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Jocelyn Benson, in her own words: Glen Arbor Sun interview

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Prior to her June 3, appearance at the National Writers Series in Traverse City, Michigan Secretary of State (and gubernatorial candidate) Jocelyn Benson spoke to the Glen Arbor Sun via Zoom about her book, “The Purposeful Warrior: Standing up for what’s right when the stakes are high”; about her candidacy for governor in 2026 and her leadership style; about standing up to Trump; about Michigan governors who have inspired her; about abortion rights; about state-funded school meals, and about the future of journalism. Click here to watch the interview and read a full transcription.

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Northern Michigan national parks prepare for summer visitors amid staffing, morale concerns

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With a new tourism season upon northern Michigan, uncertainty remains about how national parks will handle millions of visitors amid lingering staffing questions because of back-and-forth federal workforce policies. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has approximately two-thirds of the seasonal staff it typically needs to welcome more than 1.5 million visitors over the next three busy months. “They’re still trying to get anybody else to accept a job, but it looks like there won’t be many more coming,” said former Sleeping Bear deputy superintendent Tom Ulrich. He added that the true impacts aren’t being felt yet because the park isn’t yet getting 400,000 visitors per month as they do in peak-season.

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Disgusted at Trump, Canadians boycott Michigan travel

“I’m terrified to cross the border.” “We’re disgusted.” “The annexation threats and tariffs are a ‘screw you’ to Canada.” “We have canceled our 2025 vacations in the USA. I no longer feel welcome there.” “I won’t go until Trump is gone. What he’s doing is horrific.” Those are the voices of Canadians who live in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario—just across the international border from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and longtime friendly neighbors in trade, in culture, in shopping, and in hockey. Apparently, no longer. Or, at least, not until Trump leaves office.

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Demonstrators at Sleeping Bear Dunes and nationwide stand up for National Park Service workers

Bitter cold winds and temperatures in the teens didn’t stop them. Neither did the catatonic state of the federal government as the Trump administration and oligarch-in-chief Elon Musk take a wrecking ball to the national workforce. Yesterday, March 1, more than 60 local demonstrators gathered at noon at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore headquarters in Empire to rally on behalf of their fired National Park workers and to protest the federal spending freeze that will delay the hiring of more than 100 seasonal employees who are integral to opening our National Lakeshore to 1.6 million visitors this summer. They marched through snow and wind from the Visitor’s Center to the Empire public beach and back.

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Trump’s tariffs—bad for local newspapers, bad for fruit, bad for Michigan

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The news media has suffered in recent years. Corporate consolidations have forced mass layoffs; the Internet and social media have redrawn the map; and demagogues at podiums malign us as convenient scapegoats. The latest blow to local news is the current administration’s shortsighted, illogical tariffs on newsprint from Canada.

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Could Trump’s hiring freeze hurt Sleeping Bear staff, operations?

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Could Trump’s hiring freeze affect staff, and operations, at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, which typically hires 100 seasonal employees in May when it opens popular mainstays such as the Sleeping Bear Dune Climb and Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive in time for the summer tourism season?

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Leelanau Women March on Washington

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The January 21, 2017, Women’s March on Washington, D.C. attracted more than half a million demonstrators to the banks of the Potomac. Writer Anne-Marie Oomen of Empire, and other Leelanau women shared their experiences from that day.

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Go With Me: Reflections on the day after the presidential election

Scared, scared, scared. Three of them hold hands. Of the three holding hands, one is Thai international, one is Native American in transition (from female to male), one is white, also in transition. Among the others, one is bi, one is gay, one is trying to figure it out. They are bright — a few are brilliant. They are all generally kind, generally hard-working, opinionated, funny, eager, quirky, often silly, tousled, sometimes-in-need-of-a-shower secondary students. Some have pink hair, or maybe blue this week. Some have tattoos and piercings. Some have creatively decorated their uniforms in such a way that there is no general sense of uniformity. They all understand that this election affects their future.

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