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How Sept. 11 impacted me growing up

I learned in my psychology class at ACC that eye-whitness testimony is not absolute because the human brain likes to reconstruct memories rather than play them back like a video. When you recall a memory, your brain fills in bits and pieces it lost over time to make a cohesive narrative. My ...

The new math

One big bundle of money, + 3 unprincipled APS board members = 4,300 disenfranchised Alpena County residents. Do these numbers add up? Karen Hansen Alpena

Diet Coke socialism

The Trump administration is drafting a rule that would let married couples with a stay-at-home spouse collect federal welfare benefits. The money comes from a 1990s Health and Human Services fund meant to cover daycare so low-income parents could work or go to school. About 870,000 families ...

A parenting prayer at the beginning of another school year

In the perfect world, or place, or dimension, we are going to pray always (or popularly said, 24/7) in adoration of God who created and loves us forever. Beyond that I can say nothing about Heaven because it is way beyond me, and indeed unimaginable. Here on earth, we imperfectly stumble and stammer in our visiting with our Father. Following the guidance of Jesus and ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, we give much to adoration and thanksgiving to the Father, a lot to His mercy and forgiveness, a small bit to my ‘daily bread’ (He knows our needs and cares for us before we ask), and ...

Recalling Sept.11: From a local police perspective

September 11, 2001 started out as any other day. At the time, I was a sergeant at the sheriff's office in Alpena County. As I remember it, it was a beautiful sunny day. I had a preliminary hearing scheduled for the morning on a domestic violence case that I had investigated. I went into ...

The day that changed the world forever

It’s 25 years later as I sit writing this column on 9-11 and the events of that day and the ensuing emotions all come flooding back. The tears and the fears most certainly are there. So is the anger, the shock and the uncertainty of that day. But they aren’t all negative emotions. The ...