Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
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By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HANCOCK — When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their way of monitoring COVID-19 community levels on Feb. 25 to be determined by the number of new COVID-19 admissions and staffed inpatient beds, the five counties in the western Upper Peninsula went from a high risk of transmission to low community levels. Because of these changes, the western U.P. was suddenly considered low risk for COVID-19 by the CDC for the first time in months. This may have been short lived, however, as a...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - Sixteen teams from 11 regional school districts participated in the annual Spring High School Quiz Bowl at Gogebic Community College on Thursday. Hurley, Ironwood, Bessemer, and Wakefield-Marenisco each sent two teams to the tournament. Calumet, Chassell, Hancock, Houghton, West Iron County and Phillips, Wisconsin, were also represented. The teams faced off against each other through the morning on all sorts of questions. Subjects included...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Ambulance Committee and Board of Commissioners met at the courthouse on Wednesday. Jim Lorenson, chair of the ambulance committee, reported that the contracts with the Beacon and Aspirus MedEvac services have been signed by all parties and are in place. He reminded the committee that the Aspirus MedEvac contract includes a payment to license staff and rigs at the Eagle River hospital, so Watersmeet Township will be served from the south and east. Lorenson said that an a...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - Eleven high school students in Gogebic and Ontonagon counties will participate in the Michigan College Access Program Personnel Student Leadership Summit at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor this week, as part of the TRIO pre-college programs. This includes six students from Bessemer, one from Wakefield-Marenisco, one from Ewen-Trout Creek and three from Ontonagon. In total, the Keweenaw TRIO Upward Bound and TRIO Talent Search...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] MONTREAL, Wis. — Mayor Kelly Traczyk announced that the city of Montreal’s application for the Neighborhood Investment Fund grant was not approved at the common council’s regular meeting on Tuesday, but they are still waiting to hear back on two other grants they applied for. The common council hoped to use the Neighborhood Investment Fund to open a new park named Riverside Park on 22 acres of city property that would connect with regional trails and was modeled on Ironwood’s Downtown City Square. Tr...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Awkward Stage Drama Club will return to the stage, after a prolonged intermission during the pandemic, for three performances of “Cafe Murder,” at the Golden Dragon in Ironwood on March 22-24. The youth theater group is a collaborative effort of the Ironwood Carnegie Library and the Historic Ironwood Theater. The troupe is comprised of 11 high school student actors from the Hurley, Ironwood, Bessemer, and Wakefield-Marenisco school districts, as well as some home-school students. Some...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group may soon become a permanent fixture within the city of Ironwood’s government structure, according to group member Gerry Gripper. “In my opinion, (the ordinance) elevates the concept of human relations, equity, inclusion, diversity. It elevates it to a municipal concern that has an ongoing presence, rather than a bunch of us rag-tag citizens running around trying to change the world,” Gripper told the Daily Globe. “Just the notion of it bei...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD - In honor of Youth Art Month, the Downtown Art Place in Ironwood is sponsoring an exhibit in the concourse of the neighboring Historic Ironwood Theatre featuring artwork by area students. "The YAM exhibition is a good opportunity for children to display their art in a gallery setting," said Polly Barbacovi, a DAP artist. The artwork can be viewed during gallery hours, which are from noon-4 p.m. on Tuesdays through Sundays. The exhibition...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] The western Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin received heavy precipitation this past weekend, resulting in many thick layers of ice. Barry Bolich, manager of the Gogebic County Road Commission, said this was the worst ice that the county’s roads have seen in several years. “As the weather dictated, we called guys on early Saturday morning and immediately applied salt and/or sand where necessary and came back and scraped and plowed again,” Bolich said. Bolich said that road crews applied sand...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - Gogebic Community College staff and their families took over Mt. Zion on Friday evening as part of the college's Staff Appreciation Day. Staff were treated to free lift tickets and ski rentals and the tubing hill was reserved for staff members and their families. The college also invited students to be honored and be part of the festivities. "It was great to see students, faculty and staff enjoying the amenities of Mt. Zion," said GCC...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - The city of Bessemer will be applying for a Michigan Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund grant to help pay for a new Iron Belle Trailhead behind City Hall. The city council approved a resolution Monday night to permit city manager Charly Loper to apply for the grant. The trailhead project is expected to cost $336,533. In just under a year, the city was able to raise the 26.3% required match of $88,433. The matching funds include...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — Hurley Chief of Police Chris Colassaco asked the city’s Police, Fire and License Committee on Wednesday for approval to bring plans for another spring cleanup to the finance committee at their next meeting on Monday. Colassaco said he wanted to do another spring cleanup because it he thinks it will make the city better in the long run. “I think it gives us the opportunity to give people a chance to get rid of some stuff that they don’t want and we want them to keep their yards nice and clean...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Gogebic Community College Board of Trustees hired two vice presidents at a special meeting Thursday morning, filling positions in its upper level administration. Both are expected to begin their duties in May. Chad Lashua, of Tomahawk, Wisconsin, was hired as the new vice president of business services. He is the director of business services at Nicolet Area Technical College in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where he has held various business-related roles since 2010. He has an additional 10 y...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] MERCER, Wis. - The North Lakeland Discovery Center in Manitowish Waters brought its Knowledge at Noon program series to the Mercer Library on Wednesday, for a presentation on dragonflies. The annual series covers a variety of topics on the first Wednesday of each month from December through May with a presentation at a different location in the discovery center's region. This presentation discussed how dragonflies function, their importance, and how...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD - After nearly two months without a library director, the Wakefield Library has hired two part-time librarians. Carly Rusch, of Ironwood, will be the new part-time library director. The board approved her hire during its monthly meeting on Tuesday night, for 20 hours a week at $18.50 per hour. "She came across as amazing," said library board president Loraine Mussatti. Barb Suomi, a library volunteer, said Rusch had a great awareness and that...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] LONGUEUIL, Quebec — According to a Monday report, the Canadian copper development company Highland Copper Company Inc. has initiated an updated feasibility study on its 100%-owned Copperwood Project in Gogebic County and, depending in part on the results of the study, may initiate construction activities at the project later this year. “The transformation of Highland Copper is well underway,” said Denis Miville-Deschênes, president and CEO of the company. “With a new board and a clean balance sheet,...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] The Ironwood City Commission adopted “slightly increased” campground rates for Curry Park at its regular meeting on Monday. City Manager Scott Erickson said that these increased rates will help mitigate the costs of some of the city’s new projects in the park, including the adoption a new system that will allow people to register a spot at the campground online before their visit. The city manager said that Curry Park campground spots have been open to people on a first come, first served basis...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - Gogebic Community College, in collaboration with the Ironwood Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group, celebrated Black History Month with a powerful and passionate performance by Frederick Douglass impersonator Steve Cole on Monday, that left at least one student in tears. Douglass was a former slave that escaped slavery and later bought his freedom for $712. He is remembered as a prominent abolitionist and journalist. Cole recited a Douglass...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] SAXON, Wis. - Terra-X - a new kind of snowmobile racing created by the Mid America Snowmobile Tournament of Expert Riders - took over the Iron County Fairgrounds on Saturday. The event was brought to Saxon by the Hurley Area Chamber of Commerce, White Thunder Riders, and the Iron County Fair Board. "This is only the second time that it was ever done. It went very good. Everybody from the drivers to the parents was very happy and they're all hoping we do...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] MONTREAL, Wis. — Numerous colorful ice lights and giant bonfires illuminated the Montreal Ski Trails on Saturday night as hundreds of people snowshoed the trail during the fourth annual Hygge Hike. The event is a fundraiser for the Northern Iron County Engaged Residents and the Penokee Rangers. Kari Klemme, of NICER, said that 379 people came out for this years event. That nearly doubles last year’s number, she said. “It was awesome,” said Klemme. She said that the funds will be split between the two...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HANCOCK — For the first time this year, the seven-day COVID-19 case count in the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department’s weekly update fell below 100, with less than 100 new cases in Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties from Feb. 26 to Wednesday. There were 13 new COVID-19 cases in Baraga County, 18 new cases in Gogebic, 40 new cases in Houghton, four new cases in Keweenaw and eight new cases in Ontonagon, for a total of 83 new cases in the western U.P. The update says tha...
IRONWOOD - The Ironwood Public Safety Department was called to the scene of a two-vehicle crash involving a school bus and a pickup truck on Thursday afternoon on U.S. 2 just east of Easy Street in the city. The school bus, operated by Schilleman Bus Service of Eagle River, Wisconsin, was transporting children for the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District at 2:30 p.m. when it collided with a pickup truck. Four people were transported to Aspirus Ironwood Hospital for minor injuries and...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - For the first time in nearly two years students and staff at Washington Elementary School are free to be in the classroom and move about the building without a face covering. The Bessemer school board unanimously voted to terminate the face-mask mandate at the elementary school during its meeting on Wednesday. Superintendent Dan Niemi said he discussed the issue with elementary principal Mark Switzer, and other staff members and they all felt...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] BESSEMER — Jerry Wuorenmaa, the executive director of the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region office, appeared before the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners at their regular meeting on Wednesday to provide an overview of a grant opportunity from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. The grant was regarding collaboration between counties for materials management. Wuorenmaa called this “a newer way of looking at solid waste management and pla...
