Portland Press Herald

Latest Articles

Maine's donkey party loves the rich and the poor — but can't protect both

Two-faced Democrats
In the current legislative fight over Republican Governor Paul LePage's lust to slash Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) programs because of a $221-million shortfall in its budget, Democrats say over and over that they want to protect the poor, sick, and disabled people from whom the governor wants to withdraw state assistance.
By LANCE TAPLEY | February 15, 2012

What they write about

The Maine Democratic Party's US Senate prospects
Thanks for coming to my power-point presentation.
By AL DIAMON | February 15, 2012

At union request, Sussman steps up for Press Herald

Cash Injections
It was not the owners of the Portland Press Herald who sought out Maine hedge-fund mogul S. Donald Sussman to proffer a cash infusion to save the ailing newspaper. Rather, it was the idea of the Press Herald 's unionized employees.
By JEFF INGLIS | February 15, 2012

Question authority

Press Releases
Maine journalists appear to disbelieve their own eyes, decline to do their own research, and prefer to quote officials instead of relying on independent knowledge and experience.
By JEFF INGLIS | February 08, 2012

By | January 01, 0001

New faces

Press releases
The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram and its sister papers announced at 4 pm last Friday that an effort was under way to bring in new owners to take over the papers, in the wake of Richard Connor's abrupt departure back in October.
By JEFF INGLIS | January 11, 2012

By | January 01, 0001

Moving around

Press Releases
The day before Richard Connor resigned his position as editor and publisher of the Portland Press Herald and head of MaineToday Media (as well as departing his leadership posts atop a Pennsylvania newspaper company), he moved $3 million worth of real estate holdings in Maine into a trust held by his wife.
By JEFF INGLIS | November 16, 2011

By | January 01, 0001

Three-city news war

Press releases
The Portland Press Herald is really under the gun right now, from within and without its walls.
By JEFF INGLIS | September 21, 2011

A hug beats a nod

Diverse-city
Maine may be the whitest state in the country, but it certainly isn't the straightest.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | September 14, 2011

Museum dreams

Political Paleontology
This week, we're joining a guided tour of the Maine Museum of Political Paleontology. A docent is explaining to a group of schoolchildren what's happening in a scene depicting cave people trying to register to vote.
By AL DIAMON | August 24, 2011

To criminals ‘From Away’

Diverse-city
New York is home to a statue that welcomes the tired and poor (and huddled masses) to the United States. That is a wonderful notion.
By SHAY STEWART-BOULEY | August 17, 2011

Calling MaineToday in Honduras

Offshoring
Maine's largest daily-newspaper group has outsourced its circulation customer-service work to Honduras, letting five Maine-based employees go, reassigning another, and allowing one to retire early.
By JEFF INGLIS | August 03, 2011

Entering the ring

Going green
Environmental advocate Jon Hinck, a lawyer and a state representative, is "seriously considering" a run against Republican US Senator Olympia Snowe in 2012, he told the Phoenix this week.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | July 06, 2011

Business-led Haiti-aid group shuts down

Seeking relief
What happens when lawyers, public-relations experts, bankers and accountants, construction contractors, insurance brokers, and manufacturers join forces to get involved in emergency disaster relief in one of the most underdeveloped countries in the Western Hemisphere? Much less than they hoped, it turns out.
By JEFF INGLIS | June 22, 2011

Higher education, with joint enrollment

Summer school
When he's teaching pot-growing classes at places like the Ramada convention center in Saco, Ray Logan doesn't use actual marijuana plants for demonstration — he substitutes basil or pepper plants, whatever's available that day from High Tech Garden Supply.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | June 15, 2011

How the GOP rammed through huge changes in Maine’s health-care system

Republicans unleashed
When Governor Paul LePage boarded a plane for an unscheduled Jamaican vacation in early April, Maine moderates and progressives breathed a sigh of relief.
By COLIN WOODARD | June 09, 2011

Strange bedfellows

Grossman conspires with wingnuts
It doesn't get weirder than this. A liberal Democrat from California wants to help conservative Republicans in Maine find somebody to run against moderate GOP US Senator Olympia Snowe.
By AL DIAMON | June 01, 2011

Letting our imaginations run wild

Patent pending
There was a priceless article in last week's Portland Press Herald about the "Platter Ensemble," a new "invention" — a slotted plate that fits over a deep-dish platter in order to catch the juices that sometimes squirt out of a freshly cracked lobster.
By DEIRDRE FULTON | May 18, 2011

Doing Harmon

Press releases
He won't thank me for pointing this out, but Portland Press Herald columnist MD Harmon is a liberal's best friend.
By JEFF INGLIS | May 04, 2011

Middle of the road

LePage pleases everyone -- sort of
LePage has accomplished something no Maine governor has ever been able to achieve: He's spread joy across the entire ideological spectrum.
By AL DIAMON | April 20, 2011

By | January 01, 0001

War on the average Joe

Press releases
Right now, Maine can afford to pay its state employees' pensions for the next 10 years with no additional investment — without any sort of supplement, not even workers' biweekly paycheck deductions.
By JEFF INGLIS | March 09, 2011

Flotsam and jetsam

LePage’s temper
The list of young Maine politicians with serious prospects of someday being elected to higher office is shorter than Governor Paul LePage's temper.
By AL DIAMON | March 02, 2011

Out of ideas

Lending a hand to the Maine Democratic Party
I'm trying to help the Maine Democratic Party by coming up with a slogan for its big comeback attempt in the 2012 election.
By AL DIAMON | February 09, 2011

Talk time

Press releases
The state's largest newspaper company is about to negotiate its contract with its employees. With workers seeking a share of the company's newfound profitability, and owner Richard Connor striving mightily to stay in the black, this could go very smoothly, or be a bloody, destructive battle — with the quality of information available to Mainers hanging in the balance.
By JEFF INGLIS | February 09, 2011