Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 629 - 653 of 9883
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] IRONWOOD - Gogebic Community College celebrated its 89th commencement ceremony on Friday evening, with families, friends and faculty celebrating the achievements of this year's graduating class. The commencement presented 195 certificates and degrees, spread across multiple departments. Some students earned multiple certificates and-or degrees. The ceremony began with the processional, as students walked to their seats to "Pomp and Circumstance" played by...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] HURLEY — After months of study the Hurley School District has settled on a new dust collection system for the school’s shop classroom. The school board was presented with three system proposals from Stainless Specialists of Wausau and voted to purchase a system including installation for $359,685. District Superintendent Kevin Genisot said he expects the system to be installed over a three-week period, perhaps in the fall. The current dust collection system predates the school, which opened in 19...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] HURLEY — Members of the Iron County Comprehensive Planning/Land and Zoning Committee voted on Tuesday to deny the construction of a recreation-based business at a site owned by Melvin Pemble on Boyer Road in Mercer. The application by Chad Bierbrauer would have included a 3-unit campground with rental cabins, storage buildings, and pontoon and snowmobile rentals. The committee’s action followed a conditional use public hearing attended by several residents of that district. “There’s approximately 80 resi...
By JASON JUNO [email protected] Hurley senior Eli Talsma eats lunch daily with 8-year-old Nante Niemi and he’s gone sledding and tubing with him in the winter. So when the search party Talsma joined closed in on the missing Hurley second grader Monday afternoon in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, Niemi recognized him. “When we were running up to him, he was like ‘Eli,’” Talsma said. “That was pretty emotional.” Niemi went missing Saturday afternoon while camping with family. Forty-eight hours later, a private searc...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD - The status of the connecting link between Ramsay and Wakefield is again in question for Trail 2. The trail, which is managed in part by the Gogebic Range Trail Authority, in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, is used by snowmobilers in the winter and by ORV riders in other seasons. Last fall, the Wakefield City Council granted permission for the trail to be rerouted along land that includes city property running...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Bessemer Parks and Recreation Commission agreed last week on a three-year plan to improve the status of the fishing pond in Bluff Valley Park. “The long range should be to plant some fish and get kids off their computers for an afternoon to catch some fish,” said Russ Maki, the commission member who suggested the idea in a previous meeting. Toward that end, Maki introduced two local specialists who could provide related advice: Jerry Edde, a retired fisheries biologist for the O...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD — Ironwood’s compost site will be free to use for city residents this year. On advice from the city manager Paul Anderson, the City Commission on Monday approved a change in policy for use of the facility on Ayer Street. There will no charge for pickup truck or trailer loads of leaves and yard waste, as well as tree and tree limb disposal for city residents. Non-residents will not be allowed to use the facility. The facility will be open Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] GOGEBIC COUNTY — A meeting of the minds on Tuesday resulted in the unprecedented decision to facilitate the temporary transfer of water from the city of Bessemer to surrounding communities that have been under a water boil advisory for more than a week. The city of Wakefield traditionally supplies water — via the Gogebic Range Water Authority — to Wakefield city and township, Bessemer Township and Ironwood Township. However, on April 26, Wakefield city officials began issuing regular advisories for GRWA...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD — Voters in the Ironwood Area School District defeated a $16 million bond proposal Tuesday. The vote failed 62% to 38%, with 1,154 people voting “no” and 711 voting “yes.” The proposal called for building an Early Education Center on the site of the former Josephson’s Nursing Home next to the Luther L. Wright K-12 School. The surrounding area would have included a playground, parking area and redesigned bus loop at a cost of around $10.5 million. An additional $5.5 million was proposed for...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] GOGEBIC RANGE - Attempts to ascertain damage from a mid-April storm that could result in federal emergency funds have been thwarted by yet another storm that started last Saturday night and ended late Tuesday afternoon. But Heidi DeRosso, 911/emergency coordinator for Gogebic County, told county commissioners last week that her county already has calculated $10.6 million in damages. On Tuesday, she was among several officials who told The Globe that full...
WATERSMEET — Voters in Watersmeet Township approved an operating millage renewal on Tuesday. By a vote of 195 to 46 (81% yes to 19% no), the voters approved a four-year renewal of 3.5 mils. According to the ballot language, 3.5 mills ($3.50 per $1,000 of taxable value) is to be levied for four years, 2023 through 2026 inclusive, for “general township operating purposes, raising an estimated $703,826 in the first year the millage is levied.” Watersmeet Township Clerk Julie Mathiesen said last week that if the renewal were to fail, they would...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] After melting snow and a recent blizzard created multiple floods throughout the region, emergency declarations issued by the state have grown in the past week from three to eight counties in the western U.P. That’s the word from Heidi DeRosso, Gogebic County 911/emergency coordinator, who is working with a state emergency coordinator and other regional officials. The counties include Gogebic, Ontonagon, Houghton, Baraga, Alger, Dickinson, Iron and Marquette. Lt. Jeffery Yonker, first district c...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Ironwood Area Schools are preparing for their spring music season, with band and choir performances lined up through the rest of the school year. With the spring band and choir concerts rapidly approaching, band director Kirk McBrayer and choral director Darin Schmidt were shared what the students are working on for the future. Band The Ironwood band had quite a lot of participation for the solo and ensemble competition, according to...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Bessemer City Council voted Monday evening to work toward resolving what Mayor Adam Zak said is unprecedented damage of city roads. “I’ve looked at multiple roads,” said Zak. “A lot of roads are still terrible. Realistically, this can has been kicked down the road for far too long.” Zak said he had discussed the issue with Councilman Terry Kryshak and they had concluded that “enough is enough.” “We have to do something,” agreed Kryshak, who said that city office staff member...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Gogebic-Iron County Airport Board held a special meeting on Monday afternoon to finalize its recommendation for the Essential Air Service for their airport. The board voted unanimously to recommend that Denver Air continue to act as its airline. Board member Jim Lorensen made the motion to approve Denver Air as their recommended carrier, saying: “For the following reasons: they are a 121 service airline, they have proven the timeliness and completion of flight, have proven their cus...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] You can always count on an April snowstorm, but the blizzard that hit early this week was more like a weather war between ongoing spring floods and a significant blast of snow. "I'm pretty sure the consensus around the county is it's not much fun," said Trooper James Rohrer of Michigan State Police Post 87 in Wakefield. On Monday in that town, Ascherman Street - a north/south byway that parallels the main street - was drifted with snow and blockaded from...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners received good and bad news last week regarding the equalized valuation of county property for 2023. The report was presented by Kathy Jo Koval, the county’s equalization director. She told the commission that the grand total of the equalized value of the county’s real and personal property is $862,640,503. The good news is that it includes an increase of $99,255,512 over 2022. Koval said that amounts to “a 13% increase over last year....
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Members of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners used an April 12 meeting of their Economic and Capital Improvements Committee to concentrate solely on learning about how to use insurance to best protect the county, its property and its individual citizens. It turns out that the solutions, for the most part, are not cheap. The question-and-answer session was anchored by a representative of the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority — better known by its acronym of MMRMA — which market...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] HURLEY — Three Iron County departments expect to move to a 4-day week for the months of June, July and August, thanks to action by the county’s Finance Committee last week. The change in schedule pertains to the offices of County Clerk Michael Saari, County Treasurer Clara Maki and Register of Deeds Daniel Soine, and it is contingent on approval by the Iron County Board of Supervisors in its April 25 meeting. In approved by the county board, the three offices will exchange in summer months their nor...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission heard from city manager Paul Anderson Monday that the city is monitoring the level of the Montreal River after a winter with more than 200 inches of snow and a period of warm weather in the past week. City staff are re-bagging 5,000 old sandbags at the Public Safety Department to have on hand in the case of a flood event, he said, as part of the city’s emergency response plan. Anderson also reported that while Coleman Engineering is working on the design of t...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — Although Bessemer expects to close out a 3-year utility project by the end of this year, the City Council already is pledging to address additional work that could run for an additional three years. Toward that end, the council voted on Monday evening to approve three resolutions that agree to project plans presented by the Escanaba office of C2AE and that authorize the firm to seek related grant funds. If the work is funded and scheduled as soon as possible, it could represent continuing w...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — At a Monday evening meeting of the Bessemer City Council, members voted to utilize a formulaic collection of data on applicants applying for the pending opening for a Department of Public Works director. They also voted to advertise the job externally after having posted it internally since March 28. As of their previous meeting on March 27, council members decided to start early in seeking a replacement for Neal Nelson, who is expected to retire by fall. “These are not traditional resume-type...
By MEGAN HUGHES [email protected] MERCER, Wis. - The Mercer Lions hosted their annual egg hunt event at the Mercer School on Saturday morning, with a visit from the easter bunny. Lion member Louise Minisan said the eggs were hidden in several key places in the school. "We separated them by age group, so the older kids didn't overrun the little ones." The eggs were filled with candy and Minisan estimated that more than 1,000 had been hidden. She said members of the school's Leo Club hid...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD — Members of the Gogebic County Fair Board voted on Monday evening to move the fair’s mud races from Sunday afternoon to Saturday evening in hopes of reestablishing a rodeo on Sunday afternoon. This year’s fair will run from Aug. 10-13. Monday’s action reversed a decision in a previous meeting to move the races from Saturday to Sunday when a formerly lined up rodeo company backed out for insurance reasons. Monday’s vote split nearly evenly. Linda Nelson, Crystal Suzik, Melinda Kostac, Shelley S...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] WAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP — Despite some continuing snowfall, spring has sprung, and it was evident last Saturday at Jackson Creek Summit in Wakefield Township. Snowriver Mountain Resort was celebrating Hawaiian Day, and it brought out a bevy of snow gear in every color of the rainbow as skiers loaded the slopes to enjoy the site’s last weekend of skiing. The festive day included two fun races and even had one woman singing as she headed down the slopes. In a Sunday phone call, Snowriver General Manager Benjamin...
