The federal government owns large chunks of the West. It owns 65 percent of Utah, 69 percent of Alaska and 83 percent of Nevada. Some Westerners see unfairness in that. They should not.Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska recently slipped an item into a nonbinding budget resolution, calling on the ...

Let's now praise a threesome of odd bedfellows: a Democratic ex-senator, an exiled American citizen, and a current Republican senator.I don't think they've ever met, yet their separate efforts over 14 years have now guided our ship of state away from some perilous authoritarian straits.First ...

With the planned closure of the Presque Isle Power Plant, the Upper Peninsula's energy future has been the topic of heated debate. As representative for Michigan's 110th House District, I want to make sure the U.P. has a voice in its energy future. Energy is among the most important issues I ...

WASHINGTON - Sooner or later it was bound to happen. A highly regarded talk show host, widely considered nonpartisan and scrupulously fair, picked up an unverified report from the Internet and used it as fact.When the subject of the report flatly and justifiably denied it, she had to apologize ...

To the Journal editor:Bothwell Middle School would like to thank the following businesses for their generous support of our 7th grade Science Camp: Aubree's Pizzeria; Beef-A-Roo; Big Boy; Border Grill; Claws and Paws; Dead River Coffee; Econo Foods; Farmer Q's Market; Holiday Station Store; ...

To the Journal editor:I haven't written a letter to the editor since 9/11 when almost 3,000 were murdered. This country was in shock and rage and crying out to God.I just finished reading the article, "Abortion declining in nearly all states" in the Health section of the Tuesday Mining ...

To the Journal editor:The Eagle Mine, and perhaps more in the future, are here for a long time, apparently. With the discovery of more ore on the Yellow Dog Plains, the present road route to carry the ore to the mill in Republic, is shortsighted and was not well permitted in the first place (no ...

To the Journal editor:My family visited Marquette over this past weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed the city. The beauty of the area, the great food we had at the Portside Inn, friendly shop owners, the history of the city we leaned about during our tour through the Maritime Museum and the ...

With the June 30 deadline for a deal with Iran on halting its nuclear weapons program fast approaching, the Obama administration is playing its usual bait-and-switch game.When talks first began, the administration said its goal was to dismantle Iran's nuclear infrastructure.Now the ...

The first time I met Marcia Grace, she adopted me as her project.She was 5 at the time.Marcia Grace was the niece of my future husband - I didn't know that yet - and the youngest granddaughter of his mother, an intimidating woman of Southern grace and iron will. I was meeting her for the first ...

WASHINGTON - Video imagery doesn't get much worse than a white police officer throwing an African-American girl in a bikini to the ground, kneeling on her back as she cries, and drawing his gun on other teens.What in God's name is wrong with our cops?I should say, what was wrong with McKinney, ...

An advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration has recommended approval of a drug created to raise a woman's libido. It's called flibanserin, but it is popularly known as "female Viagra."The 18-6 committee vote does not guarantee the FDA will give final approval to the drug (it has ...

Let me begin by confessing my own prejudices on the matter of immigration: I never personally had any decision to make, but - to my great good luck - my ancestors made the bold decision to leave their homeland and be Americans. So I benefit, every day, from the precious and totally unearned ...

In olden days, the way you kept good workers was to pay them more. That's no longer the case in many jobs. Companies have been using "noncompete" agreements to stop these workers from seeking better compensation at rival companies.Originally designed to stop tech whizzes from taking company ...

Are we seeing a reversal of the 20-year decline in violent crime in America? A new nationwide crime wave?Heather Mac Donald fears we are, and as a premier advocate and analyst of the policing strategy pioneered by Rudy Giuliani in New York City and copied and adapted throughout the country, she ...

WASHINGTON - When Bob Schieffer bowed out last Sunday after 24 years as moderator of CBS News' "Face the Nation," he observed that from the start "I tried to remember that the news is not about the newscaster. It's about the people who make it and those who are affected by it."In the current ...

Many political debates in the upcoming presidential race will play out this way: The Democrat will offer "X for all," and the Republican will respond, "Do you have any idea how much that's going to cost?" That's the way nearly all political debates are engaged - usually to the disadvantage of ...

Maybe I'm just getting old, but the media coverage of Bruce Jenner's transformation into Caitlyn and the Duggar family saga strike me as evidence that our society has become unhinged.I'd never heard of the Duggars or their TLC show, "19 Kids and Counting," until two weeks ago when the story ...

Like so many people, my past 30 days have been full of the usual mishmash that makes life so crazy normal.I wrote two letters to my 7-year-old grandson, covered a peace march through the streets of Cleveland and cut dog hair out of the vacuum roller.I watched LeBron lead the Cleveland Cavaliers ...

WASHINGTON - It wasn't quite "Call me Ishmael," but "Call me Caitlyn" made a whale of a splash.One could hardly find a news channel the past couple of days that wasn't touting the former Bruce Jenner for her courageous transgender metamorphosis or admiring her "gorgeous" new look.Within moments ...