Opinion

Connor Sports puts UP in NCAA basketball tourneys

When college basketball's March Madness rolls around — the NCAA’s men’s Sweet Sixteen play starts today, the women’s side on Friday — Connor Sports gets a chance to be in the spotlight. The Crystal Falls-based company provides the hardwood courts for the tournaments, made from sugar maple harvested in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula and northern Wisconsin. It's thought the trees from this part of the country have the strongest characteristics to hold up over time, a company spokesman told Jeffrey Bonior for an article in Alliance for American Manufacturing, ...

Conservatives gather for CPAC with divide over the Iran war

GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) — Conservatives are holding one of their largest annual gatherings at a perilous political moment for President Donald Trump and with open division on the right over the war he launched in Iran. While Trump maintains broad support among conservatives, the war in Iran ...

Almanac for March 26, 2026

Today is Thursday, March 26, the 85th day of 2026. There are 280 days left in the year. Today in history: In 2024, Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being struck by a container ship, killing six maintenance workers on the bridge. (Maryland officials have announced plans to replace the bridge by late 2030.) Also on this date: In 1812, an earthquake devastated Caracas, Venezuela, causing as many as 30,000 deaths. (The U.S. Congress later approved $50,000 in food aid to be sent to Venezuela — the first example of American disaster assistance abroad.) In 1917, ...

The hoax on Israel's control over Trump

We've long known that Donald Trump drives his critics crazy, and he's now doing it to some critics who used to be friends. The isolationist right is convinced that President Trump is waging the Iran War in behalf of Israel, which would make him the handmaiden of a foreign power. That ...

Measles outbreak downstate should draw more reaction

Passing all but unnoticed in recent days were reports of a measles outbreak in the Lower Peninsula. News outlets in and around Washtenaw County say three linked cases have been reported since March 12, all in that county. This isn't good, from at least two vantage points: Number one, of course, is the fact that measles is an extremely contagious and dangerous viral illness that can lead to severe complications like pneumonia, brain damage (encephalitis), and death, particularly in children younger than 5 and unvaccinated individuals. Approximately 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the U.S. ...

Editorial cartoon for March 25, 2026