Opinion

Almanac for Aug. 18, 2026

Today is Tuesday, Aug. 18, the 230th day of 2026. There are 135 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing American women's right to vote, was ratified as Tennessee became the 36th state to approve it. Also on this date: In 1590, John White, the governor of the Roanoke Island colony (in present-day North Carolina), returned to Roanoke after nearly three years abroad only to find the settlement deserted; the fate of the "Lost Colony" remains a mystery. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued his Proclamation ...

Trump Promised to Be a Dictator. Now We Know Which One

It was already one of the most clownish (if sinister) moments in the Trump administration — the Department of Justice actually brought criminal charges against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for sabotaging the president's big, beautiful reflecting pool. It then dropped them for legal ...

The Right to Be Left Alone

"The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. ... They conferred against the Government the right to be let alone — most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." — Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) The ...

MSP to step up enforcement through Labor Day weekend

While impaired driving -- whether due to alcohol, drugs or both -- is a year-round danger on the roadways, late summer and the Labor Day holiday period are among the deadliest times of the year for crashes and fatalities involving impaired drivers, the Michigan State Police warned. From 2021 to 2025, the state had a total of 46 drivers killed in traffic crashes over the Labor Day holiday weekends. In those crashes, 39.1% of the drivers killed were alcohol- and/or drug-impaired, according to the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center. Of the 1,002 fatal crashes that ...

Editorial cartoon for Aug. 17, 2026

Almanac for Aug. 17, 2026

Today is Monday, Aug. 17, the 229th day of 2026. There are 136 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 17, 1998, President Bill Clinton gave grand jury testimony via closed-circuit television from the White House concerning his relationship with Monica Lewinsky; he then delivered a TV address in which he admitted his relationship with Lewinsky was "wrong" but denied previously committing perjury (Clinton was subsequently impeached by the House of Representatives, but acquitted in the Senate). Also on this date: In 1807, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat made its first ...