Local News

Public surveys on the Hiawatha National Forest

Gladstone, Mich. — Starting October, 2026, you may encounter employees, partners or contractors conducting public surveys on the Hiawatha National Forest. Surveys are voluntary and all responses are confidential. The information collected is useful for forest planning and local community tourism efforts. Surveys will be conducted through September 30, 2027; names are not included and interviews last about 10 minutes. Surveyors will be out in all types of weather conditions, wearing a high visibility vest and be near a sign that reads “Traffic Survey Ahead.” They may ask: — ...

Rapid River man pleads no contest to homicide

ESCANABA -- A Rapid River man has pleaded no contest to multiple charges, including homicide, in connection with an alleged drunken-driving crash in 2025. On Oct. 1 in the Delta County 47th Circuit Court, David Brandon Abruzzo pleaded no contest to one felony count of homicide -- ...

Custom rod-maker to attend expo

ESCANABA — A man who has been making fishing rods for about 50 years is coming back to Escanaba to sell his products and connect with other outdoors enthusiasts. Based down in Niles, Michigan — just minutes away from the Indiana border — Mike Stowe began making fishing rods to serve his ...

Treated to trunks

Lynx are native to UP, but very rarely seen

The news last month that the first new species of wild feline in roughly a century had been discovered in South America made me think of our own native cats in the Upper Peninsula. All three of North American native cats that can be found north of the Mexican border states have been seen ...

Displaying the peculiar

ESCANABA — An unusual experience awaits visitors to the Bonifas Arts Center for the next few weeks. The current display in the Powers Gallery is "Bending Reality: A Journey through Surrealism." Surrealism — which in visual art tends to be characterized by images that are dreamlike, ...