With the Maine mainstream media pumping out puff stories for the Maine government, it’s refreshing to be able to read what’s really going on in the Portland Phoenix.

Lance Tapley’s series on business as usual in the Baldacci Administration (see "Augusta’s Mayor, His Two Hats, and $400,000," April 15, and "The Insiders," April 29) in Augusta lets Phoenix readers know that it is not unreasonable to feel frustrated with the daily nonsense from Augusta’s own Kennebec Journal, a publication that prides itself in downplaying, censoring, or challenging real news rather than spreading it.

In these days of corrupt politics in both Washington and Augusta, it may not be politically correct to expect newspapers to put the dissemination of news first on the agenda. But I’m old-fashioned and, at the risk of being seen as naive, I keep hoping that someday even the mainstream press will discover news as something to feature rather than hide.

Wishful thinking? Probably, and until then the Phoenix will just have to figure out how to handle the mountains of real news that the mainstream protectors of privilege choose to set aside.

Thank you, Portland Phoenix, and thank you Lance Tapley.

Julian C. Holmes

Wayne