In my opinion, the most important issue in the upcoming election is health care, which is especially pertinent in light of the pandemic. America has 4 percent of the world’s population but 20 percent of the deaths. Not having universal health care in our country most likely is a contributing…

I can’t tell you how many times an IT person has come to my desk to see what my problem is only to mutter the words, “That’s weird.” Or how many times my kids have torn my phone out of my hands, rolling their eyes, only to hand it back to me saying, “I don’t know.”

Energy is fundamental to the functioning of modern societies. Without energy, our globalized economy would cease to function.

I haven’t been in an honest-to-God fistfight since I was in the third grade, and I stopped paying attention to professional boxing about the time some marketing genius figured out they could charge viewers more than the price of a good steak dinner to watch at home.

It occurred to me, as I drove into the radio ranch, that I have worn headphones more than half my life. That doesn’t even include stealing my brothers 1970s Koss headphones when I was 10 years old. They were so heavy, I remember, and I treated them like gold. I think they weighed close to 5f…

One of the routine arguments by the pro-gun crowd is that the Second Amendment gives them the right to own firearms to protect themselves from a tyrannical government. But what happens when those guns are used to try to topple the government?

Like a creeping cloud, the great COVID-19 pandemic is showing its ability to cast its shadow over all of life. The virus stopped much of what we knew as regular life, but it has been with us for so long the weight of the inertia to move forward demands the shadow cover next events like a gla…

Four days after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against her use of emergency powers, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared at a press conference that she did nothing wrong.

In October 2004, I wrote in this column a list of humble suggestions to reform our national election process.

On Monday, we had the first gathering of the Supreme Court without Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and things are already going downhill.

I had initially thought of last week’s first presidential debate as the equivalent of a heavyweight boxing match, something like the classic fights between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali in the 1970s.

‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

I am sitting in a concrete classroom. A young professor with thick dark hair and sharply tailored pants stands before the chalkboard. She is smart and beautiful and terrifying. She is everything I hope to be someday, but I am just a bright-eyed freshman, barely 18, barely formed. And I am ar…

In Michigan, protecting our natural resources has always been something that transcends political affiliation. Every Michigander has fond memories of summers spent outside, whether at popular spots like the Sleeping Bear Dunes or a local playground.

‘Don’t let the sun go down without saying thank you to someone, and without admitting to yourself that absolutely no one gets this far alone.” – Stephen King

There’s a great movie called “Return to Me.” It takes place in a Chicago neighborhood and is a love story. At one point, Jim Belushi’s character yells, “Would everyone just calm down for the love of God and all that is holy?! Calm the hell down!”

One of the most important things I learned during the COVID-19 pandemic I witnessed just the other day at Pottawattomie Park in Grand Haven Township.

There was a time in America, unknown or not experienced by people under the age of 50, when politics was a contact sport played with mostly accepted rules and the equivalent of “sportsmanship.” Losers would graciously concede and wish the victor well, in most cases vowing to work with him or…

“People seek simple solutions to complex problems.”

Falling cases of the coronavirus imply that the U.S. economy could improve over the next month or two as lockdowns ease and Americans resume their normal lives. There is, however, an unexpected short-term risk: that a vaccine will be ready by November.

Are we being torn apart by social media?

The famous American journalist H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) famously said, “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” Was he right?

Even with the cancellation of the Coast Guard Festival and other local events, there still seemed to be a steady stream of tourists in town who kept their summer plans for a visit – a little unnerving as far as COVID-19 is concerned, but great for our businesses, for sure!

I have been troubled recently. Really troubled. And I’ve be saddened, disappointed and upset. I asked my wife recently, “What country is this anyway? Are we living in America yet?” I hardly recognize it sometimes. It does not seem like the country I grew up in.

Once again I am at the radio ranch with another case of writer’s block. It seems irresponsible to me to not write about the political climate in this country. I don’t want to, really. I know better, but I feel as if I need to weigh in.

“Bad governments always lie because telling the truth requires honour and courage!”

We are in the midst of a renaissance in rural Michigan infrastructure investment. Since the invention of the internet, each administration – both state and federal – have promised more resources to help connect rural areas, but it is only now that these promises are being kept.

2020 has taken its toll on everyone. Each of us feels the pressure building as the election year, an ongoing pandemic and the continuous tide of racial injustice violently collide, one thing against another against another.

One of the greatest gifts to me during this pandemic, as a priest, has been the kindness and support of my parishioners.

Labeling another person has become a popular political pastime. The intent is to use a label that is impossible to disprove no matter the amount of contrary evidence.

The term “pirate” has conjured up negative connotations over the years. Most who think of pirates think of Captain Hook dueling with Peter Pan, or Blackbeard sailing the high seas ready to steal treasures. Some may even think of Captain Jack Sparrow causing a ruckus. Many think that the tale…

There’s an oft-reposted meme on my social media feeds. It basically says the months of April, May, June and July are lost to us. This rings true for me, and maybe for you, too – all of us lost in our different pandemic haze, all of us trying to build a plane and fly it, too.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer was a well-known missionary doctor to Africa. He could have had a medical practice anywhere in the world, but he chose to work among the poorest of the poor in Lambarene and Gabon. He was a theologian as well as a musician. He worked as a missionary until he was in his …

Kamala Harris is a forceful personality, alert, awake, smart and ready to push you off the cliff if you get in her way.

Before Dr. Alan Steinman moved to Michigan, where he would eventually become director of the Annis Water Resources Institute for Grand Valley State University, he worked in the Everglades. While the Everglades and the Great Lakes are two different worlds, balancing the budget is a battle reg…

‘If cable and satellite broadcasting, as well as the internet, had come along first, newspapers, as we know them, would never had existed.” – Warren Buffet

My favorite television show from the late 1950s and early ’60s was Rod Serling’s “The Twilight Zone.” Each episode would take on an important issue of the day, whether it be racism or war or fears of alien invaders.

I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good walk. I’m just not used to taking so many! Not that I’m complaining. These past days have been the greatest of my life!

When you watch the news these days, you really have to pinch yourself to try to internalize the fact that these things are really happening around our nation. In the midst of the continuing COVID-19 saga comes what seem to be some questionable decisions by decision makers around the nation.

They canceled football. They blew the whistle. They threw the flag. That’s all there is; there is no more of the 2020 season. And not just football – all college sports.

I am sitting here at the radio ranch at 1 South Harbor here in Grand Haven with another case of writer’s block. So many serious things I could write about right now, but I think instead I will delve into my radio career for this column. People are always asking, so here goes.

The ballots have been counted (mostly), the November election ballot is set (almost), and the first pandemic-era presidential election is less than 100 days away.