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Editorial

Trump undoing America’s global influence

The world is facing at least three crises today that cannot be resolved by any one country. Two are longer-term and arguably existential: the threat of uncontrolled artificial intelligence and the growing impact of climate change. One is shorter-term and damaging the global economy: the disruption of shipping lanes in the Middle East. All three require the kind of high-level international cooperation that helped manage other challenges, like the threat of nuclear warfare during the Cold War and the damage to the ozone layer. Yet almost nobody was expecting meaningful progress during ...

Trump attempt to muzzle press attack on First Amendment

Pressed recently on President Donald Trump’s expulsion of three news organizations from the White House, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., shrugged it off as indistinguishable from Trump’s own past suspension from social media platforms, saying, “So it goes both ways.” Huh? The senator is either remarkably ignorant of the Constitution from which he derives his power, or shameless enough to pretend to be. What Barrasso didn’t appear to understand is that the First Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, doesn’t go both ways: It protects us from the government, not ...

Trump meeting with Chinese leader more show than substance

Over the weekend, two high-profile Chinese visitors arrived in the U.S. — envoys of friendship, as Xi Jinping described them when he met Donald Trump at the White House. The giant pandas, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, will be hosted at the Atlanta zoo. Beijing dispatched the first panda pair to the U.S. in 1972 following President Richard Nixon’s landmark visit to China. It uses the animals to indicate satisfaction or displeasure with other nations. But it also charges heftily for their lease: reportedly, around $1 million a year per pair. Americans’ views of China have warmed ...

Renovation at Room at the Inn is appropriate use of public funds

A safe, functional place to stay is one of the most basic needs any community can help provide. That is why the renovation underway at Room at the Inn in downtown Marquette deserves the community’s support. The shelter, located at 447 W. Washington St., serves 46 people each night. With a waiting list of about 20 people, the need for its services is clear. Making sure the building can continue to serve those residents safely and effectively is not simply a matter of improving a structure, it is an investment in the people who depend on it. The renovation is fairlt extensive. Work ...

Marshfield researchers want your ticks

With weather turning cooler as fall gets underway, it might be expected the threat of ticks would start to diminish. No such luck, apparently. Marshfield Clinic Research Institute research has shown an autumn surge of deer ticks, which transmit Lyme and other diseases. With people outdoors taking in the fall foliage, hunting or perhaps doing pick-your-own of the year’s farm produce, that means being tick aware and taking preventive measures. But the institute has another request: If a tick turns up (hopefully not attached), don’t throw it away or otherwise dispose of it. They ...

UPPCO customers shouldn’t be asked to shoulder steep rate hike

Just too much. That's our position on the Upper Peninsula Power Co. asking its customers for a $17.3 million rate increase, when people and families have already been pushed to the limit by skyrocketing grocery bills and gasoline costs that are closing in on $5 per gallon Added up, that's why the Michigan Public Service Commission, the state regulatory agency that has the final say on electrical raters, should reject UPPCO's rate request as submitted, a proposed hike that would produce an average 15.6% increase for residential customers. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the ...