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America, where do we go from here?

The day was August 2, 1776. A man rose from the crowd, surveying the manuscript placed on a lone table before them. John Hancock signed his name on the paper with a large flourish and watched as each member of Congress was called up to do the same. For them, it was more than a signature but a proclamation of their loyalty to infant America forever. Everyone could see the beauty and hope of this new democracy emblazoned on the determined faces around them and trusted that if they stood together, united, they would be victorious. United! America has always valued the idea of unity in ...

It’s time to end our toxic legacy

We reap what we sow. It seems the seeds of our nation’s nonchalant chemical legacy are generating more fruit than at any other point in our history – the kind of toxic produce that our grandchildren and their grandchildren will live with. Or at least we seem to know more now than in the past about the results of our haphazard treatment of our environment. Thanks to somewhat active efforts by our state’s environmental regulators Michiganders have reasonable access to maps of known, historic pollution from industrial sites. Those disclosures aren’t always at the front of our ...

Opioid money welcome, needed

At one point, Montmorency County has, on a per-capita basis, received more opioid pills than most other counties in Michigan. Some 4 million pills flowed into the county between 2006 and 2012, according to a database made public following a court fight by news organizations that tracked drug shipments. In short, the opioid crisis hit Northeast Michigan hard. Now, our region’s governments will have a collective $2 million to help combat the problem. The region’s four counties each opted in to lawsuit settlements agreed to in July by Johnson and Johnson and the country’s ...

New state legislation on distracted driving should save lives

We were pleased to see members of the Michigan House of Representatives take a break from the cultural proxy wars they seem to often favor and pass a bit of meaningful legislation this week. On Tuesday, the state House approved a package of bills updating and modernizing its social media policy and the laws against distracted driving According to The Associated Press, the measures, which now head to the state Senate, would expand the prohibition to accessing social media while driving and expanding the definition of devices to identify numerous electronic devices including ...

Gilchrist said all the right things during weekend U.P. swing

Lt. Gov. Garlan Gilchrist made a swing through the Upper Peninsula over the weekend, glad-handing at several events and generally showing the Whitmer administration flag. Among other things, the state’s number two executive talked up the new Michigan Office of Rural Development. The office, as part of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, has the opportunity to play a big role in the economic future of the U.P., Gilchrist explained. “These small business programs are about protecting jobs and encouraging people with ideas to put those ideas into the ...

Routine screenings will protect against cervical cancer

January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, emphasizing the importance of routine screenings in the diagnosis of cervical cancer. “Women need to know that cervical cancer is almost always preventable,” said Dr. Solomon Agbroko, an obstetrician/gynecologist with Aspirus Health in the Upper Peninsula. “Cervical cancer is rare in women who are regularly screened for it. And there’s a vaccine that protects against its most common cause, the human papillomavirus.” According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 13,000 women in 2019 were diagnosed with cervical cancer and ...