News

An Upper Peninsula music legend has died. Les Ross, Senior, learned to play “Lumberjack-style” harmonica while growing up in a farm in Eben Junction. After decades of performing in the U.P., Ross achieved national stardom in 1998 when he released an album of traditional Finnish-American music. That led to television, …

The Finlandia University Board of Trustees has approved the addition of a Philosophy Major in the Suomi College of Arts & Sciences. The four-year degree program has three components: philosophy core, topics in philosophy, and history of philosophy. Many of the new courses will allow students in other programs to …

Two groups in Michigan have joined a national effort to ban lead from ammunition used to hunt waterfowl on federal lands. The Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition and Chocolay Raptor Center in Marquette County participated in a petition to the Department of Interior by the Humane Society of the United States …

Later today, a special visitor will be stopping by in town. Lt. Gov. Brian Calley and Dept. of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs Director Steve Arwood will meet with the Houghton business community at GS Engineering to discuss the administration’s efforts to grow Michigan’s economy and create jobs in the area, …

The event celebrating an icon in the Copper Country is finally here. The 2014 PastyFest is taking place this weekend at Agasizz Park in Calumet. The fesitivities will start later today at 7 o’clock with the Main Street Calumet Community Service Awards held at the Calumet Collesium Ballroom. Historian Richard …

A unique film that was shot and produced entirely in the Copper Country is making its world premiere this weekend. Based on a true story, “Mutt” examines the life of Meda Paavola, a young woman who is half Finnish and half Ojibwa, but has had little exposure to her Native …

The Dollar Bay man suspected of killing his wife back in December will be back in court this morning for his preliminary hearing. 35-year-old Nima Nassiri allegedly assaulted his wife, 27-year-old Sanaz Nezami, who later died from the injuries she sustained. Nassiri is being charged with second-degree murder which carries …

A Sawyer man at the center of a DEA, ATF, and UPSET investigation has been arrested. UPSET detectives took the 31-year-old into custody yesterday for two counts of felony firearm possession and one count of receiving and concealing stolen property. After the arrest, detectives executed a search warrant at a …

The Department of Natural Resources is in the middle of planning forest management treatments for 2016. This week, the public was able to comment on the plan concerning land in the Western U.P. The DNR evaluates one-tenth of state forest land every year. DNR staff was out all winter getting …

State officials say seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates in May rose slightly in 12 of the state’s 17 major labor market regions. According to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget, total employment and labor force levels increased in all areas over the month. Spokesman Jason Palmer says the jobless …