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Editorial

Delta variant puts another bump in our road

Not again. We’re all ready to get off the COVID-19 roller coaster, so this week’s announcements from local public health officials that they’re seeing a rise in infections and hospitalizations arrived with a thud. It was a predictable bit of news, but it is an unwelcome one. News of the virus’ more contagious Delta variant spreading like wildfire in regions of the country where vaccination rates lag had us waiting for that shoe to drop in our region. It also had us hoping that our somewhat regionally robust vaccination effort might hold the new variant at bay, might tamp ...

COVID-19 surge means all of us must be vigilant

One of the great Yogi Berra’s most famous “Yogi-isms” is, “It’s like deja-vu, all over again.” But who knew that he was inadvertently referring to 2021. Nearly half of Michigan residents live in counties where the federal government is urging everyone ages 2 and over, including the fully vaccinated, to wear masks in public indoor settings because transmission of the coronavirus is “high” or “substantial,” as reported by The Associated Press. The guidance affected 33 of 83 counties as of Monday — including large ones such as Oakland, Macomb and Ingham — up from ...

Eviction meets lack of affordable housing

Last month renters facing eviction got a breather in the form of a one-month extension of the federal moratorium. The eviction moratorium was put in place to keep people and families out of emergency housing in the wake of COVID-19-related layoffs and closures. Done by way of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a means to keep crowding (and contagion) out of shelters, it stopped landlords from removing tenants who couldn’t pay rent. Michigan evictions slowed considerably — an Associated Press explainer this week found about 1,500 eviction cases filed between March ...

Copper Country Flames take part in Legion Class A tourney

We hope the young baseball players participating in the American Legion Baseball state Class A tournament at Marquette’s Haley Memorial Field make memories while having a wonderful time. The Marquette Blues are hosting the tourney, which started Thursday and continues through Saturday — and there may be a game on Sunday depending on earlier results. There are two other Upper Peninsula teams in the tournament, Copper Country and Menominee. Coming up from below the bridge are Chief Pontiac, Mount Pleasant and Blissfield. Four games were scheduled for Friday and then today ...

Spike in HIV cases is an unsettling reminder

Kalkaska County shares a long list of similarities with Scott County, Indiana. They’re both rural, Midwestern counties with rural Midwestern county challenges. Their economic and demographic statistics are like mirror images of one another slapped down on a map 500 miles apart along major highways in the extremities of adjacent states. Median household incomes just shy of $50,000. Median home values of about $100,000. Similar numbers of employers. Similar population. Similar struggles with the social problems that hurt small, rural counties — things like alcoholism, poverty and ...

Highway dedication to honor pair of fallen firefighters

With the Forsyth Township Fire Department hosting the annual Upper Peninsula Volunteer Firefighters Association Tournament in Gwinn this weekend, local and state officials will formally honor Ben Lauren and Don Riling — the only two Forsyth Township firefighters who have passed away in the line of duty during the department’s 114-year history — with a memorial highway dedication. Lauren, 23, of Gwinn, was fatally injured while fighting a structure fire at K.I. Sawyer on March 13, 2020. He was a captain at the Forsyth Township Fire Department and a third-generation volunteer ...