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Events and opportunities

Columns

July 6 • Trail skate, 7-8 p.m. Grab your wheels and meet at the Downtown Houghton Waterfront Pier by the PLDL. We will roll from there down to the Ray Kestner park and back! All skates, bikes, skateboards, or scooters welcome to join. This is a community skate to meet new friends and get outside! Contact: Susie Toivonen, slammer@keweenawrollerderby.com • MI-TRALE meeting, 7 p.m. Stannard Township Hall, Bruce Crossing. MI-TRALE will hold its monthly meeting at the Stannard Township Hall in Bruce Crossing. Anyone interested in maintaining ATV and snowmobile trails in the western U.P. ...

Laura Hollis

Columns

Can We Stop the Slide Into Socialism? Last week has brought more news that contains powerful warnings about the trajectory of the country. First, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Watson v. Republican National Committee. In Watson, the court upheld a Mississippi law that counts ballots ...

The Raffel Ticket

Columns

Some of my online biographies note my "checkered" past. I guess that's a reference to the time I spent as a professional gambler. Half a lifetime ago, I supported myself betting on the horses. I've moved on, that's for sure, but the lessons I learned watching those equine athletes stick with ...

From the desk of Dr. J

Columns

I found the "Toy Story 5" theme of tech versus toys very intriguing, as folks like me from older generations often lament that today's kids are missing out on one of the most wonderful parts of childhood: using your God-given imagination. Screentime on tablets can lock so many kids in, and ...

Rachel Marsden

Columns

PARIS — That's it, I'm starting a new human rights movement: the Cryophilic Freedom Front. Because rampant discrimination across Europe against cryophilic people — defined as those who are physically incapable of tolerating extreme heat — has no place in polite European society. Yet not ...

The meaning of the Fourth of July

Editorial

Each July 4, Americans both at home and abroad, gather to celebrate. Under skies ablaze with fireworks, on streets lined with youngsters waiting for candy from passing floats or simply standing with family in front of grills smelling of seared burgers and hot dogs, we celebrate. We celebrate and remember the formation of a nation founded on the then unheard of idea of freedom. Each community, family and individual has their own traditions passed from one generation to the next. But beyond the music of the high school marching bands, the decorated bicycles and the blaring sirens of ...