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Editorial

State can’t delay guidance on graduations

Walking across the graduation stage and the formalities of that ceremony are an important gateway to adulthood. Last year, the pandemic threw those events awry and threaten to again, if the state’s restrictions stay in place. Schools and universities have no clear guidance on what Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her Health Department will allow, even though the end of the school year is only weeks away and plans must be made soon. Commencement and other end-of-the-year activities are too important for high school and college students and their families to have to just play it by ear. The ...

Michigan needs better child care, as soon as possible

Even during the COVID-19 crisis, child care remains a concern. It has ramifications for Michigan’s economy, child care providers and the working families on which they rely. A recently released report from the Michigan League for Public Policy titled “Child Care Financing Reform: A Critical Next Step for Michigan Families and the Economy,” shows that the current financing system isn’t enough to support child care providers, parents or children. The MLPP said the system isn’t funded by the state apart from what it calls “inadequate” subsidies for families with low ...

Human trafficking misery apparently active in Upper Peninsula

Although it’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security while living in the beautiful, rural communities of the Upper Peninsula, a recent announcement from the Marquette County Prosecutor’s Office made it clear that residents need to remain vigilant, especially those who are caregivers to children or other vulnerable individuals. Officials with the prosecutor’s office, the Upper Peninsula Human Trafficking Task Force and law enforcement agencies announced details Wednesday of a joint sting operation “to identify and arrest suspected consumers of child sex crimes,” that ...

Benefits of having a family physician recognized this week

Chances are you grew up with a family physician who saw you as a toddler, while in grade school, perhaps as a teen or 20-something. He or she might well have been the same doctor your parents went to, or who now treats your children. But family physicians are more scarce these days, as specialization becomes more tempting to those going into medicine. They’re essential here in the Upper Peninsula, where a lower population and more rural practice can make doctors few and far between. Now, in the midst of a pandemic, having someone you know and trust to turn to with medical ...

Presence of COVID-19 variant a cause for concern in the UP

These past couple of weeks, we have been blessed with what seems to be an early wave of spring — but it has been accompanied with another cause for concern. Additional cases of the B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant have been confirmed in Marquette County by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Laboratories’ whole genomic sequencing, causing alarm among health officials. The new evidence, according to the Marquette County Health Department, confirms that widespread community transmission is likely. Dr. Bob Lorinser, MCHD medical director, said there have been ...

Munising News ending a run of 125 years

We note with sadness the apparent end of The Munising News, a weekly which has served Alger County for 125 years. Owners Willie and Nancy Peterson announced the paper and the Alger County Shopper, as well, will be ending their runs this month. Willie Peterson has been in the news business for 50 years, first at The Mining Journal, where he rose to the post as advertising manager, then as owner of the Munising weekly for 23 years. When asked why, he said: “Lack of Employees.” He told Mining Journal Staff Writer Christie Mastric it takes eight people to put the paper out. When ...