Newsletter Opinion
KAUFMANN: Get outside and play this June!
Two years ago, I stood in a small crowd listening intently to a stern yet kind National Park ...
Columns
SYTSMA: The new Friend of the Court parenting guidelines
If you have a custody and parenting time order in Cass County, you may be required to follow ...
Columns
APPLEGATE: Summer programming for Niles children
Learning is a year-round and lifetime commitment, and while the summer months are often filled with relaxation, spending ...
Columns
WILLIAMS: Pandemic has taken toll on Americans’ mental health
In the U.S., almost half of all adults will experience mental illness during their lifetime. These are rates ...
Newsletter Opinion
KAUFMANN: Caring for our mental health
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Perhaps the first thing to be aware of is that we all ...
Opinion
BEALOR: Talking to our co-parent: We can all do better!
Talking together when you are not a couple can be hard. We know it is frustrating to be ...
Columns
LASATA: April is Financial Literacy Month
Financial literacy is a learned skill that can diminish without practice. Financial Literacy Month was established in 2004 ...
Columns
HAVLICEK: State small business relief trapped in gridlock
When Michigan received $5 billion in federal COVID funds last December, it represented crucial relief for our members ...
Columns
KAUFMANN: Choose to take one for the team
Major League Baseball is underway across the nation amid hype and high hopes. Twenty-six of the 30 teams ...
Columns
LASATA: April is Child Abuse Prevention Month
Each year in Michigan, tens of thousands of children are abused or neglected — about 90 per day. ...
Newsletter Opinion
COLUMN: Decreasing transition blues with co-parent visitations
If you have been to court to obtain a parenting time order, you have probably had a judge, ...
Opinion
APPLEGATE: Reflecting on the past year and a bright future
One year ago, schools across the country scrambled to create new learning plans for what was, at the ...
Columns
LASATA: Have a safe and happy Easter
For Christians, Easter Sunday is one of the most important holidays of the year as we celebrate the ...
Opinion
PUCKETT: Have you gone the second mile yet?
It is easy for the teaching and the examples of Christ to get lost in the midst of ...
Opinion
PUTNAM: Time to promote open government
Transparency in government might sound like a yawn of a topic in usual times. But these are not ...
Newsletter Opinion
LASATA: Ag Day a tribute to southwest Michigan’s farming heritage
March 23 is Ag Day in Michigan. It’s a time we set aside each year to recognize our ...
Columns
APPLEGATE: Building a family-school relationship
There has never been a more important time for school districts — including teachers, principals, counseling staff and ...
Columns
LASATA: Beware of COVID-19 vaccine scams
More people are becoming eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination ahead of schedule with the availability of a ...
Columns
KAUFMANN: Tapping into the unexpected power of play
Imagine that an organization offered to put your name in a prize drawing, with one stipulation: you had ...
Opinion
LASATA: Calls for investigation into nursing home coronavirus-related deaths intensifying
The governor of New York is currently embroiled in multiple controversies, one of which is for the state’s ...
Columns
WILSON: Trying something different
At 10 minutes after 3 p.m. on a sunny spring afternoon, Big John Hudson stepped from the Amtrak ...
Columns
MCKEE: Failure to pay child support could result in revoked DNR license
There is no way around it — the pandemic has put our way of living as we knew ...
Columns
WILSON: Good fences make great neighbors
W alter Rego is a Master Wall Builder, specializing in International Perimeter Enhancement Technology. Recently, this reporter had ...
Columns
LASATA: Michigan Taxpayer’s Guide a helpful resource that could save time, money
Tax season is upon us and, as southwest Michigan residents are preparing to file their taxes, questions may ...
Columns
PUCKETT: What to do when you do not know what to do?
Have you listened to the news lately? Are you confused, discouraged, outraged? Maybe all of these, but regardless ...
