Column: How the next president could address both housing costs and school funding

By WAYNE GERSEN

Both Presidential candidates and numerous gubernatorial candidates have made “affordable housing” a hot button issue in 2024. I put “affordable housing” in quotes because the definition of “affordable housing” and who would qualify for it is unclear....

Column: Returning home from a summer in Maine

By MARY K. OTTO

Suddenly it’s cooler here in Maine. My mid-day swim in the bay on Sept. 1 was brisk. A stiff breeze out of the north urged me off course, made me concentrate as I breast stroked deliberately toward our dock. Brilliant sun brought welcome warmth once I...

Forum for Sept. 14, 2024: Help with voting

Thank you for helping with votingOn Tuesday, my 18-year-old daughter Emily, who has autism, registered to vote and cast her ballot for the first time ever. It was complicated though because the night before she tested positive for COVID. As she went...

Forum for Sept. 13, 2024: Two-state solution

Two-state solution is dyingIsraeli-Hamas ceasefire talks have become sclerotic and the elusive two-state solution is in the ICU on life support.Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu both have personal agendas to scuttle a resolution...

A Yankee Notebook: How summer people move with the seasons

By WILLEM LANGE

In the Adirondacks, the summer folks used to arrive by train, along with all their luggage for the summer. Their chauffeurs, who’d driven the family cars up from New York or New Haven, met them at the station to ferry them to their cottages (the men...

Forum for Sept. 11, 2024: Undermining democracy

Undermining democracy, take 1Project 2025 is a comprehensive plan to deal a death blow to democracy. It includes policies ready to enact on Day 1, recommendations for top positions in government and a database of loyalists to fill positions previously...

Forum for Sept. 10, 2024: Plan for Windsor prison

A plan for the Windsor prison After many discussions with the concerned citizens of a farm focus group, town officials (and their Boston consulting group), and some state representatives, I have collected some overall concepts as to what might...

Forum for Sept. 9, 2024: Respect the signs

Please, show some respect for your neighbors’ signsAs election season ramps up, our neighborhoods are once again dotted with political signs representing various candidates and causes. These signs are a visible expression of the diverse political...

Editorial: Hartford’s school board needs to find some clarity

Defending the indefensible is never an easy proposition, but Hartford School Board members are not doing themselves any favors by responding contemptuously to residents’ misgivings about the lucrative severance package the board conferred on longtime...

Column: The Middle East’s power structure is changing

By ARTHUR HOLCOMBE

Israel is at the most dangerous period of its short modern history. One can say that its very survival is at stake. Since the tragic events of Oct. 7 when about 1,200 Israelis were killed in a surprise Hamas attack, Israel has been engaged in ever...

Forum for Sept. 7, 2024: Hartford schools need collaboration

Hartford Schools need collaborationI wanted to take an opportunity to share my reflections on the most recent Hartford School District Board meetings, as I left the last meeting feeling dismayed and heavy under cinder blocks of worry, wondering how...

Column: Dartmouth’s solution to the child care crisis misses the mark

By CASEY STOCKSTILL, KATHRYN CRAWFORD, JULIE ROSE and MARCELA Di BLASI

Dartmouth is actively considering converting a local treasure, the Dartmouth College Child Care Center (D4C), into a Bright Horizons center. Bright Horizons is one of a few national, corporate child care chains. It is a publicly traded, for-profit...

Forum for Sept. 6, 2024: Write in Ramsey

Write in Jenny RamseyI’ve served on the Plainfield School Board with Jenny Ramsey for the past four years, and suggest voters in Sullivan House District 7 write her in on the Democratic ballot on Sept. 10. Jenny believes in putting government to...

A Yankee Notebook: Giving labor unions their due

By WILLEM LANGE

Syracuse, N.Y., in the mid-1950s; a steamy Friday mid-afternoon in July. I had just climbed up for a water break from the manhole I was digging beneath the pavement when a little brown man approached — brown suit, brown shirt and tie, tobacco-brown...

Forum for Sept. 4, 2024: Vote for Karen Liot Hill

Support for Karen Liot HillIt has been our honor and privilege to serve with Karen Liot Hill on the Lebanon City Council for the past decade, and we are delighted that she is stepping up to serve on the state Executive Council for District 2. We’ve...

Forum for Sept. 5, 2024: Support for Warmington

Warmington is best option I am deeply disturbed by the recent unjust attacks lobbed against Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington by her primary opponent. The charges are incredibly misleading, and Joyce Craig should apologize. This is not how...

By the way: The false prophets of Christian nationalism

By RANDALL BALMER

Faithful America, the activist organization associated with mainline Protestantism, has issued what it calls its “most important list of top Christian-nationalist False Prophets ever.” What is Christian nationalism? After hearing the refrain about the...

Forum for Sept. 3, 2024: View on Maggie Goodlander

Impressed by GoodlanderI still remember the breakfast I had almost five years ago with Maggie Goodlander, where she wanted to talk more about my mental health awareness campaign than herself. I was finally able to steer the conversation to her and her...

Column: Imagining a Harris presidency

By NARAIN BATRA

About a month before President Joe Biden ended his bid for a second term, Rodney Smolla, a constitutional scholar and president of Vermont Law and Graduate School, gave a fascinating lecture at the United Church of Strafford about the 2024 election....