Law

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Gangs study killed

On February 9 the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee, which had already informally decided against LD 1707, the bill that would have created severe penalties for people associated with criminal street gangs, killed a substitute proposal for a study
Lawmaker Apology
By LANCE TAPLEY | February 17, 2012

Gang-buster bill gets dissed

A controversial legislative proposal developed by a secretive police group would send an individual to prison for up to 40 years if he or she is convicted of asking someone to join a criminal street gang.
Tattoos As A Criminal Act
By LANCE TAPLEY | January 27, 2012

Court looms; camp signs missing

OccupyMaine has filed its comments on the city's reality-detached answer to Occupy's lawsuit, and a hearing on the Occupiers' request for court protection from city eviction is scheduled for next week.
Occupy Watch
By JEFF INGLIS | January 20, 2012

White House pans SOPA

Maine's congressional delegation appears to be in a holding pattern while attempting to form positions on two bills that address widespread copyright and trademark violations via the Internet.
Online Freedom
By JEFF INGLIS | January 20, 2012

Medical marijuana 2.0

The medical marijuana movement has always had to be nimble.
In a tough political environment, the movement weighs a tricky reinvention
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | January 13, 2012

Food sovereignty goes to court

The state is pursuing a lawsuit against a Blue Hill farmer that could have "a chilling effect on Maine's growing local food movement and the promise of real economic development in our rural communities," according to the Downeast activist organization
Removing local control
By DEIRDRE FULTON | January 13, 2012

US Troop out of Suffolk Law

On Veterans Day, Suffolk Law School gave us a lesson in the glories — and pitfalls — that come with living with a legal and moral tradition of free speech. Unfortunately, US Army Reserves Major Bob Roughsedge failed to learn it.
Advancing backwards
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE AND DANIEL SCHWARTZ | December 02, 2011

Stop SOPA

The dinosaurs of the entertainment world ( i.e. , Hollywood movie studios and national music companies) have joined with the Business Software Alliance (which represents tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft, and Intel) to sponsor an insidious piece of l
Old-media corporate giants seek censorship through a web-based blacklist. Plus, #occupy brutality, and D.C. deadlock.
By EDITORIAL | November 25, 2011

Man with a load of mischief

According to the Maine Sunday Telegram, gambling is OK in Biddeford or Washington County, but if it happens in Lewiston, it's pure evil.
Casinos: money and morals
By AL DIAMON | November 04, 2011

Review: Puncture

Though drawn from a true story, Adam and Mark Kassen's drama falls into the pattern of films like The Verdict in which a crapulous barrister gets a second chance by taking on a case of David-versus-Goliath injustice.
Facing down fat cats
By PETER KEOUGH | October 21, 2011

'Bath salts' hysteria grips lawmakers

Like hopeless, strung-out junkies, one legislator after another babbled contradictions.
This is your Legislature on drugs
By LANCE TAPLEY | October 07, 2011

How To Grow Pot In Your Dorm Room

First things first: If you follow the instructions below, you are an idiot who is risking fines, imprisonment, getting kicked out of school, and worse.
Time to make the nuggets
By ROY BLUNT JR. | September 30, 2011

Young activists explore police department

There are three streets in Portland that police lieutenant Janine Roberts won't walk down alone, learned a group of interested citizens organized by the League of Young Voters on a visit to the Portland Police Department last Wednesday.
Portland 101
By JEFF INGLIS | September 23, 2011

The Big Hurt: Alex James's cheese, the Chili Peppers' video, Noel and Liam's suit, Nicole Scherzinger's Killer Love, Sammy Hagar's Chickenfoot III

James is on the vanguard of a truly extraordinary future: now that cheese has been infused with the flavor of ketchup, it's only a matter of time before entire cheeseburgers — with beef, onions, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and all — are compressed into pre-s
Music news in brief
By DAVID THORPE | September 02, 2011

A libertarian's view of the Barstool/Brady child-porn fiasco

Sophisticated First Amendment scholars, lawyers, and media commentators, all of whom are strongly free-speech/free-press supporters, were critical of Coakley for allegedly engaging in a legal bluff — the veiled threat of possible prosecution under the st
Freedom Watch
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | August 26, 2011

How the Arroyo jury got it right

Rarely has a Boston jury had to suffer as much ridicule as the 12 citizens who acquitted former Boston firefighter Albert Arroyo of pension fraud.
Law-abiding citizens
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | August 19, 2011

Cruelty, compassion, and a capuchin, a decade later

I had tried not to look at the monkey's tits — the result, Janet told me later, of a glandular disorder. They bounced whenever the monkey moved. If you shaved them, they would have been a pretty nice set.
The baby in the box
By S.I. ROSENBAUM | August 05, 2011

Curbing corruption with a catch-all

Sal DiMasi is no saint, but that doesn't mean he's a criminal. His behavior makes us grimace, but it simply doesn't amount to a state or federal felony.
Vague Justice?
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE | June 24, 2011

Corporate prison bill 'carried over'

Although LD 690, A BILL TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR "EXILED" PRISONERS TO RETURN TO MAINE , was killed May 6 by the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee, political activist Ron Huber, who had pushed it, declared "victory in Augusta" on his Facebook page.
Inmate Exile Dept.
By LANCE TAPLEY | May 13, 2011

GOP lawmakers want to do DeCoster 'a favor'

Jack DeCoster is possibly the most infamous Maine businessman of all time.
How Soon We Forget Dept.
By COLIN WOODARD | April 29, 2011

At a turning point

When Joseph Ponte was told that Maine's longtime corrections commissioner Martin Magnusson had once informed the Legislature's Criminal Justice Committee, after a dramatic hostage-taking, that there were "probably 300 inmates right now with a weapon in
LePage's nominee to head Corrections has the skills to fix Maine's broken prison system. Will the governor and lawmakers give Joseph Ponte the tools?
By LANCE TAPLEY | February 11, 2011

Review: The Murder Trial of John Gordon at the Park Theatre

Who knew? Everybody knows about that frisky, independent start by Roger Williams, and the first bloodshed of the American Revolution with the burning of the Gaspee , but who knows about the dispute between the lowly immigrant Gordon family and the pres
Trial from another era
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | January 21, 2011

LePage interested in corporate prisons

In the gubernatorial campaign the controversial Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation's largest for-profit prison operator, spent $25,000 on behalf of Republican candidate Paul LePage, now the governor-elect.
The $25,000 contribution question
By LANCE TAPLEY | December 17, 2010

Bristol’s crusading lawyer goes Hollywood

If you haven’t heard of Betty Anne Waters, the Bristol pub owner and single mother of two who put herself through college and law school in a nearly three-decade crusade to overturn her brother’s murder conviction, you will soon.
Exoneration
By ELIZABETH RAU | July 16, 2010

Review: The Law

Was it that everyone got to hang out on the Mezzogiorno coast, enjoying good pasta and swimming, during the shoot?
What a goofy choice for a film restoration
By GERALD PEARY | July 16, 2010

With plans for a downtown mural, Shepard Fairey returns to Providence

It is a rather unremarkable collection of bricks at the moment: an exterior wall at the back of Trinity Repertory Company’s Pell Chafee Performance Center in downtown Providence.
Obey
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | June 18, 2010

The powerless rise

I’m an even-tempered guy. I don’t lose my cool more than, maybe, once or twice a day.
The danger of the unfocused anger of the Tea Party
By AL DIAMON | May 21, 2010

‘There are no rules’

On April 19, the Globe first reported that arbitrators had awarded the Boston firefighters union a 19-percent raise. By the next morning, both the Globe and the Herald were citing Menino administration figures of a $74 million cost.
The 11th-hour change
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 14, 2010

Your words are not your own

Plagiarism is a serious charge.
Less Otten. More Originality.
By AL DIAMON | May 14, 2010

Elena Kagan’s shaky record

As a potential Obama nominee for Supreme Court justice, Elena Kagan has liberal bona fides and the likely support of the right. But if her record is any indication, she’s more likely to side with the conservative bloc on matters of executive power and wa
What a Kagan appointment to the Supreme Court could mean for civil liberties
By HARVEY SILVERGLATE AND KYLE SMEALLIE | April 23, 2010

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