Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 2526 - 2550 of 9733
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MARENISCO — When the Michigan Department of Corrections closed the Ojibway Correctional Facility a year ago in Marenisco Township, it was not because township and county officials had not fought hard to keep it. Beyond local protests, formal gatherings, and written support from other county and state officials, Marenisco Township had sued MDOC on the grounds of not considering the economic impact the closure would have on this region. Marenisco Supervisor Richard Bouvette also noted that the local p... Full story
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER - An Ironwood woman will serve at least 11 years in prison for starting the fire above the Pines Cafe earlier this year. Hykesha Deshay Martin, 24, was sentenced to 11-50 years for first-degree arson in Gogebic County Circuit Court Tuesday for the August fire above that destroyed the downtown Ironwood restaurant and apartments above it. "You endangered lives, property - and that's just (the tangible things). There are other things that...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] MONTREAL, Wis. - A gentle, scenic snowshoeing and cross country ski trail system doesn't maintain itself and a group of local volunteers say they do it because the trails are special to the community. The nonprofit Penokee Rangers Inc. have sought members and volunteers to help maintain the non-motorized trails following snow events since 1975, said Charlie Zinsmaster, chief of trails. The group maintains the 10 miles of the Historic Montreal Ski...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — When winter arrives Fran Frye and Mark Stoeger leave Appleton, Wisconsin for the slopes of the Upper Peninsula. The two rent a condo and along with season passes they are ski patrol volunteers at Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort. “It’s our first day at Powderhorn but not our first day skiing this year,” Frye said Monday. “We ski patrol at Pine Mountain and we were there a little while yesterday.” The conditions were perfect, sh...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - The Wakefield-Marenisco Board of Education voted Monday night to begin a pass / fail system for foreign language courses, which the curriculum now requires as part of state requirements. The unanimous vote followed an appeal by guidance counselor Mark Lane, who also leads online education at the Wakefield-Marenisco K-12 School in Wakefield. Lane explained that foreign language courses are available only through the Michigan Virtual Learning Res...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] Watersmeet Township — A Wisconsin man died Saturday after his snowmobile struck a downed tree near Watersmeet Township, according to Lac Vieux Desert Tribal Police Department. The crash occurred at 7:30 p.m., on Trail No. 2, according to Sgt. Nick Christ in a phone interview Monday. A tree had fallen on the trail during the day and it went unreported, the rider, a 54-year-old Almond, Wisconsin man was snowmobiling at night and struck the fallen tree, he said. “He died at the scene,” Christ said,...
HURLEY, Wis. - Volunteers kept kids busy with holiday arts and crafts while parents waited for them in line at the annual meet Santa event on Sunday. The meet Santa event is sponsored each year by Gogebic-Iron Range Chapter 529 of the Vietnam Veterans of America. For nearly 20 years approximately 130 to 150 kids come from around the region to the event at the Iron County Memorial Building. "Our group chapter have been doing this for years," said Mike Peterson, a member of Chapter 529 VVA. "We...
IRONWOOD - The Claudettes were still featured performers of the Community Christmas shows this weekend but the dancing group has turned over production of the annual show to new direction for the first time in over a decade. This year the show was co-produced by Theatre North and the Historic Ironwood Theatre. Bethany Ann Hellen Basso directed the show as a dance choreographer and member of the HIT programming committee. Maggie Hill took on the musical direction as a volunteer with Theatre...
LANSING - The work to protect the main east access road to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park is continuing in the face of violent late fall storms off Lake Superior. County Road 107 will be closed west of South Boundary Road while work is underway. A search for a long-term solution to the problem continues. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Ontonagon County Road Commission have teamed up to protect County Road 107 to ensure continued east access to the 60,000-acre...
Jason Juno/Daily Globe The Hurley School District's Spirit tree stands in front of the school Thursday evening. The PTO uses the tree as a fundraiser. The lights were sponsored by people either honor a student, or are in memory of someone. The PTO uses the money to help cover the cost of field trips and other classroom activities. The tree was lit on Dec. 4 at an event that included a performance by Silver Express, and hot chocolate and cookies....
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] The Daily Globe's 100th anniversary special edition of Nov. 18 got Dean Gustafson of Mercer thinking about a memento of his youth. He grew up in Hurley and was a paperboy for the Daily Globe for a few years including his freshman year in high school. That year for Christmas, the newspaper presented each of its carries with a six-foot tape measure. On Tuesday, Gustafson brought the tape measure to the Daily Globe's office, offering it to be put on...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The purpose of a chamber of commerce is to provide resources that will help members improve at what they do — but there needs to be interest and participation. Business box lunches and the occasional professional event are all part of producing quality learning experiences that would benefit individual business owners, said Michael Meyer, director of the Ironwood Area Chamber of Commerce. The idea is to create a social networking experience among business owners with an expert speaker or...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD - Many of the Ironwood elementary students were dressed extra nice Thursday as the district put on its annual holiday concert. The students sang a variety of cheery holiday songs, as parents and other relatives listened and took pictures and videos to preserve the occasion. Along with the songs, vocal music instructor Darin Schmidt gave the parents some examples of what the students have been learning in class by having the kids...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] RAMSAY - The Gogebic Range Water Authority welcomed new members, elected board officers and formed the executive committee for 2020 at its meeting Thursday. Three new members were present including Dale White and Dan Brown, at-large members for the city of Wakefield, and Jim Spencer, the at-large member for Wakefield Township. The board approved 8-0 the election of officers. Members Neal Nelson, Adam Zak and James Simmons were not present. The...
By JAN TUCKER [email protected] ONTONAGON — Project Rising Tide, a state funded program which was to have helped a community to rise economically will officially end Dec. 19 at 4 p.m., but Mike Burzynski, hopes it will continue in the coming months and years to raise the community of Ontonagon. Burzynski was provided by the state to assist Ontonagon in the effort. The state funded program was initiated for rural communities that were chosen by then Gov. Rick Synder. Burzynski said even though the official program is over, he hopes the s...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] HURLEY, Wis. — The Hurley City Council on Tuesday approved its 2018 audit report. Rob Ganschow, a partner with Wipfli LLC, presented the audit results on behalf of the accounting firm. He said the $3.26 million revenue and expenditures for 2017 appear significantly higher than the $2.41 million in 2018 because of approximately $333,000 in capital projects. Ganschow said the city’s expenditures did not exceed revenues overall for 2018. However, the public works department, conservation and dev...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - A Fremont, Mich., man pulling an 18-foot foam and metal hog through the western Upper Peninsula Wednesday, said it was part of an awareness tour to protect the state's term limit amendment. Jeff Tillman is a member of Don't Touch Term Limits!, a non-partisan nonprofit organization that works to bring awareness when there are legal or legislative attempts to nullify the 1992 voter approved amendment that limits state representatives to...
DULUTH, Minn. — The 148th Fighter Wing out of Duluth started conducting night exercises in the region Tuesday which are expected to run through Dec. 19. “This period of night flying will allow the wing to conduct night air-to-air training and air-to-air refueling using night vision device,” a public affairs officer for the fighter wing said in a news release. “Night flying is required for pilot proficiency to train for future missions worldwide. Most night flying occurs in the winter months due to the earlier sunset times, enabling jets to...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - While discussing a draft of their pending master plan on Tuesday evening, Wakefield Township officials learned that the population of Gogebic County is projected to drop by 12.3% between 2020 and 2045. Jerry Wuorenmaa, executive director of the Western U.P. Planning and Development Region, presented the statistics from the state of Michigan Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives. Wuorenmaa stated in his report that the...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Volunteers will be walking area parents through the Santa's Headquarters today at the Ironwood Memorial Building. The 14th annual event will be serving 360 children and 153 families along with walk-ins, according to Erin Ross, event co-chair and an extension educator with Michigan State University-Extension. A second Santa's Headquarters event will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday at the Watersmeet Community Center. "It's one of my...
IRONWOOD — The Historic Ironwood Theatre and Theatre North are joining forces to offer a Christmas show filled with local singers, dancers and a good helping of Santas. “We’ll have a whole bunch of dancing Santas,” said the show’s director Bethany Ann Hellen. “In all, there are around 77 performers: singers — youth to adult from all around the area — and many dancers from surrounding local studios.” Two performances are planned at the Historic Ironwood Theatre — Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Hellen, a member of HIT’s programming c...
By TOM LAVENTURE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Constant snow and freezing road surfaces resulted in area school closings and event cancellations around the region on Monday, as weather forecasters said to look for more snow and a cold front this week. As much as 5 to 8 inches of snow fell on the western Upper Peninsula and northeast Wisconsin, with the forecasts for continued snow showers through Wednesday, said Jacob Horton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in...
By JAN TUCKER [email protected] ONTONAGON – Village President Tony Smydra brought the village council good news Monday about a Dec. 2 visit with Jessica Frost, the president and CEO of LakeShore Systems in Iron Mountain. Councilman Don Chastan and MEDC Fellow Michael Burznski also attended the meeting with Frost. Frost told the men that LakeShore looks to better utilize its resources in Ontonagon, according to Smydra, as well as expand its operations and utilize the facility to its maximum potential. The Ontonagon operation has filled its f...
