Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 1063
BESSEMER — The Bessemer Recreation Commission discussed ongoing plans for a new trailhead for the Iron Belle Trail behind city hall on Thursday evening. The commission heard from city manager Charly Loper that the Bessemer Area Historical Society and Tom Kangas, a resident historian, had agreed to help draft a letter of the historical significance of the railway to the area and the importance of preserving it with the trailhead. The letter will be used as part of a Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund application. “We just need a let...
BESSEMER - The Bessemer Area School District held an open house at both Washington Elementary and A.D. Johnston Junior/Senior High School on Thursday afternoon. According to science teacher David Rowe and special needs instructor Jamie Stiffarm, the annual event helps students with anxiety over the start of the school year, by allowing them the opportunity to meet their teachers and possibly some classmates, go over their schedule ahead of time and find the location of their classes. "Some of...
IRONWOOD — Students and their families were invited on Thursday to Luther L. Wright K-12 School in Ironwood for a Back to School Fair. The open house provided an opportunity for children and their parents to get ready for the first day of school on Tuesday by meeting teachers and completing important paperwork. Incoming students formed queues at tables in the gymnasium to receive their final class schedules and Chromebook laptops. “We’re one-to-one, so every student from K-12 has access to a Chromebook,” principal Melissa Nigh said. “A lot...
IRONWOOD — The Ironwood Area Schools Board of Education held a special board meeting on Wednesday to hear an update on COVID-19 requirements and recommendation from superintendent Travis Powell. He said students will not be required to wear masks inside of the school building when they return for classes next week. “After careful analysis of the current conditions in our community as related to COVID-19 and thorough analysis of our legal obligations and requirements, I recommend making no change to our current policy on COVID response,” Powel...
IRONWOOD — With their children planning to start classes next week, concerned parents attended the regular Ironwood board of education meeting at Luther L. Wright High School on Monday in large numbers. During the start of the meeting, when citizens are permitted to address the board about items on the agenda, some parents expressed their fears about sending their children back to school without masks being required for all students. Others threatened to withdraw their students if the school required masks. Travis Powell, the school s...
IRONWOOD — Gogebic Community College officials announced Friday that the college will require face masks to be worn indoors. The decision follows the recommendation of both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Both organizations recently announced that masks should be worn indoors regardless of vaccination status. “The expectation at GCC at this time is to wear masks indoors,” said GCC president George McNulty. “With the uptick in COVID-19 variants both locally and nationa...
IRONWOOD - The Gogebic Range Concert Band will perform at 7 p.m. on Aug. 10 in Longyear Park in Ironwood. The concert will be dedicated to all those who the community has lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, band director Marie Eggleston said. "We'll be playing 'Amazing Grace' and 'Be Still My Soul' to call attention to the fact that just about everybody has lost someone or knows someone who has lost someone." Eggleston said. "There hasn't been any memorial because it's an ongoing pandemic. So, we...
IRONWOOD — Prospective students took a closer look at Gogebic Community College on Tuesday at an open house on the Ironwood campus. The event started in the courtyard outside the Lindquist Student Center and included visits with staff, campus tours, and refreshments. Kari Klemme, GCC marketing strategist, estimated they had more than 100 people in attendance. Campus tours were provided by students in the newly formed GCC Student Diversity Group, she said. Kathy and Peter Tofson drove three and a half hours from Portage, Wisconsin, to tour t...
BESSEMER - Participants of all ages came to Bluff Valley Park in Bessemer on Tuesday for an art and natural science class hosted by volunteers from the Downtown Art Place of Ironwood. The class was led by Ian Shackleford, a botanist from Ottawa National Forest, and Polly Barbacovi, an artist with the DAP. Shackleford guided participants on a nature walk and shared his knowledge about trees and plant life that can be found along the trail. He also said there were invasive plants at the park such...
MERCER, Wis. - The population of Mercer and surrounding communities gathered in town on Wednesday to celebrate the 41st annual Loon Day, a craft show featuring vendors from around the country. Melissa Biszak, executive director of the Mercer Chamber of Commerce and organizer of the event, said that Loon Day celebrates what the town is most well-known for: being the "Loon capital of the world." "We have some vendors that are from Nebraska, Iowa and Florida. They all have vacationed up here, love...
IRONWOOD — Summer art classes will return this month at the Downtown Art Place. The programs will provide participants with opportunities to learn new skills from artists from the local studio. According to a news release from the DAP, classes will be held from July 26 to Aug. 12. This year’s events will kick off with “Ceramics with Candace” at the DAP Clay Studio on July 26. The complete summer classroom schedule can be found on the DAP website. The website says the classes are open to all ages, but children under the age of 10 must be acco...
IRONWOOD - Behind the ski chalet of Mt. Zion lies a hidden gem - a nature walk through the woods, over a small stream, covering approximately a mile. The walk has been used year round for hiking, snowshoeing and fishing, and even Frisbee golf, said a Gogebic Community College spokesperson. However, in 2016 a great "hundred year flood" severely damaged the two wooden bridges along the path. College officials plan to repair the bridges. "Imagine how nice this would be if these bridges were...
BESSEMER — The Bessemer Fourth of July planning committee is expecting “enormous” attendance at this year’s celebration of the nation’s birthday, said committee head Linda Nelson. After most events being canceled due to COVID last year, a full slate of Bessemer Blast activities are billed as the “biggest and best 4th of July celebration in the U.P.,” said Nelson. Much of the celebration will take place in downtown Bessemer on Sophie Street over the week prior to July 4, and will feature events for all ages. There will be many familiar even...
BESSEMER — The Bessemer City Council gave the organizers of local Fourth of July festivities its “blessing” Monday to go ahead with plans for this year’s events. “I’ll be happy with absolutely anything that we can have just to bring our hometown pride back. Bring the community back together and just celebrate the Fourth of July. So anything that we can possibly have, I am grateful for,” said Linda Nelson, president of the Fourth of July organizing committee. Nelson said normally at this time of year they would be finalizing plans, howeve...
BESSEMER — The Bessemer City Council approved a resolution to allow flexibility in meeting platforms during its first in-person meeting in over a year on Friday. The special meeting was called in order to address the issue of whether or not to meet in person in the future. “That’s the state of Michigan for you. It kind of contradicts the COVID-19 rules. I talked to our attorney and we have to have this meeting in person in order to decide whether Monday, and future meetings, will be in person,” said City Manager Charly Loper. Loper said th...
BESSEMER - Students at Washington Elementary got to pour slime on Mark Switzer, the school's dean of instruction, on Thursday, as a reward for the kids' fundraising efforts in the Kids Heart Challenge for the American Heart Association. The annual challenge encourages students to get at least 60 minutes of exercise a day, drink water instead of drinks with sugar, and show acts of kindness. The students set up profiles on the Kids Heart Challenge website and raised money for the American Heart...
BESSEMER - Students and staff at A.D. Johnson Junior-Senior High School spent Thursday learning about autism in preparation for Autism Awareness Day today. "The theme for world wide autism is to also work with kindness," said teacher Jamie Stiffarm. "So, the acceptance and kindness towards others." To help educate students, the school held an hourly contest Thursday where questions on autism spectrum disorder were read every period and students had the time in between classes to drop their...
HURLEY — They may never need it, but Iron County will be able to build a new route to its communication tower on Germania Hill in Hurley after the Iron County Board of Supervisors voted 13-2 to approve a land purchase Tuesday. Supervisors Larry Youngs and Karl Krall voted against the measure. The board approved purchasing a pair of lots, including 127 Germania St., from Kenneth Tilton for $10,500. The purchase is viewed as a preventative measure, according to several board members, if there are further issues with a different property owner w...
IRONWOOD — Gogebic Community College was singled out for having one of the best medical coding and billing degree programs in 2021 by intelligent.com, an online magazine that rates post-secondary education programs. GCC president George McNulty told board members at their Tuesday meeting that the program was also praised for being “academically rigorous.” He said the magazine provides “unbiased” research that helps students make decisions on higher education. GCC was selected from an assessment of 1,280 accredited college and universities, acco...
MERCER, Wis. - While the Mercer Library is open, the staff continues to offer a variety of online events as they are not hosting any in-person gatherings due to social distancing concerns. "We are trying to focus mostly on things that people can take home from the library to work on or online events," said library director Teresa Schmidt. The library gives out craft kits twice a month. The kits are appropriate for kids, families, and even adults, Schmidt said. The latest craft project kit was...
HURLEY — It appears the criminal case against a former chief of the Hurley Volunteer Fire Department is nearing a conclusion after a deferred prosecution agreement was accepted in the case Monday. Darrell J. Petrusha, 56, was charged with one count of identity theft related to his alleged improper use of a fire department credit card for personal expenses. Monday’s agreement means special prosecutor Allen Brey will dismiss the case if Petrusha meets certain requirements, including avoiding any new criminal charges for the next six months. It...
WATERSMEET — For the first time in many years the Watersmeet Bible Church has a permanent pastor. Robert Yerks was officially appointed to the position on March 1. “His love of Jesus Christ, people, and the beauty of creation make him a great pastor for the Watersmeet community and area,” said Carol Mason Sherrill of Watersmeet Bible Church. Prior to Yerks’ arrival as an intern in 2019, the church has had some difficulty maintaining a permanent pastor, he said. According to Yerks after a couple pastors came and left, the congregation was “ve...
IRONWOOD - Four area schools will host blood drives over the coming weeks. The American Red Cross blood drives could provide scholarship opportunities. "The Red Cross offers these schools a scholarship program that if they get their students engaged to volunteer, contact donors, try to recruit their fellow students," said Christine Luxton, account representative for the American Red Cross. The program credits the students for the units they collect through the school year The program runs from...
Businesses in Gogebic and Ontonagon counties have received more than $175,000 in grant money through the Michigan Small Business Survival Grant Program, the state recently announced. Twenty-five businesses in Gogebic County received a total of $125,876 in grant funding, according to information from InvestUP, and eight Ontonagon County businesses received a total of $52,250. InvestUP was the economic development organization responsible for administering the grants in the Upper Peninsula. “The Michigan Small Businesses Survival Grant Program p...
BESSEMER - Bessemer school officials were able to turn on the heat in the Washington Elementary School kitchen for the first time in months Wednesday as a repairs were made to the building's heating system. A crew of heating technicians spent four hours on Wednesday repairing the part of the system that controls the heat in the kitchen. According to head cook Brandy Babich, the kitchen has not been properly heated since the start of the school year. She said that the heat would come and go...
