Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 3580 - 3604 of 9848
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Ironwood Public Safety Department and volunteer firefighters knocked down a kitchen fire Wednesday at 10:22 a.m. at the corner of Lowell and Francis Streets, but there was extensive smoke damage. Homeowner Tammie Ruby said the fire started from an air fryer in the kitchen. She said she had just cleaned it when it suddenly burst into flames. "The kitchen's pretty much a total loss," she said. Smoke was pouring out from the top floor...
MILWAUKEE - A paralyzed veteran from the Upper Peninsula's Mass City has raced many marathons in his wheelchair, but now he's up and walking for the first time in about 30 years. With the use of a robotic exoskeleton, Dean Juntunen, 58, volunteered to take part in a study at the Spinal Cord Injury Center at the Milwaukee Veterans Administration Medical Center. Juntunen is a medically retired captain from the Air Force who was severely injured in a fall in 1991. He has been training to use a...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] Iron County voters will head to the polls on April 2 for the state’s spring election, but before that one town — Mercer — will see a primary election on Feb. 19. The race for two spots on the Mercer board of supervisors will require a primary because there are too many candidates for the general election ballot. Seven candidates — incumbent Tom Thompson, Tanner Hiller, Brad Bettin, Eric Snow, Christa Reinert, David McNutt and Opal Roberts — filed papers to appear on the Feb. 19 ballot. The top f...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - The Wakefield city council interviewed its first candidate for city manager at a special meeting Monday evening. Robert Brown Jr., of downstate Belding, answered a predetermined list of questions for the council in a session that lasted about one and one-half hours. Mayor John Granato said three remaining candidates, none of whom are local, will be addressed the same questions at another special meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m. "That will...
IRONWOOD - Volunteers and a Milwaukee artist were finishing a repair project Tuesday afternoon at the Historic Ironwood Theatre. Water damage from a hole in the old roof was being repaired and some of the mural work had to be retouched. A new roof has been installed at the theater and the damage from the hole in the old roof required repairs and painting. David Strickland, of Affiliated Artists, Milwaukee, was familiar with the theater from 1994-'95, when he painted the murals over the stage...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER — An Ironwood Township man will serve at least 25 years in prison after he let his guilty plea to two sex crimes stand in Gogebic County Circuit Court Tuesday. Jason Elliot Irvine, 47, originally pleaded guilty to two counts of first degree criminal sexual conduct in November. Each of those carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison, with a maximum penalty of life in prison. Last week, Gogebic County Circuit Judge Michael Pope ruled Irvine hadn’t been adequately inf...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — The township will stay the course with its ad-hoc salary committee for now, after the board of trustees voted Monday against establishing a more formal compensation commission. As part of the recent budget process, the township established a three-person committee made up of Trustee Marlene Saari-Mieloszyk, Trustee Kevin Lyons and resident Sharon Hallberg to examine issues related to salaries, raises and compensation FOR township employees. Saari-Mieloszyk, who heads the c...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — Here comes the new chief, same as the old chief. Andrew DiGiorgio is returning as Ironwood Public Safety Department Director, city manager Scott Erickson told the city commission on Monday. Erickson said DiGiorgio, who has been working part-time with the department in recent months, will return as director in a couple of months, as he’s still working at Gogebic Community College in the position he took after resigning the IPSD’s top job. The position had been vacant since Greg Klecker was f...
By JAN TUCKER [email protected] ONTONAGON - The Ontonagon Village Council Monday heard from Village Manager Joe Erickson that in the waning days of the Snyder Administration, the state approved a one-time Rural Community Demolition Grant program. He explained the program has $350,000 available and the maximum award of $50,000 for demolition of publicly owned blighted structures, with applications due Feb. 15. Councilman Tony Smydra noted the village of Ontonagon has all the criteria to apply...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD — The death of a competitor cast a cloud over the 10th annual Sisu Ski Fest this weekend, as Mike Fauerbach passed away on-course during the 15K Heikki Lunta cross country ski race Saturday. “He died doing exactly what he wanted to do. He had skis on his feet and he was in the woods,” Fauerbach’s son, Rob, told the Daily Globe Sunday. Other skiers found Fauerbach, 67, of Saxon, unresponsive one half-kilometer from the race’s starting line and stopped to help, according to Sisu Race Directo...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHP - For some, the arrival of snow means it's time to put their bikes away. For fat tire bike riders, snow means it's time to get their bikes out and hit the trails. They had the chance to explore some new ones this weekend as the Sisu Dirt Crew hosted a fat bike tryout Sunday as part of the Sisu Ski Fest's weekend of activities. "(It's going) good - sunny, not really cold. It's perfect," Sisu Dirt Crew's Tom Bergman said. The event...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MARENISCO - A Sunday open house of the Marenisco Township Historical Society brought a steady flow of visitors to a building that once supported the former Marenisco Presbyterian Church. Located at the corner of Curtis and Main streets, the small brown building is around the corner from the Marenisco Township Hall. Marsha Fairfield and Kathe Balcon, two of the society's founding members, said the township still owns the building. They said Marenisco Townsh...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - There was plenty of snow Friday afternoon to cushion the falls of young skiers who were attempting to navigate the course around Depot Park. The Depot Dash kicked off the weekend's 10th annual Sisu Ski Fest events. The fire was burning strong in the warming pit, but on a 23-degree day with no wind, it wasn't really a necessity. Around 4:15 p.m., volunteer Phil Strong was setting up a couple of young girls who arrived late for skiing. The...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] MERCER, Wis. - A group of hikers got a chance to see some of Wisconsin's remaining old-growth timber Friday as the Iron County Outdoor Recreation Enthusiasts organized a hike into a stand of remnant old-growth white pines near Mercer. Local naturalist John Bates led around 30 snowshoers and hikers to the small stand of timber mixed with other, younger trees off County J, roughly four miles from U.S. 51. Bates told the Daily Globe the definition of o...
BESSEMER — The Gogebic Conservation District completed some inportant invasive plant eradications in 2018, according to its annual report. James Wojcik, chairman of the board of the district, said, “We obtained two grants from the Gogebic Resource Advisory Committee, the group that helps award U.S. Forest Service funding for projects in Gogebic County.” One of the grants covered eradication work on infestations of garlic mustard in the Ironwood-Bessemer area. The other provided funding for projects in Bluff Valley Park, Miners Memorial Herit...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — Salary increases for 2019 of $69,597 were approved for non-union employees and elected officials by the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners at a Dec. 21 meeting. The increases for non-union employees, effective Jan. 1, were approved on a motion made by Jim Oliver, of Ironwood, seconded by Dan Siirila, of Ironwood. The vote was 4-1, with Jeff Wasley, of Ironwood, opposed. Absent were Joe Bonovetz, of Bessemer, and Tom Laabs, of Ironwood. Oliver, Siirila, then board chair George Peterson, o...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER — Two people were arrested in east central Wisconsin Wednesday in connection with the armed robbery home invasion in Marenisco Township in December. A man, 47, and woman, 41, were arrested in New London Wednesday evening, according to Gogebic County Sheriff Pete Matonich. The owner of the East Shore road residence in the Lake Gogebic area was assaulted and tied up during the early morning hours of Dec. 18 in the home invasion where money and guns were stolen. The property owner was able t...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY — Even though the county wouldn’t be able to add on to the building, the Iron County Board of Supervisors’ finance committee decided to continue exploring the purchase of the Hurley VFW property Thursday. At the committee’s December meeting, there was a discussion regarding putting a new upper level on the building and making it the home of the Iron County Health Department. Iron County Clerk Mike Saari informed the committee Thursday that plan doesn’t appear viable. Saari said the power...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners reorganized Wednesday with two people absent. Dan Siirila, of Ironwood, (commissioner district 1), was elected chair. He’ll replace George Peterson, of Watersmeet, who was absent. Newcomer Joann Balduc, of Ironwood, (commission district 4), was also absent. She previously told the board she would miss January meetings because of medical issues. Jim Byrns, of Ironwood’s commissioner district 3, was elected vice-chair of the seven-person county board...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] MERCER, Wis. — While the future of the Saxon Harbor campground remains uncertain, the Iron County forestry committee is recommending a land swap if the decision is to made to proceed with its construction. The committee voted Tuesday to send the proposed land exchange to the full county board for approval. “At the full county board meeting … we’ll discuss the new campground proposal first. And if the board decides we’re not going to move forward with the new campground, we’ll just table this,” Iron...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER - The Washington Elementary School in Bessemer received a significant Christmas gift in the form of a full restoration of its gymnasium. Superintendent Dave Wineburner said the work was completed in the past month with the help of a list of contributing companies and individuals. "It was an old floor," he said of the gym and added regarding the school's century-old age, "It had never been sanded in 100 years." Wineburner said members of the distri...
