It’s back! Every year on July 4, The News takes over Starlite Beach to host a competition that asks participants to put their artistic and engineering skills to the test. The Alpena News Sandcastle Contest will return Tuesday. Competitors in three divisions — a kids division, a ...

I could rattle off a hundred reasons why Alpena is particularly special this time of year, but, instead, I’ll name just one: The way residents celebrate the Fourth of July. Without a doubt, the Fourth of July was our family’s favorite holiday during our years in Alpena, because of the way ...

As the American Revolution was about to come to a boil, our beloved country was in absolute turmoil over what to do about the conditions England had laid out for their vision of what this new territory was to become. British soldiers walked the streets and occupied neighborhood houses. What ...

On Thursday, the city began allowing the use of consumer fireworks within the city limits. Fireworks are allowed through Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 11:45 p.m. each day. We join the city’s police and firefighters in encouraging you to use fireworks safely. According to the U.S. Consumer Product ...

Every time I travel, I can’t turn off my community and economic development hat. I have my internal checklist and list of questions for each place I visit: What assets does it have? What is the predominant economy? How much is tourism? When were its commercial and residential neighborhoods ...

Controversy is described as a disagreement that is prolonged, public, and heated. It can surround us like a heavy blanket of fog, making it difficult to see through the motives, antics, and deceptions employed to sway us to one side or the other. We in Michigan have one such controversy. It ...