Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 5496 - 5520 of 9883
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - Charly Loper was seen Wednesday checking and re-checking survey results Bessemer residents sent in to city hall. The city sent out 980 surveys to residents and received 296 responses. A 30 percent response rate far exceeded what city manager Loper was expecting. She was hoping for a 10 percent return rate. What Loper discovered was the electronic reader was not sufficient to capture the responses. In many questions there was an option to...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday agreed sheriff’s department deputy Brandon Tauer will become a full-time data processing manager-courthouse security officer effective May 1. To replace Tauer, sheriff Peter Matonich was authorized by the board to fill Tauer’s deputy position. Tauer is being trained for the computer technology job currently held by Brad Noren, who is retiring later this year. Rather than keep Tauer as a deputy and pay him overtime in training with Noren...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — The body of a person who had been dead for perhaps years was found Monday afternoon in a house that’s being considered for demolition in Ironwood. The Ironwood Public Safety Department issued a Tuesday news release saying the human remains were discovered around 4 p.m. Monday in a home that was being inspected for demolition this summer. The IPSD was notified by city building inspector Dennis Hewitt when the body was found. It appears as if the person might have owned the house, according to...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD - Sixty-seven competitors from Gogebic and Ontonagon counties descended on Larry's Lucky Strikes Tuesday to bowl and raise money for Special Olympics. Barb Siira, director of Special Olympics Michigan locally since 1972, said they had to cancel the event last Friday due to weather so they held it on Tuesday instead. The Special Olympics, according to Siira, does not receive tax dollars. They rely on a bevy of volunteers and fundraising to sup...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] MERCER, Wis. - The candidates in Mercer's two contested race in April's election had the opportunity to make their cases to voters Tuesday night at the Mercer Candidate Forum. The April 4 ballot will feature John Sendra facing off against incumbent Jim Kichak for town chairman; while incumbent Jeff Stenberg, Tom Thompson and James Schmidt are facing off for two town supervisor seats. Sponsored by the Mercer Public Library and the Iron County Citizen...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD — Barring any unforeseen derailments, Ironwood students will be taking the field as members of the Gogebic Miners this fall after the Ironwood Area Schools Board of Education voted Monday to join the co-op team. “There has been a big decline in the number of student athletes willing to participate in the sport of football,” Superintendent Tim Kolesar said. Given the low turnout in recent years, Kolesar said a number of districts in the area — including Ironwood — have eliminated their jun...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - The Bessemer City Council meeting was over shadowed by the simmering sentiment of its citizens again. City resident Donna Brown submitted a letter to the city council that was read into the record regarding her unhappiness with Bessemer since marijuana came to town. Brown expressed her feelings that medical marijuana was snuck into the town by a prior council and city manager and that she is ashamed of what the city has become. During publi...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY - An Illinois resident waived extradition to that state in Iron County Court Monday afternoon to face charges of being a sexually violent person (escape). David William Hermosillo Jr., 50, of Bloomington, was arrested early Sunday in Mercer by the Iron County Sheriff's Department on a fugitive criminal complaint. Area law enforcement agencies had received a report that Hermosillo might be somewhere on the Gogebic Range. Det. Lt. Paul Samardich...
By ISABELLE KLEINSCHMIDT [email protected] IRONWOOD - As the season draws to a close at the Wolverine Nordic Ski Trail, plans are already being made for next year's trails. The trail hosted a slew of successful events throughout the winter months this year and is in the planning stages of next year's events and development. "We had a great year, and we're looking forward to next year." said trail member Deborah Leonard. Most recently, the Ladies' Lunch was held at the trail. Any ladies int...
By ISABELLE KLEINSCHMIDT [email protected] BESSEMER - Despite the snow and cold weather, Big Powderhorn Mountain held a tropical themed Hawaii Weekend on Saturday. The annual event was comprised of an on hill scavenger hunt with clues scattered throughout the slopes, a raffle, and prizes from the Powderhorn Gifts & Brews gift-shop. "Lots of people really enjoy the scavenger hunt." said General Manager and Co-Owner Bruce Noren. Skiers were given leis upon entering the lodge, which was...
By JAN TUCKER [email protected] Ontonagon County was one of only three counties in the Upper Peninsula which did not see an increase in unemployment in January, according to the Michigan Bureau of Management and Budget. In Ontonagon County the unemployment rate decreased from December’s 9.6 percent to 9.3 percent. One year ago that rate was 8.2 percent. Keweenaw and Luce Counties were the other two that experienced unemployment declines. Gogebic County saw a slight increase in unemployment from 5.4 in December to 6.1 in January. One year ago...
IRONWOOD - Last Saturday, Gary Engstrom of Ironwood finished the Calumet Great Bear Chase cross country ski race naked and prone, registering a fourth place finish in his age bracket. That's pretty good for someone who is 70 years old and had been clinically dead for 10 minutes. Most people would get arrested for finishing a race naked, but Engstrom, who was carried across the line like a true king in the prone position, was given a free pass. Engstrom's clothes had been cut off by emergency...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - Gene Goss' fifth grade class at the Washington School in Bessemer hosted Megan Martell from the Michigan State University Gogebic County Extension office. Martell, including Thursday's session, is halfway through a nutrition curriculum designed to educate the children on healthy eating habits and food sources. On Thursday, Martell focused on nutrition and food labels. When asked why food in the grocery store has labels, the kids answered in...
Three area projects along Michigan's Iron Belle Trail will receive grants through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. In the third round of Iron Belle Trail funding, the DNR received 41 applications and each awarded project will receive up to $30,000 for improvements that include feasibility studies, preliminary construction and engineering of new trail segments, signage for trail segments and trailheads, environmental impact studies and other uses. The North Country Trail Association...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — The $2 million the city of Ironwood will seek in a grant to replace booster pumps at the city well-field would be used for the first phase of a project there, according to city manager Scott Erickson. At a special meeting on Thursday evening, the city commission agreed to seek the $2 million in a Michigan Economic Development Corporation Strategic Fund Community Development Block Grant. The MEDC invited Michigan communities to apply for the Infrastructure Capacity Enhancement competitive f...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD - "It's worth saving," said Mike Wiedl, from Fast Corporation, in response to Pete Sturgul's question on the state of the Hiawatha statue. For Sturgul, who is raising funds to restore the statue with John Rudderg, those words must have been a shock and a relief. Wiedl said their company is one of the few left doing this kind of unique work, with their primary competition coming from China in prefabricated molds. The Fast Corporation made the...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER — The previously discussed partnership between the Downtown Development Authority and city of Bessemer to promote business growth in Bessemer is coming to fruition. According to Charly Loper, city manager, the DDA is announcing the start of their pop-up shop program. The pop-up shop program offers six months free rent to new businesses looking to open in the downtown area of Bessemer. The DDA intention is to kick-start businesses people may have been dreaming about but never had the start-up...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — A special Ironwood City Commission meeting today at 6 p.m. will include a public hearing on a plan to seek Michigan Community Development Block Grant funding for the booster pump replacement project. The session will begin with the public hearing, to be followed by action by the commission. Citizens wishing to comment on the grant application for the city’s well-field pump station project will each have three minutes to state their opinions. A total of $2 million in funding will be sou...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY - With the Federal Emergency Management Agency's approval to move the campground at Saxon Harbor, the Iron County Forestry and Parks Committee voted Tuesday to recommend the Iron County Board of Supervisors choose a new location east of the harbor. County Forestry and Parks Administrator Eric Peterson laid out two potential sites on the property for the campground. "Location one is approximately 3.3 acres and is directly east of the harbor...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] IRONWOOD - Gogebic Community College played host to 24 teams from 12 high schools Tuesday for a Quiz Bowl competition, with Ironwood coming away with two victories. Teams from Ironwood, L'Anse, Phillips, Hurley, Houghton, Republic-Michigamme, Chassell, Hancock, Bessemer, Watersmeet, West Iron County and Wakefield-Marenisco squared off in two divisions over the span of 5.5 hours. On a warm Tuesday, revenge for Ironwood was best served cold. The team...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission on Monday approved sewer and water rate increases of around $5 a month to help pay for debt service for the summer phase 4 infrastructure project. Water rate increases of 5 percent and sewer hikes of 2.24 percent were approved by the three commissioners attending the meeting, with a 2 percent cost of living (inflationary) adjustment to both charges. The city commission had previously approved the annual inflationary increases in the rates. City manager Scott E...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRON BELT - A group of students from the Hurley K-12 School and Purdue University's Forestry and Natural Resources program got a chance to go out into the woods Monday and see firsthand some of the real world opportunities natural resource careers provide. "What we're doing is, we're trying to expose both the Hurley kids and the Purdue students to natural resource (opportunities) - to diversify their experiences," said Zach Wilson, a conservation...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD - Ironwood resident Charlie Semo said a close encounter with what he believes was a wolf on Saturday night has him worried for the safety of children in the city. Semo said he stood about 50 feet away from a big black animal around 11 p.m. at his house at 513 Florence St., near the Lindquist Electric business that's on U.S. 2. Semo said he has seen wolves in the wild and there's no doubt in his mind the animal was a wolf. He said he called 911...
