Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 3848 - 3872 of 9848
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...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD — While Thursday’s audit presentation isn’t expected to bring good news regarding the state of the Ironwood Area Schools’ fund balance at the end of last year, Superintendent Travis Powell said Monday the situation has improved since then. “The fact the number is lower than we want it to be is unfortunate, but that’s last year’s news,” Powell told the Daily Globe after the meeting. “Moving forward, this year … my job is to keep expenditures low and to try and do everything we can t...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY — A hearing on a motion to dismiss theft and credit card charges against former Hurley Fire Department Chief Darrell Petrusha was continued Monday afternoon in Iron County Court. Iron County Judge Patrick Madden continued the hearing to Thursday, Oct. 25, at 11 a.m. Petrusha’s attorney, Steve Lucareli, argued the charges against Petrusha regarding the alleged mis-use of a fire department credit card should be dismissed. Lucareli claimed one of the charges, as amended, isn’t supported by state...
By JAN TUCKER [email protected] ONTONAGON — The Ontonagon Area School has completed its new bathroom project. Superintendent Jim Bobula told the Board of Education Monday the bathroom renovations are now complete. “Floor to ceiling we have a new facelift,” he told the board. Final permitting and approvals were completed Friday. The $125,000 facelift was built with some of the sinking funds, approved by voters. Sinking fund moneys can only be used for specified projects. Bobula praised the school staff who had to navigate students durin...
IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - The sun came out Saturday to help outdoor enthusiasts enjoy their visit to Copper Peak for the facility's first "Light to Night Festival." The festival ran from noon into the evening and included music, games, horse and wagon rides, food and discounted rides to the top of the ski flying hill in Ironwood Township. The parking lots were close to capacity during the afternoon, and there were lines of people waiting to get on the chairlift to go up the mountain. At the top, a...
IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - The parking area next to St. John's Lutheran Church was full and cars lined a section of Airport Road in Ironwood Township Saturday as the church held its annual pie social fundraiser. "We've had a good steady rush most of the day, lots of different community members coming out and supporting us," said Cortney Ofstad, the president of the church council. The church has held pie social fundraisers for the last 35 years and the Ofstads have been involved since the beginning....
IRONWOOD — A small but enthusiastic crowd enjoyed a musical performance from the Madison Bach Musicians Saturday night at the Historic Ironwood Theatre. The group is passionate about bringing the authentic sound of the Baroque musicians of the past in its fullness to the listening community. Before the concert, the group’s artistic director and harpsichordist, Trevor Stephenson, called the period of time when composers George Handel and J.S. Bach wrote, “a combination of the highest intellect and highest emotion,” and felt that contrib...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER - While no decisions are expected any time soon, talks continued Friday regarding the number of lanes U.S. 2 should have through Bessemer. A group of roughly 15 city council members, residents and Michigan Department of Transportation officials walked the downtown section of U.S. 2 Friday morning in an effort to visualize how the various plans would work. The city is being asked to choose between making the highway three lanes or four...
Editor’s note: This is the second story in a three-part series on the Nov. 6 ambulance millage vote for Gogebic County. By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] While Beacon Ambulance presently provides ambulance service to much of Gogebic County, the eastern end, in the Watersmeet area, is served by Aspirus out of Iron River, at an annual cost of $43,000 a year. Residents of that area are out of the “golden hour” that can determine life and death in a 911 emergency response call, said Jim Lorenson, chair of the Aspirus Ironwood Hospi...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MARENISCO - Nan Powell of Marenisco used to be a teacher in the Watersmeet Township School District. "I'm retired," she kidded in a recent interview with The Globe, "but I bought myself a job." For five years now, she and her husband, Bill, have owned the Old Dutch Bar in Marenisco. As though that were not enough, she said, "I had breast cancer one and one-half years ago. "I was diagnosed in March (of 2017). Fortunately, I have yearly mammograms, and that...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] WAKEFIELD — While the date remains dependent on the weather, the Michigan Department of Transportation announced a new target for when the Jackson Creek Bridge project will be completed. The department announced Thursday the M-28 bridge east of Wakefield is expected to reopen on Oct. 27, weather permitting. The $3.9 million project to replace the bridge with a larger structure has encountered a variety of delays — including weather and construction delays, as well as a recent statewide labor dis...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Gogebic Community College student Savannah Westie, of Mass City, knows about hard work, having hauled hay at a friend's farm near her home for several years. Like with any job, the correct tools are needed, but she said she has never found the right gloves for the job. Enter Invent@NMU, an idea and business incubator based at Northern Michigan University. The Invent@NMU staff were at GCC Thursday afternoon pitching a new product of their...
Editor’s note: This is the first story in a three-part series explaining the ambulance millage request that will be on the Gogebic County ballot in the Nov. 6 election. By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — While Michigan’s November mid-term elections feature many races on the state and national level, a millage question is crucial to Gogebic County voters. Voters are being asked to approve one mill over the next three years for ambulance services. For the first year, the mill would raise $523,548 countywide. Without the millage...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - Record rainfall for the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. Wednesday has sent Ironwood's 2018 precipitation total to nearly 11 inches above average. A total of 2.33 inches fell at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant off Cloverland Drive, setting an Oct. 10 record covering the past 117 years. At 2:20 a.m. Wednesday, wastewater that had not received full treatment was being released into the Montreal River to prevent sewage backups into homes. A...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — It appears Gogebic County will receive a $650,000 fire and rescue vehicle for the Gogebic-Iron Airport at a cost of $8,125. The county board of supervisors on Wednesday approved a resolution authorizing a funding application for the vehicle. Airport manager Mike Harma noted a federal grant will cover most of the costs of the 1,500-gallon fire truck. Iron and Gogebic counties will split the local $16,250 match. County board member Joe Bonovetz, of Bessemer, said an emergency exercise in t...
