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Editorial

State offers ways to fight Medicare fraud and abuse

Michigan residents are encouraged this week to learn how to combat Medicare fraud, errors and abuse from scammers. Medicare Fraud Prevention Week is observed each year during the week of June 5, also referred to as 6/5, because most people qualify for Medicare at age 65. It serves as a reminder that awareness and early reporting are key to preventing fraud and protecting public resources, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services and Michigan Department of Attorney General states in a news release. Fraud impacts ...

DNR warns fire danger is high in northern Michigan

While the region still shows the fresh greenery of spring, a lack of recent rain has officials concerned about the tinder-dry, flammable materials that remains underneath. With dry weather conditions persisting across the state, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources urges residents and visitors to use extreme caution with any outdoor activity that could spark a wildfire in the northern Lower Peninsula and throughout the Upper Peninsula. Warm temperatures, dry vegetation and limited rainfall in the forecast are increasing the risk of wildfires. Current fire danger ratings are ...

Congress should cut off Trump’s ‘weaponization’ fund

The Trump administration’s creation of a $1.776 billion fund of taxpayer money under the president’s control to pay favored individuals outside the judicial process is drawing bipartisan condemnation. “From all outward appearances, this doesn’t pass the smell test,” said Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah. “We’re considering legislative options,” added Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. “You can’t do that.” When Republican members of Congress grouse about the president’s excesses, it’s usually just talk. But not always: Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., used his power over ...

Trump has lost the plot on governance

Republicans don’t want to say this publicly, but privately they do: President Trump’s personal political obsessions are hurting his presidency, harming the chances for further policy gains the rest of this year, and putting control of the House and Senate in jeopardy. That’s the backdrop to the GOP revolt last week in Congress on war powers and funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Trump’s unrelated priorities are handing Democrats gift after gift and forcing Republicans to take difficult votes that could cost them in November. His desire for political revenge is ...

Miles Davis still impacts music 100 years after his birth

The space reserved for Miles Davis in the pantheon of 20th-century music is not simply because he mastered jazz, but because he refused to let it stand still. As musicians and fans mark the centenary of his birth, Davis’ work still feels limitless. “I always thought that music had no boundaries,” he wrote in his 1989 autobiography, “no limits to where it could grow and go, no restrictions on creativity.” Davis repeatedly dismantled the sound he had helped invent — embracing the electric age in 1968, much as Bob Dylan had in folk. Davis moved to New York as an ...

MDARD opens enrollment for forest program tax exemption

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reminds private landowners that applications to enroll in the Qualified Forest Program are due Sept. 1 to receive the associated tax exemption for the 2027 tax year. “MDARD supports sustainable forest management as a means of preserving our environment, sustaining our $26 billion forest products economy and improving quality of life throughout Michigan,” MDARD Director Tim Boring said in a news release. “The QFP incentivizes sustainable forestry by offering tax exemptions to private landowners who commit to responsibly ...