Breaking News

Editorials

Back to school means sharing the road with some extra caution

As students prepare to return to school, drivers are urged to stay alert and use caution on the roads. “Traffic tends to spike during the first days of school as many parents opt to drive their children,” said Adrienne Woodland, spokesperson for AAA-The Auto Club Group. “We advise adding 30 minutes to your morning commute. Drivers running late are more prone to speeding, which endangers lives.” According to a recent AAA survey, more than half of Michiganders regularly drive through school zones or by school bus stops during their daily routes. Here are the ABCs of school safety ...

New police academy grads all have jobs

Call it a sign of the times but the recent graduates from the Northern Michigan University Public Safety Institute all had jobs before they left the university. “It is amazing to see,” training director Adam Maynard told The Mining Journal. “All of them are already hired. A lot of the times you’d exit the academy and look for a job. We are so short on officers that departments are hiring to put people in the academy.” According to NMU, the 20 new would-be officers will be spread out among a dozen departments across the Upper Peninsula. The graduates went through a 16-week ...

Radon gas can pose a danger in homes

Lung cancer is most preventable by not smoking. But what about being exposed to a colorless, odorless radioactive gas? Have you ever pondered about your lungs being poisoned slowly over time and eventually this form of ionizing radiation leads to cancer? Did you know that you could catch this deadly carcinogen while sitting at home, breathing in your living room air? Radon is the No. 1 leading cause of lung cancer deaths in nonsmokers with more than 20,000 people dying each year in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. This gas is a natural product of Uranium ...