Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 1641 - 1665 of 9873
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — Four students at Washington Elementary have been placed on quarantine after a classmate tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. “They are in a cohort group so the kids that were sitting next to the (infected) student, we’re having them just go virtual,” said Dan Niemi, superintendent of the Bessemer Area School District. Niemi said that contact tracing was done and, upon the recommendation of the health department, those four students will be out of the building until March 8. “This has beco...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday acted to draft a letter expressing concerns about how COVID-19 rules and regulations are established for border counties. The board 7-0 approved a letter to be drafted by board chair James Lorenson, to be submitted to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The concerns of Gogebic County to be expressed are how the pandemic rules do not consider the unique nature of the western-most point of the Upper Peninsula with shared borders to Iron a...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] MERCER, Wis. — A member of the Mercer School Board has resigned for personal reasons, according to a letter presented to the board at Monday’s school board meeting. The school board 4-0 approved the resignation announcement of board member Jeff Nehring. Nehring, who was not present, is a recently retired dentist, who was reelected to a three year term on the school board in the April 7, 2020, election following an earlier appointment to the board. In a letter from Nehring to School Board President...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — Members of the Wakefield City Council voted Monday evening to approve the start of an engineering study in relation to a pending sewer upgrade at the Eddy Park Campground on Sunday Lake. The Escanaba office of C2AE will conduct the study, for which its project engineer, Darren Pionk, presented a $7,000 estimate. City Manager Robert Brown, Jr. said that costs of materials are not yet factored in, and he added that the city also will contribute in-house labor expense. He added that the grand t...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY — There may be a local referendum issue on the ballot next year after the Iron County Board of Supervisors discussed sending a proposal raising the county’s levy limit to voters Tuesday. Based on the discussion Tuesday, any ballot measure would likely be for the April 2022 election. Iron County Clerk Mike Saari said the measure would save money in the long run as the county takes out loans to cover needed expenses because those can be added above the levy cap and passed onto taxpayers. The...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] MERCER — The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has officially closed the Fund 80 oversight case against the Mercer School District, according to reports at Monday’s school board meeting. A letter to the Mercer School District from Daniel Bush, director of School Financial Services for the DPI, stated that documentation was submitted on time for both years and the SFS team review is now complete. The review was a requirement of the May 8, 2019 settlement agreement with the DPI, con...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer Area School District is in the beginning stages of re-forming a friends and alumni foundation. Superintendent Dan Niemi updated the board of education on the progress at its meeting Monday. “It’s a 501(c)(3) where people can make contributions or donations to the school,” said Niemi. According to Niemi the foundation will be similar to the one in place at Ironwood Area Schools. The district previously had a foundation, but for some reason it lapsed, Niemi said. Tracy Rowe, w...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD — All Ironwood students who have signed up for in-person learning are now attending the Luther L. Wright K-12 School five days a week after the district completed its transition away from a hybrid model for its upper grades this week. Part of the district’s plan for teaching during the coronavirus pandemic was to have its 7-12 grade students who signed up for in-person learning attend school on a hybrid model where the grades were split into two groups that alternated between going to the...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] UPSON, Wis. - Whitecap Mountains Ski Resort has stepped up its game in offering free stylers some challenges this season with its first terrain park. "Flightcap 1," a new slope-style freestyle terrain park toward the end of the bottom of St. Moritz hill near the ski rental shack and lift, was built during the recent extreme cold snap and has been open to riders for about a week. It was designed and continues to be improved by assistant manager Ben...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The city of Ironwood is moving ahead with securing the best possible grants and low-interest loans possible for a water filtration system project, according to engineers at the city commission meeting Monday. The commission unanimously approved a letter of intent that the city intends to move forward with closing financing for an estimated $9.7 million concrete, gravity filtered water treatment plant and pump station to better address manganese and iron water quality issues and discolora...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - A little later was a lot better when it came to the annual holiday tree bonfire on Sunday. The 12th annual "Light up the Night" was later than the typical January event but was larger than usual, said Steve Lehto, president of the Norrie Amateur Sports Club, the Ironwood organization that organizes the bonfire celebration behind their Aspen Street clubhouse. The evening temperatures cooled but the heat generated by 452 discarded...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] ERWIN TOWNSHIP — A fun ski relay was conducted on Saturday from Erwin Township to Ramsay in Bessemer Township, by connecting several of the various trails, according to Scott Anderson, Anderson Bluff and River Trail Foundation director. “One of our big visions with the foundation is to better connect ABR with the big trails,” Anderson told the Daily Globe in a phone interview. “This is a demonstration relay to show what that takes.” The relay started at 9 a.m. on Saturday with Eric Anderson and Angel...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] PENCE, Wis. — Cross country skiers can now go from the ski trails in the city of Montreal to the Uller trail system in the town of Anderson after the Penokee Rangers recently opened a new segment of trail. A skier can ski from the western end of the Montreal trail system to Wisconsin 77 in Pence, take their skis off to cross the highway and continue on the new connector trail north of the highway to the Uller Trails. “So you could technically ski from Weber Lake all the way on to the Montreal tra...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] MONTREAL, Wis. — Things are going to be a little different for this year’s Hygge Hike at the Montreal Ski Trails as organizers have planned to go dark Saturday with a candle and moonlit night snowshoe hike. The inspiration for the night-time event came after the group planning the hike, Northern Iron County Engaged Residents, had to cancel the chili cook-off as a precaution against COVID-19. “We were trying to think of ways to make it more interesting than just a snowshoe walk and someone … cam...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] BRUSHKANA, Alaska - A former Bessemer resident who wanted to take a year off before starting a career in nursing is now making her mark in the world of Alaska dog sled racing. Julie Ahnen has spent the past three years working for dog handlers and is now competing in major races. Her finish times have surprised herself as much as others for racing younger dogs against some of the best mushers in the world. "This is definitely the biggest year in...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY — More than 1,000 people in Iron County have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as local health officials continue to work to combat the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As of Wednesday, 1,090 people — or 19.2% of the the county — have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to information on the state of Wisconsin’s COVID-19 website, giving it one of the highest vaccination rates in the state. The number includes 43.7% of the the county’s residents age 65 and over. Thr...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Area ski hills are calling the recent extreme cold snap both a blessing and the third leg of a perfect storm of a crazy season. The business adjustments for COVID-19, the low amount of snow, and around 10 days of below zero temperatures are a challenge for any resort, said Bruce Noren, co-owner and general manager of Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort in Ironwood Township. Yet, the season is going better than expected, he said. The skiers...
A stretch of highway in Bayfield County, along with two other Wisconsin roads, have won Federal Highway Administration designations for their “national importance as tourism destinations,” the Wisconsin Department of Transportation announced Tuesday. Roads in Bayfield and Door counties have been named National Scenic Byways, while a previous scenic byway was elevated to the status of an All American Road. Approximately 70 miles of Wisconsin 13 along the Bayfield Peninsula’s Lake Superior shoreline is now designated as Wisconsin’s Lake Superio...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — Grant funding the city of Bessemer was hoping to get through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to cover the replacement of lead service lines might be more difficult to obtain than the city had originally thought. This is because the grant monies are highly sought after, and the city already has loan funding for the project, according to city manager Charly Loper. “This one’s kind of frustrating because at first it was looking really promising like we could get grant funded. Now we’re...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY - Seven Hurley K-12 students were recently honored for participating in the annual Jalonen Writing Contest. A selection committee chose seven essays for top honors from among 40 contestants who wrote stories that were based on an interview with a family member or someone in the community, said Shannon Peterson, high school English teacher at Hurley K-12 School. "The story had to teach a lesson or be based on values or morals," Peterson said....
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — With in-school learning policies continuing for another month at Hurley K-12 School the plans are already being put in place for graduation. The Hurley Board of Education on Monday approved the administrator’s request to continue in-school learning with no changes to the “Return to School” document regarding protocols for learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Monday, the school had one staff member and nine students who were in a quarantine status, according to board reports...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY — There still could be another delay, but for now a trial date has been set in the case of a Gile, Wisconsin, man accused of sex crimes. Jury selection in the trial of Phillip R. Laguna Jr., 71, is scheduled to begin March 2, with the trial commencing following the selection of a jury. Laguna is charged with two counts of first-degree child sexual assault with a person under the age of 13 and one count of child abuse-intentionally causing harm to a child. Although Laguna’s trial is sch...
