Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 4538 - 4562 of 9862
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - An Ironwood City Commission candidate in the last election was one of the residents of 102 E. Aurora St. who escaped the Wednesday fire that left at least two people dead. David Kinnunen told KBJR-TV 6 that fire crews rescued him from his second story window with the Ironwood Public Safety Department ladder truck. "I remember the smoke. I remember smelling it and I went in the hallway and that was full of smoke and I knew I had to get out,"...
IRONWOOD — Another body has been found in the aftermath of Wednesday's fire in downtown Ironwood, bringing the total number of fatalities to three. The body was the second recovered Thursday, according to Ironwood Public Safety Director Gregory Klecker. “There are no more remaining persons unaccounted for that we know of,” Klecker said in a press release Friday. The fire began in 102 E. Aurora St. — the home of Chelsi’s Corner boutique and a number of apartments on the upper floors — early W...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD — City barricades continued to block traffic on Aurora Street Thursday after Wednesday’s fire and police tape is keeping people out of the destroyed and adjacent properties. Business owners on the block are parking on adjoining streets, leaving Aurora empty and filling Suffolk Street. Jan Miskovich, an owner of The Pines restaurant, a block away from the fire, on the corner of Aurora and Suffolk streets, said she ran water for a couple of hours Wednesday night to try and clear the muddy wat...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD - A downtown Ironwood fire that destroyed two buildings Wednesday is also responsible for a loss of life. Ironwood Public Safety Director Gregory Klecker confirmed a single fatality as the result of the early morning fire that destroyed 102 E. Aurora St. - the home of Chelsi's Corner boutique and apartments above it - and an adjoining building to the east. "All that we have right now is one confirmed fatality. That's all we know at this...
IRONWOOD — The city of Ironwood experienced diminished water quality Wednesday because of firefighting operations on East Aurora Street and the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department issued tips to affected city customers. High velocity water flows from fire hydrants necessary to extinguish the fire resulted in brown or cloudy water conditions due to sediments from cast iron water pipes. Residents and businesses, including food establishments, were affected. “Whenever tap water is less than clear in appearance, precautionary measures are...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - The early Wednesday morning fire at 102 E. Aurora St. in downtown Ironwood that resulted in one death and other injuries wasn't the first fatal fire in the building. On Dec. 15, 2006, the body of Greg Pecotte, 25, was found after a third-floor apartment in the building near the corner of Lowell and Aurora streets burned. The Daily Globe reported Pecotte's body was found by firefighters after the blaze was extinguished. At that time, the...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY - It didn't matter who took first, just as long as they didn't finish last Tuesday in Wisconsin's State Supreme Court primary. The race featured three candidates - Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Rebecca Dallet, Madison attorney Tim Burns and Sauk County Circuit Court Judge Michael Screnock - with Screnock and Dallet being the top two vote-getters statewide and easily advancing to face off in the April 3 general election. Iron County's...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - The Eat Smart Knapsacks program, sponsored by the Great Start Collaborative and Michigan State University Extension office in Bessemer, is gathering healthy food and snacks in preparation of providing "knapsacks" to kids in all four Gogebic county public schools -from Watersmeet to Ironwood. Some kids rely on school meals to provide much of their healthy caloric intake, and on breaks may be left without equally nutritious options. The...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — Ironwood was spared the brunt of the winter blast that socked much of Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula Monday. The weather station at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Plant off U.S. 2 received just 3 inches of snow for the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. Tuesday. Elsewhere, winter storm warnings and advisories remained in effect until noon Tuesday, as some areas had previously received more than a foot of snow. The National Weather Service office in Duluth said a w...
Firefighters battled an early morning blaze at 102 E. Aurora Street in Ironwood for several hours early Tuesday morning. Flames and heavy smoke were visible as they fought to keep the fire from spreading beyond two buildings. Additional details are expected once the fire is put out and the scene is cleared.... Full story
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood Area Schools will continue to operate its own busing service, after the district’s board of education voted against privatization Monday. Dave Martinson, who spoke on behalf of the support staff’s union, made the case for keeping the district’s drivers. Martinson argued the move would not only cost the district more than it now spends on transportation, it would also take money out of the area as he said it was unlikely all the district’s employees would be hired and the c...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY — Looking at some small numbers for some small students, the Hurley School Board on Monday decided to extend the district’s pre-kindergarten program to five days a week for the next school year. Board members were shocked when elementary principal Kevin Genisot presented them with projected pre-K enrollments for the next four years. The 2018-’19 class will potentially be 20 students, with the following three years fluctuating between 19 and 23 students. That compares with the current fourth grad...
By JAN TUCKER [email protected] ONTONAGON - Terry Anderson, speech language pathologist with the Early On program of the Gogebic Ontonagon Intermediate School District, explained the program to the Ontonagon Area Board of Education Monday. Anderson explained she works, under a grant, for children zero to three years old, who have a delay of 20 percent in language or speech ability. Presently she is working with eight families in their homes between White Pine, Greenland, Mass City, Rockland...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] WAKEFIELD - The weather was excellent for Saturday's fishing derby to raise funds for Wakefield's Volunteer Fire Department. Whereas last year there was a layer of slush on the ice, this year the ice was perfect for fishing, and it was not too cold either. CJ Perttula set up about 100 feet further west than last year, but that was not the only change. Perttula was seen sporting a homemade fish catching device, which even works sometimes. Perttula...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] MERCER - A nearly 30-inch northern pike made Angie Grimm the first-place winner of $125 at Saturday's Mercer Lions Club annual ice fishing tournament. Matt Weber, who was in the same group as Grimm, said in a Sunday phone interview the group as a whole pulled in 11 other northern pike, ranging from about 18 to 25 inches. He said they also got "60-some crappies." According to Weber, Grimm's fish was 28.5 inches, and she caught it with a walleye sucker in...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD — When Kate Greenough of Bessemer began studying art at Oakland Community College, she focused on ceramics. That was years ago, and she’s had a considerable journey since then, she said in a Saturday interview at Theatre North. Specifically, she explained, “Being a wife and mother, that put me in a different direction.” Greenough, who was invited to display her works while the theatre presents the play “Marvin’s Room,” said she did not work on her art at all during most of the time she raised her...
EAGLE RIVER, Wis. — A day after news broke that an Iron County murder suspect unsuccessfully tried to turn himself in to the Vilas County Jail a week ago, a reward for his arrest was announced. James B. Lussier, 19, of Arbor Vitae, showed up at the Vilas County Justice Center in Eagle River on Feb. 9, but was told he needed to turn himself in to the Iron County Sheriff’s Department in Hurley instead. He and two female companions then left the building without him being detained. On Friday, Vilas County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Patrick...
EAGLE RIVER, Wis. — A published story says a 19-year-old man wanted in an Iron County, Wis., murder case tried to turn himself in to Vilas County authorities last Friday. The Lakeland Times reported Thursday that James B. Lussier, 19, of Arbor Vitae, showed up at the Vilas County Justice Center that evening, but was told he needed to turn himself in to the Iron County Sheriff’s Department in Hurley instead. He then left the building without being detained, the story says. Lussier and four other men are charged in the death Wayne Valliere, 25,...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - Byron Hooyman, A.D. Johnston High School student, learned last September, with about 16,000 other students nationwide, that his academic achievement and test scores earned recognition as a semi-finalist as a National Merit Scholar. The NMS program began in 1955 and high school students are entered into the program when taking the preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, the initial screening point of about 1.6 million...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — A five-year recreation plan adopted by the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday outlines yearly capital improvements projects. The plan was approved on a 5-0 vote, with Joe Bonovetz and Jeff Wasley absent. For this year, the plan calls for improvements to trails and a trailhead upgrade in the Powers Road area of Ironwood Township, at a cost of $7,500, and access road improvements and a kayak launch at McDonald Lake, for $13,500. The projects would be covered with local f...
MERCER, Wis. — Because of popular demand after its last offering, Fe University will again hold a two-day cross country skiing class. Chad McGrath will teach the class, which runs from 1 to 3 p.m. Feb. 27 and March 1 at the MECCA warming cabin in Mercer. “Instruction will be targeted for adults, including older adults, who perhaps ski a little, but feel they would ski more if they improved their technique,” a Fe University spokesperson said in a news release. “Instruction will begin with the basics but will also focus on the needs of the stu...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] LANSING — Much like the road itself, a more than $4.7 million state grant announced Wednesday to improve County Road 519 is intended to smooth the way for the development of the Copperwood copper mining project in northern Gogebic County. The $4,775,321 state transportation economic development grant is designed to help fund a Gogebic County Road Commission project to reconstruct 13 miles of County Road 519 between M-28 and the site of Highland Copper’s Copperwood Project to make the road an all...
