Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 5518 - 5542 of 9883
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...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Mental Health Facility in Wakefield hosted the Range Suicide Prevention Council on Friday. The groups discussed the combining of the Gogebic-Ontonagon Suicide Prevention Council and RSPC into one community-wide organization, according to Pat Gallinagh, of the RSPC. Crystal Suzik, parent liaison, said combining groups is much less challenging than originally thought, not requiring name adoption or legal documentation because they are combining resources and agencies w...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD - Spaghetti was on the menu Sunday at the Breakwater Restaurant in Ironwood as the Gogebic-Iron Detachment 1133 of the Marine Corps League held its annual fundraiser. As a cross-border detachment, the group sends the proceeds from the fundraiser to locations in both Michigan and Wisconsin, according to detachment Commandant Gary Kusz. The money will go to the Wisconsin Veterans Home in King, Wis.; the D.J. Jacobetti Home for Veterans, in...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Ice Crystals put on quite a display of figure skating talent this weekend at the Patrick O'Donnell Civic Center, as the group performed a variety of routines for its 33rd annual show. The theme of this year's performance was "Colors." A total of three shows were performed Saturday and Sunday; with Sunday's event drawing the largest crowd in the past four years, according to the group's Program Director Rebecca Samson. Samson said the...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] HURLEY — A new lease agreement with the Eagle Bluff County Club will be acted on by the Hurley City Council at its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening. The city of Hurley owns the 18-hole golf course, which is leased and operated by an Eagle Bluff board of directors. The finance committee of the council, consisting of Rob Lanctoe, Joanne Bruneau and Steve Lombardo, will discuss a new lease agreement and make a recommendation before it is acted on by the full council. The golf course board p...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP - The Copper Peak Board of Directors approved an easement Wednesday with the Sisu Dirt Crew, opening up a recently constructed trail system on the hill to public use this season. While the trails are currently closed through spring melt to prevent damage, Dirt Crew secretary Paul Anderson said the easement allows the trails to open later this season for biking, hiking and other non-motorized activities. "As soon as they're dry,...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] More than 100 years ago, Juliette Gordon "Daisy" Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts, organized the first troop on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Ga. The mission of the Girl Scouts has remained the same since then - "to build girls of courage, confidence, and character that make the world a better place." The Girls Scouts of the USA received its official charter from Congress on March 16, 1950. According to the Girl Scouts' website, the Girl Scouts...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — A 5:25 p.m. Monday public hearing on a grant application for a playground will precede the regular Ironwood City Commission meeting. The purpose of the hearing is to receive comments on a Michigan Department of Natural Resources Recreational Passport grant application being submitted for the construction of a North Lowell Street Playground on the corner of North Lowell Street and East Midland Avenue. The application will then be acted on by the commission during its regular meeting. The comm...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] HURLEY — The Iron County Board of Supervisors’ Finance Committee approved purchasing water testing equipment Thursday necessary to complete surface tests of the Montreal River watershed that LaPointe Iron Company would like to be completed. County board chair Joe Pinardi said he and clerk Michael Saari had been in contact with LaPointe representatives about the testing and the company is asking the county to bear the cost of the equipment to avoid any potential appearance of impropriety or tha...
Although the Upper Peninsula hosted thousands of snowmobilers earlier this winter when there was little snow elsewhere, there have been no fatal accidents this winter, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The MDNR’s fatality report, last updated on March 3, indicated four fatal accidents in the state. That compares to the 2015-’16 winter season when the state recorded 24 fatalities, with the last one occurring on March 5, 2016, when a snowmobiler struck a deer in Presque Isle County. Last winter, there were 12 U.P. snowmobile fat...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] The West Allis Radio Amateur Club will host another Wisconsin QSO party, like it has since 1996. A QSO party is where ham radio stations anywhere in the world attempt to make contact with Wisconsin ham stations for points while Wisconsin ham stations contact anywhere else in the world for points on Sunday, March 12, from 1 to 8 p.m. Awards are given to the highest contact rate in different categories and the contest is open to all amateur radio operators in the world. Each of Wisconsin’s 72 c...
Gusty west winds that continued on Wednesday morning combined with snow on the Gogebic Range to create some hazardous driving conditions and power outages. Trees and branches fell across many roadways Tuesday and Wednesday as debris was scattered throughout the area by 30 to 50 mph winds. Highway billboard signs in Ironwood and Kimball, Wis., blew down during wind peaks, trash cans were damaged and leaves were scattered like on a late autumn day. Most of the previous snow had melted, so the...
BESSEMER — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners Wednesday tabled a proposal to move a sheriff’s department deputy into a part-time data processing position for a three-month period to prepare for the retirement of Brad Noren. The proposal is to eventually replace Noren with Brandon Tauer, who is now a full-time deputy. At a technology committee meeting on March 1, the committee recommended the move for three or four months, with the details to be worked out with the sheriff’s union and a job description to be drafted, if needed. Noren...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] Temperatures that reached into the 50s across the Gogebic Range on Monday, combined with strong west and southerly winds, evaporated the little snow cover that remained. The spring-like weather closed most area snowmobile trails. The warm temperatures had turned the trails into slush and mud over the weekend. With no snow in the immediate forecast, trails were in very poor shape or closed on Tuesday. The Hurley Area Chamber of Commerce said all Iron...
HURLEY — A student at the Hurley K-12 School had been “removed from school pending further investigation,” after the student allegedly threatened other students, the Iron County Sheriff’s Department and Hurley Police Department announced Tuesday. According to a joint press release, the two departments said they had been called to the school to investigate “verbal/written threats” that had been made by a student in a classroom. Due to the involvement of minors, Sheriff’s Department officials declined to provide additional information; but the re...
By JAN TUCKER [email protected] ONTONAGON — Ontonagon County is the place to get the “most bang for the buck” in Michigan, according to study by Smart Asset, a financial technology company. In addition to property taxes, the study analyzed the quality of local schools and the local crime rate of every county to determine where people were seeing the most value. On a scale of 1 to 10, Ontonagon schools ranked 10. Officials at Smart Asset calculated the average mathematics and reading language arts proficiencies for all districts in the countr...
By IAN MINIELLY [email protected] BESSEMER - Those time worn words uttered during the trial of Jesus, "What is truth," found call for usage on Monday during the Bessemer City Council meeting. During a discussion focused on updating the cities social media policy, Charly Loper, city manager, mentioned three options to address with the policy changes. Those options were: A. Employees and city officials personal use of social media, B. Management of the cities official page and...
By RICHARD JENKINS [email protected] IRONWOOD - Ironwood kicked off the start of National School Breakfast Week Monday, continuing the district's practice of ensuring every student has access to a free breakfast. National School Breakfast Week was launched in 1989, according to Food Service Director Mary Hampston Kusz, to, "Raise awareness of the availability of school breakfasts." This year's theme is to "Take the School Breakfast Challenge," Hampston Kusz said. In keeping with the...
By RALPH ANSAMI [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission on Monday listed a pump station improvement project as its top goal for 2017 and then learned there’s a chance a grant will finance a good portion of the work. City manager Scott Erickson said the city plans to apply for a Michigan Economic Development Commission grant that could provide between $500,000 and $2 million for a project. Erickson said the grant application is due by April 7 and the project would be funded for 2018. He said there’s no guarantee the c...
By JUSTIN LIBERTOSKI [email protected] IRONWOOD - Luther L. Wright hosted the second annual Great Northern Cheer Challenge on Saturday afternoon. Teams from Hurley, Ironwood, L'Anse and Negaunee participated in the competition. The Ironwood Red Devils took first place for the second year in a row, followed by L'Anse in second place, Hurley in third, and Negaunee taking home fourth place. According to the program, "The goal of this competition is to be a fun and positive experience for chee...
