So, Hillary Clinton is writing a book, perhaps offering her take on the 2016 presidential election. And, as she told an interviewer this week, she accepts responsibility for losing to Donald Trump. Sort of. “It wasn’t a perfect campaign. There’s no such thing,” Clinton told a ...
Enough already. How long must Alpena City and Township residents wait to see resolution of the ongoing conflict over water rates? This issue has dragged on for way too long already, and recent action only threatens to delay a resolution even further. On April 27 city officials ended ...
In an era when the media seems to be under attack on all fronts, we appreciate the Alpena News and local TV station WBKB for their coverage of last Saturday’s March for Science in Alpena. The reporting of that non-partisan event by both was accurate and comprehensive. We were also ...
It was right after Dan O’Connor became Alcona Community Schools’ superintendent in March when Managing Editor Steve Murch and I were discussing his new duties. It was around this same time that the Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona had selected Scott Reynolds to replace Brian Wilmot when he ...
I have been told that conservative Republicans at the Gaylord meeting with Congressman Bergman were upset with the behavior of some attendees. I also recently read a letter to the editor of one person's view that conservatives like him were better at attending town hall meetings because; well, ...
I don't get Facebook. Yes, I understand the dynamic and its usage and all that; we used it here at The News and it is a useful tool for us. I don't get it as a share-everything-about-your-life tool. Again, I know you can limit what you post, who sees what, etc. And yes, I also know that ...
I had a talk with God the other night while sitting at my kitchen bar. A mighty wind stirred outside and he walked through the door, pulled up a stool, looked me in the eye and said, "You need a shot of Vodka." When my glass miraculously became two I took the hint, poured us each a round, and ...
I would like to challenge the time reference (350 million years) that appeared in the Alpena News article on April 27, 2017, entitled "Removal of ancient fish remains planned." The consistent, accurate dating of fossils does not exist with our current methods of analysis; therefore, we must ...
Where did the term, “Oh Mylanta,” come from and why is it suitable for the situation several college students and I are currently in? You may have guessed from the title that it is exam season. All of the last minute assignments have been piling in along with tests, quizzes, and even ...
Thursday a group of area residents gathered together at Alpena City Hall to participate in the National Day of Prayer. Wouldn’t it be nice if that gathering, repeated thousands of times across the United States, would be the spark to start a healing process in our fragmented political ...
At least once a week I get the question, “Why do you leave your patrol cars running?” Then the citizen usually continues on giving examples of, “We often see patrol cars running without an officer in them at restaurants, gas stations, and many other places.” Then they make statements ...
You may have to pardon House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., if she enjoys a chuckle this week. Unless something changes about a Republican plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, Pelosi will be entitled to a bit of sarcastic humor. When the atrocity that is ...
While he was president, Barack Obama seldom missed an opportunity to decry cronyism between big business and public officials. It undermined Americans’ faith in government, he opined. Of course, Obama is well aware of the “revolving door” phenomenon in Washington, in which government ...
Former CIA and National Security Agency head Gen. Michael Hayden’s presentation last week in Steubenville, Ohio, may have been a sobering one for some of those in attendance. It was quite an education in threats facing both our security as a nation and our safety as individual ...
Miss Flora Lightbody, my elementary school music teacher, was an enthusiastic, delightful lady who even now occupies a special place in my memory. I’m not the only one who remembers her fondly. Like all good teachers she left a lasting impression on many. But Miss Lightbody wasn’t. The ...
It is a measure of how bad things are at the Department of Veterans Affairs that President Donald Trump is ordering creation of a special office to protect whistleblowers and find out why VA Secretary David Shulkin cannot just fire employees who are incompetent and/or dishonest. Trump ...
"No kid ever grows up wanting to be lt. governor." Those are the immortal words of former Lt. Gov. Jim Brickley who labored for eight years with Gov. William Milliken with the clear expectation that the governor would wonderfully pass the torch to his old pal. What Mr. Brickley should have ...
The latest state unemployment rates are quite encouraging. The rate declined two-tenths of a percentage point to 5.1 percent in March and more importantly, the rate dropped in all 83 Michigan counties. “It is very encouraging to see unemployment rates drop across all 17 employment ...
Friends and neighbors of Alpena County, “Picking for People” may not mean anything to everyone, but most of us in Northeast Michigan immediately think of a great group of men with guitars, fiddles, accordions and songs that most of us hadn't heard since our childhood. These fellows have ...
I call it the “vibe” of a community. The “it” I refer to is the pulse, heartbeat, energy and feel of a community. Sometimes it can be measured, but often it relies more on the senses. I wish it were able to be defined more through objective means, but instead the determination is made ...