News

The number of new students at Finlandia University is up this fall. Finlandia is welcoming 227 freshmen and transfer students. That’s 12 percent more than the 202 who began last fall. It reverses a three-year trend of declining enrollment at the Upper Peninsula’s only private University. Vice President of Advancement …

Rain dampened yesterday’s Portage Health Labor Day Bridge Walk, but didn’t wash it out… LUSKIN. Organizer Angela Luskin says this was the first time in the event’s history that rain was a significant factor. The poor weather also affected the turnout at the Mackinac Bridge Walk at Saint Ignace. Around …

One of Finland’s most successful entrepreneurs will be speaking this afternoon in Hancock. Juha Vidgren is Chairman of the Board of the Ponsse Company, which manufactures high-tech logging equipment. Finlandia University International School of Business Dean Kevin Manninen says Ponsse began as a one-person business, started by Vidgren’s father… MANNINEN …

Despite efforts to make Michigan a more affordable location for businesses to locate, our state still doesn’t fare very well when compared to surrounding states. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation recently conducted a “secret shopper” campaign to make the comparison. The MEDC developed a fake project, and pitched it to …

Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is taking some flak for teaching a class at the University of California at Berkeley this fall dealing with job creation. Granholm’s special topics class description says it will focus on “creating jobs through better government policies for innovation and education.” Critics note that Michigan’s …

Several hundred people are expected to stretch their legs in the annual Portage Health Labor Day Bridge Walk this morning. Free registration begins at 8:15 at Kestner Waterfront Park in Houghton. The walk steps off at 8:30. Angela Luskin from Portage Health says its a non-competitive, fun activity… The route …

Hundreds of Michigan Tech students and their family members made the walk from campus to downtown Houghton Saturday during this year’s Afternoon on the Town. The students talked with representatives from fraternities and sororities, campus organizations, community service agencies, and local businesses. Houghton Business Development Director Susie Landers says it’s …

A man who went missing near Rabbitt Bay over the weekend was found, and is safe. Michigan State Police troopers from the Calumet Post began the search for 35-year-old Isaac Uno Laplander around 6:30 Saturday evening, after he left a home on Rabbit Beach Road Friday night, and did not …

After a soggy start on Friday and Saturday, the sun shone on the Ontonagon Labor Day Festival parade yesterday. Officials from Highland Copper Company were honored as the grand marshals. Highland is pursuing new copper mining operations at White Pine, and at the Copperwood Project, about 18 miles southwest of …

Law enforcement authorities in Minnesota are continuing their investigation into the death of an Upper Peninsula man. 21-year-old Chaz Michael Havenor was shot by two officers from the police department in Ramsey, Minnesota, about 30 miles north of Minneapolis. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says the Ramsey officers approached …