Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
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IRONWOOD - A couple inches of snow on Thursday night added sparkle to Friday's Jack Festival Parade in downtown Ironwood. The patriotic theme of the parade brought out vibrant reds, whites and blues for a celebration of the upcoming winter. On a mild evening, with temperatures in the 30s, a total of 37 parade entries passed by the judges at the River Valley Bank and hundreds of spectators along Aurora Street. The Cub Scouts' float was selected as the top entry, followed by the Klassic Kruisers...
HURLEY — A Friday canvass of the Iron County, Wis., election turned up five fewer votes for District Attorney winner Matt Tingstad, but he’s still in line to take office on Jan. 1. The canvass vote count at the courthouse was 1,704 for Tingstad, of Bessemer, to 1,696 for Tony Stella, of Kimball. The canvass board does not count every vote, but compares the call-in totals the county clerk receives to the sheets recorded by each municipality. In one precinct, the town of Anderson, five extra votes had been recorded for Tingstad. According to depu...
BESSEMER — The Gogebic Range Trail Authority is seeking new members to assist with trail work and to fill in as snowmobile trail groomers, according to the president of the organization. Steve Hamilton, of Wakefield, said Friday the club is no longer doing business as the Western Upper Peninsula Snowshakers and has returned to the GRTA name that had been used for the previous 40 years. In a news release, Hamilton said the club will meet Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Black River Lodge in Ironwood Township and people interesting in keeping the snowmob...
SUPERIOR, Wis. — The Wisconsin Department of Natural issued a permit for wetland and waterway crossings required for Enbridge to replace a 14-mile segment of pipeline, called Line 3, in Douglas County. Line 3 extends from Alberta, Canada, through North Dakota and Minnesota to Superior. The project in Wisconsin involves replacing the 1960s vintage 34-inch pipe with a new 36-inch diameter pipeline that could carry up to 760,000 barrels per day. The pipeline would cross about 14 miles of land, mostly following the old pipeline route in the town o...
IRONWOOD - Mayor Annette Burchell on Tuesday thanked the voters of the city of Ironwood for approving the millage that led to streets throughout the city being resurfaced. Although the mayor was speaking at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Norrie Park, she said the Tuesday noon ceremony stood for all of the street work that had been completed in the city in the past few years. Norrie Park Road, along the Montreal River, was long the most pothole-felled roadway in Ironwood and city commissioner Jim M...
BESSEMER — Bids will be received by the end of next week for some of the numerous projects necessary to repair the Little Girl’s Point area following the July 11-12 storm. Gogebic County Road Commission Manager-Engineer Darren Pionk spoke to the county board of commissioners on Wednesday about the bid process and excessive work that lies ahead. Weather permitting, Pionk said work should begin this fall. County board chair Joe Bonovetz, of Bessemer, suggested an invitation bid only process, if possible, to get the projects under way. That wou...
IRONWOOD - The Ironwood Public Safety Department responded to a 1:40 p.m. Tuesday afternoon fire in a house that followed a domestic disturbance. IPSD Director Andrew DiGiorgio, at the scene around 2 p.m., said the fire at 246 W. Ash St. was intentionally set and criminal charges were pending. He said a man had barricaded himself inside the house after a domestic dispute with a woman. IPSD officers were then able to gain entry to the residence and remove the suspect. At that point, DiGiorgio...
BESSEMER — A special meeting of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners has been set for Tuesday around 5 p.m. The board will meet at the courthouse after a 4:30 p.m. personnel and negotiations committee meeting. On the agenda for the special session are approval of a data processing services contract and a discussion with Darren Pionk, Gogebic County Road Commission Engineer-Manager, about county-owned property near Oman’s Creek. Last Wednesday, the county board discussed the closing of a spring at Little Girl’s Point where the water tested...
HURLEY — A 52-year-old Hurley woman who worked for the Iron County Department of Human Services has been charged with five counts of theft from a business setting. A criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Iron County Court against Mary Peterson Tijan, of 112 Germania St., charges that unauthorized checks, expense requests and charges from her against the DHS total $185,388. The complaint was authorized by acting Iron County District Attorney Fritz Schellgell. Hurley Police Chief Chris Colassaco, who was first notified of the alleged financial i...
LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder said Friday Gogebic County did not meet the required $13.9 million statewide damages threshold in the July 11-12 storm to be eligible for a federal disaster declaration. Snyder said he continues to explore options to help Gogebic County communities recover and rebuild after the storms and flash flooding. He said funding from the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief Program could soon be on its way to help repair roads in Gogebic County damaged by the severe storms. The affected areas include wash-outs on...
IRONWOOD — A 12:04 a.m. Thursday structure fire at 140 W. Gogebic St. started in a marijuana grow room. Ironwood Public Safety Department Fire Officer Brandon Snyder said the fire was electrical in nature. “Upon arrival, the upstairs was full of smoke and the fire was located inside a wall,” said IPSD Director Andrew DiGiorgio. The fire was confined to a single room and the attic space above it. Annieta Grosso was inside the house removing belongings to the porch when an IPSD officer arrived. She was able to safely exit the house. The fire...
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday sent a letter to President Barack Obama requesting a federal disaster declaration for nine northern Wisconsin counties affected by July 11-12 torrential rains and flash floods. In the letter, Walker said the storm caused more than $25 million in damage to roads and public infrastructure. The request is for federal assistance to help local governments recover from the disaster. The Bad River Indian reservation is also included in the request. “Three weeks ago, flash floods devastated Saxon Harbor in Iron Cou...
IRONWOOD - An early Tuesday morning fire that severely damaged a house at 324 E. Oak St, in Norrie Location sent the homeowner to the hospital. The Ironwood Public Safety Department reported Cheryl Graykowski, 55, was transported by Beacon Ambulance to Aspirus Grand View Hospital following the initial 3:15 a.m. report of the fire. She was treated and released. The IPSD received a 6:15 a.m. report of "suspicious activity" three hours after the fire. An officer found that Graykowski and members of...
Since the July 11 storm ravaged the Gogebic Range and beyond, the debate has raged. Was it a 25-year storm, 50-year event or perhaps a 100-year occurrence? Last week, Linda Hansen,, of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Water Resources Division, offered an answer. “Per our DEQ Hydrologic Studies Unit, these intensities and durations meet or exceed a 1,000-year storm event,” she said. “The Gogebic County Airport reported 9 inches of rain in six hours, while weather observers near Lake Superior recorded up to 11 inches of rain in...
A severe storm that slashed through northern Wisconsin and the western Upper Peninsula Thursday morning knocked down countless trees and power lines. Scattered power outages were reported across the Gogebic Range after the early morning storm produced some 60 mph winds and heavy lightning. The sudden storm around 4:30 a.m. dumped a half inch of rain on Ironwood at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant off Cloverland Drive, according to the National Weather Service office in Marquette. The...
HURLEY - An Aug. 18 arraignment has been scheduled for a Saxon, Wis., man who faces murder and arson charges. Donald Rick, 44, appeared in Iron County Court Thursday afternoon before Judge Patrick Madden and waived his right to a preliminary examination. Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Richard Dufour, who is prosecuting the case, said he would have liked to proceed with the arraignment on Thursday, but defense attorney Courtney Latzig said she would prefer a later date, suggesting Aug. 18....
HURLEY — The Hurley School Board will likely look at a possible $200,000 tax levy increase in the fall, according to district administrator Chris Patritto. Patritto told school board members Monday that as it stands now, the district would lose about $100,000 in state aid for the 2016-’17 school year. The figures are preliminary and the board won’t act on adopting the 2017 tax levy until the annual meeting in the fall. In other business Monday, board members learned radio station WUPM-WHRY in Ironwood will broadcast all Hurley home and away spe...
BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners would like Gov. Rick Snyder to follow Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s lead and view damage caused by Monday’s violent thunderstorm and tornado. County board members unanimously agreed Wednesday to send a letter to Snyder, inviting him to tour the damage, including the devastated Little Girl’s Point area and the damage in Wakefield. “It’s all the same storm,” Gogebic County Road Commission Engineer Darren Pionk told the county board, referring to the damage in neighboring Iron County, Wis....
A violent lightning storm Monday evening caused flooding that washed out Iron County roadways, downed trees and severely damaged Saxon Harbor, where a man was found dead in his vehicle. Former mayor of the city of Montreal and county board member Mitchell Koski, 56, was pronounced dead at the harbor, according to Iron County Sheriff Tony Furyk. Koski and his wife, Kathy, were caretakers at the county park. The vehicle had been swept into swollen Oronto Creek near the harbor campgrounds and the b...
MERCER, Wis. — The Mercer Area Chamber of Commerce has received a $6,000 grant from the state for its Sept. 2-4 Can-Yak Fishing Tournament and Festival. The Joint Effort Marketing tourism grant will be presented Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. to the chamber on the lake behind the Great Northern Hotel on U.S. 51. The event is designed to combine canoes, kayaks and fishing, highlighting the hundreds of opportunities anglers have in Mercer area lakes and flowages. The tournament begins with a rules briefing for fishermen at 6 p.m. that Friday. A free f...
IRONWOOD - Wages in the western Upper Peninsula are higher than the eastern U.P., but both regions lag substantially behind the state average. That was one of many labor analyses presented Thursday at Gogebic Community College to about 25 people. Leonidas Murembya, a regional research coordinator, and Eric Guthrie, a state demographer, spoke at the two-hour session. They are from Michigan's Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiative. Murembya said the average wage of $18.14 in...
IRONWOOD — Monsoon season produced another weather record for Ironwood as recorded Wednesday at the National Weather Service site off Cloverland Drive. The employees at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant measured 1.94 inches of rain for the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. Prior to the intense lightning storm, the NWS had issued flash flood warnings for the area. It rained so hard that at 4:30 a.m. the treatment plant began discharging wastewater into the Montreal River that didn’t receive full advanced treatment. That usually only occurs int...
HURLEY — A $250,000 grant to help bring a grocery store to Hurley will be announced at a Friday ceremony. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will join Hurley Mayor Joseph Pinardi and community and business leaders at the 10:30 a.m. ceremony at the former Super One site, off Tenth Avenue. State officials will also be on hand. “It’s been a long time coming,” Pinardi told the city council Tuesday, referring to the two-year struggle to get a grocery store to locate in the city. Great Lakes Foods bought the former grocery store buildin...
HURLEY - Bond was set at $1 million cash Monday afternoon for a Saxon, Wis., man who faces murder and arson charges. Donald F. Rick, 44, appeared with public defender Courtney Latzig on charges that relate to the March 12 fire that destroyed the Bear Trap Inn in Saxon, resulting in the death of Lisa Waldros. Judge Patrick Madden set the bond, as recommended by Richard Dufour, the assistant Attorney General who is prosecuting the case. Rick and his attorney waived the right for a speedy...
IRONWOOD — Plans to open a brewery in downtown Ironwood advanced Monday when the city commission voted to support an application to the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. The Ironwood Brewery Company’s state application advanced on a 3-0 vote, with Jim Mildren absent and Mayor Annette Burchell abstaining because her husband is involved in the venture. Former Mayor Bob Burchell said a group of investors purchased the former Gogebic County Senior Center building across from the post office. He briefly summarized the brewery proposal, saying a ...
