When I was a kid, I remember going to the circus and being absolutely captivated by the tightrope walkers. They seemed so relaxed walking on that fine rope high above the crowd, as they would balance perfectly, seemingly without effort. And now in the paper industry, our very intelligent money managers - with more than a bit of effort - have to balance budgets. (And the money manager's job involves a bit of fortune-telling too. For example, will gas prices go up or down?)

I know someone who's heading to federal prison because he stole a couple billion dollars from the US Government. How did his journey begin? Twenty years ago he was selling Christmas trees on a corner lot, and had slightly shady business practices with his employees. Everything grew from there. Because corruption - especially when you get good at it - takes a lot of practice. If you know someone who has thoroughly cheated a company and you look into the person's past, you will find there's always a history of corruption from earlier years.

Most people know about honeybees and how a beehive operates. There's the queen that rules the hive. There's worker bees that go out and gather resources during the summer, and store up the honey for the winter. Then over the winter, the colony hunkers down. But what you may not know is that beekeepers watch their hives on the first warm day after winter, to learn if a hive has survived, because honeybees are meticulous housekeepers. Honeybees take out the (hive) trash on the first warm day to keep their hive perfectly spotless. Housekeeping is always top priority for honeybees. And today we will examine why housekeeping should be among your top priority for your mill as well.

The tragedy at Nippon Dynawave Packaging in Longview, Washington, on May 26, 2026 serves as a sobering reminder that the pulp and paper industry is hazardous, even in an era of advancing technology and heightened awareness.

The current administration has shifted transportation policies in ways that directly affect large industries like pulp and paper, because the previous focus on "equity" and "climate-focused" infrastructure grants has been replaced by a clear priority on industrial output, economic efficiency, and traditional infrastructure. Here are the critical policy shifts reshaping transportation for the paper industry...