Relevance is important in my line of work. That is why the team here at The News always is working hard to keep you informed with information that is important for all of us. Did you know that, last year, the local news reporters produced over 3,000 pieces of local news — which included ...
“The best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth. That is the burden, and the duty, of leadership.” — U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney A line was drawn on Jan. 6, 2021, and America was a different place when it awoke the next morning. I’ve been ...
Reporters here at The Alpena News last week completed an exhaustive series on the availability of broadband technology across the region. The series was both insightful and frightening, in that it revealed that, as a region, we are woefully behind other areas of the country for new ...
Early in the holiday season, before the snow came, my wife and I would get out, move about, stroll — occasionally walk at a pace — enjoying the fresh air and the festive decorations displayed around our fair city. We viewed small Christmas displays, large ones, and many in between. Some ...
It was a Saturday night in the early summer. At that point, a few months into the pandemic, we were sick of it. Sick of having to cancel plans. Sick of the uncertainty. Sick of it all. My family and I had a bonfire. Relaxing around the flames, we listened to music, ate s’mores, and tried ...
This morning, it seems especially appropriate to remember these lyrics: “God bless America Land that I love Stand beside her and guide her Thru the night with a light from above From the mountains, to the prairies To the oceans white with foam God bless America My home, sweet ...
I’ve always said it’s important to start off a new year with hope — hope can be a great motivator. But, after the year we’ve had, it’s hard to find hope. And, quite frankly, we need a lot more than a “positive attitude” to take on the problems our state is facing. COVID-19 has ...
Jaxson Dean Budnik, born at 1:27 a.m. Monday at MidMichigan Medical Center-Alpena, was Northeast Michigan’s first baby of 2021. But the Budniks apparently know a thing or two about timing. One of little Jaxson’s siblings, Ariana, was the first baby of 2015 in Presque Isle County, as News ...
Ted Fines, head of the local Habitat for Humanity and a fantastic professional photographer, recently took top honors for his entry to PRAXIS International Juried Photography Exhibit — EMPTY PLACES : ABANDONED SPACES — earning the Jurors Choice Award. His moving photo showing snow on the ...
Poor Dr. Marc Mallory. You know, the guy hitched to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. His major objective in becoming the state’s second first gentleman was to stay out his spouse’s way. She would do the state stuff. He would stay in his lane as an accomplished dentist, and the last thing he wanted ...
What a fantastic way to begin 2021. In Saturday’s edition — the first of the new year — News staff writer Julie Riddle brought us the story of Danielle Franzoni, an Alpena waitress who received a $2,020 tip just before the start of 2020. One year later, as Riddle detailed Saturday, ...
Headlines are attention grabbers, and this one stopped me in my tracks last weekend. Hall of Fame Atlanta Braves pitcher Phil Niekro died at the age of 81. The headline took me back to the roots of my career in eastern Ohio, and, specifically, the little sleepy community of Blaine. ...
In the waning weeks of the weird and awful year that was 2020, I received a handful of aggressive notes from readers demanding answers to two opposing questions: Why are we giving so much ink to the coronavirus? Why are we not carrying more stories on voter fraud in the presidential ...
If ever there was a legislator deserving of special recognition, it would be state Sen. Jim Stamas. Stamas, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Northeast Michigan’s state senator, this week was recognized by the Michigan Information and Research Service as its Senator of ...
When the weather was still warm, the grass green, the leaves yet on their respective trees, when the sun was higher, shinning longer, brighter in a sky whose clouds were white, not grey, before all the chaos and confusion brought so much exhaustion, before rumor caused our congressman to seek ...
As of today, the year of 2020 is behind us. If you are not glad it’s over, raise your hand, then smack it to your forehead and say, “What’s wrong with me?” For 2020 will go down in world history as the year of tragedy, chaos, and death. Just a week ago, we gazed into the evening ...
This has been a difficult year filled with unimaginable struggles. Still, I am confident about the future, and proud of the way we have come together to meet those unprecedented challenges. We started the year by addressing shoreline erosion because of historically high water levels in the ...
“For auld lang syne, my dear For auld lang syne We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet For days of auld lang syne” — “Auld Lang Syne,” by Robert Burns Boy, what a year. The virus. Fires. Virus. Economic strife. Political strife. If you weren’t on edge this year, ...
Michigan residents might be confused about why the state spends less on road funding though it elected a governor whose primary campaign promise was to fix the roads. Lawmakers had regularly increased road funding before her administration began. Spending on road funding, excluding federal ...
We can’t fault Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration for deciding recently to keep restaurants closed to indoor dining through the New Year. More than 1,000 Northeast Michiganders have been infected since Thanksgiving Day, and restaurants are one place where people gather indoors ...