Local News

The Upper Peninsula Power Company will begin lowering the water levels of the reservoirs behind several dams. Officials say that the Victoria Dam, Bond Falls, Lake Gogebic, Silver Lake and Hoist reservoirs will be drawn down this month. The Prickett Dam reservoir will be reduced next month. UPPCO’s licenses require …

The leadership of the Houghton County Board of Commissioners will stay the same this year. At last night’s meeting, Al Koskela was reelected as chair, and Tom Tikkanen as vice-chair. Board members had a chance to talk with a representative from Dominion Election Systems, which provides voting equipment for Houghton …

Ice fishers will have better access to some Copper Country lakes this winter. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has organized a pilot program to keep boating access sites plowed. In all, 26 access sites across the Upper Peninsula will be kept open this winter.  Local sites include…• Vermilac Lake …

The calm at last night’s public Baraga County board meeting disguised a more controversial move that was being planned behind the scenes. Shortly after the meeting was adjourned, a letter was quietly posted on the Facebook site that Sheriff Joe Brogan had used during his recent election campaign. Entitled “Baraga …

Bill Roelof is the new chair of the Baraga County Board of Commissioners. Roelof takes over for longtime chair Mike Koskinen, who was defeated in his bid for reelection in November. Gale Eilola will serve as vice-chair.  At an otherwise quiet meeting last evening, the board welcomed new members Will …

Houghton County continues as the COVID-19 hot spot in the latest report from the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department.  Since their previous update was released late Thursday, 93 more positives have been confirmed in the five-county region. 68 of those are in Houghton County, with 20 in Gogebic County, three …

The effort to vaccinate the general public in the Copper Country against COVID-19 is officially underway. Aspirus began inoculations yesterday. UP Health System-Portage is set to begin this afternoon, with Baraga County Memorial Hospital scheduled to start on Thursday. Laurium resident Kathy Hendrickson received her first COVID-19 vaccine Monday. Image …

A woman injured in a Keweenaw County snowmobile crash January 2nd has died. Keweenaw County Sheriff’s deputies confirm that 25-year-old Sutton Beck from Hartford, Wisconsin succumbed to her injuries at a hospital in Duluth. She had been transferred there after initial treatment at Aspirus Keweenaw. The crash occurred on Trail …

Seniors who typically get help filling out their income tax forms at the Portage Lake District Library will not have the opportunity this year. The service provided by AARP will not be offered, because of COVID-19 concerns. Library Director Dillon Geshel says they’ve received dozens of calls asking about the …

Local veterans hoping to get COVID-19 shots through the Oscar G. Johnson VA Center may need to wait a while. Center director Jim Rice says his facility has received 1,200 doses of the Moderna vaccine. All have been either used or allocated to health care workers, Community Living Center patients …