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Opinion

Saving flavorful, nutritious soup

Editorials and columns

Not long ago, I wrote a column entitled “The way playgrounds used to be.” I lamented the loss of the big, gravity-challenging Twirl-a-Whirls, the tall steel slides one could run up to slide down, and those longboard teeter-totters capable of lifting troublesome taunters to heights that ...

We can help refugees, but not disabled vets?

Letters to the Editor

I read today Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration quietly launched back in October a program to give up to $500 per month for up to 12 months to migrants and refugees for rent assistance. I guess this was done without input from the state Legislature. What is going on in our state and ...

Confessing my sins

Editorials and columns

Years ago, before I met my wife, before I got settled in my career, before I had money for anything, I lived for several years in a house owned by a friend. There were usually about four or five of us single guys paying a modest rent. We had meals together weekly, had a lot of fun, went to ...

City, township, get a deal now

Editorials and columns

Judge Ed Black of Alpena County’s 26th Circuit Court said he couldn’t fully end the decade-long dispute over how much Alpena Township should pay Alpena for water and sewer services. Instead, Black this week sent the two governments back to the bargaining table with some new rules to guide ...

Fashion makes no sense to me anymore

Editorials and columns

Fashion. What is it, and why? If you look at me in my pink plaid flannel basic button-down shirt that’s half-casual, half-professional (at least in Alpena), I obviously do not know what I’m talking about when it comes to fashion. I just have to wonder what I’m “supposed” to be ...

Kids should not be left behind

Editorials and columns

Only one in every six infants and toddlers experiencing homelessness in Michigan are enrolled in an early childhood development program, pointing to the dire need for stronger state policies and funding to improve access to those important programs for families without a reliable roof over ...