We will observe Memorial Day on Monday and for most of us, our thoughts will turn to our country’s monumental losses in past conflicts.

Most people would agree that it’s better to prevent a disease than to treat it after it occurs. As Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Yet, the numbers of Maine children who are not vaccinated continue to grow, and measles, a disease that was considered eradicated in the United States in 2000, has spread to 22 states across the country.

The sentence of a Boothbay man for attempting to murder a man in Edgecomb two years ago will test our new district attorney’s rehabilitation-first approach to criminal justice.

Now that the snow has melted and spring has finally arrived, we are beginning to enter the final stretch of work here in Augusta. Legislative committees are hard at work sifting through more than 2,000 bills with a deadline of May 10 to vote on all bills. To accommodate this deadline, the presiding officers have waived the two-week public advertising requirement, which allows committees to hold public hearings on any bills in their possession at any time.