Opinion
An Obscene Budget
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | April 25, 2026
We’ve had a couple of interesting weeks. We started and ended and restarted a war of choice against Iran, though we still await the evidence it was necessary. We experienced extreme and destructive weather events and we have been warned more will happen. We did not get the remaining Epstein files which are still not forthcoming. Tucked among all of this while our attention was elsewhere was President Donald Trump’s recommended 2027 … Read More >>
Infant Poverty and Mortality
Guest Opinion
By Justin Mendoza | April 25, 2026
This Michigan Legislature is on track to be the least productive legislative body in our state since 1842—and yes, that’s before the Civil War. Yet one of the things the legislature was able to do in 2025 is try to strip away funding from an essential program for expecting mothers and babies by cutting the Rx Kids program. To add insult to injury, House Republicans fought in court to try to keep … Read More >>
Middle East Crises Then and Now
Guest Opinion
By Bill Steeves | April 25, 2026
U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, rekindling memories of the Middle East Crisis of 1958. Then, Egypt and Syria’s United Arab Republic (UAR) threatened to overthrow Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, nations strategically important to America and Britain. From 1957 to 1959, I was one of five Marines providing security at the American Embassy in Amman, Jordan. My article, “Crisis in Retrospect,” published in the December 1973 Marine Corps … Read More >>
The Aftermath of the Storm (Again)
From the Editor
By Jillian Manning | April 18, 2026
As I’m writing this, schools across northern Michigan are closed. Dams have failed, people have been evacuated from their homes, roads are washed out, and other critical infrastructure is in danger of collapse. I’ve spent more than two-thirds of my life in this area, and I’m hard pressed to think of a decade (and change) that has seen more 100-year storms or historic weather and climate events. There was the straight-line windstorm … Read More >>
The Appeal of Mars
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | April 18, 2026
Things here on Earth aren’t so great. We’re at war with Iran, and they seem to have a different understanding of what being “obliterated” means. We’re apparently at least claiming to run Venezuela and are happily stealing their oil by the “millions of barrels” according to our fearless leader, though he would not use the word “stealing.” Instead, he keeps saying, “To the victor goes the spoils” as if we were in … Read More >>
What Artists Do in Times Like These: A Protest Song Revisited
Guest Opinion
By Annette Summersett | April 11, 2026
In 2005 I wrote a protest song entitled “Americans Anonymous.” I’m sure you can guess why based on timing. Wait! What? There were actually no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? It has been appalling to realize that now, 20+ years later, my song feels even more relevant then it did back then. In those days, fresh off the boat from the U.P. living in Los Angeles and exploring what it meant … Read More >>
The Deregulation Disaster
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | April 11, 2026
We know the environment and its weather have been temperamental for several years. And we’ve known carbon dioxide released into our atmosphere tends to increase temperatures since the concept was first proposed way back in 1938. The Carbon Dioxide Theory of Climate Change was finally published in 1956 by scientists at Johns Hopkins, and we’ve been arguing about it ever since. The argument is a shame because the science is pretty close … Read More >>
Hope Springs Eternal
Guest Opinion
By Karen Mulvahill | April 11, 2026
Have you ever been walking along the road and spotted a plant that had split the asphalt to reach the sun? I’m reminded of this image when I think of the No Kings protest on March 28. It was a wild blossoming of outrage against those who would pave over the Constitution with their crimes. And yet, amid this sea of people, I also felt hope. Hopeless people don’t come out on … Read More >>
Are They Listening?
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | April 4, 2026
Organizers say it was the largest single-day protest gathering in U.S. history. The No Kings Coalition claims there were rallies in all 50 states, 3,300 of them in total attended by eight million people. Locally, Traverse Indivisible, which organized the Traverse City rally and march, estimated 4,000 people participated. The rallies were mostly peaceful, though that many people couldn’t all get along for so long. A man was shot in Salt Lake … Read More >>
Looking to the Past to Solve Today’s Housing Challenges
Guest Opinion
By Kent Wood | April 4, 2026
This year has made one thing clear: even as progress is made, some of the most important structural solutions to Michigan’s housing imbalance remain politically vulnerable. To be sure, there has been real momentum. A number of communities across Northern Michigan have adopted housing-ready policies, streamlined approvals, and embraced new tools to support development. State leaders have also begun to engage more directly in conversations about supply, cost, and regulatory barriers. But … Read More >>
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