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Shop smart to avoid back-to-school scams

Hard — and perhaps depressing — to believe the 2026-27 school year will begin in only a few weeks. The back-to-school season is a busy time of year for both students and guardians. Consumers of all ages will be searching for the best deals on the supplies and products they need -- and for scammers, this presents an opportunity, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection warned in a news release. The DATCP offered these tips and resources to avoid pitfalls when getting ready for classes to start: Online shopping scams Online shoppers may be drawn to ...

MIOSHA recommends review of workplace safety practices

With a full five months still left in the year, the state already has seen 21 workplace fatalities in 2026, according to the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It has MIOSHA urging employers and workers to take proactive steps to identify hazards, communicate safety concerns and stop work when conditions become unsafe. That message is underscored by three recent trench collapses in Michigan within a two-day period, including one that resulted in a worker's death on July 1, MIOSHA states in a news release. The incidents highlight the importance of reassessing ...

World is America-avoidant

Earlier this year, a spate of western TikTok and Instagram creators announced that they were at “a very Chinese time in my life” – drinking hot water and wearing slippers around their homes. The Chinamaxxing phenomenon primarily reflected the constant need of influencers for novel content. But social media trends also reflect a growing fascination with China, as the economic historian Adam Tooze has noted. While it broods over China’s economic, military and technical advance, the Trump administration is accelerating Beijing’s diplomatic progress, as striking new polling by the ...

Families should learn the signs of drowning

For World Drowning Prevention Day on Saturday, a trauma expert in Wisconsin warned that drowning can be fast, silent and difficult to recognize when seconds count to react in time. World Drowning Prevention Day, observed annually on July 25, serves as a reminder that many drowning deaths are preventable. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 4,000 fatal unintentional drownings occur in the United States each year, an average of 11 deaths per day. An additional 8,000 near-drownings are treated in emergency departments annually. "The biggest thing we ...

Primary voting options abound

At a time when voting by mail has been increasingly challenged — President Donald Trump has repeatedly leveled unfounded claims of fraud against absentee ballots, including in his prime-time speech a week ago in which he called them "inherently corrupt" — state election officials this week said more Michigan voters are opting to use this method this summer. With two weeks left before the Aug. 4 primary election, 572,553 Michigan voters had already cast their ballot, according to data publicly available on the relaunched Michigan Voting Dashboard, mi.gov/votingdashboard. Voter ...

Lots more than books at the library

Libraries play key roles in the communities that host them. Far more than simply a venue that stores books and recordings, the typical public library these days has become something of a community crossroads for all kinds of "unlibrary-like" activities. Arts and culture, nutrition, recreation and employment are just random examples of the kinds of services even smaller libraries offer. The lists can get quite long. The Peter White Public Library in Marquette gets a lot of ink here and attention elsewhere for the programs it offers, and rightly so. Even a brief scan of its website ...