Opinion

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 ...

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 ...

Editorial cartoon for July 31, 2026

A resident's lived experience with DATA

My name is Saundra, and I have been riding with Delta Area Transit Authority (DATA) for more than 16 years. When I moved to the Gladstone area from Chicago, I was raising two young children and knew very little about the community. DATA became one of the first services that helped me get established. At the time, I was healthy, could walk without assistance, and still had my vision. As I learned more about DATA, I became involved with Friends of DATA and later volunteered with Regional Interagency Coordinating Council (RICC). My two children and I even helped raise money by selling ...

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 ...

Almanac for July 30, 2026

Today is Thursday, July 30, the 211th day of 2026. There are 154 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1976, Bruce Jenner, now known as Caitlyn Jenner, set a world record of 8,618 points and won the gold medal in the Olympic decathlon at the Montreal Summer Games. Also on this date: In 1619, the first representative assembly in colonial America convened in Jamestown in the Virginia Colony. In 1864, during the Civil War, Union forces tried to take Petersburg, Virginia, by exploding a gunpowder-laden mine shaft beneath Confederate defense lines; the attack failed. In 1916, ...