Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 1229 - 1253 of 9873
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — With a projected $13,000 shortfall for 2022, the Iron County Transportation Coordinating Committee will seek additional funds from the county following a Wednesday meeting. The committee approved a $109,000 request from the County Elderly and Disabled Transportation Assistance Program (85.21 Grant). The items within the request include $55,000 for Highline Corporation, $4,000 for volunteer drivers and $50,000 for the county Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC). The $13,133 s...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — In the aftermath of a recent house fire that was attributed to prolonged use of a generator, the city of Bessemer is considering implementing an ordinance to regulate generator use. Councilor Bill McDonald suggested the city look into an ordinance to prevent temporary generators from being used as the primary electrical source for homes at the Oct. 4 city council meeting. “There’s other people who might use a generator for medical emergencies, but that doesn’t run constantly all the time,...
HURLEY — The Iron County Comprehensive Planning, Land and Zoning Committee discussed the topic of broken covenants on Tuesday. The topic arose when the committee delayed approval of a conditional use permit for the construction of a 2,560 square foot accessory building in an residential-recreation (RR-1) zoned district at Camp Nokomis Estates on Sand Lake Road in the town of Mercer. The committee acted 4-0 to wait for the Mercer town board recommendation for or against the permit. Committee members John Sendra and Brandon Snyder were not p...
HURLEY, Wis. - Workers with the Iron County Public Health Department provided influenza vaccines to community members at a drive-thru clinic at the Iron County Highway Department in Hurley on Wednesday. Public information officer Zona Wick said that the health department provides influenza vaccines to the community annually in the fall. The health department starts reaching out to the community as soon as the influenza vaccine becomes available, she said. The health department works with the...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer City Council is considering implementing a special assessment tax to cover police and fire services. If passed, the tax would allow the city to generate additional revenue by freeing up funding from the general fund. According to councilman Terry Kryshak, the city pays $100,000 to Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office and between $17,000 and $25,000 per year for the fire department. “This is something we didn’t know could be done, we haven’t done this in the past, but it got broug...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood Township Board held a special meeting at the Ironwood Township Office on Monday for a workshop for the 2022 proposed budget. Supervisor Jay Kangas said that according to the renewal form that the office received half an hour before the meeting, there will be an 11.64% increase in the rates for health insurance in 2022. Kangas said this was “quite a bit higher than I anticipated it was going to be.” Kangas said that the health insurance rate was without the township’s Health Re...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] Voters in the cities of Bessemer, Ironwood and Wakefield will choose their city councils and commissions, along with city and countywide ballot proposals in the Nov. 2 general election. The county’s township voters selected their respective town councils in the 2020 general election. However, there is the county ambulance millage renewal proposal to consider in this election. All county voters will have the ballot proposal with the heading “Emergency Medical Service Renewal/Restoration.” The propo...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] IRONWOOD - Singer and songwriter Kelly Jackson performed alongside her band at the Historic Ironwood Theatre on Saturday evening, but before she took the stage she sat down with members of the community at a meet and greet. The event was small, but Jackson took full advantage to tell her story and speak about what inspired her music. She explained that her music was drawn from her experiences and the experiences of others in her community. A tribal member...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HOUGHTON — The Western Upper Peninsula has seen its highest seven-day case count since the Western U.P. Health Department resumed its weekly updates on Aug. 26, according to a release from the health department on Thursday. There were 273 new COVID-19 cases across the five-county area between Oct. 6 and 13. This includes 38 new cases in Baraga, 86 new cases in Gogebic, 127 cases in Houghton, 10 new cases in Keweenaw and 12 in Ontonagon. The seven-day case count has been steadily increasing every w...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — The Iron County Board of Commissioners will consider joining other rural Wisconsin counties in taking out an approximately $8 million bond that would allow a privately-owned company to provide communication towers and fiber optic lines for rural broadband. Following a public hearing on Wednesday, the board scheduled the matter for the Oct. 26 meeting, where three-fourths of the 15-member board must support to approve the bond. The board 14-0 supported a tentative approval at the p...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] BESSEMER — The Ambulance Committee of the Gogebic County Board is currently seeking a firm to conduct a long-term feasibility study regarding rural service operations. Ambulance committee chair James Lorenson said at the meeting Wednesday that a long-term feasibility study would be conducted by a consulting group or the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region office. The committee has also studied rural ambulance feasibility studies of other Michigan and Wisconsin communities. A G...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - The city of Ironwood is providing reminders for visitors and residents to captures the moment with a selfie when visiting the historical sites and natural beauty of the area. The wooden stands with tips on the taking the best photo of yourself with the optimum background are now in place at the Iron Belle Trail segment in Depot Park with the historic depot as the recommended background subject. Another is in place at the downtown Art...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley City Council on Tuesday approved a water and sewer bond refinancing that is intended to save the city approximately $2.1 million from current bond rates through 2049. The city’s current four water and sewer bonds from 2008 and 2009 total $7.5 million with an interest rate of 4.25%. The new 2.42% interest rate was revealed at the meeting. Mark Deraney, a municipal bond advisor and vice president of AMKO Advisors in Fargo, North Dakota, was present with Harold Lance, an AMKO acc...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer Recreation Committee took a field trip across the street last week to the site of the city’s new Iron Belle trailhead, to be located behind city hall. City manager Charly Loper and council member Terry Kryshak spray painted outlines on the grass of where the pavilion and bike park would be located for the recreation committee to review. Loper said the plans had been shifted slightly to the right of city hall because of the steep incline of the hill behind the building. The siz...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission on Monday approved payments and bid requests regarding the city wells, building demolitions and new equipment for public works. The city commission approved the final $39,200 payment to Binz Bros. Well Drilling and Pumping Service of Hurley, for completion of the Well No. 203 Rehabilitation Project. The initial $37,000 bid was awarded in April to conduct the final of six well rehabilitation projects. The city commission approved an additional $2,200 change o...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD — After going unnoticed for nearly 20 years, a transformer will soon be installed in pump No. 2, one of the city’s three variable-frequency drives, at the main lift station in the City of Wakefield. City officials were made aware the transformer was not installed in the pump during work to upgrade the main lift station this summer, said Mayor Dale White at Monday’s city council meeting. He said the transformer was supposed to have been installed during the original construction of the lift st...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — An outbreak of COVID-19 within the Bessemer Area School district has forced the cancellation of multiple events, according to district superintendent Dan Niemi. The district was forced to cancel three football games and a scrimmage that were scheduled between Oct. 4 and Oct. 15. The junior high football game against Lake Linden-Hubbell scheduled for Oct. 5 was cancelled, along with today’s junior varsity football scrimmage against Mellen, Wisconsin. The varsity football games that were sch...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD - Students from Luther L. Wright High School in Ironwood celebrated homecoming on Friday with a parade through downtown Ironwood, a football game and a homecoming dance for grades nine through 12. The parade was led by the school marching band and included floats for the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes, as well as one with the homecoming court. The parade started near the Ironwood Public Safety Department and went through...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Apportionment Committee on Thursday approved the new population-based voting district map to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2022. The committee membersall favored the same mapping plan from four different options. The Michigan Bureau of Elections provided two options and two more were drawn up by Ramona Collins, county clerk and register of deeds, which included option one. The work was to adjust to the current county population of 14,380, which is a 2,400 overall d...
