IRONWOOD — Aspirus Inc. announced plans today to build a new health care complex in the western U.P. Aspirus Grandview in Ironwood will tear down the current clinic attached to the hospital. A new outpatient clinic, cancer care center, and physical rehab center will be built in its place. The new hospital addition will be
Read More | Hospital announces expansion plans
UPDATE — Wednesday, July 7, 2015 4:25 p.m. EDT The names involved in Tuesday’s death in Ironwood have been released. Ironwood Public Safety says that the victim is 32-year-old Patrick Mullen Jr. of Ironwood. Mullen Jr. was allegedly dropped off at a house on the 600 block of E. Oak St. shortly before 2 a.m.
Read More | UPDATE: Names released in heroin overdose, arrest
LANSING — A 66-foot spruce from the western Upper Peninsula will travel to Lansing this month to become Michigan’s 30th official Christmas tree. The tree, which was selected by staff from the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, will arrive at the Capitol the morning of Saturday, Oct. 31. The spruce, which is growing
Read More | U.P. Spruce selected to be state Christmas tree
LANSING — Two counties in the western Upper Peninsula will have a new judge sitting on their benches. Gov. Rick Snyder announced the appointment of Michael Pope of Ironwood to the Thirty–second Circuit Court in Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties. Pope has been in private practice for over 20 years, and he also teaches criminal law
Read More | Snyder appoints circuit court judge
BESSEMER — A U.P. man has been sentenced for his role in the death of another man. Thirty–three year old Martin Brecke will spend the next two to fifteen years in prison for the death of 32–year–old Patrick Mullen Junior. He agreed to a plea deal of involuntary manslaughter in November. Police say Brecke dropped
Read More | Man sentenced to prison on manslaughter charge
MARENISCO — A Wisconsin man is dead after the snowmobile he was riding on struck a tree late Sunday night. At approximately 11:00 p.m, police say 61-year-old John Riley of Darling, WI was riding his snowmobile with some friends on Trail No 2. near Barb Lake, when his snowmobile left the trail and stuck a
Read More | Man dies in snowmobile accident
LAKE GOGEBIC — A Wisconsin man was rescued by police after the snowmobile he was riding fell through the ice. The accident happened Thursday just before 1:30 p.m. on Lake Gogebic. The Ontonagon County Sheriff’s Office says Gregory Strayer of Bonduel, Wisconsin was traveling on his snowmobile across Lake Gogebic, when he went through unsafe
Read More | Snowmobile falls through ice; rider rescued by police
BESSEMER — One man has been arrested and another has been extradited back to the U.P. on several drug charges. Ironwood Public Safety reports that Donald Kirby, 28, of Ironwood Township is back in the U.P. after being arrested in Wisconsin. Kirby faces several charges including possession of meth, heroin and prescription drugs. He is
Read More | Two in jail after GIANT drug bust
BESSEMER — Three people arrested in a meth bust last month have been bound over to circuit court. Twenty–one year old Michael Johnson, 22-year-old Stephanie Junttii and 27-year-old Dylan Smith all waived their preliminary exams in Gogebic County District Court. On February 12th, the Gogebic Iron Area Narcotics Team arrested the three individuals at a
Read More | Meth suspects waive preliminary exams
IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — A Wisconsin man is dead after suffering a head injury during a kayaking trip in Ironwood Township. At approximately 2:30 p.m. Saturday, the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Department and the Michigan State Police – Wakefield Post were dispatched to the Black River near Narrows Creek. A kayaker, identified as 49-year-old Clint Mabie of
Read More | Man dies during kayaking trip
IRONWOOD — Over 530 miles stands between the cities of Ironwood and Flint. You wouldn’t think that these two places– separated by more than eight hours by car– have anything in common, but they actually do. In March of 2015, Jacquart Fabric Products, known for their famous Stormy Kromer hats, was looking to expand. There
Read More | U.P. Company partners with downstate center for work
UPDATE — Monday, June 1st, 2016 7:30 a.m. (EDT) Repairs to Lake Road, Powers Road and Brace Road are ongoing with significant progress being made. Residents in the affected areas are being checked on thoroughly by the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Department. Efforts are being continued regarding Little Girls Point and Wakefield, but no new information
Read More | UPDATE: Storm clean-up progressing well
MARQUETTE — First responders from all over the U.P. gathered today to learn about proper communication during emergencies and disasters. The Michigan State Police held a training seminar at MARESA to discuss how to be an effective public information officer. Instructors sought to explain the importance of informing and educating the public and news media
Read More | First responders gather for conference
LANSING — Funding from the Federal Highway Administration’s Emergency Relief Program could soon be on its way to help repair roads in Gogebic County damaged by last month’s severe storms, thanks to an official request from state officials. The affected areas include portions of Lake Road along Lake Superior as well as various culverts within
Read More | Governor requesting financial assistance for Gogebic County
UPDATE — 4:22 p.m. Tuesday, August 23, 2016 (EDT) — The Gogebic County Sheriff has identified the body as 32-year old Jeramiah Joseph Truckey of Negaunee. UPDATE — 7:17 p.m. Monday, August 22, 2016 (EDT) — Police say after the victim’s body was located at appropriately 9:30 a.m. Monday morning, recovery efforts were hampered due
Read More | UPDATE: Body of missing man found in river
IRONWOOD — The identities of six people arrested as part of an investigation by the Gogebic Iron Area Narcotics Team (GIANT) over the weekend are now known.
Jeffrey Schmiege, Jennifer Powell, Ryan Reinhard, Jakob Applekamp, David Opshal, and Jeffrey Goecki have each been charged with delivery and manufacture of meth and conspiracy to deliver and manufacture meth. Schmiege faces six felony charges in all, including maintaining a drug house.
GIANT executed a search warrant Saturday in Ironwood. During the bust, officers found a substantial amount of crystal meth, prescription medications, marijuana, a firearm and ammunition.
The investigation spanned Gogebic County, Marquette County, Ontonagon County, and Iron County, Wisconsin.
The post Identities of recent drug bust by GIANT released appeared first on ABC 10/CW 5.
WAKEFIELD — Two Wakefield men have been arrested and charged with crimes related to animal cruelty.
Gerald Herlache, 51, and Lawrence Murphy, 52, were arraigned in Gogebic County District Court Monday afternoon on two counts of felony cruelty to ten or more animals. Deputies with the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office seized 19 animals last week from a home in Wakefield.
Both men are currently being held on 10% of a $20,000 bond. The City of Wakefield, Wakefield Fire Department and the HOPE Animal Shelter assisted the sheriff’s office in their investigation.
The post Men arrested on animal cruelty charges appeared first on ABC 10/CW 5.
GOGEBIC COUNTY– Back in February ABC10’s Lauren Lee gave us an inside look at the exploratory drilling conducted in the Porcupine Mountains and nearby land. This week Highland Copper Company took media out to the site once more- but this trip was full of apologies and explanation.
Highland Copper Company employees along with geologists, engineers, and other specialists gathered near the south edge entrance sign to the Porcupine Mountains. As ABC10 highlighted in February Highland Copper Company followed strict guidelines set by DNR while on park grounds- a major rule was to stop the project when temperatures started dropping, ensuring the ground was frozen to minimize impact.
According to DNR and Highland Copper no damage was done while drilling inside the park, the problems occurred along the drill area by County Road 519. Highland Copper Company admitted they chose to continue work outside the park on the Copper wood project.
“We are here today to demonstrate yes, one makes mistakes but one is willing to repair them properly and we will go to the full extent of rehabilitation required by the DEQ,” Executive Vice President of Project Development Carlos Bertoni said. “ We thought it would be safer for us to use the snowmobile trail for tracked vehicles, the problem with tracked vehicles is they churn the ground a lot, hence all the mud they created by driving up and down the snowmobile trail. So in a sense we avoided traffic in the road but we created a problem here, so avoiding a safety issue we created a problem here.”
Around 233 feet of land on either side of county road 519 is what’s known as a “right of way” property or also called a buffer zone. Ten holes were to be drilled along this stretch of land and although only six were completed- the company still didn’t leave fast enough, causing erosion from tracked vehicles on the snowmobile trails.
Pink flagged areas represent wetlands, overall 1.9 acres of wetland patches were affected.
What defines a wetland?
“We are just not trying to make excuses here, it’s a complex technical definition, what is wetland,” Bertoni said. We did not know, this had not been mapped essentially and we did not interrupt this as wetland so essentially we learned in the process.”
“Vegetation, hydrology so you know where’s the water table, and the soil types,” Highland Copper environmental engineer Tom Rupaul said. “So you have to pass all three of those tests and the army corps of engineer has a manual they published quite a number of years ago because this was poorly defined even 20 years ago.”
All efforts for rehabilitation are being conducted by specialists to ensure no trace is left behind. Highland Copper reassured that all plants used in the restoration process are native species. Currently the four holes left incomplete will be filled in concrete come winter time.
“So we intend to go back to the DEQ and obtain another license to drill inside section five of next winter and complete that program,” Bertoni said. “What we have been told by DNR is that they were happy with the way we drilled when we were inside the park, we left the park at the right time. We just stayed too long here drilling along the right of way.”
Until the snowfall Highland Copper is continuing exploratory drilling on company property, also known as section six. The minerals taken from the earth are 1.3 billion years old.
The post Exploratory drilling rehabilitation efforts underway appeared first on ABC 10/CW 5.
IRONWOOD — Contractors for the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) will begin pavement joint repairs Tuesday, Aug. 22, on about 0.3 miles of US-2 from the Wisconsin state line to west of Tourist Park Road in Ironwood. The work will require lane shifts and lane closures under flag control.
This is the next phase of a project that, in addition to joint repairs and resurfacing on US-2, will resurface 1.3 miles of US-2 Business Route (BR) from US-2 to the Wisconsin state line in Ironwood. MDOT will invest $673,000 to mill and resurface the roadway, make drainage structure repairs and upgrade concrete sidewalk ramps to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.
The concrete ramp work began in May. Drainage structure work began Aug. 9, and resurfacing is planned to start Aug. 28.
The entire project is expected to be completed in September. A project map can be found here:
Some nighttime work will be required, limited to a few nights in early September. Some parking lanes will be closed, with parking available on side streets and city parking lots.
Access to businesses will be maintained whenever possible. This project will result in a smoother driving surface and increased safety, and will extend the lifespan of the roadway.
ADA-compliant ramps make sidewalks safer for all users.
The post Construction project on US-2 in Ironwood begins next week appeared first on ABC 10/CW 5.
UPDATE — Tuesday, August 29th, 2017 5:00 p.m. ET
The Gogebic County Prosecutor’s Office has released the name of the woman arrested on a felony drug charge yesterday in Ironwood.
Laura Chen of New Brighton, Minnesota is charged with one count of delivery of heroin. That charges carries a maximum sentence of up to twenty-years in jail. Chen was arrested after a man, whose identity has yet to be released, died yesterday morning. Police are waiting on toxicology reports to determine the man’s cause of death.
At this time, the case remains under investigation. Chen remains in jail on a one hundred thousand dollar bond.
IRONWOOD — Ironwood Public Safety is investigating the death of an unidentified man in the City of Ironwood.
The department was dispatched to a medical call in the City of Ironwood Monday around 10:20 a.m. Revival efforts were unsuccessful by medical personnel.
Police suspect the incident may be related to heroin or another illegal controlled substance. The Gogebic Iron Area Narcotics Team (GIANT) assisted with the incident. They arrested a 34-year-old Minnesota woman on one count of delivering less than 50 grams of a mixture containing the controlled substance – heroin.
That charge is a felony with a maximum punishment of up to 20-years in prison and/or a $25,000 fine. She is lodged in the Gogebic County Jail on a $100,000 bond.
The woman’s name won’t be released until after she’s arraigned. At this time, police cannot determine the man’s cause of death to be drug related.
An autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of death.
The post UPDATE: Woman arraigned on drug charge in suspicious death case appeared first on ABC 10/CW 5.
