Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
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By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - With the SISU cross country ski marathon scheduled for today, along with professional snowmobile racing at the fairgrounds track, downtown Ironwood kicked off the city events on Friday night with another First Friday celebration. The continuing first Friday of the month event downtown focused on a theme of retro ski or snowmobile wear. At the fittingly named Cold Iron Brewing, Gary Engstrom drew attention with his retro ski jumping gear,...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER - An Ironwood man pleaded guilty to drug charges in Gogebic County Circuit Court Thursday. Colton Samuel Carl Fontecchio, 23, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and operating while impaired as part of a plea agreement that will have two additional misdemeanors dismissed at sentencing. The agreement also calls for a county jail cap in the case, which would limit Fontecchio's sentence to less than one year. The possession charge...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD — Gogebic County Sheriff’s Department deputy Adam Zak received word on Dec. 26 that area businesses were receiving bad checks from a business account that did not exist. The checks to Forslund’s and Steiger’s hardware stores in the hundreds of dollars each were primarily used for construction equipment. Most of the equipment has been returned to the stores after it was recovered at an area motel. The Ironwood Public Safety Department and sheriff’s department obtained a vehicle descripti...
IRONWOOD — The SISU Ski Fest has announced a 90-minute delay in the start of all Saturday cross country ski events, including the 31-kilometer SISU, the 15-k Heikki Lunta and the 5-k Hauska Hiihto Fun Ski. Weather forecasts call for below zero temperatures on Saturday, with a warming trend forecast for the early morning. With the 90-minute delay, temperatures are forecast to be around 5-below at the start of the 31k at 10:20 a.m., and 5 above by the end of all races at 3:30 p.m. Winds are forecast to be mild and from the south. According to r...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - The Powerball drawing was estimated to have a winning purse around 440 million at 7:30 p.m., Wednesday. A crowd moved through Stempihars in Bessemer between 4:30 and 5 p.m., where about 30 tickets were sold. Between 5 and 5:20 p.m., only 3-4 customers bought Powerball tickets, although one customer did buy three scratch tickets. Cigarettes appeared to be the hot ticket for the after five crowd. Deb Fergus, paying for fuel for the Gogebic...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance notes in a new report the state’s relatively high property taxes are mostly because there are so many fingers in the pie. Wisconsin has more units of government dipping into the property tax pie than many other states. Wisconsin’s property tax bills finance K-12 schools, municipalities, counties and technical colleges. A state tax was also on the previous tax bill, but that small fee has been eliminated this year. It was only around $6 on a total tax bill of $2,...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] BESSEMER — While a plea agreement may still be reached, a trial date has been set in the case against former Ironwood Township treasurer Jyl Olson-DeRosso. Unless a deal happens; jury selection is scheduled to take place April 30, with the trial beginning May 1. Olson-DeRosso is facing ten felonies — five counts of forgery, one count of embezzlement by a public official, refusing to turn over records to a successor, removal and destruction of public records, using public money for her own use and...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - While the average temperature in Ironwood in 2017 was nearly identical to the 117-year norm, it was anything but a typical year weather-wise. The average reading of 40.3 degrees was slightly above the long-term norm of 40.1, according to statistics for Ironwood kept by the National Weather Service office in Marquette. The record high reading was 46.4 degrees in 1938, according to the NWS. Wacky weather included an April 26-27 ice storm that c...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY — Even though it can’t be the site of Saxon Harbor’s campground, Iron County has completed the acquisition of a piece of land directly east of the harbor. The county first began the process of acquiring the 115-acre parcel as part of the larger rebuilding of Saxon Harbor after it was destroyed in the July 11, 2016 storm. The property had been intended to serve as the location for the harbor’s campground after the county was prevented from rebuilding on the old campground site due to a state...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER — The city of Bessemer returned from the holiday break and got right back to business with its first city council meeting of the new year. Mayor Adam Zak read a correspondence from Senator Tom Casperson saying the Ojibway prison in Marinesco is not on the chopping block in the event a prison is closed in Michigan. The council agreed this was good news, but also counter to much of the rumors and they would stay cautiously optimistic. The city received a request for a letter of support r...
IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - Even though the cold temperatures kept most people from staying outside too long, it failed to dampen the mood at Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort Sunday as the ski hill hosted its annual New Year's Eve party. The party kicked off with the hill's ski patrol holding a torch-lit parade down one of the runs, followed by a fireworks display. Powderhorn General Manager Bruce Noren said the parade is a long-standing part of New Year's, with Powderhorn possibly being the first local...
RAMSAY — A snowmobiler was killed crossing U.S. 2 Saturday afternoon, making it the county’s second snowmobile death in 26 hours. The man — whose name is being withheld pending the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Department’s notification of the family — was identified as a 52-year-old Wisconsin resident. The department’s initial investigation indicated he was attempting to cross U.S. 2 at the intersection with Ramsay Road shortly before 1 p.m. when he was hit by an eastbound pickup truck, according to a department press release. While the investiga...
Editor’s note: The Daily Globe is counting down the top five local stories of 2017. Ironwood Township’s financial irregularities and the criminal charges against former township treasurer Jyl Olson-DeRosso was selected as the biggest story of the year. IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP – News broke in May that former Ironwood Township Treasurer Jyl Olson-DeRosso was facing felony charges for allegedly embezzling money while in office. Gogebic County Prosecutor Nick Jacobs initially charged Olson-DeRosso with nine felonies — five counts of forgery, one count o...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Superior Snowshoe Walking group has released its 2018 schedule. It is the seventh year for the snowshoe walks and while Sam Davey said they used to have 100-plus come out for each walk, they now average somewhere between 40 to 100, however the weather is a mitigating factor in attendance, as real cold nights tend to have limited participation. Davey said the walks are community events, open to the public, and if someone would like to try, but does not have snowshoes, he or she can c...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] Now comes the real nasty stuff. After a week of sub-zero temperatures across the Gogebic Range, a winter weather advisory was in effect for Iron County, Wis., and the Ironwood area through Sunday. The National Weather Service also said a wind-chill advisory was in effect through Monday morning. Lake-effect snow was expected, perhaps as much as a foot in the Ironwood area. While the winds this week have been mostly out of the south, they could blow from the north and that will create even colder...
BOB HAWKINSON, of Mellen, Wis., attempts to start his vintage red Rupp snowmobile at the Ironwood Depot Park Friday night. Snowmobilers kicked off today's vintage races at the Gogebic County Fairgrounds in Ironwood with the traditional Friday night parade of machines to Hurley, followed by fireworks. At 2 degrees, the Rupp eventually started in time to get in line for the parade....
By Ian MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD - The three-man team making up Fat Kids Racing arrived at the Gogebic County Fairgrounds Thursday with every intention of leaving winners. Josh Hitsman, team driver, has raced in the Vintage Snowmobile Olympus for the last two years, making this his third run. His cousin, Clayton Radtke, worked the pit both of those years and also returns. They bring their friend, Nathan Rosten, for the second year in a row. The team made the 4.5-hour drive...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — The 20-below weather of this week is taking a toll on some Ironwood residents’ homes. City utilities director Bob Tervonen told the city commission Thursday that city residents should make sure their crawlspace areas and basements remain heated. There have been about a half-dozen cases in the city of frozen water lines into the basements, he said. “Using a fan to blow air into the cooler areas of the basement and crawlspaces can help a lot,” Tervonen said. One week into winter, Ironwood has...
Editor’s note: The Daily Globe is counting down the top five local stories of 2017. The rebuilding effort following the July 2016 storm was chosen as the second biggest story of the year. By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] Last year’s big July storm, which claimed a life in Iron County, Wis., and caused millions of dollars of damage across the region, continued to make headlines in both Michigan and Wisconsin in 2017. Wisconsin The year began with good news as Iron County learned on Jan. 12 it had been awarded three grants — totalin...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] Editor's note: The Daily Globe is counting down the Gogebic Range's top five stories of 2017 each day this week. The editorial department staff sat down and came up with the annual list, naming Bessemer's election and marijuana passage as the third-place story of the year. BESSEMER - For the majority of 2017, the Bessemer City Council and planning commission debated, worked, argued and eventually passed new ordinances allowing medical marijuana facili...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — Gogebic County will seek a grant to cover the $20,125 cost of new voting machines. The county board of commissioners voted 6-0 Wednesday to seek the grant through the Help America Vote Act which allows the county to apply for voting equipment for all precincts in the county. The new system would be used for the first time during the 2018 election cycle, according to county clerk Gerry Pelissero. “There would be no cost to the county for the first five years,” Pelissero said. The board appro...
