News

A Minnesota-based non-profit has teamed up with a local non-profit to create a fund to help offset travel expenses for Copper Country residents battling cancer. The Keller Family Community Foundation has contributed $83,000 to start an endowment with the Portage Health Foundation.  Proceeds from the Keller Family Community Foundation “Ride …

Little Brothers – Friends of the Elderly Upper Michigan Executive Director Cathy Kass-Aten and LBFOE Upper Michigan Foundation Director Mike Aten have announced their retirements from their respective positions. Current LBFOE Development Director Carol Korpela will succeed Kass-Aten as the organization’s new Executive Director. Kass-Aten will replace Aten as the …

Across the country there are thousands of Americans who claim Finnish ancestry. A Finnish film maker named, Santi Fox, began to wonder why his home country, with a smaller population than most other European countries, appears so often in pop culture, and in history around the globe. Finding that many …

The National Parks Service has completed their non-wilderness cultural resources management plan for Isle Royale. Cultural resource management plans are long term strategies for the park service to managing cultural resources outside of designated wilderness. The plan will work with tribes to enhance or revive their relationship with Isle Royale, …

The Portage Health Foundation’s recent Giving Tuesday campaign was the biggest ever – by far. Donors contributed $659,136.77 to the 26 nonprofits that took part. That’s 48.7 percent higher than the $443,208.76 collected in the 2021 campaign. The PHF added $200,000 in matching funds, for a total of $859,136.77. Checks …

A Michigan Tech Professor has been immortalized in outer space. An asteroid has been named after physicist Robert Nemiroff. The International Astronomical Union functional working group Small Bodies Nomenclature announced the new name this week. Formerly known as 2002 GB185, the asteroid is now also known as (270558) Nemiroff. The …

After some down time, plans to begin mining copper at White Pine are moving forward again. Highland Copper has begun infill drilling at the site of the White Pine North project, which is adjacent to the heritage White Pine Mine, which closed in the 1990s. Infill drilling is typically the …

An upgrade to Michigan’s lottery sales system will shut down terminals for 11 hours on Sunday. Officials say the update has been in the works for the past year, spearheaded by the state’s gaming system partner, International Game Technology. New equipment has been provided to retailers across the state. That …

State Representative Greg Markkanen will serve as senior minority member on two House committees this term. Accompanied by his wife, Jane, Representative Greg Markkanen is sworn in by outgoing House Clerk Gary Randall. The Hancock Republican has been appointed Vice Chair of the House committees on Elections, and Military, Veterans …

Efforts are increasing to find a more effective solution to the lamprey problem in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Fisheries Commission and Michigan State University recently brought a new $3.4 million research lab online.  The lab will be headed by Weiming Li, a professor in the departments of Fisheries …