Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 785 - 809 of 9883
SAXON, Wis. - One of the most popular events at this year's Iron County Fair was the draft horse pulling contest, in which four 2-horse teams pulled thousands of pounds in an attempt to show who's boss. It turns out that every team left with an award, but that seemed less important than the sheer excitement that the Sunday contest generated among all parties: horses, drivers and members of the audience who watched in anticipation from the fairground grandstands or from behind a fence...
IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission held a closeout public hearing on the Downtown City Square project prior to the regular meeting on Monday. Routsala Concrete Construction finished concrete work in the city square and embedded a steel city logo near the intersection of Aurora and Lowell streets in June. Jerry Wuorenmaa, executive director of the Western U.P. Planning and Development Region, reported the completion of the project to the commission. Wuorenmaa said that a Community Development Block Grant provided $1,475,927 toward administr...
SAXON, Wis. - Saxon had a high-energy weekend with three fun-filled days of activities at the Iron County Fair. As the aroma of familiar fair foods wafted throughout the air, ongoing music - whether live or piped in - provided an additional lift, along with the squeals of kids enjoying a host of carnival rides. Rain posed a threat on Saturday, but resulted only in some inconsequential sprinkles during festivities that drew a steady stream of people of all ages moving in every direction....
Email calendar items and community news to [email protected]. For more information, call 906-932-2211. Tuesday, Aug. 9 Pickleball, 9 a.m.-noon, Patterson Courts, Ironwood. Bessemer St. Vincent de Paul, financial assistance, 9-10 a.m.; food pantry, 10 a.m. to noon. 906-663-4436. Gogebic County Veterans Service Officer, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Ironwood Memorial Building. 906-667-1110. Ironwood St. Vincent de Paul, food pantry and financial assistance, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., located behind Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. 906-932-4325. Friends of... Full story
LAKE GOGEBIC — A project to repair damaged ramp planks at the Lake Gogebic State Park boating access site in Gogebic County will require temporary closure of the launch beginning Aug. 15. The construction is slated to take roughly two weeks, with the boating access site scheduled to re-open after Sept. 2, according to Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials. During the work, boaters will have access to Lake Gogebic via four other boating access points located on the lake. Those sites include: access at the Bergland Township Park, l...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] SAXON, Wis. - The Iron County Fair got off to a rolling start with registrations starting on Thursday evening at the fairgrounds in Saxon. There was activity throughout the grounds, with riders running their horses in formation on one end of the property while 4-H exhibits stood ready on the other end. In between, stalls for cattle and goats were mostly full while registrations were expected to continue into Friday. Spread throughout were food and...
MERCER, Wis. - Wednesday's Loon Day in Mercer was a huge success, with dozens of tented stalls lining Railroad Street, Lakeview Avenue and neighboring locales. The shopping extravaganza lured a constant flow of wandering adults, skipping kids and lolling dogs, all captivated by aromatic snacks and hundreds of items for sale. The temporary market offered items as small as key rings and as large as furniture. Welcome vendor staples such as pretty clothes and yard signs were available in...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD — Gogebic Community College faculty decided on Tuesday to close its Ironwood campus, including the Lindquist Center, on Wednesday and today “due to recent threats and uncertainty.” A Facebook post from the college says that Ironwood campus staff will be working remotely and the Copper Country Center in Houghton will remain open on these days. The Gogebic County Sheriff’s Department received a bomb threat directed at Gogebic Community College on Monday. College president Dr. George McNulty...
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] Voters in Gogebic County renewed two millages in Tuesday's primary election - continuing support of the HOPE Animal Shelter and a parttime animal control officer; as well as the Gogebic Medical Care Facility. The animal control program millage renewal passed with 84% of the vote, 2,099 to 410. It calls for an annual levy of 0.2 mills over four years to support the operation of the HOPE Animal Shelter and part-time animal control officer. The...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD - The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners prohibited the use of several fairgrounds buildings on July 27, just two weeks before the Gogebic County Fair on Aug. 11-14. With less than two weeks left before the fair, the fair board met on Monday to discuss how to move forward with this announcement. Gogebic County contracted the Houghton-based firm U.P. Engineers and Architects to perform a buildings study earlier this year. The study...
HANCOCK — Six Upper Peninsula health departments and 36 community partners recently published the latest edition of the Community Health Needs Assessment covering all 15 U.P. counties. The 458-page report, now available online to the general public, provides information on the health status of U.P.’s 300,000 residents. The 18-month project was led by local health departments in collaboration with hospitals, behavioral health agencies and health foundations. It includes data on health across the lifespan, access to care, community issues lik...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley Education Foundation inducted three distinguished alumni from schools in the Hurley School District into their list of Distinguished Alumni and Friends at their 19th annual induction ceremony on Saturday. Col. Michael Downey, a salutatorian of the Saxon High School class of 1958, was the first of the new inductees to be honored at Saturday’s ceremony. Maj. Gen. Rodney Hannula, another Saxon graduate who was inducted into the foundation in 2019, gave a brief presentation on Dow...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] GREENLAND - Fine weather favored a great outcome for the Ontonagon County Fair, which celebrated its 50th anniversary at its Greenland location over the weekend. Saturday was the main day, and it was bustling with people enjoying activities from one end of the grounds to the other. One consistently popular choice was a ride led by Tim Duncan, who was hauling children in colorful, kid-sized carts that were attached to his tractor in a train-like fashion....
By LARRY HOLCOMBE [email protected] IRONWOOD - Eleven days, 685 miles. All on a bicycle. All on the Iron Belle Trail. That summed up the bulk of Tomas Quinones' vacation back to his home state of Michigan this month. He started at Belle Isle in Detroit on July 16 and rolled across the bridge across the Montreal River on Wednesday morning. If your counting, that's 12 days, but the software engineer from Portland, Oregon, took the second day off as he visited his parents in Grand Blanc...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] BESSEMER — Following a study of the county fairgrounds by U.P. Engineers and Architects, the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners decided to prohibit the use of the grandstand and poultry and exhibition buildings unless authorized by a structural engineer. The county contracted the Houghton-based architecture firm to perform a buildings study earlier this year. The study recommended against further use of the fairgrounds’ poultry barn. It said that the building should be repaired in “great detail” o...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — At their monthly meeting on Tuesday, the Iron County Board of Supervisors agreed to request additional information before acting on the finance committee’s recommendation to increase the employee wages at a starting point of 4.5%. Board chair Joseph Pinardi said that he discussed the matter with Iron County Clerk Michael Saari prior to the meeting. They concluded that a 4.5% wage increase for all county employees would widen the gap between the highest- and lowest-paid employees. Ins...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] HURLEY - Persons of Polish ancestry had the opportunity to learn a little more about their origins by attending a Wednesday evening presentation at the Iron County Historical Museum. The session was specifically within the former courthouse of the building, which once was known as the Iron County Courthouse. Jay M. Orbik, an Illinois genealogist, was at the site to present information on Polish immigration to the Gogebic Range, specifically from Iron...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] The Wisconsin primary election will take place Aug. 9. By turning out to vote, Wisconsinites will be able to decide which candidates will appear on the general election ballot in November. On a local level, Iron County Sheriff Paul W. Samardich is running for re-election as Republican. There is no candidate for sheriff on the Democratic ballot. Conversely, Iron County’s Clerk of Court Karen M. Ransanici is running for re-election as a Democrat, and there are no candidates for the position on the R...
ONTONAGON — Ontonagon Village Manager William DuPont called the $3.1 million included in the recently approved state budget toward the debt the village of Ontonagon has to the Michigan Employees Retirement System a “huge step.” The village has $8.17 million in unfunded liability to the MERS fund. DuPont emphasized it is a “first step” and the village will continue to right the ship. The budget also includes an opportunity for entities, such as the village, to apply for grants to help communities with their MERS debt. “We expect to apply for s...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] BESSEMER — In 2018, Michigan citizens voted to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan. Ever since then, the Bessemer City Council has said no to any given offer from businesses hoping to set up related enterprise in that city. At their Monday evening meeting, the council received yet another offer from Frost Bite Management Inc., based in Baraga, Michigan. Frost Bite uses the brand name of Farm Science, based in Warren, Michigan, and the parent company of the brand name is Vendco Michigan, Inc., b...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] LAND O'LAKES, Wis. - Kites were flying high on Saturday as members of the Wisconsin Kiters Club provided demonstrations and workshops in conjunction with the past weekend's Airport Days at King's Land O'Lakes Airport in Wisconsin. "I love this kite," said Catherine Piotrowski of Milwaukee as she prepared to launch her device that was designed to look like a gigantic Chinese fan. In fact, Piotrowski said she bought the kite from a man who was in the midst...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HANCOCK — Because of an increase in COVID-19 cases in the county, Gogebic County was reclassified as a “high” level of community spread in the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department’s weekly update on Saturday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all people take additional precautions at high community levels. These include wearing a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status. At medium and high community levels, the CDC recommends that im...
By P.J. GLISSON [email protected] IRONWOOD - Saturday night's audience for the Blooze Brothers was whistling and hooting even before the concert began, and the enthusiasm only grew as the performance proceeded over a three-hour span at the Historic Ironwood Theatre. The response from the full house was no surprise as the 11-member Chicago band took the stage by storm, providing a level of talent that was not only musical, but magical, and always compounded by relentless physical fun....
