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US participation in high school sports climbs to all-time high

Each year since 1971, the National Federation of State High School Associations has conducted a high school athletics participation survey. Earlier this month, with practices and competitions underway locally in fall sports, NFHS announced that high school athletics participation in the U.S. had reached an all-time high. The 2024-25 total — 8,260,891 — marks the third consecutive notable increase after numbers fell during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participation in high school sports has increased 642,837 over the past three years and represents a turnaround from a decline that ...

Don’t add Fed to politics of our times

It's not hard to find mistakes in the Federal Reserve’s recent history, but Donald Trump’s latest attempt to erode the institution’s independence is dangerous. The president wants lower interest rates, but any benefits coming from that would probably be outweighed by supercharged inflation and the economic hangover that comes with it. On Monday night, Trump announced that he would try to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, whose term otherwise expires in 2038. He cited an unproven allegation of mortgage fraud that one of his appointees dug up and broadcast on social media, but Cook ...

Trump’s maneuvers weaken constitutional check

President Trump is testing restraints on his power to hire and fire, which is worth doing in many cases but raises hard questions in others. Consider his maneuvers to retain Alina Habba as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, despite the Senate’s refusal to hold a vote on confirming her. Last week a federal judge said Ms. Habba has acted “without lawful authority” since July 1. “Her actions since that point may be declared void,” Judge Matthew Brann ruled. The decision draws from the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which restricts how the president can temporarily fill an ...

US can help medical treatment in Gaza

There are children in Gaza who are grievously injured or seriously ill. The medical system there is in tatters after almost two years of war, but the United States has the medical capacity to help some of those kids. We should do it. However the State Department announced on Aug. 16 that all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza were being stopped “while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days.” The announcement came after far-right activist Laura Loomer raised ...

State police step up enforcement for holidays

Impaired driving — whether due to alcohol, drugs or both — is a year-round danger on our roadways. However, late summer and the Labor Day holiday period are among the deadliest times of the year for crashes and fatalities involving impaired drivers, the Michigan State Police advises. Over the Labor Day holiday weekends from 2019 to 2023, there were 44 driver fatalities in traffic crashes in Michigan. In those crashes, 43.2% of the drivers killed were alcohol- and/or drug-impaired, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. Throughout 2023, of the ...

Tentative agreement between nurses, UPHS-Marquette good news

We view as unmitigated good news that UPHS-Marquette and registered nurses with the Michigan Nurses Association found common ground and reached a tentative contract agreement after months of bargaining. We're told the agreement provides significant gains in wages, addresses staffing concerns and enables nurses to keep their current health insurance. Specifically, the nurses’ tentative agreement includes: • Guaranteed wage increases of 18.75% over four years to bolster recruitment and retention at the U.P.’s largest hospital. • A new joint committee of hospital ...