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Our newspapers in Michigan have served our local communities for more than 100 years. Like the Ionia Sentinel-Standard, we are committed to providing important information to our local markets in whatever forms necessary to have the most attention and readership for our stories.
Local newsrooms are important to us, and maintaining a local presence on the ground is where we excel. We want to keep tabs on the local politicians and how they spend our tax dollars as well as the local sports scene and how our children our growing up. We continue to drive this journey and are very interested in bringing everyone along with us.
As we do each year, we review and rethink our business. Recently, Gatehouse Michigan — parent company of The Sentinel-Standard — and the leadership team for our 11 Michigan cities discussed our longer-term strategy for providing local content to our communities. We came away with several key initiatives including providing as much local content as possible — we call it “local, local, local,” developing a system and strategy to provide more statewide and regional content to our readers, and a desire to update the look and format of some of our papers.
While we are excited about the future, we do have to retool some of our products in the present. As consumers change their habits of consuming news and information, so must we in order to remain healthy. The cost of producing and delivering a news product each day continues to rise.
We reviewed our business model in Ionia and researched which days of the week were the most meaningful. We then looked at how the revenue for our business flows. We came away with a different view of our product than we have now. As a result, we have now designed our Ionia paper to be in print on Wednesdays and Saturdays and online seven days per week.
As of Monday, Feb. 25, we will produce a printed edition two days per week, Wednesday and Saturday. By eliminating the other days of the week instead of raising the cost of the newspaper, The Ionia Sentinel-Standard will be in a much better position to improve the local news coverage in the Ionia area.
Our newsrooms, whose staffing level is not changing, will continue to provide content on our website every day as we do now. In the coming weeks, one of the exciting changes readers will notice is more local coverage in all of the communities we serve. By freeing up our newsroom to produce two printed editions per week, we will have more time to do better at what our readers enjoy: local information.
For the latest news updates and sports coverage throughout the week, the community is encouraged to visit us online at sentinel-standard.com. We also hope you will follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/IoniaSentinelStandard, and on Twitter at twitter.com/IoniaSSNews. As a reminder, current print subscribers already have full, free access to our digital products at sentinel-standard.com and our e-Edition.
Changes to content have already begun with the addition of “Screen Time: Weekly TV & Entertainment Guide” — found in every Weekend Edition of the newspaper. This 20-page publication contains featured program listings, entertainment news and puzzles. Our readers asked for better and more organized packaging of our weekly TV listings and this new addition was a result. We have enlisted the help of a Reader Advisory Council to give us insight and perspective on what to do differently. Expect their feedback to retool our papers going forward.
While we realize that many readers look forward to each and every issue, we are confident that updates to sentinel-standard.com, as well as more robust local community coverage in each issue, will overall improve our readers’ experience.
While you might think that your leather jacket and midicoat complete your outerwear collection, there is one piece every fashionista needs to the seal the deal: a trench coat. If you’re looking for a chic pick, this stylish overcoat fits the bill.
The 1901 3-in-1 Trench Coat with Vest is a versatile dream. Bridging the gap between classic and trendy style, you get a double-breasted coat and a sporty quilted vest for the price of one. Talk about an amazing deal!
Designed with a notched collar, long sleeves with belted cuffs and front pockets with pocket-flap detailing, this coat is the epitome of smart tailoring. You can even jazz up your look with a belted waist for a feminine silhouette. Perfect for providing extra warmth when needed, you can wear the vest and coat separate or layer the pieces for a cozy, sophisticated finish.
Its comparable design to the classic Burberry trench makes this topper a budget-friendly steal with Nordstrom shoppers. Many reviewers love its top of the line quality, while others appreciate that you get two outerwear pieces at an affordable price. Some shoppers also can’t get enough of its petite sizing options for a comfy and snug fit.
See It: Grab the 1901 3-in-1 Trench Coat with Vest at Nordstrom for only $169!
The Women's United Soccer Association will hold its first combine and draft on Dec. 4-11 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
The WUSA begins play in April. About 200 players will receive invitations. League personnel, general managers and coaches from all eight teams will be on hand to evaluate and scout.
Acting Commissioner Tony DiCicco and Lauren Gregg , vice president of player relations, selected the final pool of players to be invited. The first two days of the combine are for registration and physicals, and the next five days are reserved for games and workouts.
After that, general managers and coaches will draft players over the next two days at the Embassy Suites in Boca Raton. There will be 12 to 15 rounds.
WUSA teams are in Atlanta, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco Bay area and Washington.
SpaceX's manned Dragon spacecraft could make a human colony on Mars possible as shown in this still image from a SpaceX video. The private spaceflight company has targeted manned Mars exploration as a long-range goal.
WASHINGTON — SpaceX thinks humanity needs to reach Mars to survive.
Manned exploration and the eventual colonization of Mars would not only be a marvel of human achievement, it would also serve as a sort of insurance in case disaster strikes on Earth, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell told a small crowd here Wednesday (June 4).
"Exploration is really what separates humans from other living species," Shotwell said during an Atlantic Council Captains of Industry discussion. "If we decide that where we are today is 'it,' that seems like a big disappointment."
If humans decided to stop exploring, saying, "This is it, we're done," that's not very inspirational, Shotwell said.
But exploration isn't the only reason to visit the Earth's rouge neighbor. Creating a settlement on Mars also constitutes "risk management" for the human race, Shotwell said.
"The probability of a significant [disastrous] event happening on Earth is very high," Shotwell said. Though she said she doesn't know when it might happen, "it would be nice to have humans living in more than one spot."
By all appearances, SpaceX has been a force in the business of launching rockets into orbit. The company has made nine out of nine successful launches of its Falcon 9 rocket, which has carried its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station on multiple occasions.
The company has recently tested its reusable rockets. SpaceX completed a successful rocket test on April 18 in which it launched a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, and landed the first stage vertically on a target in the Atlantic Ocean.
On May 29, the company unveiled its manned Dragon V2 spaceship, which would serve as a kind of space taxi to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
The company is also developing a massive launch vehicle, the Falcon Heavy, which would be the most powerful U.S. rocket to launch since the Saturn V. "Hopefully we will launch [the Falcon Heavy] in the first half of next year," Shotwell told Space.com.
SpaceX has not yet developed the capability of exploring beyond the Earth's orbit. But Elon Musk, the company's billionaire CEO, has expressed ambitions for reaching the Red Planet, and claims the company has made progress toward establishing a colony there.
During the International Space Development Conference last month, Musk said that "the reason SpaceX was created was to accelerate development of rocket technology, all for the goal of establishing a self-sustaining, permanent base on Mars."
The Finnish Construction Trade Union has expressed its opposition to the government’s plans to impose additional activity requirements on unemployed job seekers.
Kyösti Suokas, the vice chairperson of the Finnish Construction Union, has expressed his strong opposition to the proposal to supplement the much-criticised activation model for unemployment security.
The Finnish government revealed earlier this month it is intent on supplementing the activation model by, for example, obliging unemployed job seekers to apply for a minimum of four jobs a month under the threat of a temporary suspension of unemployment benefits.
“You are putting the blame on people who have lost their jobs and devising laws that will exclude a growing number of the unemployed from unemployment security coverage and consign them into financial hardship,” he argued in a blog on the website of the Finnish Construction Union on Tuesday.
Suokas estimated that the proposed requirements are outright unreasonable and place people in an unequal position.
“It is shocking how unequally stage two of the activation model treats people. Mandatory job applications and reports are not a problem for people with sufficient education and experience from pushing paper around,” he slammed.
The Finnish Construction Union, he declared, is determined to help its members to meet the requirements laid out in the supplementary activation measures, if the government moves forward with the measures.
“If this absurdness really becomes a law in Finland, the Construction Union will help its members to draft the applications. Our objective is that not a single union member faces a needless suspension of benefits because of stage two of the activation model, which is hostile to employees,” said Suokas.
Minister of Employment Jari Lindström (BR) stated last week that the government has submitted its proposal to key labour market organisations for review.
The Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK) and the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (STTK) have already shot down the proposal on grounds that it places excess emphasis on sanctions. The Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland (Akava) is more supportive of the proposal.
The proposal will be circulated for comments after Midsummer.
FAYETTEVILLE - Mrs. Kathy B. Radosevich, 65, passed away Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, in Southeastern Hospice House in Lumberton.
A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013, in Lafayette Memorial Park with the Rev. Archie Barringer officiating. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29, 2013, at Rogers and Breece Funeral Home.
Mrs. Radosevich retired from Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in 1999 after 20 years.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Adeline Bogue Rogers and Harold Bogue.
She is survived by her husband, Louis Stephen Radosevich Jr. of the home; son, Jason Lee Radosevich of Greenville; sister, Maureen Poulton and husband Charles of North Haven, Conn.; brother, Richard Bogue and wife Sophie of East Haven, Conn.; nieces, Michelle Dayton and husband Ken of Hamden, Conn., Kathy Lynn Falcone of East Haven, Denise Bogue Ahern and husband Brendan of Port Jefferson, N.Y.; nephew, Jeffrey Bogue of Boston, Mass.; stepfather, Lawrence Rogers of Wallingford, Conn.; stepson, Scott Radosevich and wife Elizabeth of Greenville; and several great nieces and nephews.
Mrs. Radosevich was very loving, devoted and gave all that she had to her family that she cherished. Her sense of humor, persistence and stubbornness were traits that made her one of a kind. She adored, pampered, and spoiled her husband, son, and two cats. She will be greatly missed.
WASHINGTON – The Mets are 7-1. Yet they almost seem better than that.
That’s how superbly they are playing. The Mets have the best record in the sport, and they are playing like the majors’ top club. Yesterday was a 13-4 walloping of the Nationals, with the Mets taking a 4-0 lead in the first inning and sailing to their sixth win in a row. Over their eight games so far this season, the Mets have outscored teams 53-27 and trailed for two of their 73 innings.
“We’ve only played eight games,” Carlos Delgado said, making an effort to put how impressive the Mets are looking in perspective.
Yesterday at RFK Stadium, the Mets finished off a three-game sweep, a fine accomplishment for a club that was terrible on the road last year. The Mets’ 3-4-5-6 hitters – Carlos Beltran, Delgado, David Wright and Cliff Floyd – all homered, all but Delgado doing so in the first inning.
The Mets ripped 16 hits on the day. They’ve reached double figures in hits in five of their past six games and in six of their eight. They are averaging more than six runs per game and hitting .320 as a team. How about this: Beltran and Paul Lo Duca are hitting .296, so they’re below the team average.
Beltran began things yesterday for the Mets in the first inning, clocking a two-out solo homer off the upper-deck facade in right off Livan Hernandez. Delgado then singled, Wright drilled a two-run homer over the left-field wall, and Floyd followed with his first homer of the year, a bomb to right. It was the first time since June 15, 1999, that the Mets hit three homers in the opening inning.
Beltran, Delgado and Wright, in particular, are simply mashing. Beltran, who reached base three times yesterday, went 5-for-10 with two homers, four RBIs and three walks in the Washington series. Delgado has five hits in the past two games, three homers this year and a .394 average. Wright is hitting .469, has at least one hit in each game and has driven in 12 runs.
Around the rest of the order, Jose Reyes (two hits, two runs yesterday) is hitting .333 and Xavier Nady is at .355.
Chris Woodward played second base yesterday instead of Anderson Hernandez and knocked two hits while driving in three runs.
“You don’t have a relief point from a pitcher’s standpoint,” Floyd said of the batting order.
According to Wright, the Mets are playing with “quite a bit” of confidence right now.
The Mets will now face tougher teams than Florida and Washington: Milwaukee is in this weekend, with Atlanta up next.
This week in Washington, Americans marked the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s election victory by voting for seemingly anyone with a (D) next to their name and signing up for Obamacare in record numbers. Following in the footsteps of many a recent college graduate, the president celebrated the major achievement by traveling to Asia.
A year ago Thursday, Donald J. Trump was elected president of the United States. If you feel like revisiting Election Day 2016, I highly recommend this package from Esquire, where key players in the campaign gave their behind-the-scenes stories from that fateful day.
Trumpaversary odds and ends: the Washington Post has a smart piece on Trump’s election night promise to be a “president for all Americans” and takes a look at how that whole thing panned out. Politico on what the alums/casualties of the Trump administration are up to: golfing, getting heckled at the Apple Store, being investigated by the FBI, and, uh, leveraging their distinguished service to our nation in paid speeches and TV contracts.
Out with the old, in with the new: there was an election this week! My colleagues have you covered on what went down in Minnesota. Elsewhere, voters headed to the polls for big elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and elsewhere. The results are in, and it was a great night for Democrats — and a loud alarm bell for the GOP.
In Virginia, Democrat Ralph Northam, the state’s lieutenant governor, defeated career Republican politico Ed Gillespie by a wider-than-expected nine-point margin. Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general also prevailed in the Old Dominion.
The Northam-Gillespie race was nasty, filled with personal attacks. The consensus out of D.C. is that Gillespie — a repeat failed candidate and an avatar for the GOP establishment — ran a Trumpist campaign without Trump, and that his defeat is a clear sign for other Republican candidates of the limits of such a strategy.
I’m more intrigued by what happened in Virginia’s state legislature races. On Election Day, the GOP held a 66-34 advantage in the state’s House of Delegates, and virtually no one anticipated that control of the chamber would be in play.
Yet, one GOP incumbent after the other fell to defeat on Tuesday night — including the Republican House Majority Whip, who lost his re-election to an underfunded challenge from a socialist Navy veteran. (You read this correctly.) As of now, Democrats picked up at least 15 (!) seats, leaving the GOP with just a two-seat advantage. Recounts are expected, as multiple races remain really close.
That’s a big statement. But to win back the House — or make a dent in the GOP’s 23-seat majority — Dems will need to pick up districts like the affluent, well-educated Virginia 10th, repped by Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock. Northam won Comstock’s district by 13 points on Tuesday; a year ago, VA-10 went for Hillary Clinton by 10 points, a similar margin to MN-3.
To that end: some folks saying the suburban tide is bad news for Rep. Erik Paulsen. The NYT’s Nate Cohn listed Paulsen in a group of four House Republican incumbents he believes are in “more danger” after this week’s results.
Assorted links on Election Night: the Atlantic on Dems’ viable-but-narrow path to the House majority, WaPo on the new #Resistance heroes minted this week, and Maine’s vote to expand Medicaid. My colleague Eric Black with the view from Minnesota.
A bombshell story with potentially major political implications: a team of WaPo reporters found that Roy Moore, the GOP candidate for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat, is accused of pursuing sexual relationships with minors, including a 14-year-old girl, while he was in his 30s.
The special election for this Senate seat, which was vacated by Jeff Sessions, is on December 12. Moore faces Democrat Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney who prosecuted the KKK. GOP senators, including Mitch McConnell, have called on Moore to leave the race “if” the allegations are proved true. Invites a question: what more could be done here to prove this? It’s Moore’s word versus that of several women and multiple other sources, backed up by corroborating reporting.
Other senators, such Sen. John McCain, were unequivocal in calling for Moore to step aside. Problem: some initial reporting indicates it may be hard for Moore to get off the ballot.
Another mass shooting, this time, at a Baptist church in tiny Sutherland Springs, Texas, 26 dead. You can read about the victims here. The shooter, in purchasing firearms, reportedly slipped through some regulatory cracks: the Air Force (in which he served) was supposed to notify federal authorities about the shooter’s domestic violence conviction, which should have barred him from buying a gun. It didn’t.
Gun control advocates continue to be outraged with yet another slaughter; see Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy with a distillation of the sentiment. Gun advocates, meanwhile, seizing on the fact that an armed bystander fired back at the shooter, say the shooting illustrates the need for fewer gun restrictions, not more.
The tax battle slogs forward on Capitol Hill: on Thursday, the Senate GOP unveiled its version of tax legislation. It is different from the House’s plan in a few ways: it does not totally eliminate the estate tax, eliminates the state and local tax deduction, leaves the mortgage interest deduction in tact, and delays the reduction of the corporate tax rate by a few years.
The House is wrapping a marathon mark-up session of its tax legislation, which resulted in some changes: the adoption tax credit, initially eliminated, has been restored after lobbying from both sides. The Ways and Means Committee passed the bill Thursday afternoon on a party-line vote, clearing the bill for a vote on the House floor.
An, uh, unusual Congress story this week: GOP Sen. Rand Paul sustained serious injuries at his home in Kentucky after an altercation with his neighbor. It was initially reported the tussle, which ended in broken ribs and other complications for Paul, was over landscaping issues. But Paul cryptically tweeted some articles reporting on his neighbor’s stridently anti-Trump views, perhaps suggesting another reason for the attack. This is odd.
Keep in mind that Trump’s rhetoric on China to this point has been incredibly harsh; he has accused China of “theft,” and he hired an economic adviser so obsessed with China’s rise that he authored a book called “Death by China.” Politico has more on Trump’s charm/flattery offensive in Beijing, which reportedly included showing a video of his granddaughter speaking in Mandarin.
Not too many headline-grabbing moments from his stops in Japan and South Korea, aside from attempts to feed some koi in Tokyo and a big speech in front of South Korean lawmakers in Seoul.
Trump didn’t spell out any specific policy to contain North Korea and its nuclear program, or draw any red line that would prompt U.S. military action. But in stark terms, he warned the regime of Kim Jong Un not to test the U.S. and its allies.
Back at home, news from the executive branch. Reportedly, Trump’s Department of Justice, which is overseeing a proposed $85 billion mega-merger between AT&T and Time Warner, has pushed for AT&T to sell off CNN, which it would own, in order for the deal to get approval.
Some have speculated this is a way Trump is aiming to punish CNN, his arch-nemesis. Meanwhile, AT&T has insisted it will not offload CNN, part of the Turner Broadcasting empire, as part of its bid to acquire Time Warner. But it’s also possible DoJ simply is trying to block the creation of a monster media corporation.
A Forbes investigation found that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is probably lying about his status as a billionaire. The Wall Street raider and Trump Florida pal has claimed he’s worth close to $4 billion, but is probably worth less than $700 million — thanks to Forbes’ discovery of a non-existent $2 billion claim by Ross.
More concerning Ross news: Minnesota Public Radio’s Tom Scheck reports with American Public Media that Ross’ chief of staff helped close a major natural gas export deal between the U.S. and China — a deal she carried out while remaining on the board of a shipping company (and one with links to Russia) that could benefit immensely from the deal. Ross is also an investor in that company. Drain the swamp!
Last week, open enrollment began for Obamacare’s individual insurance markets. The Trump administration seemed eager to do nothing to encourage people to sign up for insurance, so much so that critics alleged they were sabotaging the process.
Some analysts predicted significantly fewer people would sign up for coverage this year — but so far, the system has been flooded with enrollees, reports Politico’s Paul Demko. The pace of enrollment is about double last year’s; currently, about 600,000 have signed up.
Finally, a (Mc) nugget of news out of the White House: apparently, if the in-house chef doesn’t cook Trump’s burger just so, a staffer is tasked with running to McDonald’s to pick up a quarter-pounder for POTUS. (Extra ketchup, no pickles.) Judge not, lest ye be judged: I’m a fan of the Filet-O-Fish. Come at me.
President Trump and congressional Republicans have pitched the plan unveiled last week as a tax cut for most Americans. But millions of middle-class families — particularly those with children — would see an immediate tax increase, averaging about $2,000. Among the hardest-hit under the plan would be some of the most vulnerable taxpayers: those with huge out-of-pocket medical expenses.
By 2026, 45 percent of middle-class families would pay more than what they would under the existing tax system.
The preliminary Times analysis found that, in 2018, the plan would cut taxes for about 68 percent of families in the middle class, broadly defined as those earning between two-thirds and twice the median household income, or between about $50,000 and $160,000 per year for a family of three. For most of those families, the cut would be about $1,300 in 2018. In order to focus on families, the analysis excluded individual filers and households headed by people 65 or older and is adjusted for the size of each household.
If Ellen’s story were to follow the trajectory of other high-profile sexual-harassment stories that have been in the news for the last month, this would be the part where the serial harasser was named, shamed, and drummed out of his position. But that’s not going to happen. Ellen, who like most of the women in this story asked for anonymity because of fear of retribution, has come to the same conclusion as a lot of women in Washington: It’s not safe to speak up.
A retired ophthalmologist asked her if she was worried that native Swedes were going to be “out-reproduced” by Muslim immigrants and asylum seekers. Swedes were reproducing just fine, she politely replied. A former schoolteacher pressed her on Russian aggression in the Baltic Sea. “Every day there is uneasiness,” she said.
At the hotel bar after the speech, Olofsdotter, Smith and Guttenberg tried to guess the percentage of Trump voters in the audience. “I saw a few grumpy faces,” Guttenberg said. “No hecklers,” Smith replied.
The discussion turned to particular audience members. The man who had introduced himself to Guttenberg by apologizing for “that idiot who is our president” definitely wasn’t a Trump voter. The ophthalmologist, they guessed, probably backed the president. What about the librarian who had arranged for the cookies? She could go either way, the three concluded.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a misleading name: sure, it has jurisdiction over farms. But beyond that, it has an almost comically broad portfolio — it manages hundreds of thousands of acres of land, does climate change research, determines what millions of public school kids eat every day. It is a consequential department with a reputation for discipline and nonpartisanship.
Yet, in the Trump era, the USDA has repeatedly been relegated to the back burner, with key jobs vacant, or staffed by people with no relevant experience. In Vanity Fair, Michael Lewis — he of the Big Short and Moneyball — offers up my favorite read of the year about Washington under Trump: the new regime’s quiet, sad war on the USDA. Pay attention to this one, a story of neglect, mismanagement, and malice, to use Lewis’ words.

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