Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 4642 - 4666 of 9883
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] WAKEFIELD - Deon Ervans knew at least three years ago he wanted to go into cosmetology. Back then as a junior at the Wakefield-Marenisco school, he wanted to study at the Paul Mitchell school in Escanaba. In comparing Gogebic Community College's program and the Paul Mitchell program, Ervans decided to stay local, as GCC had a higher success rate and cost less. On Dec. 15, Ervans completed the three-semester program at GCC, but must delay entry into...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] MADISON, Wis. — A bill to continue the muzzleloader deer hunt on the Apostle Islands passed the Wisconsin legislature Tuesday. The state Senate passed the bi-partisan bill, which had originated in the state Assembly, sending the legislation to Gov. Scott Walker’s desk. If signed into law, Assembly Bill 626 would eliminate a potential unintended consequence of Wisconsin Act 50 — which was passed in 2011. That law banned most gun-deer seasons prior to the Saturday before Thanksgiving, with the excep...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — Two people were appointed to the Gogebic County Transit Board Wednesday by the county board. Bill McMullin and Carrie Hampston were appointed, as recommended by GCT director Jim Mildren, who attended Wednesday’s county board meeting. Two county board members, Bob Orlich and Dan Siirila, were critical of Mildren because he included negative comments about another candidate for the transit board, Larry Rovelsky. Mildren, an Ironwood City Commission member, said Rovelsky has been involved in...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — A lengthy debate over whether to apply for a matching grant for window replacements on a fairgrounds building led to a compromise vote by the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners Wednesday. Board members weren’t comfortable with matching a possible $25,000 grant from the state with $25,000 in county money for 113 new windows in the cattle barn. Instead, they agreed to appropriate $25,000 to be used for a structural study of the fairgrounds buildings. Commissioner Tom Laabs, of Iro...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield city council voted Monday to support current city policy that allows qualifying city employees to receive medical insurance from the time they retire until age 65 or whenever Medicare coverage occurs. The vote includes the caveat that the council will reevaluate its insurance coverage before the next union contract is set. Under current policy, city employees may continue to receive insurance coverage for themselves (but not spouses) until they turn 65 or until Medicare c...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] The winter storm that swept through the Gogebic Range Monday evening and early Tuesday didn't produce excessive amounts of snow, but drifting conditions made driving hazardous. U.S. 2 near Ashland was closed Monday evening because of winds whipping heavy snow off Lake Superior across the highway. Winds gusted as high as 30 mph across the Upper Peninsula. Parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin received more than a foot of snow. Area snowfall totals varied...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - Before Jan. 1, Wakefield had an ambulance parked in its main street fire hall. But Mike Yon, chief of the city's volunteer fire department, told the Wakefield City Council Monday the ambulance is no longer there. Yon said that Beacon Ambulance Service, as of the start of the year, decided that staffing challenges would make it impossible to continue housing one of its vans in Wakefield. So what happens when a Wakefield citizen calls 911 with a...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer Public Library will host two resume workshops in February. Librarian Melissa Lupino said people can come to either the Feb. 3 or Feb. 8 workshops, both at 10 a.m., and leave with a resume in hand for their next job. Lupino said she has seen resumes that were nothing more than one or two sentences on a piece of paper, because many people do not know how to complete one. On the flip side, a person may have a federal eight-page resume while applying for civilian jobs that only a...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] MARENISCO - Marenisco Township officials made it official Monday, opening the new pavilion in Donald McKenzie Memorial Park with a cut of a ceremonial ribbon and some coffee and goodies for those who came to celebrate. While the structure was built this past summer using a $400,000 Department of Natural Resources Trust Fund Grant, Marenisco Police Chief Bruce Mahler said the township had been working on the project since 2005. Grant proposals were...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - If the residents who participated in a recent survey have their way, Ironwood Township won't be the site of any commercial medical marijuana facilities. That's what the township board of trustees heard Monday night as it got a breakdown of the survey's results. Darrin Kimbler, the vice chair of the township's planning commission, presented the results of the medical marijuana portion of the commission's larger land-use survey. He...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — Ironwood City Commissioners offered some input to new Ironwood Public Safety Department Director Greg Klecker after he reviewed 2017 crime statistics at Monday's regular meeting. Klecker said the department received 3,751 calls through 911 and for general service. He said 335 criminal or violation-type calls were responded to, or 9 percent of the total. A total of 91 percent of the calls involved civil complaints or those that didn't result in crimes. IPSD officers wrote 300 tickets and r...
BESSEMER - Dave Rowe, A.D. Johnston High School science teacher for the past 27 years, combined with the muscle and brains of his students, is working at creating a fishable pond in Bluff Valley Park. On Tuesday, Rowe presented the Bessemer City Council with an update on the work and a formal thanks for allowing the students to study in the park. Rowe said, "In one way or another I have been bringing my classes to the park every year for my entire teaching career," before elaborating on their...
IRONWOOD - Sharon's Coffee Company in Hurley turned into "Ole and Lena's Supper Club" Saturday night, as the performers for the Historic Ironwood Theatre's presentation of "Ole and Lena's 50th Wedding Anniversary and Vow Renewal" joined diners for a five-course Scandinavian dinner before heading to the theater for the play. The downtown restaurant was filled to capacity for the dinner, and even had to turn down some requests. According to Zona Wick, president of the theater board, Sharon's came...
WOODRUFF, Wis. - More Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation wardens will patrol northern Wisconsin trails this month following a rash of serious injury and fatal snowmobile accidents. There have been five fatal snowmobile accidents in Iron and Price Counties, including three last weekend. DNR Lt. Dave Walz, of Woodruff, said one death is too many in any snowmobile season. "Our goal is to educate and focus on the common cause of crashes, speed and alcohol. Stressing safety tips...
BESSEMER — Black River Harbor will be closed until September, according Tony Holland, a representative from the Ottawa National Forest, who spoke at the Gogebic Coservation District’s meeting Friday in Bessemer. Gogebic Conservation District Administrator Jim Finley said Snow Country Construction had received a permit for work at Black River Harbor. Holland said he expected the footbridge over the Black River to be accessible through the work. Finley said Enbridge had received five permits for pipeline work in the county, adding he did not exp...
ONTONAGON — More than two weeks of frigid weather is reflecting in Ontonagon County frost tubes. Ontonagon County Road Commission frost tubes, located on U.S. 45, near Bruce Crossing, U.S. 45 at Woodspur, and M-64, between White Pine and Bergland, are monitored as a way to determine the extent of spring thaw. The bitter cold weather recently has already frozen the roads to depths recorded in February of last year. On Feb. 16 last year, the Bruce Crossing tube was frozen to a depth of 42 inches. This year, on Jan. 18 the tube was already f...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - Bessemer City Manager Charly Loper had an idea to invite the public to do more than comment on the direction of the city's desired renovation of Bluff Valley Park. Loper said she noticed during master plan discussions how integral the park was for many people and their identities with Bessemer. With that in mind, Loper's brainchild evolved into a public-sourced idea factory originating in the minds of the community, not only Bessemer, but t...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] MILWAUKEE, Wis. — While the Iron County Board of Supervisors voted in December to join other counties in suing several pharmaceutical companies for their alleged roles in fueling the nationwide opioid crisis, it wasn’t until the lawsuit was actually filed earlier this month that many details in the case were spelled out. Iron County is one of 12 Wisconsin counties listed as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed Jan. 5 in federal court in Milwaukee; with Brown, Crawford, Juneau, Kewaunee, Out...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY — After Hurley High School teacher Aaron Bender’s vehicle slid off icy U.S. 2 in Saxon early in the winter and plunged down an embankment near a bridge, he is using the experience in his personal finance class. Bender told the Hurley School Board Monday students are learning how automobile insurance works following the scary personal injury accident that also involved his daughter. Bender said it’s the fifth year that personal finance is being taught in the Hurley K-12 School and that met with...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER — The man found guilty of attempting to rob the Ironwood Holiday gas station was sentenced to prison Tuesday in Gogebic County Circuit Court. Chadd Mathias Andert, 36, was sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison for assault with a dangerous weapon. He received a jail credit of 383 days for time served prior to his sentence. A jury found Andert guilty of the charge Nov. 7. It was one of several options the jury had to pick from, but they could only find him guilty of a single char...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER — While he is still facing charges in Wisconsin, a Stevens Point, Wis., man was sentenced for burglary charges in Gogebic County Circuit Court Tuesday. Daniel Allan Erickson, 29, was sentenced to the 254 days in jail he had already served for possession of a burglary tool. When he pleaded guilty to the charge in December, he told Gogebic County Circuit Judge Michael Pope he had a lock pick in his pocket when he was arrested in Ironwood Jan. 17, 2017. He pleaded guilty to the charge as p...
