Who holds Major League Baseball’s record for the highest batting average in a single season? It’s not Ted Williams, with his .406 average in 1941, the last time anyone topped .400. It’s not Ty Cobb, with his stunning .420 average in 1911, or even Nap Lajoie, whose .426 average in 1901 generally shows up in […]
Ben Bragdon
Staff Writer
Ben Bragdon is managing editor of the Sun Journal. Prior to that, he was deputy managing editor for news at 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.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: No, cracking the windows does not make parked cars safe for dogs
I was standing near a store entrance when I heard it: yelping and barking coming from the parking lot. Dumping my items, I ran outside and found a small black dog trapped inside an SUV. After jotting down the make, model, color and license plate number, I dashed back in and had started explaining the […]
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Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Our civic confidence is at an all-time low. How do we build momentum?
I was recently in northern Colorado for a series of campaign events in Loveland and Fort Collins. Separated by just a few miles along Highway 287, each is home to different assets and challenges. Fort Collins has experienced rapid growth and is now wrestling with housing affordability and different populations’ access to resources. Meanwhile, Loveland […]
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime, News
Waterville man pleads guilty to federal firearms charges
Damiean Marcial-Alexander, 21, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to a 2022 burglary at J.R.’s Trading & Pawn in Waterville, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: The government must do more for older Americans facing homelessness
As Donald Trump and President Joe Biden continue their 2024 campaigns, Americans are asking difficult questions about aging: What does it mean when each nominee is over the age of 75? How will the impacts of aging affect their abilities to serve? Meanwhile, those on the frontlines of America’s homelessness crisis are facing the aging […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Scholars Strategy Network: The global climate crisis and the presidential election
The stakes could not be higher, nor the contrast between presidential candidates more stark, than in climate strategy.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: Trump’s hush money trial will go to the jury soon. What’s the most likely verdict?
After 20 days, 22 witnesses and intermittent courtroom fireworks, the evidence in Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial is all in. The case will soon be in the hands of the jury. Who holds the advantage at this critical juncture? My assessment, after attending much of the trial in person, is that it’s the […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: An Iranian hard-liner passes from the scene. What happens next?
On Sunday, Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s ultraconservative president, was flying home after participating in the opening of a new dam near the Iran-Azerbaijan border. But shortly after takeoff, Raisi’s helicopter went down in a mountainous area of the Iranian countryside. Once rescue teams were able to reach the crash site, it was clear that Raisi and […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: ‘Our tax dollars pay your salary’
Two Americans were asking for a meeting with me. They had traveled from Alabama to Washington to lobby for more assistance to Lebanon, the country from which their fathers had fled to begin lives in the United States. I was the desk officer for Lebanon at the State Department. It was a fraught time with […]
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Commentary: US wildfire season is now everywhere, all at once
The toxic smoke choking swathes of the Midwestern U.S. this week is a helpful reminder to Americans that Canada exists, and its wildfire season has come early. But Americans shouldn’t forget their own season starts much earlier these days, too. In fact, it’s getting to the point that wildfire season is all year long. A […]