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Summer’s here! Keep an eye on fire safety

With Memorial Day in the rear view mirror, summer has finally arrived in the Upper Peninsula. And although the area has received sufficient rain this spring and summer to keep wildfires at bay, history tells us that conditions can — and do — change very quickly. Experts at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources remind us that safety must always be paramount when using fire outside. While this is true year round, it is especially relevant in the summer months when many more of us are recreating outside. Here are a handful of sensible safety tips all of us should practice ...

Memorial Day much more than brats and beer

It’s never a very good idea, we believe, to become too proficient at war, especially when high tech is applied. We believe that's because technology, due to its very nature, is dehumanizing. While we agree that high tech can reduce casualties and minimize what’s known as collateral damage – innocent civilians who had the bad fortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – seeing war through a video-game lens is nothing less than dangerous. Take Civil War Gen. William T. Sherman, for example. Credited with saying “War is hell,” no one knew more about war than ...

National Safe Boating Week

Many Michiganders and visitors will unofficially launch the boating season this holiday weekend. Whether you’re a boater, angler or other water sports enthusiast, safety and common sense in and around the water are a must. The DNR is proud to promote National Safe Boating Week, May 17-23, and safe boating practices all year long. Where the cause of death was known, U.S. Coast Guard statistics show that drowning was the reported cause in 75 percent of recreational boating fatalities in 2023, and that 87 percent of those who drowned were not wearing life jackets. Before leaving ...

Finding balance key to cell phones, learning

Florida was the first state to pass a law regulating the use of cellphones in schools in 2023. Just two years later, more than half of all states have laws in place, with more likely to act soon. Bills have sprinted through legislatures this year in states as varied as New York and Oklahoma, reflecting a broad consensus that phones are bad for kids. Connecticut state Rep. Jennifer Leeper, a Democrat and co-chair of the General Assembly's Education Committee, on May 13 called phones "a cancer on our kids" that are "driving isolation, loneliness, decreasing attention and having major ...

State’s spring Click It or Ticket campaign runs through June 1

To emphasize the importance of wearing seat belts, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning will have its spring Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign through June 1. During that period which includes Memorial Day weekend, the Michigan State Police, along with officers from city and county police departments across the state, will be actively conducting seat belt enforcement, according to a news release from the state OHSP. The state in 2023 had 223 people killed while not wearing seat belts, which accounted for 39.5% of all fatalities for which seat belt use was known in ...

Professional Trades Month points up in-demand careers

As high school graduations begin this week in the region, it’s worth noting that May is Professional Trades Month, highlighting the career opportunities available in these much-needed positions. Michigan alone has nearly 518,300 positions and about 40,600 annual openings in the professional trades projected by the year 2032, according to a news release from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. “The hardworking Michiganders in professional trades careers build and maintain the infrastructure that ensures we all have clean water, ...