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Editorial

Try to spend holiday cash locally

We know many people are excited for the Christmas season and some are fired up for the accompanying shopping season. We hope when each of you decides how to spend your hard-earned money, you think locally. There are many wonderful small businesses in our communities and a good holiday shopping season can be key to their survival. Big chain stores, of course, provide some items that smaller shops cannot. But please consider that when you shop at local merchants, you’re helping put food on the table for a neighbor. You’re finding items that are unique and memorable. And you’re ...

Suggestions to more safely navigate shopping online

With Thanksgiving done and Cyber Monday looming ahead, Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has some advice on avoiding some common scams and other potential pitfalls to shopping online. During the busy holiday season, e-commerce can be a convenient and time-saving option for consumers buying gifts for friends and loved ones, DATCP states in a news release. But in 2024, consumers made more than 380,000 reports to the Federal Trade Commission about online shopping. This includes more than 5,000 reports from Wisconsin consumers, making it the state’s ...

The Wall Street Journal on Trump, Gaza and the U.N. Security Council

Maybe the United Nations isn’t as useless as it so often shows. On Monday the Security Council endorsed President Trump’s 20-point peace plan for Gaza, ratifying for the first time the requirements that Hamas disarm and Gaza be demilitarized. The resolution passed 13–0, with Russia and China abstaining. It’s a setback for the terrorists. Many had worried that the U.S. jaunt to the Security Council would come at the price of bending the peace plan’s terms for Hamas or adding anti-Israel terms. Would France’s Emmanuel Macron elbow his way into the deal’s implementation? ...

Holiday shopping can make or break retailer’s season, year

Although a great many stores opened Thursday afternoon and Thursday night, today is often considered the official start of the Christmas shopping season. It’s called Black Friday and the phrase traces its roots as far back as the early 1960s. Many sources credit – or blame as the case might be – the Philadelphia area for coining it. It apparently means that point in the retail process when a profit is realized. Whenever it started and whatever it means, Black Friday is the first day of the Christmas shopping season, a time of the year that makes or breaks many retailers whose ...

Thanksgiving a great time to count one’s many blessings

It’s easy to forget one’s blessings and to forgo giving thanks at this, or any, time of the year. If one looks around, especially in the areas of politics and international relations, the news does seem to be unrelentingly bad, doesn’t it? In no particular order then, political parties that can’t (or won’t) set aside differences for the betterment of the nation; an unemployment rate that remains too high, despite other improvements in the economy, most notably the stock market; continuing turmoil in the Middle East; democracy is going to hell in a hand basket; and the list ...

Tips on food safety for the Thanksgiving feast

With family and friends gathering Thursday for Thanksgiving, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development encourages Michiganders to keep food safety top of mind during the holiday week. Simple steps to ensure a successful holiday feast free of food borne illnesses include: Planning ahead • Store food at the correct temperatures before preparation; • Make sure the refrigerator and freezer are set to 40 degrees F and below and 0 degrees F, respectively; • Make room for holiday meal items and leftovers by clearing outdated foods from the refrigerator; • ...