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Letters To The Editor

No favors owed

As the Senate votes on the budget reconciliation bill that will make catastrophic cuts in health care and food assistance to give tax savings to billionaires, we are treated to headlines about Jeff Bezos’ wedding. Bezos is the founder of Amazon and one of the wealthiest people in the world with assets of $231.4 billion.He will be one of the biggest winners of the tax cuts in the reconciliation bill. It is hard to even conceptualize the difference between a million dollars and $231.4 billion. To put this in perspective, consider that a million seconds is about 12 days, while a ...

Hypocrisy of Chatfield

For the first time in our state’s history a former speaker of the house and his wife will stand trial for embezzlement and larceny and other financial crimes. As Lee and Stephanie Chatfield wait for the trial which will either exonerate them or send them to prison for years, their story is a cautionary tale for those who want to mix religion with politics Some in our state may be surprised by Chatfield’s alleged actions, I was not. Five years ago, Chatfield supported a policy which threatened my family. In an attempt to get Chatfield to reverse his position, I called his office to ...

What Medicaid really is

Some people on Medicaid may not realize it, as it has many names in Michigan and different names in other states. Chances are you know someone on MIChild, Healthy Michigan Plan, MI Health Link, Freedom to Work, Healthy Kids/Healthy Kids Dental, TCM for Justice Involved Individuals, Michigan Medicaid. In fact, these are all Medicaid services in Michigan with different names focused on different needs. Nationally, Medicaid covers nearly half of all births, over half of long term care for seniors, over 1/3 of healthcare for children. The proposed “Big Beautiful Bill” is beautiful ...

Copperwood Mine unwise

If you haven’t heard, Highland Copper (the Canadian mining company behind the infamous Copperwood Mine) is back again with desperate attempts to fund an ill-conceived and poorly-planned sulfide mining project that would be the closest to Lake Superior in history. The proposed Copperwood Mine would extract toxic waste and chemicals from underneath Porcupine Mountains State Park and up to 100 feet of Lake Superior, exposing mercury, arsenic and other harmful metals to the surrounding ecosystems and watersheds. A $50 million grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation for ...

Action was reckless, unjust

Officers in the United States military have strong training in ethics, including studying Just War Theory. I never served in the military, but as a civilian, I have been proud of the professionalism of our military, which is the envy of militaries across the world.   It was surprising, then, to read U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman’s statement regarding the Iran strikes in the June 23 Mining Journal. In his statement, Mr. Bergman, R-Watersmeet, praised the strikes and spoke about his 40 years in the U.S. Marine Corps where he retired with the rank of lieutenant general.  I fear, however, ...

Rate hikes unreasonable

In a recent article ... it was stated the Michigan’s residential power rates are among the highest in the Midwest. Here is what they didn’t telling you. In 2024, the CEO of DTE made over $11.5 million in compensation. The vice chairman made almost $3 million, the CFO made over $3 million and the COO made almost $3 million. Meanwhile, the CEO and COO of Consumers Energy received a compensation of almost $10.5 million each. The population in Michigan in 2024 was just over 10 million people. Both of these companies make huge campaign donations. DTE spent approximately $650,000 ...