tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2315523436107295072012-02-21T13:56:51.650-05:00Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comBlogger988125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-59367163954520070822012-02-15T13:56:00.000-05:002012-02-21T13:56:51.665-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix 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. Sussman, the paper announced late Friday, will lend the Press Herald and its sister papers between $3 million and $4 million in

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-22470566254916412912012-02-15T13:55:00.000-05:002012-02-21T13:55:33.136-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix Let's just say it: The first phase of OccupyMaine ended with a fizzle, not a bang. The showing at Friday's 10 pm deadline for Occupiers to be out of Lincoln Park was poor. There were three Occupiers and two journalists, standing near the park's fountain. No police, no city workers — they'd come by earlier in the day and cleaned up what was left in the park, with

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-32091744476761757132012-02-08T12:25:00.000-05:002012-02-09T12:25:36.720-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix Even as Portland city officials continue to pressure OccupyMaine to leave Lincoln Park, they have done the Occupation a great favor, perhaps unintentionally. By extending the deadline for the encampment to end until Friday from its previous Monday-night limit, they have given the Occupiers a chance to retake the media narrative of their departure. Had Monday

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-49686870106798369712012-02-08T12:24:00.000-05:002012-02-09T12:24:23.469-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix 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. Heck, the public editor of the New York Times recently asked readers if reporters should verify public officials' claims — and seemed surprised and defensive when the overwhelming

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-33507522031497456392012-02-01T11:13:00.000-05:002012-02-03T11:13:54.052-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix As OccupyMaine's request to stay in Lincoln Park is considered by a Maine judge, it appears the Portland City Council's decisions (which the judge is reviewing) were based more on individual councilors' views and less on constituent complaints than elected officials have let on. Based on the results of a Freedom of Access request for citizen communications

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-57932451000715014882012-01-18T17:20:00.000-05:002012-01-24T17:21:07.177-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix 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. The bills are controversial because they would make online censorship much easier, more effective, and harder to combat. Over the weekend, the White House issued a

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-60718239379398560012012-01-18T17:19:00.000-05:002012-01-24T17:20:02.566-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix OccupyMaine has filed its comments on the city's reality-detached answer to Occupy's lawsuit (see "10 Fun Things in the OccupyMaine-Portland Lawsuit," by Jeff Inglis, January 13), and a hearing on the Occupiers' request for court protection from city eviction is scheduled for next week. The outcome of the hearing will shift the Occupation into a new phase.

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-40035428804227597532012-01-11T17:23:00.000-05:002012-01-24T17:23:11.647-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix OccupyMaine sued Portland late last year, seeking a court's permission to stay in Lincoln Park, given that the City Council has refused to brook any possibility of anyone remaining overnight in a city park for any reason (including free speech, expression, or assembly). The city has now replied with a court filing even longer than Occupy's. Together they

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-82716230408944879412012-01-11T17:21:00.000-05:002012-01-24T17:21:58.019-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix 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. Led by Chris Harte, who back in the pre-Blethen 1990s was president of the Press Herald, the prospective investors say

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-41200243890974274832012-01-04T16:00:00.000-05:002012-01-12T16:00:54.137-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix; what's below are my parts of a longer piece co-written with Deirdre Fulton and Nicholas Schroeder Improving opinion polling Pretty much as soon as the champagne glasses are empty, the state — and the nation — will return to Election Mode. With the presidency, one of Maine's US Senate seats, and the entire state legislature in the running, it'll be impossible

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-84951390558088096982011-12-28T15:58:00.000-05:002012-01-12T15:58:47.441-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix; part of a longer piece co-written with Deirdre Fulton - what's below is my part Occupy Maine (and everywhere else) While its members (and the rest of the 99 percent) wait to see about how OccupyMaine fares in court — and in possible multiple rounds of appeals and requests for reconsideration — they're not resting on their pallets and sleeping mats. After the

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-19436624037800899862011-12-08T11:22:00.000-05:002011-12-09T11:22:39.983-05:00

Published at thePhoenix.com/AboutTown It appears time to consider the possibility that the pro-business, anti-public ethos that plagues American politics has also started to infect Portland's city council. To wit: Most Portland city councilors love to make deals with corporations, but have no interest in finding a way for people to protest overnight in city parks, despite repeated attempts on

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-42017453015930934662011-12-07T11:17:00.000-05:002012-01-12T15:56:38.362-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix Is it trash or treasure? The editorial team here at the Portland Phoenix compiled this year's incarnation of our annual local gift guide by searching for diamonds in the rough. Thrift stores, secondhand shops, even one of those massive New England antique barns: Surely, there's great stuff in there, we thought. Turns out we were right. It took some doing, but we

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-33600572258798643792011-12-07T10:53:00.000-05:002011-12-09T10:54:10.147-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix In place of our usual monthly Gubernatorial Scorecard, we're looking at what Governor Paul LePage has been up to through the lens of the holiday season. Augusta gets back to business in mid-January, making the current state of relations between the gov and various groups even more important than usual. Here's what we imagine they're giving each other, and how

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-13639715763977945132011-12-06T11:21:00.000-05:002011-12-09T11:21:13.936-05:00

Published at thePhoenix.com/AboutTown There is one question that must be answered at tomorrow night's Portland City Council meeting: Will the councilors treat the Occupiers the same way the councilors treat for-profit corporations? We'd hope so, of course - we'd hope that the council would behave equably toward all petitioners, from all quarters. We'll have to see whether Portland's councilors

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-41931799351196057962011-12-02T11:20:00.000-05:002011-12-09T11:20:28.700-05:00

Published at thePhoenix.com/AboutTown Portland's Public Safety Committee, a subcommittee of the City Council, has refused to enter into ongoing negotiations with OccupyMaine over conditions in Lincoln Park, with two of the committee's three members suggesting there are no provisions under which they would support First Amendment protests to last overnight in public spaces. With that decision

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-77393572599624243652011-11-30T08:39:00.000-05:002011-12-01T08:40:07.647-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix As officials continue to pressure Maine's Occupy campsites in Portland, Augusta, and Bangor, the Portland Occupation is pushing back, asking the city to create "a permanent 24/7 speech, assembly and community building zone" in about half of Lincoln Park, and proposing that the OccupyMaine group be allowed to remain in that area — which would be a smaller area

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-57148341172062400992011-11-23T13:02:00.001-05:002011-11-23T13:03:00.455-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix With OccupyBangor under near-constant threat of eviction, and Portland city officials pressing the Lincoln Park campers to scale back their encampment to a degree that will make winter survival difficult if not impossible, the Maine branch of the Occupy movement — like those elsewhere in the country — is at a crossroads. Will the Occupiers get bogged down in

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-19553475372486324792011-11-16T17:07:00.000-05:002011-11-17T17:09:57.078-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix Last week in Ellsworth, Governor Paul LePage renewed his efforts to change Maine's welfare system, calling for increased restrictions on benefits for people seeking taxpayer support to get health coverage through the state's Medicaid program. This, and a guilty plea the day before of a 26-year-old Andover woman to charges of defrauding the state of $8800 in

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-12610000866353808122011-11-16T17:06:00.000-05:002011-11-17T17:06:48.533-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix The day before Richard Connor resigned his position as editor and publisher of thePortland 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. While all the facts surrounding his departure aren't

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-41846765983397527262011-11-16T17:04:00.000-05:002011-11-17T17:05:30.269-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix OccupyMaine's Portland branch has a plan for winter survival and overall camp safety that includes using the people's mic for emergency warnings, round-the-clock warming huts, and shifting to hotels or other dwellings in times of extreme cold. City officials will review the plans, as well as possibly tour the camp to identify potential safety hazards,

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-3554708076749187262011-11-02T09:49:00.000-04:002011-11-17T17:05:45.815-05:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix Portland's public-school employees and leaders are working hard to meet the needs of every student in the system, but when asking themselves whether they've accomplished that, "the answer is 'Not yet,'" according to School Board chairman Kate Snyder, who spoke to the League of Young Voters' Portland 101 class last week. Snyder is just finishing the first year

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-46618773689903286142011-10-25T15:04:00.003-04:002011-10-25T15:04:19.790-04:00

Published online at thePhoenix.com Based on my observations, conversations, and reading of Occupation reports from around the globe:  Despite mainstream media incomprehension, the message of the Occupy movement is extremely clear and lucid. It is creating a parallel, alternative society that cares for humans, represents humans, and provides for humans - using systems free of corporate

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-45262744094990269462011-10-19T15:34:00.000-04:002011-10-25T15:34:40.109-04:00

Published in Out In Maine When Howard Solomon's name was submitted as a nominee for the Catalyst for Change Award, the highest honor given by the Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine at the University of Southern Maine, the center's board agreed very easily to bestow it upon the well-known LGBT historian. "He has an outstanding record in Maine," says Susie Bock, the center's director, who

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-231552343610729507.post-58466282146512734162011-10-19T15:20:00.000-04:002011-10-25T15:20:39.770-04:00

Published in the Portland Phoenix Portland's 15 mayoral candidates are missing an opportunity to connect with the people, both directly and through the media, by failing to publicize their support for OccupyMaine. Perhaps their reasoning is that the underlying demand of the Occupy movement — supporting the removal of money from politics — might upset their donors. Why else would they avoid a

Jeff Inglisnoreply@blogger.com