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Editorial

UPPCO customers shouldn’t be asked to shoulder steep rate hike

Just too much. That’s our position on the Upper Peninsula Power Co. asking its customers for a $17.3 million rate increase, when people and families have already been pushed to the limit by skyrocketing grocery bills and gasoline costs that are closing in on $5 per gallon Added up, that’s why the Michigan Public Service Commission, the state regulatory agency that has the final say on electrical raters, should reject UPPCO’s rate request as submitted, a proposed hike that would produce an average 15.6% increase for residential customers. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and ...

Tariffs, trade wars have made US farming harder

JD Vance was in Iowa last week, trying to shore up GOP support in the heartland. "We want farming to be easier in the United States of America, not harder," the vice president told the crowd in Council Bluffs. Farming is always hard but what could be making it even harder these days? Hmmm. Could it be President Donald Trump's tariffs and trade wars that have raised farmers' costs and lost them markets abroad due to retaliation? Asking for a friend in the Midwest. While Mr. Trump can claim all he wants that foreigners pay his tariffs, Deere & Co. said on an earnings call last month that ...

Marshfield Clinic Research Institute wants your ticks

With weather turning cooler as fall gets underway, it might be expected the threat of ticks would start to diminish. No such luck, apparently. Marshfield Clinic Research Institute research has shown an autumn surge of deer ticks, which transmit Lyme and other diseases. With people outdoors taking in the fall foliage, hunting or perhaps doing pick-your-own of the year's farm produce, that means being tick aware and taking preventive measures. But the institute has another request: If a tick turns up (hopefully not attached), don't throw it away or otherwise dispose of it. They want ...