News

Dubai: Paradise on Earth

... if you can afford it
Welcome to Grease-The-Palm Island

By DAVID KISH | January 13, 2010

Maine journalism shows some promising new lights
It's a new year, and Maine journalism is worse for the battering it took in 2009. But there are some new lights appearing on the horizon that might just make things a little brighter.

By JEFF INGLIS | January 13, 2010

Front Room battle goes to court

Food Fight
Next time you're at the Front Room, order that Old Fashioned with extra bitters. There's enough to go around.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | January 13, 2010

Mean everything to nothing

True tax stories
My favorite movie-advertising phrase is "based on a true story." Translated into English, it means: "more or less, a big fat lie."

By AL DIAMON | January 13, 2010

Diamon Flip-Flops

Letters to the Portland Editor, January 15, 2010
If Al Diamon wants to break down the political and other mistakes of the 21st century, he could include a few of his own.

By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | January 13, 2010

Instead of cuts: guts

Raise taxes on the rich? Only one candidate says ‘yes’?
Let’s assume, reader, that you’re concerned about economic and social justice. For those in real need — people who are poor, sick, old, mentally ill, addicted, disabled — you want decent care. You’re concerned, too, about proper funding of schools, community colleges, and university campuses.

By LANCE TAPLEY | January 06, 2010

Is 2010 the Year of the Girl?

Music of the Future
Many have argued that the descriptor "indie music" means nothing more or less than "bands Pitchfork reviews" these days, and the claim was never more true than last year

By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | January 06, 2010

21st century breakdown

Ne'er has there been a sweeter gig than being secretary
The office of Maine's secretary of state has been around since we split from Massachusetts in 1820.

By AL DIAMON | January 06, 2010

Losing our religion

Diverse City
All those pretty churches. So many of them white clapboard buildings with tall steeples and stained glass windows. The kind of thing that makes you think Mainers are a hardy, God-fearing, churchgoing lot.

By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | January 06, 2010

Portland’s wishes for 2010

New Year’s resolutions
Ah, these fresh moments of the new year, when our hopes and resolutions are unsullied by the rough ravages of time, politics, and the Maine winter.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 30, 2009

Nobody dies

The Department of Economic and Community Development dodges the axe
Some things in life are essential — beer, the MLB Network, caller ID — and some things aren't — tofu, Jay Leno, the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

By AL DIAMON | December 30, 2009

Let’s recap

Balls, Pucks, and Monster Trucks
With the decade drawing to a close, it's fitting to reconsider the moments and developments of the last 10 years that forever changed sports in Portland and New England.

By RICK WORMWOOD | December 30, 2009

Complaint Department

Letters to the Portland Editor, January 1, 2010
Can we have a benefit show or something in the coming year to save up enough money to buy three ghosts (preferably the ghosts of local rock's past, present, and future) to visit Sam Pfeifle in his dreams to tell him the following.

By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | December 30, 2009

Call for health-care reform

Letters to the Portland Editor, December 25, 2009
The November 7 passage of health-care reform, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, in the House of Representatives was a very important and exciting moment for everyone who is dedicated to the idea that all Americans need and deserve access to high quality, affordable health care.

By PORTLAND PHOENIX LETTERS | December 22, 2009

Faltering steps forward

Going Green
As in many other sectors, the green world in 2009 was marked as much by bluster as by tangible positive action.

By DEIRDRE FULTON | December 22, 2009

Gifts of the magi

Who's on the naughty list?
OK, so math isn't Poliquin's strong point. And he's a little shaky on consistency. But are those minor flaws enough to convince Santa to leave coal in his stocking?

By AL DIAMON | December 22, 2009

2009 had some redeeming qualities - really

Don’t look back in anger
Let's get serious: For many Portlanders, 2009 was a crap year.

By DEIRDRE FULTON AND JEFF INGLIS | December 22, 2009

Tilting at Windows

Software 'Saint' Richard Stallman fights for computing freedom — and against corporate control
Stallman — a legend in the programmer community for more than a quarter century — considers it his life's work to proselytize the free-software gospel, educating the lay people who'd otherwise assume that Microsoft or Apple are exclusively synonymous with computing.

By MIKE MILIARD | December 18, 2009

How is Obama doing?

Not as well as he thinks
In response to a question from Oprah Winfrey about how he would grade his time in office, President Barack Obama gave himself a "solid B-plus."

By EDITORIAL | December 16, 2009

Corrections disobeys another federal court order

Solitary Confinement
For decades, as it has with other court orders, the Maine Department of Corrections has apparently been breaching a 1973 federal court’s decree that forbids disciplinary solitary confinement at the Maine State Prison beyond 10 days for minor offenses, or 30 days for major ones.

By LANCE TAPLEY | December 16, 2009