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Editorials and columns

Independents want more say

Are you one of them? Everybody knows somebody who is a self-described Democrat or Republican, but how many folks go around boosting that they are an independent, usually described as a voter who plunks for the person and not automatically for an R or a D just because they are thus? So, are ...

State remains cloudy during Sunshine Week

For the past 10 years, the Michigan Press Association has given the Rep. Peter Petallia Memorial Sunshine Award to public servants who strive to promote and protect transparency in government. The award is named after former state rep. Peter Pettalia, of Presque Isle, who embodied all good ...

A better way to make choices?

Life is full of choices. It is estimated that adults make 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day. According to a PBS.com story, a Cornell University study revealed we make 226.7 daily decisions on food alone. That makes me exhausted, or maybe hungry. I should take a nap, but ...

Glad to see county exec hunt going well

Shortly after posting its job opening, Alpena County already has 18 applicants for its vacant county administrator role. Consultant Amy Cell, of the Ypsilanti-based Amy Cell Talent, told the Alpena County Board of Commissioners the county had received applicants both from the Alpena area and ...

Books transform lives, transport worlds

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.” — Haruki Murakami, “Norwegian Wood” “I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” — Jorge Luis Borges One of my most prized possessions sits ...

Celebrate women, fight for their equality

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” — Maya Angelou Yesterday, March 8, was International Women’s Day, and I’d just like to take a minute to share my gratitude to all the women who came before me ...