March 19, 2024

Opinion


Encyclopedias of Women's Contributions

Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | March 16, 2024

"Women's history is women's right—an essential, indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, and long-range vision." Gerda Lerner, a founding member of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and one of the first to seriously study women’s history as an academic endeavor, said the above some time in the late 1960s. It is no less true now than it was then, and when Women’s History Month was named officially ... Read More >>


Champions, Not Pillagers

Guest Opinion
By Cathye Williams | March 16, 2024

During his State of the Union address, President Biden reminded us of his administration’s commitment to confronting the climate crisis and saving the planet from it. He and Congress already made a good start by enacting the Inflation Reduction Act, the most sweeping legislation so far to address global warming by phasing out fossil fuels and building a clean energy infrastructure and economy. Surveys conducted by Pew Research Center in 2022 and ... Read More >>


Kudos to the Caregivers

Guest Opinion
By Karen Mulvahill | March 9, 2024

Growing up, my younger sister and I alternated between being best friends and worst enemies—sometimes within a single hour. We fought the way two cats will, staring malevolently until one makes a move, then slapping at each other’s faces without really connecting until one turns away. Minutes later we’d be walking to the record store together. In the last decade, we’ve spent a lot of time together, never even arguing, much less ... Read More >>


A Clearer Picture

Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | March 9, 2024

It shouldn't have been a surprise to those paying attention. Lack of public support and under-utilization of already existing parking decks have doomed the third downtown Traverse City parking deck plans, at least temporarily. Downsizing the number of parking spaces was the first strong hint that the parking deck was unlikely to be viable, but when the intended purpose of the structure changed, the obituary was already being written. First it was ... Read More >>


Playing Catch Up with Climate

Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | March 2, 2024

Last year was yet another one for the weather record books. (This seems more like an annual event now than some sort of anomalous outlier.) According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2023 was the hottest year globally on record. Each individual month from June through December was also the hottest ever. For the first time ever, every day in 2023 was at least 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) ... Read More >>


The Fascinating People of Housing

Guest Opinion
By Yarrow Brown | March 2, 2024

Thinking about the theme of this week’s Northern Express, I wanted to highlight some fascinating people around housing, including the very important Housing Ready teams that are being deployed in Northwest Michigan to help support the housing needs of the 10 counties. When we think of people who exemplify housing efforts, many of us first think of Jimmy Carter. The Carter Work Project, led by the former president and his wife, Rosalyn, ... Read More >>


Building the Party

Guest Opinion
By Douglas P. Marsh | March 2, 2024

In a recent opinion column, small business ownership expert Mary Keyes Rogers adeptly diagnoses several problems in our United States political systems. She homes in particularly on our country’s two major political parties, the Republicans and Democrats, and elected leaders, referring to some iconic household names: John McCain, Mitt Romney, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, Hunter Biden, and George Santos Rogers wisely recognizes, too, that our two-party system is not going away ... Read More >>


Patriarchy and Racism?

Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Feb. 24, 2024

Public school history teachers in some states have to be especially careful these days. Prohibitions now exist, or have been proposed, limiting how teachers can discuss race or gender and how both impacted our founding history. Montana, South Dakota, Florida, Georgia, Utah, and Alabama either have, or are considering, laws making it impossible to honestly discuss our history of treatment of women and those minorities we brought here to enslave. Alabama, Florida, ... Read More >>


Smart Moves for Better Commutes

Guest Opinion
By Kate Lewis | Feb. 24, 2024

As a seasoned bicycle commuter, I’ve experienced my fair share of urban obstacles, from dodging potholes to navigating impatient drivers and even encountering the occasional porcupine (yes, it happened). But despite these challenges, I’ve come to view biking as a saving grace—a way to stay sane, keep fit, and, most importantly, avoid the soul-crushing monotony of rush hour traffic. Now, if you happen to call Traverse City home, you know about the ... Read More >>


Risk, Consequences, and Probability

Guest Opinion
By Barbara Stamiris | Feb. 17, 2024

At the Northern Michigan Policy Conference, Democrat Hill Harper replied to the Republicans voicing their support for Line 5, saying, “We’re playing literally with poisoning our Great Lakes, which would be catastrophic to Michigan’s economy, catastrophic to Michigan’s tourism. And the juice is not worth the squeeze in this case.” My thoughts exactly. The consequences of a Great Lakes Line 5 failure are easy to envision and often cited. But every risk ... Read More >>

Loading More Stories...