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Editorial

Don’t hold vaccinated hostage

We’ve asked Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to tell us when and how she would go about lifting the heavy restrictions Michigan has lived under for more than a year. The governor finally laid out some metrics Thursday, and that’s a start. But the targets are too hard to reach and will take the restrictions too far into the future. Linking a relaxation of dictates to the percentage of vaccinated residents will have the effect of punishing those who’ve gotten their COVID shots and “done their part” by denying them a return to normal life. The vaccinated should not be held hostage to the ...

DEA waging pitched battle against fentanyl

Ask any local drug cop about the danger and availability of heavy duty narcotics — drugs that include heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine or fentanyl — and you’re likely to get an ear full. That’s because those drugs, perhaps in the minds of some more related to inner city venues than rural locations, are increasingly on Upper Peninsula streets. Although meth, heroin and cocaine have been scourges for many years, fentanyl is comparatively new, at least in terms of incidence. But increasingly, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times ...

Doing the right thing shouldn’t be temporary

Doing the right thing simply can’t be a temporary change of direction for state regulators. We were heartened to hear the director of Michigan’s task force in charge of addressing PFAS groundwater pollution declare her agency would upend its current practices and, at least for now, prioritize notification of at-risk residents who live near three potential contamination sites. Last week MPART Executive Director Abigail Hendershott said residents whose water wells draw from the ground near former or active airport sites spread across the state would be notified of potential ...

National Work Zone Awareness Week

Fall 2020 was a time of tragedy for Michigan’s road and bridge workers. In a matter of three months, five road workers had been struck and killed and three more injured in work zone crashes. As the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) and other road agencies around the state begin another season of rebuilding and maintaining Michigan’s roads and bridges, it is critical that drivers, passengers, and workers take work zone safety seriously. In 2020, preliminary work zone crash information shows that there were: – 15 fatalities, – 69 serious injuries, – 785 injury ...

We need court cost reform

A Michigan Court of Appeals ruling that an Alpena County defendant must pay for the state’s costs in administering his court case is now precedent. By publishing their opinion, the appellate justices said their ruling that Travis Johnson must pay $1,200 in court costs can be used as case law when attorneys make future arguments about defendants’ obligation to repay the courts for convicting them. We don’t begrudge the justices for their opinion. They just followed what the Legislature had written. But we agree with Johnson’s attorneys’ argument that charging defendants ...

Drug Take Back Day plays critical role in guarding communities

While medicine cabinets might not always be at the top of a spring cleaning to-do list, it’s critical to properly dispose of unwanted or unused medications whenever possible, as this can help protect friends, family members and the environment from the harmful impacts of misuse or improper disposal of these substances. And today offers a great opportunity to safely and properly dispose of these medications, as the 20th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today at law enforcement stations around the county and state. A biannual event that ...