Ben Bragdon is deputy managing editor for local news, overseeing enterprise reporting projects for the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. Ben was previously editorial page editor for those newspapers and Central Maine Sunday for more than 10 years. Before that, he was managing editor for weekly newspapers at Current Publishing in Westbrook. He began his career as a reporter at the Piscataquis Observer in Dover-Foxcroft and editor at the Moosehead Messenger in Greenville. He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Boston University.
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PublishedNovember 29, 2024
Commentary: A better way to pay for extending the Trump tax cuts
One of the first orders of business in 2025 for Congress and the incoming administration will be the extension of President Donald Trump’s signature 2017 tax law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), most of whose individual provisions are set to expire late next year. There’s one problem: America’s debt trajectory is unsustainable. Even […]
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PublishedNovember 29, 2024
Commentary: Trump’s rock the boat transition picks supported by most Americans, poll says
President-elect Donald Trump has rocked the boat and roiled critics with some of his controversial transition picks and campaign promises but most Americans believe that’s just what he should be doing. Nearly six in 10 American adults approve of the way Trump is handling his transition, according to a CBS/YouGov poll, a shocker for the […]
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PublishedNovember 27, 2024
Commentary: Is bird flu a risk yet to people?
You may have encountered the term “ bird flu” increasingly online and in the media. It refers to a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A, classified as H5N1. Wild birds carry and transmit this flu, though most do not get sick from it. However, it has been detected in birds and mammals at farms such […]
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PublishedNovember 27, 2024
Douglas Rooks: Maine’s easy access to voting has its downsides
Rather than seek to end-run the two-party system, we could try to reform it, the columnist writes.
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PublishedNovember 26, 2024
Commentary: Plant a seed, change the world
In my role as an ecology professor for the past 20 years, I’ve thought a lot about climate change and ecosystem collapse, which naturally makes me a fun person to be around. I’ve also voted in every election since I turned 18. My experience and education give me faith in the power of small acts. […]
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PublishedNovember 26, 2024
Commentary: How super glue saved my childhood Thanksgivings
For most kids, Grandma and Grandpa’s house is their favorite place to visit. Filled with toys and endless affection, treats and hugs. For ordinary people, Thanksgiving is a particularly special time to spend with family. That wasn’t my childhood. Don’t worry — this isn’t a sob story. My grandparents were an intense breed of Irish […]
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PublishedNovember 25, 2024
Commentary: If Trump deports farm workers, who will be left to pick California’s crops?
Do you enjoy fruits and vegetables? Assuming the answer is yes, come next year who do you think will harvest the oranges, almonds, lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes and the other 300-plus crops grown in California? Who will work in the state’s dairies, meat plants, and food processing factories, most located in the Central Valley? Republican President-elect […]
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PublishedNovember 25, 2024
Commentary: Biden still has time to nudge the federal budget closer to sanity
The U.S. fiscal outlook has dramatically deteriorated since the last time we ran a surplus in 2001, and President Joe Biden — like Democratic and Republican presidents before him — shares some responsibility for our high and rising debt. But it’s not too late to start turning things around. During his time in office, Biden […]
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PublishedNovember 20, 2024
Commentary: Evangelical Christians’ long road to Donald Trump
We don’t yet know the precise numbers, but it appears once again that four out of five white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election. Evangelical support was by no means decisive; a similar percentage voted for Trump when he lost in 2020. But when a supermajority of a group that comprises approximately […]
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PublishedNovember 19, 2024
Commentary: Trump’s worst Cabinet picks aren’t just unqualified, they’re part of a bigger power grab
At first glance, President-elect Donald Trump ‘s most controversial Cabinet nominees — Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — are an odd list of ideologues and eccentrics chosen for political loyalty more than any substantive qualifications. But there’s a more important and potentially more dangerous factor that ties their nominations […]
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