Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 251 - 275 of 9941
By DAMIIAN LANG [email protected] IRONWOOD - As a major feature of Festival Ironwood, "the World's Largest Duck Pick" is a big event for young children from around the Ironwood area and surrounding communities. Imagine being five or six again, and there are hundreds of bright, yellow, tiny, friendly-looking ducks floating in a little pool where you can easily scoop them up with a net. Not only that, but imagine knowing you will win a prize with the ducks you've picked. This is no small...
By MEGAN HIUGHES [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer Area Board of Education met on Friday for its monthly meeting and discussed the updated mileage rate for employee vehicles and the potential of expanding the school breakfast program. The board heard a presentation from food service director Denise Tauer regarding the numbers of attendees for the breakfast program in both the elementary and high schools. According to Tauer, they have noticed that not as many students have been taking advantage of the program as they could at highe...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Ironwood Area Schools opened its centennial celebration on July 19 with a ceremony held on the steps of the Luther L. Wright K-12 School. A crowd of more than 150 attended to honor the occasion. The ceremony included speeches from guest speaker Paul Mattson and superintendent Dan Martinson. Mattson spoke about his family ties to the school and about how the Luther L. Wright building had seen many graduations. He had done the math, counting...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] BESSEMER — In a closed session on Monday evening, Bessemer City Council members discussed applications for the open position of city manager. According to a Tuesday email from Deputy Clerk Samantha Dorr, the council voted after the session to set upinterviews with four of the candidates. Names are not being released at this time. Mandy Lake, the city’s clerk/treasurer, currently also is acting as interim city manager. In other news, council members voted on Monday evening to deny a request to rec...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] IRONWOOD — Dan Martinson, the new superintendent of Ironwood Area Schools, took the helm at his first Board of Education meeting on Monday evening. The meeting was kept short and sweet, with the board voting to approve the February 2024 updates to the Neola policies, including updates regarding evaluation of the superintendent, prohibition of referral or assistance, reproductive health and family planning, sex education, professional staff evaluation, purchasing, new school construction and renovation, p...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] HURLEY — It’s been said by many people that the hardest work in any facet of government is done at the committee level, and members of the Iron County Finance Committee seem game to prove it. The Finance Committee is an arm of the Iron County Board of Supervisors. Under the leadership of Chairman Kurt Wolff, its members have been working steadily in recent months to streamline the county’s current and pending budgets with an eye to the greatest possible fiscal responsibility. At the latest meeti...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] MARENISCO TOWNSHIP — Marenisco and Watersmeet townships are continuing the push to get some share of the state PILT funds that now go to Gogebic County. PILT stands for “payment in lieu of taxes,” and such payments are made to governmental entities that include federal property within their boundaries. The payments are intended to compensate for any expenses incurred by local governments in relation to the federal land. Marenisco Township supervisor Bruce Mahler told The Globe on July 19 that he an...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - A performance by Marty's Goldenaires Drum and Bugle Corps was part of the final evening of Festival Ironwood on Saturday. Under the direction of Dan Pitrone and co-director Dustin Pitrone, corps members performed inside of the main tent within the Historic Ironwood Depot as a huge crowd spilled out into the nearby vicinity and cheered on the performance. Dan Pitrone described the group as "the only drum and bugle corps with which you can...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Two sessions designed to inform the public on the pending continuation of an ambulance millage drew no attendees on the eastern or western sides of Gogebic County. Heidi DeRosso, Gogebic County coordinator of emergency services/911, reported the news on July 18 as she sat in an empty room of Bessemer VFW Post 3673, where residents with questions or concerns had been expected to gather. A separate session scheduled earlier this month at the Watersmeet Township Hall also drew no visitors. D...
By DAMIIAN LANG [email protected] IRONWOOD - In June 1964, a 52-foot statue of Hiawatha was erected at the site of the Old Norrie Iron Mine. A teeter-totter and swings helped to create an adjacent park. Present that day in 1964 was Miss Hiawatha, Renee Semi Hartz. Fast forward to last weekend when Hartz was back again on Saturday at the site of Hiawatha, with family, friends and many others who have contributed energy and funds for a brand new playground adjacent to the statue. It was...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners took steps last week to streamline income and expenses relating to the county fairgrounds. The action took place at the board’s July 10 meeting and included a vote that all future rental and storage revenue from the fairgrounds should be collected directly by the county, rather than by the county Fair Board. Related discussion occurred during the county’s Personnel and Negotiations Committee, which met just prior to the board meeti...
By DAMIIAN LANG [email protected] WAKEFIELD - The first burial lot in the city of Wakefield was purchased in 1905, roughly two decades after the city was established in 1884, at about the same time that the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western railroad company laid tracks through the region. George Wakefield, a successful business man in logging, real estate and mineral lands - originally from Henderson, New York - had surveyed the area and established the city named for him. At the time, the...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] GOGEBIC RANGE — As Fourth of July celebrations wrap up in the Gogebic Range, many towns have pulled the winning numbers for their 50/50s. Below is a list of some of the major 50/50s, their winning numbers, and any other available information. Bessemer The Bessemer Fourth of July record-setting 50/50 raffle winners were Greg and Diana Meeuwsen of West Salem, Wisconsin. Their winning ticket number was 36413, and they took home $54,573. Wakefield The Wakefield Fourth of July 50/50 winner was Paige Berwald o...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood Area School District has officially welcomed Dan Martinson into the position of superintendent. Martinson began his new role on July 1 and has been settling into it ever since. Martinson started his Ironwood career as a social studies teacher from 1999-2002. He then worked as an alternative education teacher for the Delta Schoolcraft Intermediate School District in the Escanaba area. He returned to Ironwood in 2014 as an alternative school educator. Since then, he has held s...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - On July 12, kids shrieked in the background while playing in the sprinkler of the Downtown City Square as local and state officials hailed Ironwood's newly allotted status as a Redevelopment Ready City. The squeals were apt as officials sometimes used similar enthusiasm to congratulate and/or thank each for the accomplishment. "Redevelopment Ready - Yay!" called out Mayor Kim Corcoran. The mayor said the new status, conferred by...
By DAMIIAN LANG [email protected] WATERSMEET TOWNSHIP — Haley and Nicole Peterson are teenagers from Watersmeet. They’re going to Romania this October to compete in the 2024 Pankration World Championships. Pankration, you say? Yes, Pankration. It is an Ancient Greek form of combat dating back to 648 BC. In Greek mythology, it was said that the heroes Heracles and Theseus invented Pankration as a result of using both wrestling and boxing in their confrontations with opponents. The rules have changed over the centuries. It’s a safer, more i...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] BESSEMER - The end of an era, of sorts, occurred on July 10 when the old Gamble Hardware building and Rexall Pharmacy building were demolished in a single day on Bessemer's main street. The action was a long time coming and was made possible, finally, by recently allotted funds from Michigan's State Land Bank Authority. "It's kind of tough to watch it go down," said Jerry Strelcheck, who ran a hardware store there for many years, starting at the age...
By DAMIIAN LANG [email protected] IRONWOOD - Every July and August in Ironwood, the Emberlight Festival makes a big splash. Art in the Park - a large installation art show - is the first event of the festival, having started on June 29, but it lasts through Aug. 24 in Miners Memorial Heritage Park. Artists from across the upper Midwest bring their original pieces, large and small, and create art installations nestled among the lush, green trees. Visitors will discover stunning, poignant,...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] HURLEY — During a regular monthly meeting on Monday, members of the Hurley School District Board of Education discussed and planned for policy changes that will begin on Aug. 1, due to federal adjustments to Title IX regulations. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 are those regarding discrimination based on sex in relation to educational programs and activities. “The Title IX applies to schools, local and state educational agencies all across the United States that receive any federal fin...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley City Council learned on Monday evening that a new housing development expected to break ground by now has been delayed until later this fall. “We’ve been going round and round on the wetlands issue,” said Mayor Joanne Bruneau. She said she has learned from Carol Keen, vice president for real estate development for Impact Seven in Rice Lake, that in order to avoid any association with wetlands, the originally planned housing site now must be adjusted slightly. Impact Seven was ins...
By PAMELA JANSSON [email protected] IRONWOOD — The “2024 Comprehensive Plan Community Survey” remains accessible on the opening page of the city of Ironwood’s website. At Monday evening’s meeting of the Ironwood City Commission, City Manager Paul Anderson and Community Development Director Thomas Bergman urged participation. Bergman later told The Globe that survey participants need not be limited to city residents. Persons who work in Ironwood or simply use its amenities also are welcome to participate. The Survey Monkey opportuni...
