Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 3779 - 3803 of 9797
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — Among the items township voters will decide in the Nov. 6 election will be a ballot measure asking for the renewal of the township’s road millage. The measure on the back of the ballot asks voters to approve 1 mill from 2019-2023 dedicated solely to maintaining township roads. One mill translates to $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value. “(the millage) provides funds that are matched by the county for road projects. The great thing about this is it provides a floor of fundi...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — As a precautionary measure, the city of Ironwood’s Mt. Zion water tank has been shut down for inspection. City manager Scott Erickson told the city commission on Monday the move is necessary because three locks were found to be removed from the tank. Erickson said the tank will be checked for tampering and it will need to emptied over a few days. He said it’s hoped there will be no evidence of tampering with the water supply. City officials are taking the utmost precaution. Erickson said...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — The Ironwood Township Board of Trustees is hoping to improve security in the township offices, passing a resolution Monday to seek a grant for security cameras in the building. “(The cameras provide) security for both our people, as well as for the township resources. It also helps us prevent vandalism,” Boyd said after the meeting. “The opportunity is there so we want to take advantage of it.” The township is seeking a $862 grant through its insurance company, Boyd said, to...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield city council voted Monday to change the date of a public hearing needed in order to declare tax-exempt status for land that once held the Wakefield Memorial Building. At their previous meeting on Oct. 8, council members had voted to schedule the hearing in conjunction with their Nov. 12 meeting, but on Monday they voted to rescind that decision and instead schedule the hearing for Nov. 26. City manager Richard Brackney said the delay was requested by city attorney Ray O’Dea, who...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - Members of the Wolverine Trails ski club gathered with guests Sunday at their annual Land Owner Appreciation Day, held in the club chalet in North Ironwood. The group enjoyed fellowship, along with grilled picnic meats, potluck dishes, dessert and coffee. As an added attraction, food educator Deb Leonard, from the University of Wisconsin Extension, also brought a blender bike. The bike includes a blender that works via the biker's foot power,...
By STEVE NEWMAN [email protected] IRONWOOD - Bobbi Hautala was hammering nails into signs she made and brought her own pallets to nail the signs into. The signs were put up Sunday afternoon in advance of the annual United Way fundraising dinner held at the Breakwater Restaurant. Hautala worked to get donations and funds for the event and was hustling to bring in bags of baked goods as well as installing signage. She was working as part of the committee that organizes this event. She was...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — The snow and freezing rain that blanketed the Gogebic Range on Saturday morning was part of a pattern of a weather front that blew through the Midwest. At the same time an inch or two of snow was falling here, a mini blizzard had covered the field in Madison around noon for the Badgers-Illinois football game and the Michigan-Michigan State contest had to be delayed for more than an hour because of lightning. Strong winds in excess of 30 mph that whipped through the Range made the 3...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] BESSEMER — Besides a full slate of federal, state, county and school board officials, Bessemer voters will see three proposals written by city officials on the Nov. 6 general election ballot. The first two are proposed amendments to the city charter, while the third proposal asks the voters to weigh in on the sale of three lots in the industrial park. Proposal 1 deals with eligibility for holding a city elective office. It is proposed to require those running for a city position to have been a r...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER - Cheryl Taivalmaa, of Bessemer, was living in Phoenix when she learned her mother had cancer in 1985. It changed everything. "I quit my job and came home because I wanted to be close," she said, explaining that she took jobs in Ishpeming first and then in Marshfield, Wis., so it would be easier to drive here to provide support. Taivalmaa said the experience of her mother, Helmi Taivalmaa, went as follows: -She realized she had a lump in her...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] Both Gov. Scott Walker and challenger Tony Evers are pledging to restore two-thirds funding of public school costs. Republican Walker and Evers, a Democrat who is State Superintendent of Schools, have been sparring this week on many issues. Increasing funding to two-thirds would be a huge development for area school districts and the taxpayers who support them. The Hurley School Board will act Monday on a budget of $8,167,011 for 2018-’19, supported by a tax levy of $3,215,135. State aid for Hurley t...
By STEVE NEWMAN [email protected] IRONWOOD - As he was bagging groceries at one of the cash registers at Ironwood Super One, Lt. Don Horn said he has big goals for the annual Harvest Food Drive put on by the Michigan State Patrol's Wakefield post. "We want to raise over 30,000 pounds of food," he said. The annual drive is a statewide effort by State Patrol posts, and the post's drive has been one of the most successful. "Our area has led the state the last five years," Horn said. Last...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - The David G. Lindquist Center at Gogebic Community College in Ironwood was milling with people Thursday evening as the GCC Foundation held its 23rd annual recognition banquet. The event began with a reception in the first-floor student lounge, followed by dinner and a program in the second-floor conference center. Honored were Judge Joel Massie, Class of 1974; Rob Pairolero, O.D., Class of 1997, and Outstanding Staff Member Don Pelkola. "Back...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — Thursday night’s informational meeting on the one-mill November Gogebic County ambulance proposal was short on participants, but long on participation. Five members of the public attended the session at the Memorial Building, listening to ambulance committee members Jim Lorenson and Jim Loeper. Former ambulance employee Ken Jacobson said the Gogebic Range has been fortunate over the years to have advanced life support coverage, rather than just a basic ambulance service. Lorenson rep...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - With fall here on the Gogebic Range, the first year of the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District's agriculture program wrapped up recently. Two Bessemer students spent much of the summer working on Taiga Farm in Ironwood Township, participating in a "totally unique learning opportunity for students," according to Abbey Palmer. Palmer, the education coordinator at the Michigan State University Upper Peninsula Research...
By JAN TUCKER [email protected] ONTONAGON — The Ontonagon County Jail is over 50 years old and sheriff Dale Rantala told the county board Tuesday there are some needed repairs. The most serious need is to repair showers. He explained the plumbing in the jail needs to be redone. Rantala said plumbers have indicated it is getting harder and harder to find replacement parts. He explained currently three of the five cells need water turned on to have the showers work and if not turned off, they run continuously. “This causes unnecessary wor...
ONTONAGON — Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials said Tuesday 759 lake sturgeon have been released into the Ontonagon River. The fish were stocked on Sept. 19 in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to the DNR. Over the spring and summer, the DNR and its partners released more than 12,000 juvenile lake sturgeon into public waters, part of an effort to rehabilitate the species. This year’s total is twice the number stocked in 2017. Total lake sturgeon stocked numbered 12,374. Lake sturgeon eggs and larvae...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] The Hurley School District is one of 45 percent of Wisconsin’s districts that will see state aid shrink for the 2018-’19 school year. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction said state aid will be down by $16,902 for the Hurley district, from $2,546,628 to $2,529,726. The DPI has certified amounts each public school district will receive from the $4.656 billion appropriated for general state aid for 2018-’19. Overall, it amounts to a $72.75 million (1.6 percent) increase in general state aids...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER — Ironwood Township’s civil case against former Ironwood Township treasurer Jyl Renee Olson-DeRosso has been resolved. Gogebic County Circuit Court Judge Michael Pope issued a judgement in favor of the township on Oct. 2 for $1,398,654 — the same amount he previously ordered Olson-DeRosso pay in restitution — as well as any applicable attorney fees. “We are pleased and relieved at the outcome, and it validates the judge’s decision on compensation of $1.4 million” Township Supervisor St...
BESSEMER — The Bessemer City Council continued its effort to deal with traffic issues on U.S. 2 through town at its meeting Monday evening. A “general discussion” of the highway traveling through town included ideas about how to slow traffic, according to City Clerk Jim Trudgeon. One idea floated was to put up electronic signs that flash the driver’s speed as they approach. During public comment, concerns were heard about the Michigan Department of Transportation’s proposal to widen traffic lanes on the highway — either four wider lanes, or j...
