Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
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LANSING (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Monday that retail businesses in much of northern Michigan, including restaurants and bars, can reopen starting Friday. The bars and restaurants will have to limit their capacity to 50%. Groups will be required to stay 6 feet apart and servers will have to wear face coverings. Office work also will be able to resume if work cannot be done remotely. The move will affect two of the eight regions identified in the governor’s gradual reopening plan amid the coronavirus pandemic: one covers the Upp...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD - With the school year's abrupt end due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of the area's seniors have been denied the traditions and experiences that usually accompany graduating high school. In Ironwood, a group of parents and volunteers organized an effort to recognize and reward the district's Class of 2020. The efforts include banners with the first name and picture of each of the 47 Ironwood School graduates. The banners were set up in...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — Fourth of July organizers in Wakefield confirmed Friday that the city’s hometown picnic, 50/50 fundraising and highly celebrated “Lightning on the Lake” fireworks have been cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions. “It was a very tough decision — something that I don’t think anyone was happy to do,” said Mayor Dale White while speaking for the Fireworks Committee, which sponsors those events. According to Ann Marie Cooney, who heads the town’s separate Fourth of July Committee, the fate of Wakef...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY, Wis. - For hair salons that have been closed since March the sudden end to the coronavirus shutdown order was met with excitement and a strong sense of responsibility. Kim Paris, owner of Headlines Styling Studio in Hurley, said she will be in her shop preparing to reopen under a new normal but won't bring in her two employee stylists until the initial coronavirus shutdown order expiration date of May 26. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners may establish a budget committee of elected and appointed officials, according to discussion at Wednesday’s regular meeting that was broadcast live on the county’s Facebook page. The discussion followed a report on the fiscal year 2020 and 2021 budget impacts of COVID-19. There will be more solid information regarding the 2021 fiscal budget following the state of Michigan Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference today. “We do still feel that we...
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A court ruling tossing Wisconsin’s stay-at-home order threw communities into chaos Thursday as some bars opened immediately and were packed with customers while other local leaders moved quickly to keep strict restrictions in place amid the coronavirus pandemic. The conservative majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court late Wednesday afternoon ruled that the “safer at home” order from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers was invalid and threw it out effective immediately. The order forces Evers to work with the GOP-controlled Legisla...
HURLEY - As of 7 a.m. this morning, Iron County's ATV/UTV trails were expected to open to riders. Local officials warned that early season riding conditions still exist in some places and trail maintenance is continuing, and urged riders to use caution while enjoying the local trail system. As always, riders should respect private property by staying on marked trails. Although the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned Gov. Tony Evers' Safer at Home Order Wednesday, officials also encouraged riders...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - It took just an instant but the impact was clear on the faces of staff and the public who came to watch the U.S. Air Force flyover of Aspirus Ironwood hospital and clinic late Wednesday morning. Two Block 50 generation F-16 Falcon jets with the 148th Fighter Wing based in Duluth, Minnesota, flew over the health campus at 11:33 a.m. The flyover was part of the Operation American Resolve program in appreciation of the COVID-19 response of...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer school board voted to tentatively set July 10 as graduation day for the class of 2020, during a special meeting Tuesday. The ceremony will be at 7:30 p.m. “This is all speculative. We got to plan ahead to see what’s going to happen,” said principal and acting superintendent Dan Niemi. Niemi said that he thinks it’s going to have to be an outdoor venue, with people separated by six feet for social distancing, and if there is a weather issue they can move it to another day. “It...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley K-12 school staff, parents and first responders are offering curbside congratulations to graduating seniors in lieu of traditional end-of-year events due to the coronavirus pandemic closing the school. Staff and parents planned to join the Hurley Fire Department, Hurley Police Department and Iron County Sheriff’s Office in a parade of vehicles visiting each Hurley student in front of their home on Wednesday. The “parade” will start again tonight around 5 p.m. when the group v...
Thursday, May 14 Alcoholics Anonymous, noon, Salem Lutheran Church, Ironwood. area74.org. SMART Recovery, 4:30 p.m., 101 E. Mary St., Bessemer. Alcoholics Anonymous, 6:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, Hurley. area74.org. Government Bessemer Housing Commission, 8 a.m., Executive Director’s Office, 709 West Iron Street, Bessemer. Iron County Finance Commitee, 9 a.m., courthouse, Hurley. Bessemer Downtown Development Authority, 4 p.m., DDA room, City Hall. Friday, May 15 Mercer Food Pantry, noon-1 p.m., Railroad Street, Mercer, Wis. E...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission on Monday approved a $21,474 bid to replace an aging file server that is essential to city operations. The 4-1 approval came after lengthy discussion on the need for the servers with input from Paul Linn, city finance director and treasurer, and Eric Ritter, the city’s information technology consultant with The Computer Doctors in Ironwood. The two said the current file server at the Memorial Building is 8 years old and nearly doubled its normal life spa...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - Members of the state's Air National Guard were in force Tuesday to collect COVID-19 test samples at Gogebic Medical Care Facility in Wakefield. "We know that we have such a vulnerable population," said Georgia Weber, GMCF administrator, who said the tests were being conducted as part of the nursing home's ongoing infection control processes. "We're under the direction of the Army," said Willie Hutchinson, NCOIC, who was heading up the operation...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — As part of the Operation American Resolve program of the U.S. Air Force there will be a flyover of Ironwood on late Wednesday morning. The 148th Fighter Wing stationed in Duluth, Minnesota is doing flyovers of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and western Upper Peninsula communities in appreciation of the COVID-19 response of health workers and first responders. “Our Guardsmen live and work in these cities,” said Col. Christopher Blomquist, commander of the 148th Fighter Wing. “The Minneso...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Area first responders and health professionals were treated to lunch on Friday by the freemasons. Members of the Ironwood Masonic Lodge No. 389 put on their Masonic aprons, a symbol of fraternal distinction, to deliver pizzas to Gogebic County Sheriff's Department, Aspirus Ironwood Hospital and Clinic, Beacon Ambulance Services and Ironwood Public Safety Department. "This is the first time we've done it," said Jeff Nielsen, the senior...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] Those voters in Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District who haven’t already cast their absentee ballots head to polls today to decide who will represent them in Washington for the next term. Republican Tom Tiffany is facing off against Democrat Tricia Zunker in the contest to replace Sean Duffy, who represented the 7th District for nearly eight years before retiring this past September to spend more time with his family. The seat has been vacant since Duffy’s retirement. Tiffany, from Hazel...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD — Gogebic Community College held its 86th annual commencement in a virtual style due to social distancing guidelines on Friday. “Although this may be a new experience for all of us, I can assure you that everyone here at GCC has worked very hard to find the best way to honor all you have accomplished here and to make this occasion very special,” instructor Maria Sokol said in her commencement address as part of the online presentation. The Governor’s stay-at-home order due to the coronavirus p...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD — Qualifying Michigan families, including those enrolled in the Ironwood Area Schools, are expected to receive additional assistance with their grocery budgets in the coming weeks as the state distributes funds through the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program. The EBT cards will go to families with children who qualify for free or reduced school meals, with eligible 18-26 year olds enrolled in special education programs also receiving funds. As Ironwood is one of the districts t...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — Hundreds of short-term, vacation rental homes in the western Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin are facing a drop in anticipated early summer bookings from the coronavirus stay-at-home orders, but owners say the impact is not the same as on other small businesses. Most of the rentals are privately-owned homes or cabins that owners rent by the day, week or month when they are not present. They are marketed through online rental agencies, such as Airbnb, Vrbo or with a local m...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — In his COVID-19 update to the commission, Tom Bergman, director of Ironwood community development, said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s changes to the stay-at-home order on Thursday include extending the state’s open meeting law that allows the city meetings to be held online using virtual meeting apps through the expiration of the order on May 28. In the meantime, the city offices are already planning a scaled return to normal service, he said. The staff are working at home and come in to co...
IRONWOOD — With the in-person school year ending abruptly in March due to the corornavirus pandemic, many Ironwood students were unable to clean out their lockers or say goodbye to teachers. The district is planning a series of collection events next week to allow families to get the items that were unexpectedly left at school until now. So far, three pick-up events are planned for Monday and Tuesday for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. “It’s been a long time, but our hands have been tied until this point,” K-12 Principal Melissa...
GILE, Wis. - The Hurley Fire Department wants to help make childrens birthdays a little more fun as they remain relatively home-bound during the coronavirus pandemic. The department will be part of birthdays for kids ages 3 to 6 in the city of Hurley, for the duration of the shutdown order when kids can get out and visit people again, said HFD Chief Mike Sejbl. "We're going to continue that until things get back to somewhat normal," Sejbl said. Several HFD trucks and some personnel will stop at...
BESSEMER - In response to a request from the Michigan Department of Transportation to take down the flashing light on U.S. 2 in Bessemer at Sophie Street, Mayor Adam Zak is asking MDOT for the right to place two signs pointing to the downtown district. "In this case they have to choose - deal with a sign or deal with a light. I know the sign is a lot less expensive for them," said Zak during a discussion on the issue at Monday's city council meeting. According to City Manager Charly Loper, MDOT has requested to remove the flashing light...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HANCOCK — A person visiting Gogebic County from an urban area has tested positive for COVID-19, the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department announced Tuesday. Department officials said the person traveled to Gogebic County to visit family before seeking medical treatment locally. “We must continue to be diligent in our efforts to prevent a large outbreak,” said Kate Beer, the department’s health officer. “I urge you to continue limiting travel and practice good hygiene by washing your hands, st...
