Editorial Roundup: New England | Maine News

Bangor Daily News. March 24, 2022.

Editorial: More reminders of the shortcomings of Maine’s freedom of access law

There has been plenty of debate about daylight recently. There should also be some attention paid to sunshine.

March 13-19 was Sunshine Week, an annual celebration started years ago by the American Society of News Editors that recognizes the importance of open government.

“Sunshine Week this year occurs amid the harsh reality of what can happen when a government operates behind a curtain of secrecy, as is what’s happening half a world away in Russia,” the Albuquerque Journal editorial board eloquently put it last week. “Its people are not only prevented from seeing the truth of the horrors their country is wreaking on their neighbors, but they are being fed lies and propaganda created by their ruler.”

That observation from across the country was right last week and it remains right this week. Open government should be a year-round pursuit in Maine, across the country and around the world.

We don’t need one particular week each year to remind us of the limits to Maine’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA). That reminder, unfortunately, happens on a much more regular basis.

It happened just recently in South Portland, when the city held an invite-only meeting to discuss concerns about homeless individuals being housed at local hotels. The city did so despite a warning from an attorney for the Portland Press Herald that this would violate Maine’s FOAA, the paper reported in February.

It happened in Piscataquis County in early 2021 when county commissioners there adopted in secret a resolution against Gov. Janet Mills’ COVID-19 measures.

Maine’s Freedom of access law, at least in theory, provides public access for public proceedings and public information. But as First Amendment lawyer Sigmund Schutz discussed with the Bangor Daily News after the Piscataquis County situation, the law has been weakened by a long list of exceptions.

“Now, the right-to-know law is sort of Swiss Cheese, with many dozens of individual exceptions protecting certain discrete types of records, or discrete meeting subjects, from the public’s right to know,” Schutz said at the time.

As we’ve seen repeatedly, Maine’s freedom of access law has not stopped public entities from shielding public information or public proceedings. We would argue that it includes insufficient penalties that are not enforced enough.

In January of 2021, the Bangor Daily News filed a lawsuit against the Maine State Police after requesting written disciplinary decisions against state troopers — which are public under state law — and eventually received records that had specific misconduct details obscured. The BDN has sued jointly with the Press Herald, and a judge is expected to decide on the case soon.

Justin Silverman, the executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition, discussed this case in a recent BDN column along with a recent Maine Freedom of Information Coalition survey that asked Maine law enforcement agencies to provide the number of complaints made against their officers since 2016. Nearly half of these agencies failed to provide any information or respond at all, despite FOAA requirements, Silverman said.

“Under the current law, there is little recourse when that data are denied other than to file a lawsuit. Most citizens (and most newsrooms) lack the time and money needed to sue agencies for records they are entitled to under FOAA,” Silverman said. “Whether we grant the state’s public records ombudsman powers to enforce the law or provide statutory incentives such as mandatory attorney fees for prevailing plaintiffs, we need better tools to protect the public’s right to know.”

We agree, better tools are needed to guarantee the public’s right to know here in Maine. That is true this week, it was true during Sunshine Week, and it has been true for quite some time.

Boston Globe. March 18, 2022.

Editorial: Reform laws only as good as those who enforce them

Lawmakers have sent the Baker administration a stinging indictment of its criminal justice failures.

A recent letter from a legislative leader reads like a stinging indictment of the alleged failures of the Baker administration in the field of criminal justice — failures to implement recent laws reforming the state’s prisons, crime lab, and policing.

What’s the point of the Legislature passing laws, after all, if those charged with implementing them don’t?

In the most gentlemanly of words, the House Judiciary chair, Michael S. Day, basically stomped his foot and reminded the lame-duck governor that “policy disagreements do not give the administration leave to ignore the laws actually on the books.”

Day’s nine-page letter outlining these sins of omission is actually addressed to Public Safety Secretary Terrence Reidy, but the Stoneham Democrat posits his own theory about who is calling the shots.

“The Legislature is well aware of the governor’s objections to certain aspects of recent landmark laws, both through the amendments he returned to bills as well as through legislation the administration later filed,” Day wrote.

Those objections and amendments track with “some disturbing instances of noncompliance,” Day adds.

High on the list — for some time now — has been what some lawmakers consider an end-run around the state’s landmark 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act in the way the Department of Correction has addressed solitary confinement.

“The (Judiciary) Committee has learned that a number of DOC facilities and Houses of Correction have now instituted housing practices which result in the solitary confinement of inmates for up to 21 ½ hours a day, thereby evading the protections, limits, and transparency required for inmates held for just 30 minutes longer.”

The law also forbids prisoners with serious mental illness from being subjected to restrictive housing — defined as 22 hours a day of solitary confinement — but is silent on that sub-22 minute condition. Day wants an accounting of exactly how many inmates in DOC custody since December 2020 were restricted to in-cell time for more than 20 hours a day but less than 22 hours for more than two consecutive days.

Bridgewater State Hospital, a medium-security facility for men suffering from mental illness who have been ordered incarcerated, civilly committed, or are being held pending trial, was similarly cited by Day as circumventing “legal protections and reporting requirements” in its use of “chemical restraints” — injections of potent drug cocktails — to subdue inmates, as documented by the Disability Law Center in its January report. The center has been tasked by both a court settlement and the Legislature with oversight responsibilities.

How did it come to pass, Day wants to know, that Wellpath, a private, for-profit contractor running the facility, administered “at least 370 ‘Emergency Treatment Orders’ ” on inmates without reporting those to DOC?

Other lapses cited in the letter include:

▪ Failure “to implement the technology needed” that would allow “a statewide uniform cross-tracking system for individuals involved with the criminal justice system” as required by the 2018 law. In fact, regulations for data cross-tracking were promulgated only last December.

▪ Failure to “adequately mitigate significant mold problems” found throughout Bridgewater State Hospital.

▪ Failure of the State Police Crime Lab to meet statutorily imposed deadlines for testing rape kits collected prior to enactment of the criminal justice law.

That testing process is ongoing, albeit at a glacial pace. The Executive Office of Public Safety and the crime lab noted in its most recent quarterly report that the agencies “look forward to the continuing work of testing all eligible untested investigatory” rape kits “in the coming year.”

A spokesperson for the EOPSS says the agency is “in the process of developing a robust response” to the Day letter that outlines the agency’s “significant and continued progress toward the comprehensive implementation of criminal justice reforms.”

Day, on behalf of the Judiciary Committee, is also engaging in a back-and-forth with the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, set up under the police reform law, about whether, in fact, a regulation they promulgated actually prohibits choke holds — as required by the law — or only seems to prohibit them.

One section of those regulations reads:

“Except to temporarily gain, regain, or maintain control of an individual and apply restraints, a law enforcement officer shall not intentionally sit, kneel, or stand on an individual’s chest, neck, or spine, and shall not force an individual to lie on their stomach.”

That “temporarily” might not be the nine minutes it took to kill George Floyd, but it certainly looks like, as Day’s letter calls it, “a clear subversion” of the law’s “prohibition on choke holds.”

Enrique Zuniga, executive director for the POST Commission, said the commission is “evaluating” the best way to address Day’s concerns, a process complicated by the fact that the regulations are drafted in conjunction with the Municipal Police Training Committee.

These fixes shouldn’t wait. When new and trailblazing laws are passed, politicians and advocates too often pat each other on the back and move on. But reforms are only as good as those willing to enforce them and those committed to make them work — not just on paper but on the ground.

Barre-Montpelier Times-Argus. March 23, 2022.

A report that came out yesterday confirms what we already know: Vermont agriculture is critical to the state.

“Today, 30 food and agriculture groups released the sixth annual Feeding the Economy report, a historic farm-to-fork economic analysis revealing how these sectors influence the local and broader United States economies. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s study highlights how the industries remained resilient to provide Americans with jobs, economic opportunity and safe food,” a news release from the Agency of Agriculture states.

“This study sheds light for policymakers on how the food and agriculture sector not only feeds Americans, but also feeds the U.S. economy. The economic disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic has only served to further highlight the critical importance of the food and ag industries,” it reads.

The economic impact study released today shows that 17.77% of the nation’s economy and 29.14% of American jobs are linked to the food and agriculture sectors, either directly or indirectly.

Additionally, the analysis broke down the food and agriculture sectors’ economic impact by state and congressional district.

According to the news release, here are the key findings for Vermont in terms of direct impacts from the state agriculture economy:

— Total direct jobs: 50,818.

— Total direct wages: $1.94 billion.

— Total taxes: $1.7 billion.

— Exports: $135.9 million.

— Total food and industry economic impact: $8.45 billion.

Here is how that fits into the national scene. Amid the global supply chain and inflation crises, these agriculture sectors also exported $182.91 billion worth of goods, helping the U.S. maintain its position as a leading player in global agriculture. In 2021, these sectors contributed a total of more than $3 trillion to the U.S. economy.

Key U.S. findings include:

— Total direct jobs: 43,464,211.

— Total direct wages: $2.30 trillion.

— Total taxes: $718.15 billion.

— Exports: $182.91 billion.

—Total food and industry economic impact: $7.43 trillion.

According to the release, to measure the total economic impact of the sectors, the analysis also includes the direct and indirect economic activity surrounding these industries, capturing both upstream and downstream activity. For example, when a farm equipment retailer hires new employees because farmers are buying more tractors, experts consider the new salaries an indirect impact. Similarly, when a retail associate spends her paycheck, an induced economic impact occurs. Together, these have a multiplier effect on the already formidable direct impact of food and agriculture, it states.

“The full analysis underscores the importance the food and agriculture industries have on jobs, wages, exports and taxes in our nation. The data provided includes the indirect and induced economy activity surrounding these industries,” the release states.

In all, “these industries are responsible for roughly one-fifth of the country’s economic activity, directly supporting nearly 21.5 million jobs or more than 14% of U.S. employment. It begins in the rich soil of America’s farms and ranches — more than 2 million of them — spread across the heartland and stretching to the coasts,” according to the full report.

Meanwhile, millions of food scientists, production workers, logistics experts, truck drivers and engineers work in more than 200,000 food manufacturing, processing and storage facilities to keep our food supply chains resilient and fresh and safe food readily available worldwide, — the report details.

The Feeding the Economy summary reports: “The journey may conclude at one of the nation’s more than 1 million restaurant locations or make its way from one of more than 100,000 retail grocers to American homes and gatherings where people enjoy the nation’s bounty.”

Vermonters should be mindful of the key role we are playing in the ongoing success of the industry we see around us every day, in our stores, at farm stands, at farmers’ markets, and in restaurants and eateries we frequent.

That’s a lot of jobs. And a lot of millions, billions and trillions to consider and be proud of.

You can visit www.FeedingTheEconomy.com online to read the entire report, and see how Vermont stacks up to other states.

Editorial: State must do more to bring in doctors

Not that we needed a reminder, but the past two years have driven home just how vital local doctors are to our state’s well-being.

Connecticut has weathered the coronavirus pandemic as well as any state, with most metrics since the advent of vaccines showing the state recording deaths and hospitalizations below national averages. But at the outset, when New York City and other international travel destinations served as entry points for the virus, Connecticut sustained a devastating blow.

Doctors and other medical professionals were asked to carry an exceptionally heavy load, and responded to the call. But amid the thanks offered to those in life-saving professions was the underlying reality that it’s not easy to be a doctor in Connecticut.

“The burdens of care during the COVID pandemic have stretched an already thin margin even further,” Dr. Timothy Siegrist, president of the Connecticut Urology Society, said in testimony before the state General Assembly this week. “We are seeing record numbers of providers of all types planning to reduce care or leave practice entirely.”

Siegrist and other doctors were testifying in support of a bill up for debate this session that would, among other measures, establish a physician loan reimbursement grant program. To be granted eligibility, a person would need to be licensed and employed in the state and have either graduated from a medical school in the state or completed a medical residency program at a licensed Connecticut hospital.

The bill also proposes a physician recruitment grant program that would offer $20,000 for doctors who relocate to Connecticut as full-time providers for at least two years, as well as establish a task force to review the state’s medical malpractice policies.

The high cost of living in Connecticut comes up in a variety of contexts, and even among high-earning professions such as physician, it can be a detriment. For one thing, doctors nearly always come out of school deeply in debt, and when that much more of their salary needs to go toward paying for a place to live, it serves as a severe disincentive.

Connecticut has as solid a pipeline of young doctors as any state could ask, with medical schools at major universities graduating new physicians every year who have a lot of choices about where they want to land. Keeping them in Connecticut should be a priority for lawmakers, both for their earning power and contribution to the state economy as well as for the irreplaceable services they provide.

As reported by the CT Mirror, a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the nation is due to see a doctor shortage of between 37,800 and 124,000 primary care and specialty care physicians by 2034. Such a deficit would put health care services at risk with a particular hit in marginalized communities, rural areas and low-income neighborhoods. Connecticut is far from alone in facing such challenges.

That’s why it’s important to act. Other states will surely be passing legislation aimed at bringing doctors in, and Connecticut should not be left behind.

Hartford Courant. March 20, 2022.

Editorial: Erasing the Sackler name not easy

There is finality about the way a Yale University spokeswoman said “no Yale faculty member currently holds a Sackler chair.”

A chair, in the parlance of higher education, is a coveted thing, and it’s no secret that individuals or families with lots of money like to endow academic positions in the name of those believed to be worthy of such an honor.

Yale, for example, had the David A. Sackler Professorship of Pharmacology.

And even as Connecticut Attorney General William Tong this month announced that Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family will pay $6 billion in a nationwide settlement for the OxyContin maker’s role in the deadly opioid epidemic, Yale was making good on its decision to rid itself of the Sackler name.

The other Sackler-related position, The Richard and Jonathan Sackler Professorship in Internal Medicine, was already empty and Yale spokeswoman Karen Peart told The Courant it would not be filled.

Peart also told The Courant that Yale reached the decision in 2019 not to accept future gifts from the Sackler family.

She also said the university made a decision in 2021 “to pursue a separation from the Sackler name and has been actively working on specific plans consistent with that decision, which we expect to announce soon.” Peart further noted that “the university has no plan to fill the Sackler chairs.”

Those are the right moves for Yale, the state’s only Ivy League school, and it sends a very strong message, as the Sackler family ponies up the money, sells or dissolves Stamford-based Purdue by 2024 and removes itself from involvement in the opioid business both in the United States and abroad.

The particulars of the settlement were announced by Tong on March 3 and include that the Sackler family must permit institutions with buildings or scholarships to remove their name.

Tong said Connecticut will receive about $95 million to be used for opioid treatment and prevention.

But while Yale and other institutions respond correctly by removing the name that has brought pain to so many, it remains to be seen whether the cleansing of the Sackler name and nearly $100 million for treatment and prevention here will do anything to help ease the pain of those in Connecticut or anywhere who have lost loved ones as a result of the opioid crisis.

It’s a crisis Connecticut has faced for years.

Speaking of all overdose deaths, not just those that included opioids, the Connecticut Department of Public Health reports that there were 1,378 confirmed drug overdose deaths in 2020 — an increase of 14.3% from 2019. As of the second week of December 2021, the most recent data posted on the DPH website, there had been 1,450 confirmed drug overdose deaths for 2021.

And during a recent hearing held virtually in Federal Bankruptcy Court there was an outpouring of statements from Americans who were able to confront some members of the Sackler family they blame for fueling it, The Associated Press reported.

The agony families have faced was clear, with forgiveness likely hard to find.

“I hope that every single victim’s face haunts your every waking moment and your sleeping ones, too,” said Ryan Hampton, of Las Vegas, who AP reported has been in recovery for seven years after an addiction that began with an OxyContin.

“You poisoned our lives and had the audacity to blame us for dying,” Hampton said.

“I hope you hear our names in your dreams. I hope you hear the screams of the families who find their loved ones dead on the bathroom floor. I hope you hear the sirens. I hope you hear the heart monitor as it beats along with a failing pulse.”

As the Purdue settlement evolves and their money is reduced by going to a just cause, we can all hope the name Sackler fades from the forefront even as it is etched in our memories.

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