News

Features Patrick Sullivan The Haglers had previously operated restaurants in that location and for a decade they’d run an office supply store in Kalkaska. In 2003 they decided to do something different and they opened a store, located across the street from Kalkaska’s famous trout, that has since then it has grown into the sort of place that sells almost everything.

Features Rick Coates Sherman Poppen leaned back in his chair and a big smile came to his face as the Gold Medal was placed around the neck of Shaun White during the 2010 Winter Olympics. While the redheaded White is the international face of snowboarding today, Poppen is the grandfather of the snowboard.

Letters

Australian example 

Mike Johnson’s description of his life in Australia, a country where working people can still afford to live comfortably and still earn a living wage, is another reason to aggressively pursue dramatic campaign reform measures here.

In Australia, voting is compulsory. In this country, voting is not the easy or the automatic process it should be because registration requirements serve as impediments.

There is strong evidence that entire segments of the population, such as the elderly and people of color, are being actively disenfranchised in many states (i.e., 32 states) prior to the 2012 election...

Features Rick Coates Ask any musician and they will likely tell you there was that one make-or-break audition that forever changed their career. That was the case for bassist and former Traverse City resident Chuck Jacobs 33 years ago this month, when an impromptu audition for country music superstar Kenny Rogers took place.

Features Like many artists, Douglas Hoagg discovered a common thread through his work.

Letters

Beware mailings

I just got another one of these political mailers from some Washington, D.C.-based group I have never heard of trying (and failing) to convince me that Congressman Dan Benishek is somehow saving my Medicare.

Hogwash. Last year, then-candidate Dan Benishek said on many occasions that he wants to end Medicare and Social Security. And the first thing he did when he went to congress was to just that. Rep. Benishek voted to end Medicare and force seniors to pay $6,400 of their own money to buy private healthcare while at the same time giving even more tax breaks to the super wealthy.

So it’s clear that this mailer is flat-out misleading people into believe the opposite...

Features Erin Crowell Run Across Palestine raises funds and awareness for fair trade farmers. While most people would consider running a marathon (26.2 miles) a daunting or impossible task, imagine running one every day, five days in a row across a foreign landscape.

Features Patrick Sullivan Some neighbors near the VASA trail are worried the state is stepping up timber harvests in the area and encroaching on the beloved skiing and cycling trail. They point to a piece of land cleared near the Supply Road parking lot for the 50K loop and a compartment mark for logging between the trail and a nearby neighborhood.

Features Patrick Sullivan Two members of Don’t Frack Michigan – including one who was a board member and in charge of the group’s website – resigned in protest after other members of the group endorsed House Bills 5151 and 5150, legislation that among other things calls for a moratorium while the state conducts studies about the natural gas drilling process.

Features Kristi Kates You can celebrate Christmas Celtic style this year by traveling across the water to the Emerald Isle – without going near the Atlantic Ocean. “An Irish Christmas in America” celebrates the heritage of Ireland on Beaver Island Dec. 18. A 15-minute plane ride or two-hour boat trip from Charlevoix, Beaver Island is called “America’s Emerald Isle” in reference to its Irish roots.

Letters

Where our money goes

There was once a frequent public service announcement on the radio, asking parents, “Do you know where your children are?” With cell phones, that is far less of a concern now. It’s time to change the announcement to “Do you know where your money, personal and taxes, has gone?” Walking away from a cashier, we don’t think twice about our spending and the consequences.

Your taxes buy death as do many of your purchases. Your taxes buy inhumanity to others, degradation, starvation, and worse...

Features Al Parker What’s hot on the region’s stages

It may be wintry outside, but Northern Michigan theatre stages are warming up with several exciting performance choices in coming months, from professional presentations to community theatre to student performances...

Features Patrick Sullivan Bezotte said when she got notice that Robbins would only face a civil infraction, she called the prosecutor’s office and described the severity of the injuries her children suffered. When Bezotte explained, the case was bumped up to Robert Cooney’s desk, an assistant prosecutor who specializes in serious driving cases.

Letters

Fracking dangerous

T. Boone Pickens and Big Oil and Coal are working overtime and spending millions of dollars on advertising to convince us that natural gas is the best thing to happen to Michigan since fudge. But if unconventional slick-water fracturing (fracking) is so great, why does it need all the exemptions from law? Fracking is exempt from...

Letters

Exposing duplicity

Northern Express’s fracking article portraying Don’t Frack Michigan’s JoAnne Beemon, both protesting and part of the press conference supporting the bills, exposes the duplicity of this group.

One may have the impression that Ms. Beemon of Don’t Frack Michigan (DFM) was there to protest the bills. That would be mistaken. Ms. Beemon was there to show support for the bills with DFM’s sign as a part of the press conference. After Rep. Mark Meadows’ team asked her to take it down as to not confuse the message, she did so...