Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 4537 - 4561 of 9883
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...
By STEVE NEWMAN [email protected] WAKEFIELD - Julie DeRosie and her service and therapy dog, Remington, came to the Wakefield Public Library Saturday to listen to kids read. Remington is an enthusiastic 2-year old mixed-breed dog who has been trained by DeRosie to provide therapy for children and adults. DeRosie, a Bessemer resident, trained Remington, and they have been tested and certified by Pet Partners; a nationwide organization that seeks to improve human health and well-being throug...
The Michigan Department of Transportation and local agencies are today enacting annual spring weight restrictions to protect roads. Effective 6 a.m., weight restrictions were imposed and will be enforced on all state trunkline highways from the Michigan-Indiana and Michigan-Ohio state lines north to, and including, the Mackinac Bridge. State routes typically carry M, I or US designations. In the restricted areas, the following will apply: —On routes designated as “all-season” (designated in green and gold on the MDOT Truck Operators Map), there...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD — The three victims who died in Wednesday’s fire in downtown Ironwood have been identified. Mark Arnold Verrete, 57; Patrick James Somerville, 51, and Levi Dean Watkins, 27, all of Ironwood, lost their lives in the fire, Ironwood Public Safety Department Director Gregory Klecker said in a news release Friday afternoon. “The Ironwood Public Safety Department extends our sincere condolences and sympathies to the surviving family members for their losses in this tragic incident,” Klecker said... Full story
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Gogebic Range is a place where neighbors often help each other, once again demonstrated in the aftermath of Wednesday's fire that left two buildings destroyed, three dead and others homeless. The fire started in the building at 102 E. Aurora St. in downtown Ironwood - which housed Chelsi's Corner boutique and nine apartment units - and now the building's neighbors are gathering to lead the effort helping those trying to rebuild. "We... Full story
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...
