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Duncan Memorial Park is a jewel in the middle of the city of Grand Haven. Its nearly pristine 40 acres of forest and hills have been a destination for hikers, sledders, dog walkers and nature lovers for longer than any of us have been alive.
As Michigan’s coastal communities know, Lake Michigan’s coast and sand dunes are an incredible natural resource that fuel economies.
Only reading the Fake News?
I know this seems wild. But it’s true: I’m 44, and within my lifetime, it was legal to fire women because they were pregnant.
Twenty years ago, when I left my previous job to teach, I gave up roughly two-thirds of my salary. Why? Because I wanted to pursue my passion: teaching history to young people.
Ferrysburg City Council endorsements
Many articles have appeared recently trying to figure out why there have been so many mass murders in recent years. Many good points have been made: (1) the rise of white supremacist terrorism; (2) weakness in our background check system; (2) allowing large capacity magazines to be sold lega…
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer erred in putting funding for some of the state’s most at-risk populations on the line in her budget negotiations with the Legislature. Holding funding hostage for citizens who need it most isn’t helpful, and Republican lawmakers are right in trying to fix those wrongs.
The missing link
Like some older Americans, I am hard of hearing.
Prosperity Gospel?
Measuring in at a towering 5 feet, 2 inches with an extraordinary quarter-inch vertical leap, suffice it to say that basketball wasn’t my thing. Oh, I played some recreational league volleyball; but I’m pretty sure, besides missing out on someone to laugh at, no one was really tore up if I c…
The leaders of the Republican Caucus in the Michigan House of Representatives want to pull public notices from newspapers and allow governmental entities (cities, villages, townships, counties, etc.) to satisfy notice requirements by putting them on their websites. This is an unprecedented b…
We all know that Grand Haven is an amazing place – but how often do we take the time to think about the reasons why?
Some Supreme Court cases seem to turn on mind-numbing legal technicalities; some turn on sterner stuff. Earlier this week, justices heard argument on whether employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation should be barred under federal law that prohibits discrimination on the b…
“No one comes here anymore, it’s too crowded.”
I served in the House of Representatives with now-Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. We even had babies at the same time. On “Take your Daughter to Work Day” almost 20 years ago, we brought our daughters on the House floor, and photos of them playing together received national media coverage for their s…
Standing for peace in Grand Haven
‘Operation KP’ continues at American Legion
Transparency is a good thing, particularly if your recent track record isn’t all that spectacular.
I can’t say that I cry a lot. But certainly, like everyone else, I “have my moments,” so to speak.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
The NCAA should check the scoreboard. Despite all its bluster about kicking California’s universities out of national competition, it lost big last week when the governor signed state Sen. Nancy Skinner’s bill to allow compensation of college athletes.
From the early days of broadband, advocates for consumers and web-based companies worried that the cable and phone companies selling broadband internet connections had the power and incentive to favor their own or their partners’ websites and services over those of their rivals. That’s why t…
The debate about political power and authority among those who profess the Christian faith has raged since the 1st century. In modern America, the debate raged throughout Jimmy Carter’s presidency and more recently through the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The debate now loo…
Important characteristics for candidates
A few weeks ago, I came to the realization I needed to get away, to unplug, to clear my head. I couldn’t really put into words why. I couldn’t explain my plan as I really didn’t have one. Nor could I express the purpose or goal of the trip. I just knew it was something I needed to do.
Craven political move?
Chicago is about to become the largest city in the United States to abolish most types of library fines, ending a practice that opponents say drove away low-income people who most need their local library and who can least afford to pay financial penalties.
Darts:
Objects to vice president motorcade
Much has been made of President Obama’s failure to attack Syria after he stated that the use of chemical weapons by Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria would cross a “red line.” After a thousand people were killed a year later in a Sarin attack, the administration waffled and eventually accept…
When my wife was working on her graduate degree in counseling, I remember talking with her just a few weeks into her first semester and saying, “You are already way ahead of the small amount of pastoral counseling I learned in seminary.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision last week to open a formal impeachment inquiry is a momentous step. Without some caution, it could also be a perilous one for American democracy.
For only the fourth time in the nation’s history, the U.S. House of Representatives has launched an inquiry that could lead to the expulsion of a sitting president.
Pray for our leaders
Public figures often have to endure ruthless social media smear campaigns.
On Sept. 20, hundreds of thousands of people joined together to demonstrate against climate change in most major cities across the world.
Is this all there is?
How much credibility should we give to a 16-year-old when considering her qualifications to lecture adults about science and an end-of-the-world scenario?
Local artist Lewis Cross was born in Davison, Michigan, in 1864 and moved to Spring Lake in the early 1880s. His love of the outdoors began early in life with much of his time spent outdoors.
Let’s set politics aside for a moment, and consider what a show of disrespect our country’s vice president and his security detail showed one of Pure Michigan’s most treasured spots.
I read an interesting devotional article the other day that made me sit up and take notice. It was on the subject of prayer. Specifically, it was on the subject of praying for our leaders.
This month’s nods to the anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, had barely faded from the news when three fresh developments jarred those among us who no longer have the possibility of terror attacks top of mind.
Trust the system
Republicans arrived on Mackinac Island late last week to begin planning for what promises to be their toughest battle in decades: reclaiming the ground they lost in last year's election, preserving their influence in Lansing and helping President Donald Trump repeat his unexpected 2016 win i…
I never met my great-grandfather, although I’ve seen pictures of him. The one I treasure most is a family photo, similar to those images on an Ancestry.com commercial where he is sitting with his wife and older daughters. (The sons would arrive later.) He’s wearing a hat and a solemn express…
Lynne Sherwood’s accomplishments
First things first: We’re football fans, not football experts. There may be solid, strategic reasons why Colin Kaepernick is not on a plane to Charlotte, North Carolina, right now to help the suddenly Cam Newton-less Carolina Panthers. Perhaps coaches think the learning curve to Norv Turner’…
While watching the Detroit Tigers play the Oakland Athletics recently, my wife, Marilyn, asked me why the A’s wore a white elephant patch on their uniforms.
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