Would it not be pathetic if the state’s successful response to the coronavirus hinged on three little words — namely, “Can we talk?” Not only are the Democratic governor and Republican legislative leaders engaged in a contentious debate on how to combat the deadly disease, but now ...
Understand history so it’s not repeated. We’ve all heard variations of that edict many times. The biggest event it is paired with, of course, is the Nazi Holocaust. When major news events happen, I like to search for news photos, and that’s exactly what I did when the mob descended on ...
Through customer donations matched by the store, the Alpena Meijer raised $21,560 for St. Vincent de Paul of Alpena, the store said recently. Through the store’s Simply Give program, Meijer matches shoppers’ donations, sometimes doubling its match to turn a resident’s $10 donation into ...
As a child growing up near Pittsburgh, I can remember sitting in the right-field bleachers at Forbes Field, watching one of my heroes, Roberto Clemente, drift back to the fence and snag a long fly ball. I can still hear the sound his cleats made as they dragged across the fines of the ...
Your newspaper carried a column in your Jan. 9 edition by Jeffrey Greene of Presque Isle. I am bothered that your usually insightful publication has elected to propagate such drivel which has repeatedly been rejected by the courts. Mr. Greene reports what is happening simultaneously in three ...
I promise you, dear reader, that I will make you mad. I also promise I will make you happy, while simultaneously angering many of your neighbors. Because newspapers reflect the real lives of the communities they serve — with all its diversity of thought and ups and downs — newspapers ...
Much gratitude to the staff of District Health Department No. 4, local National Guardsmen, local law enforcement, and other agencies collaborating in COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Northeast Michigan. The one I attended in January at Alpena Community College was staffed by cheerful, helpful, ...
We are impressed by the way Alpena Public School officials — board members, teachers, and administrative staff — handled a proposed new history course at the high school. Earlier this month, board members learned a new course had been proposed — Perspectives of Democracy — and ...
We, the concerned members of the Alpena County Democratic Party, call for Jack Bergman to immediately resign as representative of the Michigan 1st Congressional District. His actions to overturn the legitimate results of the Nov. 3, 2020 election, even after the horrifying attack on our ...
These days, we need to use caution when confronted with a touching situation. Touches carry risk and they can cause significant harm. But no touch at all — that can be the worst of all. There is touch that is art: a sculpture created by a welder, lines forming circles on paper or in the ...
It seems that now it is OK in America for people to “become” the gender with which they identify. Men can compete in women’s sports and women in men’s sports if they so desire provided they identify themselves as a member of the opposite sex. People that dare to question them are ...
As many of you know, the Michigan Department of Transportation will invest about $5 million this spring and early summer to rebuild two miles of U.S.-23, from south of Washington Street to south of Lakeshore Drive, just north of Harrisville. While we’ve had three meetings in the past ...
A couple of weeks ago I stopped in to pay for my online subscription to The Alpena News and while there called upon Bill Speer. Out of his office he came. We greeted one another and shook hands. It had been a while since we last talked. It was during a conversation that I was reminded of words ...
In Geyer Balog’s letter to the editor in The Alpena News (Saturday, Jan. 23) regarding “the narrative the media is currently pushing” about Donald Trump supporters being responsible for the violent raid on the U.S. Capitol back on Jan. 6, he asserts “those invaders were identified as ...
After last week’s presidential inauguration, there was a lot of buzz as I scrolled my friends’ and families’ posts on various social media platforms. The fabulous array of bold and symbolic coats worn by our country’s leading ladies. The musical performances by Jennifer Lopez and ...
I hope this is the last one. Last what?, you might ask. The last column I ever write on the TransCanada (now calling itself TC Energy) KXL pipeline. Last week, President Joe Biden denied their international border-crossing permit for the 36-inch pipe full of poison. Now, before you ...
So much for the marshmallows and smores. There’ll be no singing “Kumbaya” around the campfire tonight. It seems unity between government leaders in Lansing these days makes for good speeches, but not much more. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in her State of the State address on Wednesday, ...
The Alpena County Regional Airport got more than money when the federal government announced it would receive $18 million from federal coronavirus relief dollars. It got the chance to stand on its own. The airport is important to the region’s economy, connecting Alpena to Detroit and, ...
I do not know the full extent of what the past year has meant for restaurants and bars, or their employees. I imagine that, for most, it has been extremely difficult. It has been difficult for many businesses, but I think especially challenging for the restaurant industry. In talking with ...
For the most part, Michigan lawmakers kept an expansion of the state’s corporate handout complex at bay last year, and in 2021, they should trim taxpayer subsidies for corporations and industry. The money would be better spent addressing higher priorities. In December, legislators ...