Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 4442 - 4466 of 9797
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - A Tuesday work session of the Wakefield city council resulted in angry city workers voicing complaints about a pending change in work hours. At its most recent regular meeting on Feb. 26, council members had voted to change the city work day from the current schedule of 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. to the later period of 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mayor pro tempore Amy Tarro was the only member to vote no on the change, which was expected to take effect after the Ma...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY — A motion hearing on whether a murder charge against Evan T. Oungst will be heard along with charges against four other defendants will be heard Monday in Iron County Court. Oungst, 27, of Arbor Vitae, is charged in the murder of Wayne M. Valliere Jr., of Lac du Flambeau, and also with hiding a corpse. The motion for Oungst will be heard on the same day Curtis A. Wolfe, 26, of Lac du Flambeau, appears in court for an initial hearing on the same charges. Oungst’s attorney told the court Mon...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY — A large delegation of Lac du Flambeau tribal members attended initial court appearances Monday for four of the five men who are accused of murder and hiding a corpse. All five are charged in the death of Wayne Valliere Jr., 25, of Lac du Flambeau, near Mercer on Dec. 22. James B. Lussier, 19, of Arbor Vitae; Richard F.A. Allen, 27, of Lac du Flambeau; Evan T. Oungst, 27, of Arbor Vitae, and Joseph D. Lussier, 26, of Lac du Flambeau, appeared in Iron County Court before Judge Patrick Madden. M...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — If Ironwood decides to approve any type of marijuana facilities in the city, the action won’t likely come soon. City commissioners and planning commissioners sat down Monday in a work session and discussed the possibility of allowing growing, processing, transportation or testing facilities in the city, but took no action. The matter was referred to the planning commission for discussion at its April meeting. Ironwood joins other cities in the state in not taking action. Community dev...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY - Iron County's success at promoting youth leadership opportunities continues to gain attention, with a group from Hurley recently traveling to Missouri to present at a conference. Iron County 4-H Youth Development Agent Neil Klemme took two Hurley juniors - Tabby Morello and Riley Kangas - and a 4-H youth development educator from Marquette County to present on Iron County's youth first impressions survey over the weekend at the Missouri...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] SAXON, Wis. - Winter doldrums evaporated with 40-degree temperatures on the Lake Superior ice at Saxon Harbor Saturday morning. With only a faint south breeze, fishermen were heading out in snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles to fish for salmon and trout. Kelly Thurow, of Saxon, who runs a charter boat service in the summer, said fishing had slowed down a bit in the past week, but anglers have been picking up a few coho salmon and brown trout. The ice...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] WATERSMEET - The Lac Viex Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians held their eighth annual winter powwow Saturday in the gym of the Watersmeet High School. Chairman James Williams Jr. said the powwow brings people from as far away as Wisconsin, Minnesota and even Canada for the two day get together. When asked why they meet in the winter, Williams said it helps break up the winter and gives their scattered folks a chance to gather together,...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] KIMBALL — The volunteer fire department in Kimball purchased over 45 turkeys, which was 900 frozen pounds of meat. By the time the fundraiser was over Sunday, Chief John Smith expected the food would be gone and department would have around $8,500 in new funds to buy equipment. The fire department plans to buy a new 5 gas meter, which is used to determine air quality. Smith said it can also be used on the body’s of firemen after leaving a burning building to check if they have accumulated any toxic s...
IRONWOOD - With the smell of smoke still in the air from the Feb. 21 downtown fire, shoppers showed up nonetheless Friday for the First Friday celebration in the evening. A small Chelsi's Corner sales area was set up in the Ironwood Theatre lobby for the occasion. The clothing store at 102 E. Aurora St. burned in the fire in which three people lost their lives in upstairs apartments. The cause of the fire has still not been determined, and the street is closed pending razing of the building and...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD - March is National Youth Art month and Gemma Lamb decided to display an area artist's work in a picture window of the Downtown Art Place on Aurora Street. Bella Gaiser, 10, is a faithful artist who only misses classes if she is sick or out of town. She has taken Dabble at DAP classes since she was 5 and has the art portfolio to back that up. While Gaiser has created a lot of art at home, in school, and at the DAP, Lamb said she just laughed...
BESSEMER — The Gogebic Conservation District, working with the Gogebic County Forestry and Parks Commission and the Superior Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society, has been awarded a $9,200 Drummer Fund grant. The money comes from the national Ruffed Grouse Society. The project, in the Gogebic County Forest south of Bessemer, has two aims, according to Jim Finley, GCS Administrator. “One is to maintain and improve six miles of hunter walking trails and wildlife openings in the Mosinee Grouse Enhanced Management System tract near the jun...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Work to open Aurora Street to traffic in front of last week's fatal fire in downtown Ironwood was halted Thursday morning as the contractor and city officials learned they'd have to wait until state-mandated tests of material samples from the burned buildings come back from a laboratory. The early morning fire of Feb. 21 killed three people and heavily damaged two buildings at 102-104 Aurora St. The 102 address included Chelsi's Corner...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY - One-hundred years ago the Spanish Flu shut down much of the Gogebic Range, but not Hurley's booming tavern industry. It was the same year Michigan joined the Prohibition movement, but Wisconsin didn't follow suit until 1920, author Russell Magnaghi told a large audience at the Hurley K-12 School on Thursday evening. He spoke for 45 minutes about how Hurley largely ignored Prohibition and the taverns prospered. Not only did people drink during...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — The board of education for the Wakefield-Marenisco School District learned Monday the district’s new website is up and running. “I think I addressed all concerns to date,” said Jason Gustafson, who created the new site and added if any new suggestion occurs, “I can try to make that happen.” Gustafson is a third grade teacher for the K-12 school and will be superintendent in the next school year. The new website, www.wmschools.org, welcomes viewers with an exterior view of the school, as...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood Area Schools is continuing its search for a new superintendent, with the Michigan Association of School Boards holding a series of meetings Wednesday with various district stakeholders. MASB consultant Mary Brayak said she was meeting with various district employees during the day Wednesday and was holding a community meeting that evening. “I’m meeting with support staff — custodians, bus drivers, food service — all those folks. And then throughout the course of the day;...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD - Gogebic Community College Ski Area Management graduate Jake Ingle, who grew up in Appleton, Wis. is home in Petosky from the Republic of Korea, where he was instrumental in the construction and maintenance of the snowboarding half pipe used in the Olympic Games. Ingle said, "GCC has opened almost every door for me. The knowledge gained on my internship at Copper (Mountain, Colo.) built a base in mountain operations and I used that to build...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners Wednesday approved a grant application for the Bessemer to Ramsay Iron Belle non-motorized trail project. The board had earlier agreed to apply for the grants to build the trail. The board agreed to forward the grant application to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund for $292,100 out of a total project cost of $1,651,100. The remaining funding for the hiking-biking trail would come from a Michigan Department of Transportation grant for $...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - The pothole-filled East Ayer Street is in line for a summer resurfacing project. The Ironwood City Commission on Monday agreed to seek bids from local contractors for resurfacing the East Ayer roadway from Lake to Southwest Streets as part of the 2018-'19 local street plan. City manager Scott Erickson said the summer work will also include pulverizing and resurfacing Easy Street in the industrial park, from Ayer to U.S. 2, as part of the...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD — Democrat Dana Nessel stopped in Ironwood Tuesday during a tour through the Upper Peninsula in her campaign to win the party’s nomination for Michigan attorney general. Having practiced law for nearly 25 years, one of Nessel’s most famous cases was in 2012 when she challenged Michigan’s ban on adoptions and marriage for same-sex couples in DeBoer v. Snyder. The case would eventually be combined with several others and lead to the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of gay marriage....
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - As of Monday, the Wakefield city council now has a "top three" list of priorities in relation to proposed remodeling of the municipal building. John Larson, the Gwinn-based architect whose "dreamscape" vision has been mulled over by council members in recent months, was on hand to discuss related issues, along with city manager Richard Brackney. The first three priorities are, in order: -Creating a fireproof storage room, which will be made...
IRONWOOD — Ironwood Public Safety Department Director Greg Klecker told the city commission Monday last Wednesday’s fatal downtown fire shows the need for mutual aid agreements. Ironwood firefighters were assisted by the Hurley Fire Depar-tment and so many first responding agencies that Klecker said he is in the process of trying to compile a list of all that helped out. “I’m proud of the way the fire was handled very proficiently and professionally, and proud of the other agencies, too,” Klecker said. “Lives were saved.” He added the peo...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD - Party-goers stepped back in time Saturday night at the Ironwood Memorial Building as they celebrated at the '20s-themed Historic Ironwood Theatre's Wine and Beer Fest. "We had an amazing turnout," said Chris Luxton, one of the co-chairs for the fundraiser. "And I am totally thrilled to see how into it everyone got with the (theme). These people look amazing." She explained the 1920s theme was chosen in recognition of the theatre's 90th...
