I’m in England visiting my son, his wife, and my grandchildren: Benjamin 8, Eleanor 5, and Daniel 3. It’s a favorite place. A favorite place can be where I am, where I will later be, or where I have been before. Once, it was on Lake Huron’s sandy shore when I was about to drift ...
If “our security cannot be assured, the French team will stay at home,” declared French Sports Minister Laura Flessel, regarding the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. Way to show the terrorists and bullies of the world they have not achieved their goals. Certainly the ...
What in the world was she thinking? Or was she thinking? Folks in this town are scratching their heads wondering why the state police director waded into a controversy that she did not have to wade into. But there was Col. Kristie Kibby Etue on her personal Facebook page blasting NFL ...
Happy anniversary Thunder Bay Theatre! Northeast Michigan is a mecca for the arts, and perhaps nothing exemplifies that assertion better than Thunder Bay Theatre. Today it is an anchor to a vibrant local arts community that annually brings in some of the best up and coming talent from across ...
I've noticed comments made by company officers looking to locate in Alpena area which indicate that we do not have a work force in our area trained to preform the highly technical skills needed to produce products. Vocationally technically trained work force is not a given outcome of “one ...
I wish I had the fortitude to just say “no” to football Sunday. But I’m weak and enjoy football way too much to make a statement Sunday by turning away from the National Football League. Instead I’ll spend several hours watching the sport, screaming at the TV and questioning ...
Katrina, Harvey, and Irma all made recent headlines, demonstrating the great power of water and flooding. The Glacial Missoula Lake, located in Montana, overran many western states after it broke away. This cataclysmic flooding caused the Grand Canyon to form. In a visit to the Ark ...
On Friday morning I was one of the community volunteers who helped employees from the Alpena Alcona Area Credit Union with the credit union's teen financial reality fair for Thunder Bay Junior High eighth-graders. This was the third time I was able to help out and it's a great event the credit ...
The Graham-Cassidy health care repeal plan would threaten the health of my family, and of children and families across our community and state. If passed, the Graham-Cassidy bill would cause 32 million people to lose their coverage and raise costs for people lucky enough to hang onto their ...
Come Heller high water … ∫ Twitter is doubling the number of characters for tweets from 140 to 280. So if you thought President Trump's tweets couldn't get any more nuts, guess again. ∫ I think it's a mistake. Most people can't be interesting with 140 characters. What makes anyone ...
There's something about the slow, silky flow of the Au Sable River in the fall that soothes my soul. I love to watch as, one by one, leaves are set free, gracefully floating on the breeze until the stream quietly cushions their landing, ferrying them to places unknown. As I survey the ...
Today is an important day for many Alpena County entities that work with area youth and recreation. This afternoon members of the Alpena County Youth and Recreation committee will meet and finalize funding for projects that will begin in 2018. It is the last round of funding for the ...
It is rare, but sometimes House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is right. She is this week, in calling for deployment of more military resources to aid the hurricane-ravaged islands of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Pelosi, D-Calif., made the recommendation Monday, ...
While browsing one of my old (2006) communication textbooks, I stumbled across the chapter on credibility in communication. The chapter started by stating that an audience is not likely to listen to, or retain information from someone who has not earned the right to talk about that subject. ...
Hurricane Maria was the most devastating storm to hit Puerto Rico in decades, perhaps as much as a century. It will take years and an enormous amount of federal aid to help the island recover. Because it is a U.S. territory, that assistance is merited. But Puerto Rico had been hit by ...
China’s announcement Saturday that it will limit petroleum exports to North Korea is good news. It is not a breakthrough. For months, U.S. officials have sought more cooperation from Beijing in pressuring North Korea to pull back on its development of missiles and nuclear weapons. Such ...
A week without social media. A week without Netflix (TV). A week without phone calls. A week without checking work emails. Sometimes you need a break to rebalance the scales of your life. We recommend that when people visit Alpena on vacation, they do the same. Unplug. Disconnect to reconnect. ...
Northern Michigan is made up of many small, close-knit communities. It’s one of the many reasons people choose to live here. It’s not uncommon, for example, for your child’s teacher to be married to your doctor; or your co-worker to be close friends with your neighbor. The examples ...
Hello, central casting. Send over a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate who can win a general election race. You bet. We've got somebody right here. Look for a phone call from West Michigan Congressman Fred Upton. Hello, central casting. Send us a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate primary ...
Good neighbors are to be cherished. Thus, when you hear a “good neighbor” story like the one told in Rogers City this week, you can’t help but smile. Council there approved a tax exemption for the Calcite plant owned by Carmeuse Lime and Stone. In some communities such action ...