Features Patrick Sullivan It’s the same job held by Erin House, a special assistant attorney general who is responsible for criminal sexual conduct cases in Leelanau and Antrim counties, and who recently prosecuted Jere Clark in Bellaire, the subject of a July 11 feature in the Express.

Features Erin Crowell Eighteen years later, the Remembrance Run returns to Timber Ridge Resort in Traverse City, on Saturday, Oct. 1, where participants will have the opportunity to raise both awareness and funds to help women fight breast cancer, along with other forms of cancer.

Features Erin Crowell To say Doris Brackett is a Red Wings fan is a huge understatement. She has kissed the Stanley Cup, ridden the Zamboni at Joe Louis Arena, owns a jersey signed by her favorite player, Dan Cleary, along with a custom jersey with “Brackett 100” stitched on the back – a gift for her 100th birthday.

Features Patrick Sullivan A couple of years ago, the economy looked grim and prospects for the annual boat show in TC looked dead in the water. Who was going to buy a new boat in the middle of an economic meltdown?

'It was ’09 when, at least from our perspective, the industry hit bottom," said Andrew MacDonald, whose company Blue Water Promotions has run the Traverse City Boat Show for seven years. "It was very tough, it was almost panic, and we haven’t seen anything close to that since."

Features Rick Coates

This weekend the largest picnic in Northern Michigan will take place. Northwestern Michigan College will hold its 57th Annual Barbecue, Sunday, May 20, on the main campus “under the pines” from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Just how large is the NMC BBQ? It takes 500 volunteers to coordinate all the activities and to feed the 10,000+ expected to attend.

Features Al Parker As a youngster growing up in New York City, Richard Asher’s early artwork drew attention from his teacher. “I doodled on my test papers in elementary school and I got in trouble for it,” he recalls with a laugh. “I was not The Art Kid in my neighborhood.”

Features Patrick Sullivan

When science fiction writer Ray Bradbury died last month, the world mourned the loss of a literary giant.

Northwestern Michigan College professor Garyn Roberts mourned the loss of a friend.

Roberts, an English instructor at Northwestern Michigan College, has been working on a biography of Bradbury and grew close to the author over the years. Recently, the Express sat down with Roberts to talk about Bradbury, science fiction and other literary forms that grew out of the “pulp” publications of the early 20th Century.

Letters

Penn State's punishment

“...the fundamental chapter of this horrific story should focus on the innocent children and the powerful people who let them down.”

-- Ed Ray, chairman of the NCAA’s executive committee

A months-long coma would have been the only way to have escaped hearing of the tragic events at Penn State. At first, the sickening realization that former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually abused at least eight underage boys on or near university property. Then the deep disappointment in learning an investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh found school officials, including the school president and vice president, head football coach Joe Paterno, and athletic director had known about the allegations of child abuse as early as 1998, but failed to disclose them.

Now the NCAA has handed down penalties that some say are close to a “death penalty” for the school’s football program, including a $60 million fine, four year bowl-ban, loss of some scholarships and withdrawal of wins dating back to 1998. The statue honoring Joe Paterno has been removed by the university. Sadly ironic, the statue’s inscription reads, “Educator, Coach, Humanitarian.”

These appalling events and revelations have shed light on behaviors most people would rather not examine. Yet it also creates awareness of deep-seated cultural attitudes and hopefully a willingness to learn more about ourselves, our society and what we value...