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Letters To The Editor

Protect education funding

As a retired school physical therapist who worked in school special educations departments throughout the central Upper Peninsula, I am deeply concerned about efforts to dismantle public education. There is a proposal in Congress to slash $12 billion from education in the budget bill. According to the non-partisan Education Law Center, Marquette Alger Regional Educational Service Agency is expected to lose over $5.6 million. Our rural schools are already struggling. How would we make up for this catastrophic loss of funds? What staff and teachers might be laid off? What schools ...

Letter to D.C.

Dear Don, Yes, this is one of those kinds of letters. A conversation/discussion or negotiation has not been possible. Your uncontrollable rants of your way or the highway are about you and what you want, period. At the outset, you spoke about valuing values/American values no less. Which of those values were you referring to? You've trusted someone having material wealth (read billionaire) with the financial responsibility of a vast economic infrastructure. What has been wonderful is all of us were doing OK in our own bumbling way to continue to grow and improve, before you came ...

Pied Piper’s alluring tune

I’m hearing Democracy has failed us and many are being lured toward a new system of government. This brings me to an old family conversation I overheard as a kid, a different time and circumstances but a time when many Americans were lured away from American- Democracy, never to be heard from again. My family history is similar to many Upper Peninsula Finnish-Americans, immigrating in the late 1800s and early 1900s to escape economic hardship and Czar Nicholas II’s “Russification” replacing Finnish culture. Finland was ruled by Sweden and then Russia. Finland did ...

Will they come for you?

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Krist Noem has announced that ICE will be at the Super Bowl and they will be “enforcing” at the Bad Bunny half time show. “We are going to be all over that place” she said. “We are going to enforce the law. You shouldn’t be coming to the Super Bowl if you aren’t a law abiding American citizen.” So, legal immigrants and tourists can legally attend events in the "land of the free" but one has to wonder why would they if ICE (Trump's version of the Gestapo IMO) is going to be there beating up anyone they think looks like an ...

Plans have problems

To the Journal editor: Once again President Trump forced a business to give a share of it’s ownership to the United States government. On Oct. 6, Bloomberg News reported that the government will take a 10 percent share of Trilogy Metals, Inc., as part of a $35.6 million investment in Alaska mining projects. Previously, President Trump “negotiated” deals that include partial U.S. ownership of Intel and U.S. Steel. In addition, the U.S. acquired shares of Lithium Americas Corp. to develop a mine in Nevada, as well as equity in MP Materials Corp. Americans should be concerned about ...

Unsafe environment claimed

Northern Michigan University dorm construction is causing an unsafe environment for residents and pedestrians. In the last few weeks of NMU’s construction, the area of Waldo Street and Presque Isle Avenue has become incredibly unsafe. There has been a tremendous influx of traffic, folks not knowing where to go, coming down Waldo street speeding and doing by U-turns at the intersection of Waldo Street and Fitch Avenue. We have expressed our concerns to NMU and project management, but as of late nothing has been addressed. Traffic is not our only concern. Since construction started, ...