Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 1177 - 1201 of 9679
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...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD - Drivers on U.S. 2 and M-28 in Wakefield will find delays as flaggers work to juggle opposing traffic onto one available lane on each road. "We're trying real hard to keep everybody safe," said Mike Fercello, a laborer and flagger with Veteran-Co of Minneapolis. "So we have to make people wait. That's just the way it is." He said that an intersection such as that of U.S. 2 and M-28 is especially difficult to manage as one person has to stand...
By Zachary Marano [email protected] IRONWOOD - Longtime opera fans and new listeners alike gathered in Miners Memorial Heritage Park on Saturday to hear a selection of recordings curated by tenor Miles Mykkanen. Mykkanen, who is also artistic director of the Emberlight Festival, provided commentary and context on 18th- and 19th-century compositions by Mozart and Beethoven. During the event, Mykkanen announced his plans to "make Ironwood a little hub for opera, and it starts today."...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — Three passenger airline companies will present their bids to be the next Essential Air Service carrier for the Gogebic-Iron County Airport later this month. The Gogebic-Iron County Airport Board scheduled a special meeting for July 22 to hear proposals from Denver Air, Southern Airways Corporation, and AirChoice One. The meetings will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the airport terminal building to accommodate arrivals and opportunities to view aircraft that may be part of t...
MARENISCO TOWNSHIP - Members of the Marenisco Township Volunteer Fire Department received several layers of MedEvac training in recent weeks, thanks to flight staff who work in the local region. The most exciting component of the training occurred on July 2 when a MedEvac crew landed a helicopter on the old athletic field next to the former Marenisco K-12 School in Marenisco. Pilot Mike Gross told the Globe that the crew members - which included flight nurses Kevin Mittelsteadt and Scott Pupp -...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - Members of the Wakefield Volunteer Fire Department worked on Wednesday evening to burn what remained of a city house that already had sustained a winter fire. "It was a total loss to begin with," said Fire Chief Mike Singleton of what had been a one-story house at 108 Ahola Ave., directly north of U.S. 2. He added that the cause of the original fire was believed to be electrical. Although two persons had been living in the home before it...
