I strive for perfection — both personally and professionally. It is a plateau I ever will achieve? The answer is most assuredly not. Knowing that I never will attain perfection does not stop me from pursuing that goal, however. I need to grow and improve daily. Learning is an experience ...
In America, we have a health care system that makes industry executives a fortune while ordinary people are forced to crowdfund to survive. A quarter-million GoFundMe campaigns are launched each year to pay for medical bills; $650 million is spent on medical GoFundMe campaigns annually; 90% ...
For weeks, I’ve been staring at a copy of Editor & Publisher on my desk, knowing I’d have to deal with it in this column at some point. I’ve tried to avoid E&P’s nasty two-page spread full of charts and graphs, one of which keeps croaking at me like Poe’s raven: A survey of ...
On Aug. 28, The Alpena News carried a column by Dr. Walter E. Williams headlined, ‘The beginning of US slavery was not beginning of democracy.” Then, two days later, the front-page headline reads: “Students struggle on social studies tests.” Is perhaps the cure of the latter in ...
Readers won’t want to miss The Alpena News’ Senior Expo Sept. 18 at the APlex. From 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. that day, residents can learn more on a variety of subjects that are particularly geared toward some of our community’s retired population. Of course, one only is as old as he or ...
In the article in Monday’s paper about the Posen Potato Festival, Livonia resident and President Donald Trump supporter Rob Cortis is quoted saying his “message is to unite America on a positive message, on things that will benefit Americans across America — all America.” The symbol ...
People who know me know my lifelong obsession with Jarts. If you’re younger than 40, you probably have no idea what those are. They were — and are — the world’s best lawn game, consisting of two plastic rings placed 20 or so paces apart into which you lob Jarts, which are winged darts ...
I would like to express my dismay in your article on the Posen Potato Festival in the Sept. 9, 2019 edition of The Alpena News. As a descendant of Polish immigrants and a supporter of (true) unity, it was disheartening to see you use this community event, and a community fiercely proud of its ...
I would like to use this space to brag about the amazing experience I had bringing my daughter, Molli, into this world at the Alpena Women’s Health Unit at MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena this past June. From the doctor to the CRNA to the nurses to those who cleaned our room, I can’t ...
In politics, those on the sidelines like to distinguish between “winners” and “losers.” Sometimes, though, there is neither. Take Michigan budget talks, for instance. Earlier in the week, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and GOP leaders announced they were going to work together to get a ...
Could you please be a bit more specific? The world doesn’t exist in black and white. There is a whole spectrum of gray in between, so details are important. It is difficult to take someone seriously when they use broad-sweeping terms without data to support a claim, or without specific ...
Close to $20,000 in grant funding was used recently to spruce up the back yard at the Hope Shores Alliance shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and their children. Upgrades included power-washing and painting porches and stairs, replacing overgrown landscaping, painting ...
Over the past couple years, some of the nation’s loudest opponents of school choice have been quick to fix their sights on Michigan, the home of the U.S. education secretary they eagerly vilify. They sacrifice important facts and context for the sake of perpetuating a convenient political ...
Reporter Steve Schulwitz informed us last week that the van area military veterans count on for transportation to doctor’s appointments downstate has broken down. The van, which provided some 1,100 veterans transportation, broke down much sooner than expected, leaving the Disabled American ...
A revolutionary internal movement is quietly underway at the Michigan State Police, with a new sheriff in town (or should we say colonel) who is trying to “scrub” some of the department’s time-honored traditions with the aim of bringing more than just paramilitary types into the trooper ...
Enrollment at Alpena Community College increased 5% this fall over last, The News’ Julie Goldberg reported Thursday. That increase, both in headcount and credit hours, happened even as other northern Michigan community colleges actually lost students and credit hours. ACC President Don ...
Hurricane Dorian has pummeled the Bahamas, skimmed Florida, and blew floods into the Carolinas. Hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless. Knowing our readers as we do, we are sure that many of you are looking for ways to help, checkbooks at the ready. But beware. The ...
I support Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s tough stance this week toward flavored electronic cigarettes. On Wednesday, Michigan became the first state in the nation to ban flavored electronic cigarettes. Whitmer said the sweet-smelling and -sounding flavors and deceptive advertising methods were ...
Kenneth Oke, in his letter in the Saturday, Aug. 24 Alpena News, claims “Citizens should not own weapons of war.” He states that citizen-owned weapons should be limited to one shot at a time and registered. Using that inference, he should also agree that the First Amendment would not ...
Good news: The News launches Outdoors page Beginning with the Sept. 14 edition, The News will launch a new page dedicated to coverage of the outdoors. It’ll appear in the middle of B Section, just after the local sports pages, every Saturday. The page will feature columns from Northeast ...