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A Fair Tradition Worth Celebrating

The United States has many celebrations and occasions that reaffirm our love of family and country. Those days center around birthdays, weddings, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and other similar holidays. My personal favorite day of the year is the Fourth of July because it symbolizes everything good about America and allows us to enjoy all those other days. I want to introduce you to my second favorite day of the year, the 4-H auction at the U.P. State Fair. Every year on Saturday of fair week the 4-H auction is conducted in the show arena next to the beef barn. Kids from all over ...

The case for capitalism

I’ve failed! I make the case for free markets ... young people elect socialists! What are they thinking? Do they even think? Do they pay any attention to history? Or economics? Socialism always fails. Only markets create environments that let people prosper. “Getting the right ...

Poll shows shifting views on Trump’s handling of Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, and President Donald Trump’s approval rating on Iran has fallen slightly since last month, according to a new AP-NORC poll. The results are a stark repudiation of the Republican president’s approach to the ...

Almanac for July 31, 2026

Today is Friday, July 31, the 212th day of 2026. There are 153 days left in the year. Today in history: In 2012, at the Summer Olympics in London, swimmer Michael Phelps won his 19th Olympic medal, becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time. (He would finish his career with 28 total Olympic medals, 23 of them gold.) Also on this date: In 1715, a fleet of Spanish ships carrying gold, silver and jewelry sank during a hurricane off the east Florida coast; more than 1,000 of the roughly 2,500 crew members died. In 1777, the 19-year-old Marquis de Lafayette received a commission as ...

August guests — family reunion time

ESCANABA — It’s almost August and that means company is coming! Pack up the picnic basket, bake up a raspberry pie, it’s family reunion time. Fair week is fast approaching, crickets chirp louder at night now, and the short Upper Peninsula summertime is starting to wane. So go for a ride! It’s time to visit the relatives back home. Great Aunt Erma and Uncle Fred are on their way to your house. The old homestead, family farm, camp or cottage are good gathering places. Part of the day will be spent at the cemetery viewing gravestones of kinfolk long passed. An afternoon will ...

Socialists v. the Senate

Political parties tend to harshly reject the idea that they are a threat to the constitutional order, but the Democratic Socialists of America are making it part of their brand. The DSA has released a new program that, besides contemplating the advent of a classless society, calls for ...