MGH Is Counting Down, Eagle Mine Road Is Ever Widening, and a College Preacher Is Spewing Hate

TWO WEEKS, MAYBE less. That's when we'll have a deal for the new Marquette General Hospital. That's when all the courting and numbers-crunching and speculating will finally end.

Two apparent candidates remain in the running for the nearly $300 million project--the Marquette Township site just behind the Westwood Mall, and the city of Marquette's Roundhouse site, on the western fringe of downtown.

The Township submitted its deal several weeks ago. Duke LifePoint, the owner of the hospital, seemed satisfied with it, and the two sides have not had substantial talks since then.

The city, on the other hand, has been having on-and-off chats with DLP in the last several weeks, but no one is characterizing those talks as negotiations. Just questions and answers.

Two weeks, maybe less. Then one of these municipalities will finally be able to  start a friendly and prosperous collaboration with Duke LifePoint.
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IT'S ABOUT TO happen. After a decade-long struggle, the Eagle Mine outside of Big Bay will begin harvesting billions of dollars of nickel and copper in the next couple of months.

Have you been out there lately? The road to the mine--510 and AAA--is a startling, ten mile long, 50-100 yard swath of denuded land. The Road Commission, which is constructing the roadway with $45 million from Lundin, concedes it's wider than necessary but says that was the wish of the property owners. They wanted the timber.

Okay. We get it. This whole project is about money.

Further, one official suggested that this gash across the landscape might actually help the wildlife in the spring because the cleared area will melt before the forest does and maybe provide some early vegetation for the hungry animals. Of course, the critters, while snacking, will have to dodge the huge ore trucks roaring past at 50 miles per hour.

Let's not kid ourselves, part one. The road and the mine will have an environmental impact on what was a pristine area. How serious will it be? We don't know. Let's hope it's something less than what the environmental groups have predicted.

They're the ones who publicized the leakage of groundwater into the Salmon Trout River a couple of weeks ago. That's their job from now on: they may have lost the war to stop the mine but they'll be maintaining a close watch on every move that Lundin and the Road Commission make. They'll be ringing the alarm bells if something goes awry.

We should be thankful for them. The mine and road are realities but maybe...just maybe, the environmental damage can be mitigated by an alert and enlightened citizenry, and by an extra-conscientious mining industry that may want to extend its welcome it in the U.P.

Let's not kid ourselves, part two. The mining companies know there's a lot more ore...and money...down there. At the end of the Eagle Mine's supposed eight year life (and likely before then), the companies will be flashing more cash and asking for an extended stay in the U.P.
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NO ONE SAID it would be easy.

The July TV ratings have come in, and WJMN, the new entrant in the local TV news wars, can't be all that thrilled.

In the coveted 25-54 age demographic, which matters most to advertisers, WBUP (ABC 10) had slightly higher ratings than WJMN. Fox UP, likewise had higher ratings for its 10 pm newscast.

What that means is that TV news viewers don't readily change their news habits, even when the new competitor--WJMN--has a known and capable anchor and news director in Cynthia Thompson, a solid anchor at 11 pm in Gabe Caggiano, and an established parent station out of Green Bay--WFRV.

It'll take time.

In case you're wondering, the runaway leader in the July ratings, of course, was again TV6. That's been the case for the last half century. Tradition is hard to overcome.

On the other hand, WBUP (ABC 10) continues to compile an impressive website showing with more than two million page views last month. Needless to say, a lot more people are reading their website than are watching their newscasts.
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THE OPENING DATE for The Marq, the new farm-to-table restaurant in Marquette, was supposed to be August...but here we are in September and they're not quite ready to serve. Not even close.

Three or four months out, businesspeople are always optimistic, but then personal, financial and governmental realities set in.

The new opening date for the Marq is November.

Drop by the site of the old Rubaiyat restaurant and you'll see plenty of construction underway inside and out. The restaurant's eight investors promise that they will not overspend on the re-do of the building, which was one apparent reason for the demise of the Rubaiyat.

The restaurant's space is being opened up, however, allowing more sunlight to flow in, and recycled woods and other materials uniquely treated are being used throughout the restaurant.The Marq is also setting up a full bar for drinkers and eating customers. The design is being handled by University Michigan architecture professors Adam Fure and Ellie Abrons.

Seventy-two seats total in the restaurant which will feature as much local produce and meat as Austin Fure, Adam's brother, a classically trained chef, can find. He says the menu will change regularly to reflect the fact that available produce in the U.P. necessarily changes.

Sounds like the right restaurant in the right place at the right time.

Expect hiring to start within a month.
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INCOMING NMU FRESHMEN last week quickly learned that college life is just a wee bit different from high school.

A traveling preacher out of Texas showed up on campus to noisily denounce fornication, pornography and blasphemy. He called some of the female students whores, told just about everybody they were going to hell unless they changed their ways, and saved some of his harshest words for a transgender student.

All in all, a swell couple of days of evangelism that was chronicled by NMU's North Wind newspaper.

The preacher, whose name is Chris LePelley, has apparently left town to spread the good word on other campuses. Nevertheless, some NMU students are now trying to start a group known as NMU Love. It'd be a way of saying we disagree with hate speech, biblical or otherwise.

That's fine. Or you can just ignore the hate-spewing, spotlight-loving clowns and let them shout their nonsense at the sky.

You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

If you want to receive Word on the Street when it's posted, go to Word on the Street by Brian Cabell on Facebook, and "like" it.

Mining Journal Legal Threat, TV Ratings, Co-op's New Tenants, and Yooper Wine

 

David versus Goliath. New media versus old media. Marquette Social Scene versus the Mining Journal.

A classic battle is brewing here in Marquette. Or maybe it's more of a skirmish.

In any case, it's got the Mining Journal threatening to take some guerrilla journalists to court.

What started it all was the Mining Journal's recent decision to erect a paywall on its website. If you want to get news online from the Mining Journal, you now have to pay for it.

Not all that unusual. Newspapers across the country are doing it. At a time when hard copy circulation is declining (and the Mining Journal concedes this), it's a way to make money.

Well, Marquette Social Scene, a young, digital upstart that covers news, sports and entertainment, wasn't thrilled with the new paywall. Brice Burge, the owner and editor of Marquette Social Scene, considers it a violation of public trust. He's an idealist. He believes newspapers should be available to everybody so that we can be enlightened about the world around us.

So...(and this is where the skirmish started)...Burge re-published in Marquette Social Scene a posting from a reader on the Mining Journal's Facebook page that told other readers how to work around the paywall.

Talk about irony. The newspaper's own Facebook page was telling readers how to get the news product for free.

When Burge re-published the posting, the Mining Journal wasn't pleased. Publisher Jim Reevs sent Burge a cease-and-desist order, claiming that he was promoting an illegal activity, and threatening legal action if the posting wasn't taken down.

So far Burge isn't budging.

One thing seems eminently clear. The Mining Journal needs to start monitoring its own Facebook page more carefully. Its failure to do so is what created the problem.

Second and more important is this. The new, hyperlocal, digital media--Marquette Social Scene, UP Second Wave, Marquette Magazine, Marquette Music Scene and Word on the Street--are here to stay. Some will die, some will grow, many will evolve, but as a means of gathering and distributing the news, they will play an increasingly vital role in our lives.

And the dinosaurs--the Mining Journal and the TV stations--will have to adapt (with more robust websites and social media involvement) or die. Cease-and-desist orders can only delay the inevitable.
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Speaking of TV stations, the latest Nielsen ratings are out, and they spell  good news for TV6. The longtime news leader here reasserted its overwhelming dominance at 6 pm after a serious drop in ratings last May.

The 11 pm ratings, which depend more heavily on the prime time offerings of the networks, were a little more competitive, with the new WJMN newscast posting decent numbers, but TV6 is still the unquestioned leader.

WJMN debuted its UP newscasts just a couple of months ago. It'll take some time for the station to become truly relevant. You don't overcome 50 years of dominance in just a ratings book or two.

As for ABC10, it keeps plugging along. Underfunded and underresourced, it produces solid newscasts at 5:30 and 10 pm and a substantive website with continual social media interaction. One of the station's most obvious flaws, a news set that looks like it was hastily assembled in someone's back office, will soon thankfully be history. The station is getting a new "virtual" set within a couple of months.

What does "virtual" mean? It means it'll look like things are there on the set when they really aren't. Electronic tricks. Slick. Sportscenter on ESPN employs a virtual set.

Also in from ABC 10: Al Jazeera America has requested that the station send them a long form story on the Bobby Glenn Brown story. Brown, of course, is the local man who recently took part in  a commitment ceremony with his longtime partner, and was subsequently told by St. Michaels Catholic Church he could no longer take part in the ministry of the church.

The story's gotten some national play. Now Al Jazeera America wants to do something with it.
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If you've been wondering what's going to happen at the site of the old Food Co-op, here's a partial answer.

GEI Consultants, a nationwide engineering firm that's currently located on Washington Street, is taking over half of the downstairs space and all of the upstairs space.

Upstairs will house the GEI offices while the downstairs is set aside for a soils and materials lab. A wall has already been erected downstairs, splitting the space. No word yet on who may move into the other half.

GEI works with the mines, government agencies and businesses. They employ 15 people here. The employees should be moving in to their new digs on about July 10th.
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The Marquette Farmers Market has been kind to the St. Charles Winery.

Marquette's only winery moved into the Farmers Market for the first time this season, and sales are already up 30%.

In fact, owner Randy St. Charles says he and his wife Lisa are struggling to keep up with the sudden surge in demand. Production has more than doubled since they took over the winery nine months ago.

They offer between 20 and 30 wines--like watermelon and mandarin orange as well as the more traditional chardonnay and pinot noir--at prices ranging from $13 to $25 a bottle.

Of course, the grapes don't come from the UP. They arrive in concentrate form from Central California and then they're processed, with Lake Superior water and flavoring, by St. Charles at his shop on Washington Street.

It's in a second floor office, next to an insurance agency, across the street from McDonalds. Not exactly the lush, rolling hills of Napa Valley.

But they have a wine-tasting room on site where they welcome individual wine enthusiasts and host small events and parties.

It's a start. And it's classic UP, devoid of pretension and driven by energy and enthusiasm.


You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

Caggiano's Past, YMCA's Future, Co-op's Move, and Farmers Market Opening

Gabe Caggiano, WJMN's anchor on its brand new 11 pm newscast, is not your typical bright-eyed kid eager to shine in his very first broadcasting job.

He's been around the block a few times. He's worked as an anchor, reporter, writer and columnist. He's been employed by Inside Edition and Al Arabiya. He's moved around from Texas to New England to Maryland to DC. He covered the first Gulf War and the White House.

He was even an actor on TV several years back with credits from Matlock and Radioland Murders.

He's got talent. He's won a few awards.

And he's got a bit of a reputation. A TV columnist in Austin referred to him as "very likely the most hated man in Austin television journalism." To be fair, that was back in the 90s, and God knows, we've all made mistakes and enemies.

But some of the criticism has followed him over the years--hotheadedness, insensitivity, egotism.

Now he's in the UP at WJMN. He does a nice job. Let's hope we see more of the talent and less of the flaws.

By the way, an attempt to interview Caggiano was rebuffed by him until he got corporate approval. Maybe that's a good sign. Discretion.
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Speaking of WJMN, the CBS station has been broadcasting local news for just about three weeks now, and there's not much to criticize.

Cynthia Thompson's team looks professional and energized. The news set, graphics and production values are superb.

In fact, you might say the overall presentation reminds you a lot of TV6, the longtime number one station in Marquette. What WJMN lacks is TV6's storied history, the leadership of Steve Asplund, and perhaps most important...Karl Bohnak.

People love weather in the UP and they love Bohnak who's very possibly the most trusted and popular man in the Upper Peninsula. It's very tough for a 20-something meteorologist to come in and compete with that.

As for Rick Tarsitano's troops at ABC10, they continue, despite a shortage of resources, to put on a remarkably strong newscast, and their website is robust and current with a strong social media presence.

WJMN's website, by contrast, has a strange, minimalist look. Not sure why. Looks like something circa 2003.

In any case, they've joined the fray. The UP now has three legitimate TV news and website sources. We viewers are the winners.
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This may have slipped your mind, but the YMCA, after getting a three million dollar federal loan last year, is getting ready to start a major expansion and renovation at its Marquette facility.

Like doubling its size.

It all starts on June 1st with the resurfacing of its pool deck. That'll take a couple of weeks.

But then comes the exciting stuff: two new basketball and volleyball courts, bleachers, a concession stand, an indoor running track, a gym for gymnastics, a climbing wall, new high-tech machines, an expanded exercise and weight room...and a seniors locker room.

Huh? A separate locker room for oldsters?

Yep, apparently that was the request of some seniors--to dress and shower away from the rabble-rousing young folk.

Seems like the YMCA could find a better use for the money than that.

Still, a lot to celebrate here. Construction will continue through late summer, fall and early winter. Should be done in January.

Meantime in Negaunee, members are getting an entirely new, bigger and better facility. That, too, should be ready in January. (Correction: the Negaunee facility will be open in June.)
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The Marquette Farmers Market is getting ready to open after a tumultuous off season. It's time to forget all the dissension and instead, focus on the food and the crafts

The first Saturday of the season is May 17th.

Forty-three full season vendors will be selling their goods--36 are returnees, 7 are new, and the word is, there are more produce and meat vendors this year than last year. All of them are from the UP. Hoop houses and green houses here have extended the season and the varieties.

No vendors selling produce from downstate applied to sell at the market this year.

As usual, there were many more wannabe vendors than spots available, so about 30 of them will have to settle for daily spaces. The Downtown Development Authority expects to create 3-7 new spaces by mid-summer when the market is re-configured.

All in all, it sounds like local farmers are determined to make farming in the frozen tundra of the UP work.

Which is great for those of us who love local produce and meat.
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And who's not eagerly awaiting the opening of the new Marquette Food Co-op on Washington Street? That's May 22nd.

It'll be triple the size and double the inventory of the charming but cramped store on Baraga Street.

The new store will also feature a meat and seafood counter, a deli, and a little café. With Wifi.

Yikes. We're becoming bigtime.

The Co-op will close down on May 20th and 21st while it makes the move to the new location.
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Now that the snow has finally melted, you've probably noticed with dismay that your spruces and junipers are rust-colored on the outside and on top.

Dead? You can't be certain.

Gardening guru Barb Kelly says the best advice she's heard is that you should wait four to six weeks before lopping off any branches. Give them a chance with warming temperatures to come back.

If you're impatient, break open a branch and see if there's any green left. If it just snaps off easily, it's likely dead.

Yeah, Kelly says, this is the worst winter for plants she's ever seen here. The dwarf Alberta spruces, one of our most popular varieties, were especially hard-hit.


You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

Consternation at Marquette Mountain and the CVB, Anticipation at WJMN, and Renovation at the Casa

Vern Barber, the longtime general manager at Marquette Mountain, is heading to snowier slopes.

Mount Bohemia in the Keweenaw, specifically.

After 32 years at Marquette Mountain, he's looking for a new challenge at a unique venue (extreme skiing, ungroomed slopes) with the potential for growth. That's what Bohemia offers.

No hard feelings here, he says, it's just time to move on.

Was the issue compensation? He wouldn't "go there."

This last ski season was a tough one here. Extremely cold temperatures kept attendance down for much of the winter although the last three weeks were pretty good.

Barber will face a different kind of a challenge at Bohemia--they need more lodging in a more remote location than Marquette--but it's the kind of challenge he welcomes at this point of his career. And, he says, Bohemia is his kind of skiing.

Good luck to him. And thanks.
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More losses for Marquette tourism.

The Convention and Visitors Bureau recently lost its PR and marketing director, Allison Silk, to the Mackinac Island CVB. Silk had been considered the likely successor to Pat Black, the CVB director who's retiring at the end of this year.

So that means there's a vaccum at the top in an industry that needs to continue showing growth in Marquette County.

A search is now underway for Silk's successor who ultimately might be Black's successor.

The big loss, of course, will be Black, who is Ms. Tourism for Marquette County. She knows and charms everyone in the tourist industry, in the state and far beyond.

In her retirement, she's planning to travel--for pure pleasure, not for business. She's earned it.
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Any day now, you can expect to see a new local newscast on your TV screens at 6 and 11 pm.

Preparations continue at the new WJMN studio and offices, just off US-41 in Marquette Township. Some of the staff have moved in, they're working with their new computers and getting acclimated to their new surroundings.

Two months ago, management guaranteed the newscasts would start in April. News Director Cynthia Thompson says that remains the plan, though she wouldn't get specific.

They've got their equipment, the news cars are in the lot, the news staff (about 10, less than half the size of TV6's staff) are arriving to begin their careers in the UP.

Interestingly, one of the most important rating periods for local TV stations is May. WJMN, no doubt, will try to make a big promotional splash when it starts its newscasts but certainly can't have expectations of a major ratings impact in May.

Many UP viewers will sample the new newscasts but will likely return to
the tried and trusted Steve Asplund, Karl Bohnak, Greg Trick and Mike Ludlum on TV6 at 6 and 11. Fifty years of history is a lot to overcome.

WJMN will have to be in it for the long run.
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Casa Calabria is certainly in it for the long run.

The popular Italian eatery on Third Street, one of the biggest restaurants in the city (seating for 188), is now finishing off major renovations of both the restaurant and bar.

New booths, tables, chairs, stone walls, pillars, wallpaper, floors, bar stools. That's just about everything. It's the first major renovation for the Casa since 1995.

Sometimes, even when you're popular, you gotta freshen things up.

The result is a new, Old World look, if that makes sense. Clean, fresh, casual, comfortable, classy.

The Casa never closed down during the construction period. They just worked at it during the day, then swept up, and started cooking.

Smart. That's a good way to keep the customers...and the revenue...streaming in.

You got news? Email me at briancabell.com

CBS Newscasts Start Next Month

Well, they're getting closer.

WJMN, the CBS station in the Upper Peninsula, has announced it'll be starting its first-ever UP newscasts in April.

April 1st? April 10th? April 30th?

Don't pin them down. They're still trying to hammer together a studio and offices off the highway west of Marquette. They're referring to it as WJMN-TV Plaza, a bit grandiose perhaps when you consider that its actually a triple unit at a strip plaza across the street from a gas station.

Still, it's exciting for UP news viewers. Nexstar Broadcasting, which owns WJMN, is a serious broadcasting conglomerate with 74 stations nationwide. They're clearly hoping to make a dent in the domination of WLUC in this market. They'll also be taking on ABC-10 which has also been showing signs of life in the last couple of years.

Cynthia Thompson, who's worked at both ABC-10 and WLUC, is the new news director at WJMN. She's in the process of hiring her staff.

The station will be offering only Monday through Friday newscasts at 6 and 11, at least initially.

While the construction and the hiring continues, the branding is complete: WJMN will now be known as "Local 3." Kinda catchy it although it's not as cuddly as "Someplace Special."

Asplund Takes the Reins, Marquette Mountain Takes a Plunge, and StoryCorps Comes to Town

A relative calm has descended upon the newsroom at WLUC.

Steve Asplund, the hardest working man in the news business, has been named the news director at the station. Rather, re-named. He was news director for a few years back in the mid-90's, as well.

And don't worry, he'll remain as the 6 pm anchor. What most viewers don't realize is that Asplund's most important work has always been done off-camera, as assignment editor, producer, writer, photographer, editor, fill-in engineer, snow plow operator. Hell, if TV6 had a cow out back, Asplund would be milking that in his spare time.

He works 70-80 hours a week. No lie. He loves his work, he loves the station.

That's why it was almost criminal what he had to endure for the last two years during the tenure of the former news director, Regena Robinson. For some reason, Robinson locked Asplund, the assistant news director, out of the entire decision-making process in the news department. The hostility was palpable.

Maybe it was a personality clash. Regardless, it was a waste of Asplund's skills and enthusiasm, and it made for a very uncomfortable newsroom because Asplund was universally liked and respected by both the veterans and the youngsters in the news department.

But he kept his head down, worked his 70-80 hours a week, and now he's got the job he deserves. WLUC is the better for it.

(Full disclosure: I was the WLUC news director from 2004-2011)
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Meantime, a former TV6er, Rick Tarsitano, who was surprisingly terminated by Robinson a year ago, is in negotiations to become the new news director at ABC10.

He's been a reporter at ABC10 for the last year, but in the wake of Cynthia Thompson's resignation as ND, Tarsitano was appointed interim news director and has done a creditable job. Now management wants to make him the permanent news director.

No one could quite figure out why he was forced out at TV6. Another personality clash? The fact was, Tarsitano was one of the most talented reporters in Marquette when he was let go.

Now we're going to see what kind of management skills he has. He'll be facing a stiff challenge: ABC10 doesn't have nearly the money or resources that WLUC has, and it'll be facing a brand new competitor when WJMN starts its UP newscast in the next month or so.

And who is WJMN's news director and anchor? That's right, Cynthia Thompson, formerly of both ABC10 and TV6. TV news in the Upper Peninsula is a never-ending merry-go-round.
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It's been a weird season at Marquette Mountain.

The best snow in years and yet the numbers are down. Way down.
Vern Barber, the GM, figures the mountain has attracted almost 30% fewer skiers and snowboarders this season.

Go ahead, take a guess why.

Yep, it's too freaking cold even for skiers. When you consider that the thermometer has climbed above 30 degrees for only a few days in the last three months, and has generally stayed below 10 degrees, it's easy to understand why we've stayed off the mountain.

The only thing that's kept Marquette Mountain afloat this season has been its ever-expanding race schedule. Teams, young and old, come here from all over the Midwest to race. And unlike the casual skiers, the racers don't have a choice; even if it's minus 10 and the wind is howling, they're going to be racing (and spending money in Marquette) because they've already registered and paid the fees.

Barber says this is the coldest winter he's experienced in his 32 years on Marquette Mountain. Sounds about right.
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You got a great story to tell?

You'll get your opportunity to tell it and preserve it for posterity when National Public Radio's StoryCorps trailer rolls into town this July.

StoryCorps brings people together--parent and child, brother and sister, friends, teacher and student, neighbors-- to sit down and tell their stories.
It might be a childhood memory, it might be a hunting story, it might be something traumatic.

But the stories are usually evocative, poignant and fascinating.

StoryCorps is hoping to find 200 such stories in the U.P. A couple of them will likely end up being broadcast on NPR nationwide. The rest will be taped and stored at the Library of Congress. They'll become a part of this nation's history.That's pretty cool.

Participants will also be given a copy of the interview--something to hand down to your grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Public Radio 90 will be announcing in the next couple of months how you can sign up for StoryCorps.

You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

BLP's Baffling Response, Farmers' Market P*ssing Match, and Corkage Confusion

The Bureau of Light and Power has a few people scratching their heads.

Here's the background: Marquette has a fireworks committee charged with trying to fund the city's fireworks display every July 4th. It costs about $30,000. That's a lot of money for a small town, and there's no public funding for it.

That means concerned citizens have to go begging merchants and residents every year to cough up the money needed for the fireworks. It's a tough and tedious job.

Solution! Why not have BLP allow its customers to donate a dollar a month, or even five, to fund the fireworks? A check-off system, a voluntary tax.

Other municipalities do it downstate. It's simple, it's effective, and it eliminates the need for the yearly begging.

Well, the fireworks committee suggested this solution to the BLP board but the utility's executive director, Paul Kitti, responded that the board, without even a formal proposal in hand, had voted no to the idea. Just...no.

No reasons given.

Kitti hasn't responded to a couple of phone calls yet.

Meantime, some concerned citizens are suggesting that the BLP board elections later this year, which would normally draw yawns, may draw considerable interest...and some new candidates...this year.
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The back-and-forth p*ssing match between the local farmers and the backers of Farmer Q's continues unabated. It's a dispute that reflects poorly on both sides.

Jeff Hatfield of Seeds and Spores says he, for one, would have preferred that Farmer Q's stayed and continued its participation in the Farmers Market--if Farmer Q's had agreed not to sell downstate produce that competed directly with produce from the local area.

In other words, cherries and plums from downstate would have been fine at the market, but not carrots and lettuces that were also being grown by the locals.

Seems like it would have been a reasonable solution but because of strong--maybe unreasonable--personalities, it could never be worked out. Too many insults, too many threats, too much bad blood.

Ironically, both sides were convinced that the Downtown Development Authority, which runs the market, was against them.

Oh well. Farmer Q's is gone, along with their appealing bounty of downstate produce. It seems likely that the market crowds--which averaged more than 600 each Saturday--will diminish somewhat without that attraction.

Maybe someone else can step into the breach, with the downstate fruits and vegetables--but without the rancor.

Maybe we can stop the insults and anonymous emails. Maybe we can grow up.
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WJMN, the CBS TV affiliate, is moving ahead with its plans to start up a U.P. newscast.

It's found the site for its studio and offices in a strip mall at the corner of US 41 and Wright Street, just across from the Cenex station. It's leased three units at the mall and combining them into one.

Meantime, the station is seeking an anchor/reporter, a meteorologist, a sports anchor and an engineer, among others, to join news director and anchor Cynthia Thompson.

Station executives had said they wanted to launch the newscast in the first quarter of this year. Seems a little ambitious with only seven weeks to go, but we'll see how quickly they can put it together.
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If you're a wine drinker, you may have heard that the state legislature recently passed a "corkage fee" law which would allow you to bring your own bottle of wine into a restaurant. For a fee imposed by the restaurant.

The idea being, if you've got that special bottle of wine or champagne that you've been saving for that special birthday or anniversary, you can bring it to your favorite restaurant, and the restaurant would simply charge you a "corkage fee" to open it.

The fee might be $25, more or less.

It's a very civilized thing to do.

One problem: the bill was signed into law by the governor in late December but it doesn't take effect until March 14th. There are reports that at least one local restaurant jumped the gun on the law and has already started charging corkage fees for outside wines.

The Liquor Control Commission says that's grounds for a steep fine, or suspension or revocation of a liquor license.

It's probably best to wait until March 14th.


You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

UP 200 Is Looking for Dogs, Thompson Has a New Job, and Buck's Back

 

Bonanza Steakhouse, one of Marquette's most popular restaurants for the last couple of decades, is shutting down this weekend.  

 

A manager at the restaurant Friday afternoon would only confirm that employees had been told Sunday would be their last day of work. Economic reasons brought about the shutdown.

 

The announcement comes on the heels of two other well-regarded businesses announcing last week that they, too, are shutting down--Penneys at the Westwood Mall and Farmer Q's downtown.

 

Two things seem clear. The economy here is still anything but robust. And operating any business is tough even when customers like your products and your service.   

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The UP 200, one of Marquette's signature events, is shrinking.

With three weeks before the sled dog race, only nine mushers have officially committed to it. Five others might join them, and race officials are searching for others.

Last year there were seventeen entrants. Just a few years ago, the numbers were in the high twenties and low thirties.

So what's happening?

For one, there's competition from races in Duluth, Newberry and the Keweenaw. For another, the prize money--$34,000 total for both the UP 200 and the Midnight Run--isn't turning many mushers' heads, though the money is comparable to other races, if not better.

Pat Torreano, who heads up the sled dog association here, points to a few other factors:

1) The economy. Sled dog racing is an expensive hobby. Tons of dog food, sometimes exorbitant vet bills. You might have noticed that very few hedge fund CEO's and Internet billionaires are into mushing.

2) Some of the veteran mushers are getting old. It's tough work to drive a dog team 250 miles through the snow and cold.

3) The younger mushers are more into "party racing." That's what Torreano calls it. Those are races run in stages, thirty or forty miles at a time, then you stop, rest for the night with great food and accommodations (maybe a drink or two), then get up, refreshed, the next morning for the next stage. That's a far cry from driving a team 125 miles through the snow and cold, then collapsing in exhaustion, only to get up and do it all over again.

The UP 200 may be at a crossroads. Even Torreano admits it may have to change.

She and Marquette city officials aren't panicking yet but they're concerned. The crowds still love the race (we can cheer and ring our cowbells for ten minutes, then duck inside for a cozy dinner), but the mushers not so much.

This year's UP 200 is February 14th, Valentine's Day.
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The public announcement hasn't been made yet but Cynthia Thompson will be the new news director and 6 pm anchor for WJMN.

WJMN, a CBS affiliate, will launch its first ever newscasts in the UP within a couple of months.

Thompson recently resigned as ND and anchor at ABC 10 and a couple of decades ago, she anchored the news at WLUC. She knows the UP, she knows news, she's "old school" which means she cares more about actual news events and proper writing than she does about social media.

Whoa. Could be a trend.
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The investigation into the racist letters received by TV 6 is still open, according to the State Police. Whether the letters actually contained specific threats against the former news director, Regena Robinson, and other members of her staff, is unclear. In any case, no arrests yet and no one's talking.

Meantime, the bigwigs from the station's new owner, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, were in town this week.

Of course, it was a rah-rah session, but many staffers came away impressed. Sinclair seems to genuinely care about news (though with a distinctly conservative bent) and it has plenty of experience running small market TV stations.

A new morning co-host, Sam Bauman, also made his debut alongside Vicky Crystal and Shawn Householder. Bauman's 23, out of Granville, Ohio, and a graduate of Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia.

He's getting acclimated. He finds the weather cold and the people warm.

Yeah, that's just about right.
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Buck Levasseur, the creator and star of Discovering, has had a tough couple of years.

Like debilitating back pain, four back surgeries, five months in a nursing home, loss of his job and loss of a lifestyle that he loved.

Well, he's still around and living at home in Skandia but now he uses a walker, a cane or one of those motorized chairs. Thirty-two years of lugging a thirty pound camera and a fifteen pound tripod through the wilds of the UP will do that to you.

You want to see him and thank him for his decades of bringing the great outdoors to us on TV? He'll be at the Marquette Regional History Center's fundraiser at Kaufman Auditorium on January 30th. Jack Deo will present a tribute to him.

You want to help Buck with his enormous medical bills? UP Whitetails Association is holding a raffle for him. Phenomenal prizes.

Buck's not really depressed, by the way. He misses his old life, but he's still got his memories and his friends. And they've all got stories that could take you well into the night.

You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

Where's the Hospital Going and Where Are the News Directors Going?

 

If there's one issue that provokes anxiety among Marquette city officials, merchants and even residents, it's the future home of Marquette General Hospital.

Duke LifePoint officials, who are working with a site development company, were in town this week checking out potential locations. Reportedly there are about thirty possible sites, about a dozen of them within the city limits, and the remainder outside. A hospital campus would require forty acres or so.

Marquette wants to keep the hospital in town. Badly.

The hospital, with more than 2000 employees, represents a huge tax base for the city. It also provides major support for surrounding businesses. And, of course, an in-town location would likely (though not necessarily) be more convenient for most of the city's citizens.

As for Marquette Township, officials there are excited about the prospect of the hospital relocating there. They met with the LifePoint officials this week and specifically discussed two locations, one of which would be on the property for a proposed 70-90 million dollar, mixed-use development behind Lowes. The hospital would effectively be the anchor of that development if that's the direction LifePoint chose to go.

The decision will be made in Brentwood, Tennessee, the headquarters for LifePoint. When? Likely within three to six months.

City officials and Township officials are holding their breath.
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There's gotta be something in the air. Like resignation fever.

Last week it was TV6 news director Regena Robinson unexpectedly bidding farewell to her staff. On Monday of this week, ABC10's news chief Cynthia Thompson did the same. Her last day is Friday.

She didn't say where she was going or what she would be doing next.

She did tell me she was staying in the U.P.--this is her home--and that on Monday, her first official day off, she'd probably be working out, getting her nails done and maybe taking down the Christmas tree. She seemed to be in uncommonly good spirits.

You could easily speculate that she might be taking the news director/anchor job at WJMN, the CBS affiliate that's aiming to launch a UP newscast in the first quarter of this year. If she is, she's not saying, nor is WJMN.

Who's Thompson's successor at ABC10? Nobody knows but whoever it is will face a daunting challenge.

ABC10 has long been underfunded and undermanned (though improving), while TV6 is a powerhouse in terms of staffing, resources and ratings, and WJMN will likely enter the competition with more-than-adequate funding and a determination to finally loosen TV6's longtime stranglehold on this TV market.
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Remember Eric Dompierre? He's the young man with Down Syndrome who inspired all of us in 2012 as a player on the state champion Ishpeming Hematite football team.

So what's he doing these days? Sitting around, playing video games and eating Cheetos while dreaming of the glory days?

Not really. He's continuing his education in Transitions 2 at MARESA, a program that teaches special needs individuals how to budget their money, how to cook and how to get jobs.

He's also interning at the Blood Center at Marquette General Hospital. He's about to start interning at Anytime Fitness in Harvey.

Oh, and he's also washing dishes at Wawonowin Country Club in Ishpeming, and he may work as a bag boy there again this summer.

He drives everywhere. He lifts weights. He plays in a weekly basketball league.

Yeah, sounds like we have a role model for our young people. Eric's inspiring story continues.
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The timing might seem a bit odd, given that the wind chill is hovering around ten degrees, but a new frozen yogurt shop is going in on the corner of Washington and Third Street.

It'll be called Yoop-Phoria. Self-serve yogurt. You select one of eight flavors, then you add any of more than 30 toppings, then you weigh it, and then you pay, based on the weight.

You can do it with cups or muffins and they'll also offer smoothies.

Sounds like fun. It's all the rage in other parts of the country, and is apparently succeeding even in cold weather towns. You can get your dose of Yoop-Phoria on or about April 1st, just about the time the ice starts breaking up in Lake Superior.

You got news? Email me at briancabell.com

Silence on the Hit-and-Run and a Vacation in Baghdad

Still no update on the tragic hit-and-run accident in Big Bay a few weeks ago that took the life of Robin Rahoi, the NMU dietician. Her body was found in the snow in the early morning of December 17.

The last we heard from the State Police shortly after the incident was that a suspect vehicle had been recovered. That's it.

I asked Detective Sergeant Paul Campbell if possible suspects had been interrogated. He wouldn't say; they've conducted many interviews.

Is the suspect (or suspects) local? Were there two people in the car? Are authorities trying to determine who was actually driving? Was Ms. Rahoi hit while she was walking on the road after her car broke down? Was she dragged a long distance by the suspect vehicle? These are all reports coming from residents in Big Bay but all are unconfirmed. Detective Sergeant Campbell wouldn't comment.

He did say the case is moving toward resolution, and an arrest or arrests would be made in a reasonable amount of time. What is "reasonable"? He wouldn't say whether that means weeks, months, or longer.
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Some of us go to Florida for vacation. Others go to the Caribbean or Hawaii or Europe.

Or you can be like Bob and Peggy Lorinser who've been attracted to such getaways as Pakistan and South Korea....and up next, Baghdad. They might want to consider looking for a new travel agent.

Actually they're not vacationers.  A couple of years ago, these longtime Marquette residents (he's a doctor, she's been a housewife and mother) decided to take an unconventional turn in their lives. They joined the Foreign Service of the State Department.

Why? A sense of service to the country, and a sense of adventure.

Damn, why do the rest of us suddenly feel so inadequate?

Their adventure continues in April when they leave the garden spot of South Korea (and the madman with the nuclear weapons to the north) for the resort town of Baghdad, which has been seething with conflict and violence for the last decade.

We wish them well at their new post. They make us proud.
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Have you heard about "suspended coffee"?

It's something that was started on the Internet a  while back, the latest iteration of pay-it-forward.

Coffee-buyers give coffee shops extra cash to pay for future customers who may be short on funds and want to come in out of the cold.

Sue Kensington, the owner of Hot Plates, loved the idea and pitched it to Theo McCracken of Dead River Coffee. He loved it. He's now set up a jar for "suspended coffee" cash. Last I checked it was full.

Kensington's pitching it to other merchants, as well.

Marquette's not exactly a magnet for the homeless and indigent in the winter, but McCracken says, yes, he does have customers who are struggling and would love to have a free, steaming cup of coffee.
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An update on WJMN's plans to start a brand new news department in the Upper Peninsula:

The CBS station is now advertising in TVjobs.com for a news director-anchor to launch a news department early this year. Whether that means January, February or May, we don't know.

An executive with the station would only tell me that when they're ready to make that announcement, they'll do so publicly, with full details. Over the last couple of months, they've been talking to current and former TV6 employees about possible employment.

The TVjobs.com ad, by the way, mentions that WJMN's newscasts will run weeknights, in the early evening and late night. In other words, no morning newscasts and no weekends. At least to start.

When WJMN does launch, it'll join a threeway competition with TV6 (NBC) and TV10 (ABC). Marquette is a tiny TV market (180th out of 210) but apparently the guys with extra money in their pockets see enough promise here to make the investment.
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What's wrong with this picture?

Well, it's Teal Lake in Negaunee and the photo was taken on January 8th.

So?

So, there's not a single shanty out there. Apparently even the hardiest of ice fishermen don't find much pleasure outside when the wind chill is minus 15.

They're waiting for the big warm-up this weekend when the mercury soars to...uhh, freezing.

                        You got news? Email me at briancabell@gmail.com

Tu Kaluthia Closes, CBS Sniffs Around

One of Marquette's culinary treasures is closing down.

Tu Kaluthia Café, which has served delicious Greek food and coffee in a corner of the Peter White Library for the past nine years has been forced to close its doors by the city building inspector.

The problem? There's no vent for the toaster oven in the café, and the library isn't going to build one. Tu Kaluthia has never been a full service restaurant and was never intended to be.

Tough luck for owner Aza Wolfcale and for the fans of her cooking. You might recall she had to close down the Rubaiyat, an ambitious and charming Mediterranean restaurant, two years ago, even though it seemed enormously popular.

Good food and good service don't necessarily translate into restaurant success.
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For some skeptics, year-round farming in the U.P. might seem like a pipe dream but don't tell that to the newly created, non-profit Partridge Creek Farm. They've got 27 acres of land in southeast Ishpeming that they hope will be producing harvests in the next year.

Among the plans: a hardy, four-season greenhouse, a farming education center, two fulltime employees, and outside fields that will produce crops between June and November.

Zoning issues still need to be resolved with the city and grants are being solicited, but private donations are already coming in. The farm's board of directors is also seeking counsel from private farmers in the area.

What's not to like about the idea? More locally grown food for us, more education for us on how to grow our own.
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The rumors have been out there for more than a year--the CBS affiliate in Green Bay, WFRV, is planning to make a big splash in the U.P. by starting a local newscast on its local affiliate, WJMN.

In other words, another station to take on TV6, one of the most dominant small stations in the U.S., along with TV10.

"When" has always been the question for the move. We now know that a WJMN executive has been contacting current and former TV6 news staffers about possible employment, but no one is saying publicly when WJMN would start its local newscast. Or even where. The studio could be in Marquette or elsewhere.

Repeated calls to the general manager at WFRV have yielded no answers so far.
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On the radio front, ESPN UP has a new personality. He's Ryan Mayer, fresh out of Philadelphia and Hofstra University.

He replaced longtime veteran Casey Ford who recently left broadcasting to sell cars at Frei Chevrolet. Cynics in the broadcasting industry would say that's clear evidence of upward mobility.

Mayer now teams with Bill Blohm for their daily Sports Pen show from 4-5 pm. What kind of audience does the show get? Nobody really knows.

Station general manager Tom Mogush says Arbitron used to do the count but it recently sold out to Nielsen which, he claims, makes only a token effort to measure the radio audience here in the U.P.

Mogush is convinced, however, that there's a real hunger for more local sports here. He promises expanded local programming in the next year. No details yet.