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Time change a reminder to check smoke alarms

With the clocks turning back this past Sunday, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and its Bureau of Fire Services urges residents to take a few minutes to test their smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, a simple step that could save lives. As of Oct. 9, Michigan has recorded 63 fire-related deaths in 55 fatal fire incidents. Fire departments have responded to more than 14,500 structure fires statewide, including 8,118 residential fires. That averages more than 50 structure fires each day, including nearly 29 residential fires. “Every life lost to a fire is a ...

Don’t sit on the sidelines for crucial midterm elections

After what seems like endless campaigning — and a barrage of television ads and mailers, often downright nasty in the attacks aimed at the opposing candidate — the 2026 midterm elections mercifully have finally arrived. Polls in area counties, in both Michigan and Wisconsin, will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Both states will select new governors, as Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer is out due to term limits while Wisconsin’s Tony Evers opted not to seek a third term. Michigan will have a new U.S. senator and the Upper Peninsula a new 38th District state senator, with ...

Ukraine says its satellite access is finally back to full speed, but the throttling episode of recent weeks has mushroomed into a larger story about the Trump Administration and an indispensable battlefield technology. Elon Musk did himself no favors over the weekend with a credulous social-media outburst about the Russia-Ukraine war. Nobody is stepping up to take credit for slowing down Ukraine’s eyes and ears in the sky. Mr. Musk’s odd explanation is that Ukraine violated the “terms of service” of Starlink, a commercial product, by using it for offensive military purposes. But ...