A year ago, on the Friday before Martin Luther King Day, Gov. Paul LePage delivered a vulgar on-camera insult to the NAACP that has dogged him throughout his first year in office, and probably will stay with him for his whole administration.

The Chicago Tribune editorial page endorses swearing. Loudly. (We endorse swearing loudly, that is; our endorsement itself is sotto voce.)

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords returned to the scene of the crime for the first time on Sunday.

We have a juvenile justice system for a reason: As a society, we don’t believe that adolescents always have the capacity to make good choices, so when a young person commits what would be a crime if it was committed by an adult, the justice system is focused on rehabilitation, not punishment.

We tolerate a certain amount of risk every time we get behind the wheel of a car or truck, but as a society we make and enforce rules to minimize that risk.

Hazing is a chameleon activity: one minute it can be harmless, the next minute it can be hazardous, or worse. The centuries-old practice still draws strong rebukes and surprising defenses from those who think it’s more about tradition than foul play.

You’d think that dominant banks, utilities and telecommunications companies would have learned the lesson by now. Consumers are sick and tired of being nickel-and-dimed, and won’t take it anymore.

Iran’s announcement that it had test-fired two missiles at the end of 10-day naval exercises in the Persian Gulf was a sharp reminder of regional instability, whether in countries emerging from decades of dictatorship or still subject to arbitrary rule.

Every election cycle, some politicians make hay with a proposal to shrink the size of the Legislature. But last week the House of Representatives grew and everyone cheered.

Maine is a small state with a citizen Legislature that offers its members part-time pay. It would be too much to expect that no lawmaker would ever work for a business or agency that does business with the state, or have a family member who did.