Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Sorted by date Results 960 - 984 of 9883
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...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] HURLEY — The Hurley community was able to come out to the Hurley K-12 School sugarhouse on Saturday to watch as students in the district’s Tappin’ and Sappin’ program produced and bottled fresh maple syrup. During the demonstration students, with the assistance of Darrin Kimbler of Extension Iron County, wood shop instructor Roger Peterson, and science teacher Dan Rye, explained to the community the process of maple syrup making from collecting the sap...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - Bessemer's Bluff Valley Park may soon have a facelift. City Manager Charly Loper announced during the monthly Recreation Committee meeting that she applied for a $100,000 grant from Kubota Tractor Corporation, of Grapevine, Texas, to update the park. According to Loper the company is offering five $100,000 grants and one of the recipients will be given an additional $100,000. She said the company is also offering some "smaller" things as...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER — The Bessemer Library has partnered with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to provide free COVID-19 at home test kits to the community. Library director Melissa Lupino said MDHHS started a pilot program for the test kits in lower Michigan at a handful of libraries. “It must have gone well, because they opened it up for other libraries to volunteer to be one of these sights, and we threw our hat in and we were chosen to be one of the distribution sights,” she said. The l...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] BESSEMER - Following a recent building study, Gogebic County Board of Commissioners Chair Jim Lorenson concluded that the county needs a new jail. A Jail Committee was formed at the board's meeting on March 23 and it came back to the board Wednesday with a recommendation for a contractor to establish a jail design study. Lorenson said that the newly appointed committee met with Tom Weber, an independent contractor specializing in justice system and...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Norrie Park Community Garden in Ironwood is open for registration to gardeners who want to rent a plot and grow a basic vegetable garden this year. For those who are new to gardening, the Range Master Gardener volunteers and officials with the University of Wisconsin-Madison – Extension Iron County offer help getting started. Plot sizes are 10 by 20 feet. Gardeners who rented plots in prior years will have the first opportunity to renew their plots for the 2022 growing season. The rem...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] The winners of the Iron County 2022 general election were announced on Tuesday evening following voting earlier in the day. The election determined who will serve as county supervisors for the next two years, in addition to members of the Hurley and Montreal city councils, and the Hurley and Mercer school boards. The only contested position for a county board seat was in District 12, where voters had to choose between incumbent Opal Roberts and Hank...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD — A water project the city of Wakefield hoped to start this year may have to be postponed until 2023 as a result of some delays that will cause the project to go out for bid in late May or June, according to city manager Rob Brown. Brown said that he is not sure the city will be able to find a company to bid on the project with a reasonable offer so late in the season. The city obtained funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Division for $2.925 million project a...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] IRONWOOD — The Ironwood Parks and Recreation Committee discussed upcoming projects for Miners Memorial Heritage Park at their regular meeting on Monday. On March 28, the Ironwood City Commission approved the parks and recreation committee’s recommendation to submit a trust fund grant application to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for the development of a one-mile lighted ski trail. The lighted ski trail would be located on a one-mile loop of Miners Memorial Heritage Park. Director of Com...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY – The community has been invited by the Hurley School District to see their new maple syrup operation in action in the school parking lot from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. “This will be a ‘soft’ open house where you can observe students boiling sap, filtering, and bottling maple syrup in their new sap shack. There may be syrup available for purchase,” a release from the school says. The students who will be making the maple syrup are high schoolers in the Northwoods Manufactu...
Today is Election Day in Wisconsin and Iron County residents will elect members to the Iron County Board of Supervisors, as well as the Hurley City Council, Montreal City Council, Mercer Town Board, and Hurley and Mercer school boards. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The only contests for the Iron County Board Supervisors are in Districts 6 and 12. In District 12, incumbent Opal Roberts is challenged by Hank Joustra, both of Mercer. No one filed paperwork for the District 6 position before the deadline in January, so that seat will go to...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD - Sexual assault awareness was the focus of a presentation by Downtown Art Place artists Katie Rose and Tracy Truesdell as part of Ironwood's First Friday at the Incredible Bank Friday evening. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The people who came helped create journals to be given to the local Domestic Violence Escape shelter. Some inscribed them with messages of hope. Rose and Truesdell guided others in decorating the journal covers...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - Students at Washington Elementary School in Bessemer excitedly bought books throughout the week at the first book fair the school has held in years, according to school principal Mark Switzer. "I think it is really good," Switzer said. "We haven't had a book fair in years. So we are kind of arcing towards a little normalcy." Switzer said that the book fair was extremely well attended and "incredibly busy." He said the kids seemed to really...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HOUGHTON — Low COVID-19 community levels continued in Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw and Ontonagon counties, according to an update from the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department on Thursday. In all, just 44 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the five counties in the seven days since March 23, including four in Baraga County, five in Gogebic, 28 in Houghton, four in Keweenaw and three in Ontonagon. There were, however, two deaths – one in Gogebic and one in Houghton. The county with the hig...
By ZACHARY MARANO [email protected] HURLEY - The Iron County Board of Supervisors considered the purchase of two floor scrubbers for the forestry and parks department/highway commission building and the Iron County Courthouse and a remodel and upgrade of the courtroom on the second floor of the courthouse at their regular meeting on Tuesday. At the Iron County Finance Committee meeting on March 10, Board of Supervisors Chair Joseph Pinardi said that building custodian, Melinda Nasi,...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] IRONWOOD — Dennis Svoke, Mechanical Engineering Technology (MET) program instructor at Gogebic Community College presented a program review to the college board of trustees during its regular meeting on Tuesday night. The MET program is designed for students who wish to design and manufacture products in accordance with industry standards, he said. Within their first year of study, students earn a Certificate in Manufacturing Technology. After completing the second year of the program, they earn an a...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] BESSEMER - Students filed into the A.D. Johnston High School Library on Tuesday to fill knapsacks for their comrades in need of food during break through the Gogebic County Eat Smart Knapsack Program. The program was established six years ago as a way of providing food for children who depend on school meals for their daily nutritional needs. "It's a huge collaborative effort," said Crystal Suzik of the Gogebic County Great Start Collaborative. The...
By CHARITY SMITH [email protected] WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield City Council passed an animal ordinance amendment during its regular council meeting on Monday night. The ordinance is the result of city staff and law enforcement receiving several dog complaints through 2021. The complaints included issues with dogs running at large, excessive barking, dog feces and a dog attack that resulted in the death of another dog. The issues were reviewed at length by the city planning commission, which reviewed the current animal ordinance, and t...
