Breaking News

Letters to the Editor

Response to ‘Honor Work, not wealth’

The Wednesday, September 9, 2026 edition of the Alpena News contained a guest column by Kathy Pelleran-Mahoney titled ‘Honor Work, not wealth’ in which she slammed the wealthy, the corporate world, tax rates, and capital gains from investments. The short bio at the end of the article identifies her as someone who retired after a five-decade career in public service. In other words, taxpayers supported her for 50 years. She doesn’t like the wealthy or corporate tax rules. She doesn’t acknowledge that corporate taxes are largely paid by consumers. Taxes supply the slush funds ...

Barr challenges Bergman to debate

On Monday night, I met with a room of Alpena residents to listen. Since we launched this campaign, we've hosted more than a dozen town halls. Like every one before it, I left with a laundry list of the things keeping Northern Michigan and Upper Peninsula families up at night. The cost of groceries and gas is bursting families' budgets. District 1 residents are driving further for medical care. While they hold our communities together, our farmers, manufacturers, and small businesses are hurting from tariffs and inflation. In Oscoda and Grayling, people still live with PFAS contamination ...

Your voice, your vote: Don’t let Alpena be silenced

Last spring, over 4,300 community members stood on sidewalks in the heat and rain to sign three petitions to recall Sarah Costain, Monica Dziesinski, and Eric Lawson. Unfortunately, a high-priced Detroit law firm hired by Dziesinski, representing all three board members, used a legal technicality to throw out your signatures and silence your voices. As a grassroots coalition without corporate legal funding, the recall committee now depends entirely on the power of your vote. We encourage all voters - including those who faced intimidation or harassment - to exercise your rights and ...

Stolen sign

Please pass this message along to the thief who stole our "Abdul for Senate" sign: You must not have much confidence in your candidate if you think stealing our sign is the only way he can win. Jerry and Jan Charter Presque Isle County

The bad actors

In the aftermath of the revelation that APS school board member Monica Dziesinski hired an elite, down-state law firm to influence the outcome of the school board recall, there is a question that lingers in that stinky airspace. Many community members have wondered where the money came from to fund an expense of this magnitude. Estimates are that level of legal advice likely came with a $10,000-20,000 price tag. We should all pause on that thought for a moment. Did Dziesinski have an extremely successful bake sale or did she have a benefactor? If Dziesinski had a benefactor it would ...

The new math

One big bundle of money, + 3 unprincipled APS board members = 4,300 disenfranchised Alpena County residents. Do these numbers add up? Karen Hansen Alpena