Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 1337 - 1361 of 9873
WAKEFIELD - Unless advisories from health officials change, masks are a must on buses but only encouraged on school property for students in the Wakefield-Marenisco K-12 School. The 5-2 vote by the district's Board of Education on Monday evening was for a motion that states, specifically, that masks on school property will be "highly recommended, but not required" regardless of vaccination status, with the action contingent on continuing advisories from regional, state and national health...
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...
HURLEY — The Hurley School Board modified its back-to-school policy concerning coronavirus contact quarantines on Monday, but will continue optional rather than mandated face coverings to start the fall semester. The school board 5-0 approved adopting the current recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding close contact with persons exposed to COVID-19 positive persons. Going forward, the policy requires vaccinated individuals to be monitored for symptoms and tested in three to five days after exposure, a...
HURLEY - A 74-year-old Marquette area woman was injured Monday following a crash with a pickup truck in Hurley. The crash occurred at approximately 3:21 p.m., when a pickup truck driving west on U.S. 2 attempted to make a left turn onto U.S. 51, according to information from Iron County Sheriff Paul Samardich. The temporary intersection is part of a detour around the construction of a roundabout to be completed this fall. A sheriff's office deputy who was stopped on U.S. 51 while waiting to...
IRONWOOD - Great weather and solid crowds graced the 100th anniversary of the Gogebic County Fair in the final two days of its Thursday-to-Sunday run. The public clearly welcomed the return of the event at the Ironwood fairgrounds after the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in last year's cancellation. "We had beautiful weather. We had good crowds," said James Lorenson, fair board chairman, on Monday. "Overall, we were pleased." Lorenson said that some people wore optional masks and engaged in social...
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...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Hundreds of exposition entries were in place to take part in the centennial Gogebic County Fair through Sunday. The dozens of exposition categories categories in adult and youth classes allowed for friendly competition in traditional areas of food preservation, floriculture and plants, horticulture and culinary arts. There was quilting, needlework, knitting and crocheting, weaving, embroidery and creative areas of fine arts, photography...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer Pumpkinfest is once again canceled for this year, the committee announced Wednesday night. The festival which celebrates fall in the Upper Peninsula was originally scheduled for Sept. 24 -25, but according to Donna Frello, who chairs the committee, multiple variables such as construction and the ongoing pandemic forced their decision to cancel. Frello said the festival only lasts a day and a half, so if an event were to get curtailed because of “mud in the road” or “rest...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - God was in the forefront on Wednesday night as hundreds of residents were drawn to the LifeLight UP City Fest for an evening of praise and worship. Festival coordinator Jill Seppala said they were thrilled to be able to hold their event at the new Ironwood Downtown City Square. The goal is to be as evangelistic as possible in places where they can draw people out who may not be spending time in church and present the Gospel to them. "We...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission on Monday approved demolitions and scheduled public hearings to address inaction on other dilapidated properties. The commission authorized advertisements to bid for the demolition of a residential dwelling at 400 E. Tamarack St. The structure is already under public ownership and the city has access to the property, according to Scott Erickson, city manager. “It’s in disrepair with holes in the roof and needs to be demolished,” Erickson said. The commiss...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - The centennial Gogebic County Fair opens today and runs through Sunday in Ironwood. K&M Amusement will provide the midway rides and carnival throughout all four days of the fair. The rides are included with a paid gate admission. There will also be horse drawn wagon rides throughout the fair. Harness racing continues to be a fair tradition with trotters and pacers circling the half-mile track in events starting at 1 p.m. Friday and 11...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — The subject of blight was a priority for members of the Wakefield Planning Commission at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening. That’s in part because City Manager Robert Brown, Jr. and other city workers, as well as a contractor with a semitrailer, had worked all day to clear a Plymouth site that had haunted the city extendedly. “This has been going on about 14 years,” said Brown, who noted that he had just received, in the past month, a court order to address the quarter...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Downtown Art Place offered a nature painting class on Tuesday. The class was held outdoors at the DAP Art Park, which is the green space across the street from the Downtown Art Place between Mattson's TV & Appliance Inc. and the former bookstore on East Aurora Street. Class participants used acrylic paint to create compositions with abstract backgrounds and then added botanical elements that overlayed on top of the background, such as...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — As part of a continuing discussion of how to extend the Iron Belle Trail from Ramsay to Wakefield, the Wakefield City Council heard public input this week from a local landowner who concedes that his property is “the cheapest route” now under consideration. Harry Butler, who said he owns one-half mile of shoreline on Plymouth Lake, has met with city officials in prior, private sessions, but addressed the council as a whole during its regular bi-monthly meeting. Butler told the council that he...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Downtown Ironwood First Friday of August event was held in the city on Friday. Crowds gathered in the Downtown City Square to listen to live music by the Superior Horns and Blue Ice, a local band featuring more than 10 musicians. Tim Erickson, community development assistant for the city of Ironwood, said that this month's First Friday event was part of their concert music series. There will be more concerts at the First Friday events...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — The Gogebic-Iron County Airport on Monday approved long-term planning for a combination of facilities in the area of the main terminal for efficiency and to accommodate growth. The board 4-0 approved adding the project to the airport layout plan as prepared by the airport’s engineering firm, Mead & Hunt. Airport board member Dan Siirila was not present. The plan includes multiple versions of a general aviation joint use facility that would relocate buildings to consolidate com...
By Zachary Marano [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Delta variant of the coronavirus has been identified in Gogebic County, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Bureau of Laboratories. A COVID-19 update from Thursday said there were two confirmed cases of the Delta variant in the county. “When a variant is identified or suspected, additional measures take place, such as a strict 14-day quarantine,” said Kate Beer, health officer for the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department. “A new variant in our commu...
By TOM LAVENTURE IRONWOOD - A recently completed "connector trail" now links the Iron Belle Trail with the Miners Memorial Heritage Park trail system. The connector trail starts with a parking lot and kiosk on a segment of Iron Belle Trail just off of U.S. 2 at Rosella Street, and adjacent to the AmericInn Ironwood hotel. The paved walking and bicycle trail joins the Iron Belle for a short distance before heading southwest for about one-half mile until emerging at East Ayer Street across from...
IRONWOOD - A first look at the new Pat O'Donnell Civic Center was too good to pass up during a soft opening on Wednesday. "We had a very nice, steady stream of people all afternoon and were encouraged by the turnout," said Michelle Rigoni-Sivula, civic center manager. As a former hockey parent who is accustomed to cold arenas, Jim Pawlak, of Ironwood, said the heaters above the spectator area are a nice touch. "That is going to help us out tremendously," Pawlak said. The "newness" of the...
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...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - The community is invited to get a glimpse of the newly rebuilt Pat O'Donnell Civic Center from noon to 7 p.m. today. There are still some minor items to complete before the facility can be used for ice skating this fall, but it's ready for a tour, and people are invited to bring their roller blades or standard roller skates to try out the rink floor, according to Michelle Rigoni-Sivula, civic center manager. Skaters will need to bring...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The city of Bessemer was awarded a $459,000 grant to put together an asset management plan for its water system. “This is exciting,” said city manager Charly Loper during the council meeting on Monday. “If you remember, we got the funding to do it for the sewer side, so this is for the water side.” The grant monies are funded by the Drinking Water Asset Management grant program through the Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy. The program invests in infrastru...
