Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 1376 - 1400 of 9883
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY - The Hurley Public Library summer kids program continued Wednesday at Riccelli Park with "Critters of the night," a presentation on the unique features of nocturnal animals. "Not everybody sleeps at night," said Licia Johnson, an education director and naturalist with the North Lakeland Discovery Center, who teaches the weekly summer science learning experience. "A lot of animals are active and they have a lot of cool adaptations to be able...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — The Iron County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday scheduled a public hearing for a broadband access project. The 4 p.m. Aug. 31 hearing is to discuss the proposed Rural Open Access Design to Digital Equality agreement with Bugtussel Wireless. The meeting will be at the Iron County Courthouse conference room or the county Memorial Building. The current service provides approximately 25 megabytes-per-second download, according to Mitchell Olson, director of network real estate for the Green B...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MARENISCO - Clean-up continues in Marenisco after Monday night weather events took the town literally by storm. Marenisco Township Supervisor Bruce Mahler said in a Wednesday morning phone call that the thunderstorm had not been classified as a tornado, but rather as "the beginnings" of one. That's the word from the National Weather Service in Marquette, whose representatives concluded that straight-line winds had moved through the "downtown" area of the...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — Sales tax revenues for July are the highest yet recorded, according to reports at the Iron County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday. In the county clerk’s report, Michael Saari said the county has recorded $60,820 in sales tax for the month of July. This is the highest sales tax collected ever in one month for the county, he said. The July sales tax for 2020 was $49,000, and in 2019 it was $48,800, he said. That is a $12,000 increase from each of the previous years, he said. The coun...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - The region is cleaning from a thunderstorm that rolled through Monday evening, leaving a string of fallen trees and power lines that left thousands without power, most temporarily and others for an entire day. There were 26,000 customers impacted in Gogebic County and Iron County, Wisconsin, according to Christine Ouellette, senior media relations representative for the Michigan and Wisconsin office of Xcel Energy Inc. Approximately...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD — Giddy moods prevailed on Monday evening as Wakefield City Manager Robert Brown Jr. reported to the City Council that two substantial sources of federal funding had been confirmed. According to Brown, $440,000 to fund the new Department of Public Works site has now been granted officially from the Rural Development Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, Brown said that the city is expected to receive $174,507 via the American Rescue Plan that went into effect on March 11 a...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - There were many lessons to learn by observing the process of basket weaving, from sourcing and processing of wood into materials and construction, but it was also a chance to witness the resurgence of a local art form that was nearly lost to history. April Stone of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, brought her talent for basket making and storytelling to Miners Memorial Heritage Park on Saturday as part of the Emberlight...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] Iron County residents will celebrate their heritage over the next two weeks with a variety of events, including the county fair. It all leads up to the annual Iron County Heritage Festival — a compilation of a dozen events across the county that will start this Friday and run through Aug. 15. The festival will kick off on Friday with the Hurley Quarterback Club Golf Tournament, on Friday at 11 a.m. The golf tournament is an annual fundraiser for the Hurley football team. The Iron County Historical M...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Gogebic-Iron County Airport Board will recommend a jet service carrier to become the next Essential Air Service (EAS) provider, following meetings with three applicant airlines on Thursday. The decision to choose Denver Air Connection over the two other applicants that provide propeller airplane service was partly to increase boardings and grow regional air service in the long term, according to member comments. The other was the...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Upper Peninsula Michigan Works! Office held its first job fair since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday in Ironwood’s Depot Park. The job fair offered job seekers a chance to see what type of employment is available locally. “We’ve got a good range of employers here,” said Steve Lehto, Jr., Michigan Works! business services specialist, who coordinated the event. “We’ve got healthcare jobs. We’ve got factory jobs. We’ve got all kinds of jobs.” There were 21 employers at the...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY - Bubbles are fun to make, but a group of kids attending a weekly Hurley Public Library summer program found that they enjoyed learning about molecules and the states of matter just as much on Wednesday at Riccelli Park. Licia Johnson, the education director and naturalist at the North Lakeland Discovery Center, came from Manitowish Waters to show kids that they can become scientists, or bubble-ologists in this case, she said. "They learned...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The city of Bessemer’s water and sewer project is running behind schedule as a result of “quite a few” storm sewer issues on Galena Street, according to Kelly Heidbrier, an engineer with C2AE. “Overall, we are running a couple weeks behind from the original schedule,” Heidbrier told the city council during its regular meeting on Monday. “We’re constantly having to repair problems over there and it’s becoming costly.” He cited a “Bessemer special” structure that they had just come across. T...
By Zachary Marano [email protected] IRONWOOD — Since the Western U.P. Health Department’s last update on July 1, there has been a surge in COVID-19 cases in Gogebic County. In the 19-day period between July 2-20, 33 people in the county tested positive for the coronavirus. “Testing is encouraged for anyone who is having symptoms or has been in contact with a known case. Contact your local healthcare provider or pharmacy for testing information,” a release from the WUPHD said. There were two new cases in Houghton County and two new cas...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - The Bessemer City Council approved the paving of eight "maintained" alleys on Monday during its regular meeting. "The project contract was bid out for 12 inches of gravel going down each alleyway," said Kelly Heidbrier, an engineer with C2AE. "In the process of working out these last change orders it dawned on me that by reducing that thickness it actually offset a fairly significant cost of asphalt. ... It wasn't a perfect match, but it is...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY - The Hurley Education Foundation presented its annual report to the Public School Board on Monday, with plenty of thanks in a celebration of giving and some details on upcoming events. Gary Pelkola, HEF president, said the HEF worked to collect slightly more than $140,000 in donations during 2020 and 2021, he said. He then presented the $125,000 that was pledged to the school for the new science lab that is currently being constructed with a...
By Zachary Marano [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood Area Schools Board of education met Monday at Luther L. Wright High School to prepare for the start of the next school year. “It’s summer, at the same time a calm and very, very busy time for shifting gears from last school year to next school year. If you walk into school, you’ll see the various degrees of refreshing that happens as we bring the furniture in, polish floors in certain rooms and we touch up paint and various things,” Superintendent Travis Powell said in his re...
By P.J. GLISSON and TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - After a long weekend that was jam-packed with a wide range of activities, Festival Ironwood came to a close and was declared a resounding triumph. "It was a huge success," said Keith Johnson on Monday, while Will Corcoran added, "We had actually record crowds." The two men co-chaired the event, which was blessed by great weather, as well as an abundance of local citizens delighted to be out and about after prolonged...
By Zachary Marano [email protected] MERCER, Wis. — The town of Mercer Board of Supervisors met on Thursday to discuss a piece of property that is being operated as a tourist rooming house without a permit and the enforcement of the town fireworks ordinance over the Fourth of July weekend. The board continued their discussion from their previous regular meeting on July 1 regarding a home on North Falcon Road that is allegedly being rented by its owners without a proper permit. At the meeting two weeks prior, the board agreed to send a...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - Festival Ironwood kicked off at Depot Park on Thursday with a tribute to one of its founding members, A. Chris Bergquist, who died last year from COVID-19. After the presentation of colors by the American Legion Post 5, and the singing of the national anthem, festival chairs Keith Johnson and Will Corcoran presented Bergquist's widow, Sonia, with a plaque in honor of her husband's service to the festival. "With Great appreciation, we honor...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — A grand opening for the Pat O’Donnell Civic Center is within sight now that the city has received a temporary occupancy permit to assume control of the facility. The city of Ironwood has received a temporary occupancy permit for the civic center recently, according to city manager Scott Erickson. The contractors, subcontractors and even civic center board members and volunteers have completed a final list of 240 work items that were required before occupancy could be transferred, acc...
By Zachary Marano [email protected] IRONWOOD - Festival Ironwood's weekend events will start with the Walk, Run and Roll on Saturday morning. Activities will include a two-mile walk/run and five-mile run through the city and surrounding area. "The race couldn't be done with volunteers. So many people stepped up this year," Kathy Saari said. Saari will lead the Walk, Run and Roll for the first time this year. The Walk, Run and Roll was canceled last year because of COVID-19. The two-...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Gogebic-Iron County Airport Board will hold two special meetings to interview three Essential Air Service applicants on July 22, according to a Wednesday news announcement. The two special meetings will be held at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Thursday, July 22 at the Gogebic-Iron County Airport airline terminal. The 9 a.m. meeting will be for officials from Denver Air Connection to provide their EAS proposal presentation. The meeting was previously announced for 10 a.m. but has been changed. T...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — The city of Hurley took another step toward refinancing water and sewer bonds with a resolution to seek bids for an opportunity to save millions of dollars over the existing bond rates. The Hurley City Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing the issuance and establishing parameters for the sale of water and sewer system revenue refunding bonds. The action will allow AMKO Advisors LLC, a Fargo-based registered municipal advisor, to solicit bids in an effort to f...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - A renovated downtown war memorial will be dedicated this afternoon by members of the American Legion Post 5. A veterans honor guard will open Festival Ironwood with a flag ceremony at 4 p.m. today at Depot Park. The honor guard will then hold a separate flag raising ceremony at the nearby veterans memorial on the northwest corner of Suffolk and Ayer streets at 4:30 p.m. The ceremony is to mark the completion of the work to remove tall...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission did not act on the city planning commission recommendation to increase the number of available marijuana retail establishment licenses on Monday, with members adding the matter could be revisited after a year or longer. With the likelihood that the businesses that were tenatively approved for city licenses, pending state of Michigan approval, will not start operating in less than six months, the commission hesitated to establish a date to review the q...
