this late in the pandemic is not where any of us want to be. But it is likely to be the norm as this wave of the virus rockets towards its peak. Maine’s experience with the deadly delta variant has ...

Following Phil’s lead

January 8, 2022

Let’s call it the Phil Effect. Not since the days when Tiger was stalking the Kapalua Plantation Course has there been a Thursday crowd like there was for this week’s opening round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. For the first time in 21 years, fan favorite Phil Mickelson was back on Maui playing in the winners-only PGA Tour event. His star power has taken the $8.2 million tourney to another level in terms of fan interest and television viewership. Golf fans crowded around the practice green to watch him warm up and the first tee to watch him tee off Thursday. Some hung ...

The forgotten war in Yemen

January 7, 2022

By the end of 2021, the United Nations warned recently, 377,000 Yemenis will have died from seven devastating years of war — in many cases killed by indirect causes such as hunger; in others, by airstrikes or missile bombardments. Seventy percent of the fatalities are thought to be children under five. As 2021 began, there were hopes that Joe Biden’s arrival in the White House might bring progress towards peace. His administration quickly announced it was ending all support for offensive operations by Saudi Arabia, which spearheaded the US- and UK-backed coalition fighting for the ...

A bit of hope in virus surge

January 4, 2022

The terrible year of 2020 ended with a glimmer of hope. While the United States and California were in the grip of the worst surge yet of the pandemic, the first vaccines against COVID-19 were being distributed to healthcare workers and plans were underway for the largest immunization rollout in the nation’s history. At that point, it looked like 2021 would be the year that the U.S. got a handle on the pandemic. Alas, it was not to be. Too many people rejected the free vaccinations and chose to flout simple infection-control methods like mask-wearing, leaving the door open for the ...

Hoping new year tops last two

January 1, 2022

Looking back on the year 2021 from a pandemic point of view, about the best that can be said is it wasn’t as lousy as 2020. Although 2021 did have its moments. The year started with great hopes for three vaccines that have proven to be safe and effective. Though COVID-19 cases were spiking on Maui and around the world a year ago, there was a feeling the pandemic had reached its zenith. Some of us naively speculated COVID-19 might be put to bed in 2021. The coronavirus would never go away, but we would have it under control. How quaint. The year closed on Maui with record ...