Opinion
Warmer, Wetter and Windier
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Nov. 15, 2025
Bill Gates has almost given up on the idea that we can slow down, much less stop, climate change. He thinks we should pivot our thinking to how best we can deal with the inevitable climate and weather changes headed our way. He isn’t alone in his pessimism, as homeowners in several states will soon learn. For example, State Farm insurance will no longer write homeowner insurance policies in California. Existing policies … Read More >>
Our Right to Bear Arms
Guest Opinion
By Peter Bormuth | Nov. 15, 2025
The origins of the right to bear arms are lost in the mists of time in the villages of old England with an obligation of all men (16 to 60) to practice with the long bow, help keep the peace, and serve in the local militia. The gradual shift to firearms did not alter the ancient covenant. The advancement in armaments did make the crown nervous, and in 1541, Henry VIII passed … Read More >>
Hope in the Context of Gun Violence
Guest Opinion
By Quinn De Vecchi | Nov. 8, 2025
What does it mean to have hope in the context of gun violence? Does it mean painting or writing poems about change; going to church and praying for victims; looking at the Time cover of five Parkland shooting survivors every morning? Three panelists at the Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City said yes. Just a month ago, my group of Students Demand Action—a gun violence prevention chapter under the larger Everytown … Read More >>
Farms & Renewables
Guest Opinion
By Lauren Teichner | Nov. 8, 2025
Drive any back road in northern Michigan and you’ll pass rolling fields, barns, and pastures. Lately, you might also notice tall wind turbines or solar panels stretching across farmland. My husband, for one, finds them hard to look at—he misses the uninterrupted horizon and simple beauty of open fields. And he’s not alone. Some welcome these sights as signs of progress, while others worry they’re changing the character of Michigan’s rural landscape. … Read More >>
Distracting Us
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Nov. 8, 2025
This is not how you win the Nobel Peace Prize. Having apparently grown tired of unnecessarily deploying federal troops into American cities like Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Portland and threatening others, Donald Trump seems to have paused that nonsense. He seems done with Gaza, though bombing and killing continues intermittently, and gave up stopping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (which he said he could stop in one day with a single phone call). … Read More >>
Shutdown Collateral Damage
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Nov. 1, 2025
On and on it drags, a shutdown of the government because we no longer have a functioning government. Congress needed to pass a budget extension no later than October 1, but they did not. Instead, we have a seemingly intractable argument over federally funded healthcare. In the background of this stalemate is the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that Republicans already passed. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), that bill will … Read More >>
Please Stop Pausing
Student Guest Opinion
By Tess Tarchak-Hiss | Nov. 1, 2025
I know there are by far worse people in the world, but something about film bros—the pretentious guys with big opinions—provokes me like nothing else. As someone who was held at gunpoint to watch and critique Seven Samurai by their father at age eight, I know for a fact that your favorite movie isn’t Casablanca. Get off Letterboxd, sit your butt down, and watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs like a … Read More >>
Helping an Alcoholic
Guest Columnist
By Mary Keyes Rogers | Nov. 1, 2025
My name is Mary, and I’m the child of an alcoholic. My mom passed away years ago, when I was in my mid-thirties, but lately, memories of those years have been resurfacing—the chaos, the heartbreak, and all the strange little moments that come with loving someone who’s drinking their life away. If you have a loved one who struggles with addiction—booze, heroin, or something else—you have my deepest sympathies. Especially if that … Read More >>
Off With Their Heads?
Guest Opinion
By Greg Holmes | Oct. 25, 2025
I was surprised (actually shocked) to learn recently that there is a movement afoot to bring back the use of the guillotine to execute death row prisoners as a form of capital punishment. Originally the guillotine was designed as a “more effective and less painful” method of execution. Other methods, such the use of firing squads and decapitation by swords or axes, were less quick and thus seen as more painful. The … Read More >>
Halftime Halfwits
Spectator
By Stephen Tuttle | Oct. 25, 2025
Some of you might remember when there were two competing professional football leagues, the National Football League (NFL), which had been around since its founding in Canton, Ohio, in 1920, and the upstart American Football League (AFL) which started playing in 1960. The leagues technically merged in 1966 but continued playing completely separate schedules until 1970. It was inevitable both league’s champions would play each other, the AFL insisting. So the first … Read More >>
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