Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 932 - 956 of 9873
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer School Board is trying to determine what to do with the light posts on Massie Field. The posts are starting to show signs of their age and are in need of a fresh coat of paint. The booster club has been trying to raise $32,100 to have all the posts painted and sealed for nearly two years, but is still $15,000 shy of that goal and time is running out on the bid. According to the board, the poles are higher than most, in order to avoid being struck by fly-balls. Board members expr...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] As of late April, most of the snow appears to have melted in the western Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin, barring some small patches here and there. Of course, the snowmelt has to go somewhere and bodies of water such as the Black River in Gogebic County are at high tide. However, there has been no major flooding on the roads so far, according to Heidi DeRosso, emergency management/911 coordinator in Gogebic County, and Stacy Ofstad, director o...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] MERCER, Wis. — The Mercer Public Library’s Earth Day Fair returned to the Mercer Community Center on Saturday after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fair provided an opportunity for people to learn about Earth-friendly opportunities and organizations in the community. More than 100 people attended the event, which was comprised of 14 vendors and featured a virtual presentation from April Hepokoski, founder of the Zero-Waste Duluth Facebook page. She spoke about ways to reduce one’s e...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY - The city of Hurley's first female mayor, Joanne Bruneau, was sworn in at the full council meeting on Tuesday. New alderpersons Joseph Pinardi and Rita Franzoi, who ran unopposed for open seats on the council left vacant by departing mayor Jay "Budgey" Aijala and Steven Lombardo, also took their oaths of office at the meeting. After doing this, the council held a restructuring meeting where they designated their official depositories as...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD — The city of Wakefield now has its own weather station installed at city hall. The city decided to have its own weather monitoring service after having to claim responsibility for sewer issues as a result of readings based in Ironwood. “The big thing for this is that when we do our rain time, if we get 3.9 inches of rain in a 24-hour period or more and our sewer has a problem, it’s a county instance,” said city manager Rob Brown. “The problem that we have currently is that we have to use ra...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HOUGHTON — The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department posted its weekly COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday and each of the five counties in the area still has low COVID-19 community level by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention measurements. However, the seven-day case count went up again to 41 new cases – 24 in Houghton County, nine in Gogebic and eight in Ontonagon – from 21 new cases last week. The March 13 update itself represented an increase from 10 new cases the previous week. On the o...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] MONTREAL, Wis. - A new councilmember was sworn in at the Montreal Common Council meeting on Tuesday. Following the meeting, Steve Fiene is now one of two council members for Ward 1 along with Maleah Cummings. "It's a big seat to fill but I'll be able to do it, to the best of my ability," Fiene said about his appointment. Fiene is filling a position left vacant by Ken Saari, who did not run in the Iron County 2022 general election. Incumbent Mayor...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — The Iron County Board of Supervisors held a restructuring meeting at the Iron County Courthouse in the wake of the April 5 elections on Tuesday. The composition of the board remained largely unchanged from their previous meeting in March, as the only contested position with two or more named candidates on the ballot was Iron County supervisor for district 12 and that race was ultimately won by incumbent candidate Opal Roberts. The position of county supervisor for district 6 was on the b...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - Area junior/high school students took a field trip to the Historical Ironwood Theatre on Tuesday morning for a screening and discussion on the film " Coming Up for Air; It All Happens in a Moment." The film "focuses on the struggles and the uncertainty that family and friends of a person experiencing mental health issues go through," according to a press release from Gogebic County Community Mental Health. "It really isn't focused on suicide,...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - After a brief surge of colder weather and some light snow accumulation over the last couple of days, the National Weather Service in Marquette is predicting warmer weather across the U.P. by the end of the week. "Right now with the lake being roughly freezing, maybe a few degrees above freezing here and there, it doesn't take much to get any kind of energy transfer from the lake to the atmosphere," said meteorologist Joe Phillips of NWS on...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY — Following the Iron County general elections on April 5, Joanne Bruneau was appointed the first female mayor of the city of Hurley. Bruneau outlined her plans for the next two years in broad strokes for the Daily Globe on Tuesday. “My goals are to improve the city’s infrastructure, secure infrastructure money for repairs that need to be done and work with the department heads to keep the city running as efficiently as possible,” Bruneau told the Daily Globe. Bruneau said that she was initial...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD – The city of Ironwood is hosting its 19th annual spring cleanup behind the Ironwood Public Safety Department on 123 W. McLeod Ave. from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 29 and 8 to 11 a.m. on April 30. There will be no charge for this service. City staff request that residents use the entrance off Alfred Wright Boulevard to enter the unloading area on the cleanup days. “We really encourage people to take advantage of this if they have anything they need to get rid of,” City Manager Scott Erick...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - The city of Bessemer Downtown Development Authority is considering applying for a loan against its future revenue in order to be able to have a more aesthetic curb appeal following the U.S. 2 project. The city has the option of having colored concrete laid down to provide a visually-appealing separation of the highway curb and the sidewalk from Mill Street to Peck Street. "It's all about what's going to make this town stand out as different...
BY CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer Downtown Development Authority was focused on how best to spend its monies to help grow the businesses in the community, during its meeting on Thursday night. The Downtown Development Authority approved popup shop funding for Melissa Anderson owner of Mel’s Cuts Barber Shop. The shop is located directly across from A.D. Johnston High School, in the small green building at 101 East Lead Street. Anderson grew up in Bessemer and graduated from ADJ. She said she has 24 years exp...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - As Christians everywhere celebrate the culmination of Holy Week this Easter Sunday, local pastors are focused on guiding their parishioners to a closer relationship with God and the promise of salvation. "This year's theme is keeping our eyes on the heavenly or on the holy," said Pastor Keith Mullikin of Wesley United Methodist Church in Ironwood and the Wakefield United Methodist church in Wakefield. "We're so focused on the mundane around...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield sewer system was overwhelmed with surface water due to heavy rains and melting snow on Wednesday. “The rain coupled with snowmelt placed extreme pressure on the City’s sanitary sewer system,” city officials announced on social media. In an effort to prevent untreated wastewater from backing up into residents basements, city manager Rob Brown said that city staff took action and began releasing untreated, highly diluted raw sewage outside the sanitary sewer system. The water w...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] BESSEMER – Two ballot proposals for the Aug. 2 election in Gogebic County were approved by a narrow margin of 4-3 at the county board of supervisors regular meeting on Wednesday. The proposals are levy renewals for the Gogebic County Medical Care Facility and animal control program. The proposals are to renew the levy of 0.6 mills for the medical care facility for 2023-2026 for the continued payment of “maintenance of effort” costs and to renew the levy of 0.2 mills for HOPE Animal Shelter and the p...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield Planning Commission adopted bylaws during its regular meeting on Tuesday night. “Planning Commission bylaws are a necessary step in the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Redevelopment Ready Community program,” city manager Rob Brown said. The bylaws delegate the process for the election of commission members, their terms of office, member removal and replacement and other details about meetings, records, quorum, conflicts of interest and duties. The commiss...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - The city of Bessemer is considering a less expensive storm sewer layout for the Galena Street and South State Street areas which tie into storm sewer along Mill Street and near the city garage. According to project manager Darren Pionk of C2AE, the storm sewer infrastructure in that area is aging out and needs to be replaced. "It's a major storm interceptor for the city. The work is not included or fundable through the USDA (U.S. Department...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood City Commission held a public hearing on Monday to hear comment on an ordinance adding a Human Relations and Equity Committee to the city’s administration. The commission adopted this ordinance by a 4-1 vote. City Manager Scott Erickson said that this ordinance would set up a five-member committee, with members appointed by the city commission. He said that the committee would advise the commission on how to make the city more diverse and inclusive. He said that three mem...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD — Wakefield residents living in the Plymouth Location have some challenging sewer repairs ahead. City manager Rob Brown informed the council during its regular meeting on Monday that a sewer backup in one property had led to the discovery of an unusual and complicated sewer layout for the district. Brown explained to the council, during his city manager report, that after a backed up sewer had been cleared from one property, the neighboring property immediately begin to have a sewer p...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer library has applied for grant funding to aid with three of its community engagement projects. Librarian Melissa Lupino said that she applied for two grants that are being offered by the American Association of Retired Persons. One of the grants would provide $8,000 for recreational equipment. The equipment is intended to go along with the new Iron Belle trailhead to be built south of City Hall, Lupino said. “The city is working on the trailhead project right behind city hal...
