It would be easy for someone to look at our current coronavirus statistics and think the worst is past us, that it’s time to return more fully to normal. After all, a Northeast Michigander hasn’t died after being exposed to the virus since August, hospitalizations across our region are ...

The Michigan Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer violated state law by declaring emergencies and issuing executive decrees without legislative approval. The governor’s unilateral control over the daily lives of 10 million people has come to an end. No ...

The biggest crime involved in drunk driving is that, too often, it is not just the inebriated person behind the wheel who gets punished. Drunk drivers cause crashes. And those crashes too often have deadly consequences to innocent people unlucky enough to be on the same road at the same ...

Guns. Where and when. Don’t look now, but the state is on the cusp of a dandy brouhaha over guns and where you can take them and when you can’t. The story you’re about to read unfolds on two fronts: namely, the state Capitol building and every polling place around the ...

Although Enbridge Inc. told the state that its studies of the lakebed in the Straits of Mackinac found no potentially culturally sensitive artifacts that could be disturbed by the Canadian energy company’s proposed tunnel for its Line 5 oil pipeline, a group of amateur researchers begs to ...

The economic meltdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic threw a lot of people into situations in which they never expected to find themselves. For many people, that meant the risk of losing their homes. However, a state program overseen regionally by the Northeast Michigan Community ...

Sometimes, you come across small details that are unimportant to the crux of a story, but, when added to the greater kaleidoscope of history, help us see the world around us a little more clearly. Many such small details were uncovered last week, after the FBI and Michigan State Police ...

We support drug courts. The programs allow those arrested for drug crimes tied to addiction to undergo treatment and work to get themselves clean to avoid jail time. Such programs are good for the participants, helping them get their lives back on track, and good for the community, ...

Myron David Orr’s English class at Alpena Community College, if not consistently informative, was usually enjoyable. This particular day, it was both. My friend, Doug Scott, and I were in attendance when instructor Orr, as was his habit, advanced a proposition having nothing to do with ...

The northern shores of Lake Huron are home to teal-blue waters, sun-bleached coasts of ancient bedrock, and plants that eat meat. Michigan’s dynamic geological past is famously shaped by glaciers, whose retreat thousands of years ago carved the Great Lakes and defined its borders. Equally ...

Are you going to vote on Nov. 3, 2020? Maybe you have already voted, and, if so, you have joined the other 15 million voters who have cast their ballots several weeks before Election Day. Regardless, if you plan to vote in-person at your local polling booth or choose to vote absentee, the ...

Our schools need our help now more than ever. Already facing a shortage of teachers and other positions because fewer people are considering education as a profession, school districts across Northeast Michigan are now — as reporter Crystal Nelson recently told us — facing a shortage of ...

Knowledge is facts and information acquired through education or experience. Attitude is a settled way of thinking or feeling about something or someone, and is typically reflected in behavior. Skill is the ability to do something well, knowing the techniques required to complete an ...

As reported recently in The News, public health officials believe trick-or-treating can go on safely this Halloween, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, provided some extra precautions are taken by both trick-or-treaters and those passing out candy. Trick-or-treaters should: ∫ ...

I’m a young kid on the car ride home. My mom has just picked me up from daycare. I must have had a tough day, because I pout and ask from the back seat, “Mom, why do you have to go to work? Can’t you stay at home to take care of me?” While I don’t remember her exact response, I ...

For 26 consecutive years, Alpena’s finance department has earned the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada, recognizing the city for its comprehensive annual financial report. The ...

If they scored that vice presidential debate the other night based on the number of specific questions that never got specific answers, the outcome would have been a dead heat. Both Vice President Mike Pence and challenger U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris had their Fred Astaire dancing shoes on as ...

It’s not easy to run a business in any economic climate. It’s especially hard to do so on the slow climb out of a Great Recession and then to maintain during a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic that ground much of the world’s commerce to a halt. Yet, as News Lifestyles Editor Darby ...

I used to write a column for this newspaper a while back, and so much has happened recently that this seemed like the time to catch up with my (14) former readers. It’s been a busy week: Changed my jeans. Thought up 10 rhymes for “constipation” (instigation, suffocation, mortification ...

Two startling factoids: Only 60% of eligible voters voted in the 2016 election (I learned this from an NFL public service announcement. Who says watching football isn’t educational?). At this time in 2016, an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll had Hillary Clinton 14 percentage points ahead of ...