Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 5289 - 5313 of 9785
SILVER CITY - Roads have been reopened at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park after ice and snow felled hundreds of trees last week. Jeff Gaertner, park supervisor, said Tuesday, "All roads are open and passable, but park motorists should expect some wood and debris on park roads." Highway 107 to Lake of the Clouds and the road to Summit Peak were closed late Thursday as trees weakened by a thick coating of ice and snow continued to fall, hampering efforts of clean-up crews. The road...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY — The towns of Gurney and Saxon have declared a state of emergency following Wednesday’s ice storm, enabling them to qualify for state funds for the clean-up effort. The declarations are required to receive funds from the Wisconsin Disaster Fund, according to Iron County Emergency Management Director Stacy Ofstad. “It’s a source for the towns (to get reimbursed) some money when it’s a small enough event it doesn’t need state or federal designation,” Ofstad said. “It’s ... a mechanism to help...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - It did not take long Monday for the divisions on the city council to rear their head. It began with mayor Kathy Whitburn reading Star Kolesar's letter regarding the noxious fumes near her house. John Frello followed Whitburn by reading his own letter for addition to the Documents and Correspondence of the city regarding what he considered Ad Hominem attacks on his person at previous meetings. Frello wished to address events from past...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — Veteran weather watchers on the Gogebic Range were scratching their heads to remember an ice storm quite like the one that arrived Wednesday and blanketed the Gogebic Range for two days. The storm caused numerous Xcel Energy power outages that lingered through Saturday in the Saxon-Gurney area as thousands of trees and branches came down under the weight of the ice. All of that ice came crashing to the ground when the temperature hit the 40s on Friday. The sound of the melting ice was a...
By ISABELLE KLEINSCHMIDT [email protected] WAKEFIELD - Dove, Inc. held its 2nd annual Color Fun Run on Saturday morning at Sunday Lake in Wakefield. Despite the recent cold weather, there was a large turn-out for the event. This year, the event was co-sponsored by the Gogebic Range Health Foundation and is held in conjunction with Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Participants began the run at the John Siira pavilion and continued on the path around Sunday lake. While many chose to run,...
By ISABELLE KLEINSCHMIDT [email protected] The DNR ORV Safety Course was held on Saturday at Gogebic Community College. Children for ages 10-15 were present to learn about safety measures and precautions when operating an ORV. The course is held twice a year, once during the spring and once during the fall. The children arrived in the morning and were provided snacks, while being instructed by DNR Certified ORV Safety instructors Kim and Ross Kolesar and Gogebic County Sheriff's...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD — National Arbor Day was Friday. On this day, people around the country plant and dedicate trees to provide oxygen and beautify areas. The Arbor Day foundation even gives away10 free trees for joining, while also providing nursery discounts. Their goal is to make the world cleaner and greener from the back yard to around the world by planting trees where they are needed the most, according to the arborday.org website. But when is a tree more than an oxygen producing, shade providing, v...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - "More teens are killed between prom night and graduation night than any other time of the year," said Gogebic County Sheriff's Department deputy Brandon Lyons at a prom safety program Friday afternoon in Bessemer. Michigan State Police and the GCSD visited Ironwood last Wednesday and Bessemer Friday in an effort to keep kids safe, while encouraging good choices. All the schools on the Michigan side of the border between Ontonagon and...
ST. LOUIS — The Gogebic Range (Hurley-Bessemer) robotics team ranked in the top third Friday in its subdivision in national competition here. The first year team that won a regional tournament in Duluth to qualify for the nationals ranked 19th in its subdivision with a 7-3 record. There were 68 teams in the subdivision. OP Robotics, from Stony Creek, Ontario, ranked first in the same subdivision. A complicated scoring system listed the Gogebic team (6613) with a 1.77 ranking score, tied with two other teams. The first place OP team had a s...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] HURLEY - State Rep. Beth Meyers, Bayfield, of the 74th Assembly District, stopped at the Iron County Courthouse in Hurley Friday morning, where a friendly back and forth with local residents followed and dialogue regarding the concerns and needs of Iron County was shared. Meyers stressed her office maintains records of contacts. If a citizen contacts her office regarding an issue, it is recorded and she can then use those calls or communications in...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] GURNEY, Wis. - Xcel Energy crews were struggling Thursday morning to repair downed lines from the ice storm that began Tuesday night throughout the Gogebic Range. An Xcel worker from Hayward said four or five separate crews were working on the power lines in the Gurney-Saxon area, from Sears Road to the Frontier Bar along U.S. 2. By 6 p.m., power had been restored to Gurney residents. It was a dangerous clean-up effort with pine trees snapping as the li...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD - A group of area seniors gathered at Gogebic Community College Thursday for the final day of the Iron County Aging Unit's Stroll for a Goal walking challenge. Participants met twice a week over the nine-week challenge to walk laps around GCC's indoor track. A total of 16 participants accrued a cumulative 332 miles, according to Mark Marczak, who oversaw the program. Thursday's walking time was cut a bit short, as the group gathered for cak...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — For the first time in four years, the state equalized valuation for Gogebic County has increased. The 2017 valuation of $665,029,752 accepted by the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday is up 1.0796 percent over the $657,927,007 of 2016. The following are the valuations of the municipalities approved on Wednesday: Bessemer — $31,318,292, 4.71 percent of county total: Ironwood — $108,852,130, 16.37 percent; Wakefield — $27,669,715, 4.16 percent; Bessemer Township — $46,458,9...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] An ice and snow storm swept through parts of northern Wisconsin and the western Upper Peninsula Tuesday evening, causing scattered power outages through Wednesday. The cold, wet weather was expected to continue through tonight. The Superior and Bayfield areas started getting snow or freezing rainfall Tuesday night. Rain turned to ice on the trees across the Gogebic Range by Wednesday morning as the thermometer hung around 32 degrees. The snow and...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] The first year Gogebic Range (Hurley-Bessemer) Robotics Team left Tuesday at midnight for the robotics championships in St. Louis. According to Van Hill, the team’s schedule is packed, with very little time not dedicated to the competition, but they do have one scheduled non-robotics event planned. The team carved out time Friday to catch the St. Louis Cardinals host the Cincinnati Reds, weather permitting. The qualification match schedule for the team, going by number 6613, in the Curie Division i...
IRONWOOD - The Entrepreneurial Center for Innovation and Development at Gogebic Community College will host Olympic Gold Medalist Billy Demong. He is executive director for USA Nordic Sports. Demong will be in Ironwood on Wednesday, May 3, to provide multiple programs to the Gogebic Range. He grew up in the Adirondack Mountains and began ski jumping in the Lake Placid Ski Club. A cross country skier as soon as he could walk, he added the longer skis when he was 8 and fell in love with the sport...
BESSEMER — The first day of the trial of an Ironwood woman accused of fleeing the police ended Tuesday with both sides resting their cases in Gogebic County Circuit Court, leaving just closing arguments and deliberations prior to the verdict. Gina Marie Ransanici, 41, of Aspen Street, is facing one felony count of third degree fleeing a police officer; and two misdemeanors — reckless driving and operating a vehicle without a license on her person. The felony carries a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison, while the mis...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] WAKEFIELD - Chicken: It can be an insult, an egg layer, a flavoring and a meal. According to Kathy Makela, fourth grade teacher at the Wakefield-Marenisco School, her class is taking on a new project this spring - the incubation of eggs and the birthing of chicks. Karen Kangas, who raises chickens; and Angie Libertoski, parent of a fourth grade student, brooded and hatched a plan to expose the kids to raising chickens. Kangas visited the fourth grade...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — Township residents will once again be able to pay certain township bills automatically, after the board of trustees passed a resolution accepting electronic payments Monday. The electronic payments will be able to used for sewer and water payments, according to information presented at the meeting, as well as garbage payments. The township previously offered this service, but eliminated it last fall. Township residents have been inquiring about it, according to township o...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission learned Monday that bids for the city’s Hardest Hit demolition project will be opened on Thursday. City manager Scott Erickson said the bids will likely come before the city commission for action at the next commission meeting. On Monday, commissioners released a lien on property at 324 E. Oak St. so a house can be torn down there as part of the summer project. Earlier in the meeting, city code enforcement officer Jason Alonen noted 136 blighted structures in...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - Volunteers from both Ironwood and Bessemer united for a Saturday clean-up event on the Iron Belle Trail as part of the worldwide Earth Day celebration. Around 20 people showed up at Depot Park in Ironwood and got their hands dirty for the trail clean-up and an equal number of people gathered at the Bessemer end of the non-motorized trail. The volunteers said they were pleased that a day earlier, students from both Ironwood and Bessemer had...
KIMBALL, Wis. - A crowd gathered at Little Finland Sunday to hear Ernie Korpela's presentation on Finnish history, just one of the events Little Finland is holding to mark the centennial celebration of Finnish independence. Korpela, who was born and raised in Wakefield and now lives in Cornucopia, Wis., began by going over his family's history - including his father in law, who managed a Finnish bread co-op in Superior Wis., that supplied many of Gogebic Range's co-op stores. He said that like...
