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Editorial

UP is prime location to see autumn colors

We have seen a real shift in the weather over the month of September, and as October rolls in — so does the fall color season and the stream of tourists that come with it. Peak leaf viewing is mid-September to mid-October, according to Tom Nemacheck, executive director of Upper Peninsula Travel and Recreation Association. However, traffic is generally pretty steady until Halloween. “We have actually enough events in some of the communities here that there’s legitimate fall traffic right to Halloween,” Nemacheck said. “People are still coming up for colors usually but now ...

Surgeon’s life showed strength, perseverance

Becoming a neurosurgeon requires years of study and hard work, and then staying a successful one means more effort. After all, there’s a reason people jokingly say, “It’s not brain surgery.” That implies that people who are brain surgeons are highly skilled, accomplished professionals. To obtain such a standing is admirable, but to do so after overcoming a horrendous background is even more commendable. One of the prime local examples of someone achieving great things when things weren’t going their way, to put it lightly, was Dr. Adam Brish. Believed to be the Upper ...

UPHS/DCHS merger talks go nowhere

One of the many reports making its way through the local community relative to the future of UP Health System’s plans for health care in the Upper Peninsula came to an abrupt end last week with the announcement that Dickinson County Healthcare System and UP Health System have terminated their non-binding letter of intent. Lifepoint owns the Marquette hospital while Dickinson County Healthcare System is a publicly owned facility in Iron Mountain. Top leadership for both institutions issued statements that were included in a press release distributed to local media. Not ...

Naturalization is solemn gateway to citizenship

“We the people” are three words we should all know. You’ve surely heard of them before, and, therefore, should be familiar with the concept of self-government, where the true power rests in the hands of the governed and the will of the many. Many of us would likely be able to identify those three words as the first of our country’s most respected document, the foundation of essentially all of our subsequent laws and regulations, the U.S. Constitution. But how many of us know how many amendments have been added to that document? How many of us would be able to correctly name the ...

Directive to ‘ban the box’ is good for Michigan

Job seekers with criminal pasts got welcome news last week when Gov. Snyder issued a directive to remove the question of a criminal record from initial screenings for state jobs. This “ban the box” initiative applies only to state government jobs, but it’s a step in the right direction for the about one in three adults with an arrest or conviction in their past who face many obstacles to re-entering the workforce. Bills to eliminate the box on all job applications - in the public and private sectors - have been introduced in recent years but have not passed the Michigan ...

Mosquitoes still threat to spread West Nile virus

Just when it seemed late enough in the year to relax about mosquitoes comes this from neighboring Florence County in Wisconsin: The health department reports a dead crow found earlier this month has tested positive for West Nile virus. This is the first bird confirmed for West Nile virus in the county since surveillance for the mosquito-transmitted virus began May 1. Unfortunately, if a bird can get West Nile, so can humans. West Nile virus is spread to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. Mosquitoes acquire the virus by feeding on infected birds. “The positive bird ...