Local News

The holiday weekend will be extra-special in Michigamme, as the community celebrates its sesquicentennial. Activities at the park tonight include a bonfire, canoe parade and lantern release. There’s a dinner and dance tomorrow evening at the Community Center. Sunday’s schedule includes a car show, live music, a boat parade, and …

Baraga will stage its annual Lumberjack Days celebration this weekend. Activities begin tomorrow evening, with the crowning of the Lumberjack Queen. Eight candidates are hoping to claim the crown, including Christina Anderson, Madelyn Crawford, Logan DesRochers, Corina Jahfetson, Kayleigh LaBerge, Meadow Paulson, MaKayla Smith and Macee Tolonen. A street dance …

Construction restrictions on more than half of Michigan’s highway projects will be lifted or loosened for the Independence Day holiday weekend. Work on 100 of the 162 ongoing projects will stop at 3:00 this afternoon, and resume on Tuesday. Among the projects where restrictions will remain in place in our …

COVID-19 diagnoses in the Copper Country edged upward a bit last week.  The latest figures from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services show 58 confirmed cases, compared to 54 in the previous week. The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department reported one new COVID-related death in Baraga County. While …

Most Northern Michigan University students will pay 3.9 percent more for tuition and fees next year. At an online meeting yesterday, the school’s Board of Trustees voted 6-1 to approve the increase. The average in-state, full-time student will pay $6,324 to attend classes per semester. That’s $238 per semester more …

The Keweenaw Peninsula has been ranked as a top destination for fishing on Fourth of July weekend. Fishingbooker.com, recently released their rankings for the top fishing spots in the country during the holiday weekend. Their list of destinations included both small towns and big cities. The ocean-side city, Myrtle Beach, …

It’s Independence Day weekend, and Independence Stay of Houghton is officially opening today. Construction for the hotel began last year and finished during the spring. Their Houghton hotel is their second location, with the other independence stay located in Marinette, Wisconsin. The hotel offers a number of amenities, including a …

Most non-union Houghton city employees will receive three percent raises for the new fiscal year. The city council approved the increases at last night’s meeting. City Manager Eric Waara confirmed that yesterday’s planned visit by the Viking cruise ship Octantis had to be scrubbed because of weather concerns. The ship’s …

Northern Michigan University’s Board of Trustees will meet in a special online session this afternoon. The big item on the agenda will be setting tuition and fees for the upcoming school year. The finance committee will meet to finalize its recommendation at 2:00. The full board will convene at 2:30. …

Miss Michigan visited the Copper Country yesterday. At the Baraga Drive-In, Paige Rubleski told our Thomas Fournier that she’s working to raise awareness about the challenges nurses and other health care workers are facing across the state… Nursing is a great, wonderful field, but we burn our nurses out, and …