WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM THIS EVENING...For Gogebic and Ontonagon Counties in Michigan and Vilas County Wisconsin.  Total snow accumulations between 2 and 7 inches, with the greatest snowfall expected along and east of US-45.

2/20/2026

GOGEBIC COUNTY – A Milwaukee man was found Guilty on several drug charges by a Gogebic County Jury yesterday after a 2-day jury trial in Bessemer.  The Gogebic County Jury found 33-year-old Isaac Sawyer of Milwaukee guilty of possession with intent to deliver meth, two counts of conspiracy to deliver meth, one count of conspiracy to deliver heroin, possession with intent to deliver heroin and maintaining a drug house. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of up to 20 years in prison, with the exception of the drug house charge, which is a maximum of two years in prison. Sawyer is also being charged as a four-time habitual offender, which will increase his prison sentence by up to life.  Sawyer and 2 passengers were picked up following a traffic stop in Ironwood back on May 11^th by the Gogebic Iron Area Narcotic team also know as GIANT.  Police found 130 grams of meth, 27 grams of heroin, cocaine, mushrooms, different pills, two scales for measuring drugs, gem bags for packaging and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.  The drug team was under the direction of Matt Sterbenz, team leader of GIANT, and assisted by other officers from Iron County, Wisconsin and the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Michigan State Police Wakefield Post. Sterbenz was promoted to the director of the IPSD.  Sawyer is still in the Gogebic County jail pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.  The Passengers of that vehicle Both Layla Filipek and Shane Reinfelder were already convicted and sentenced for their involvement.

2/20/2026

PRESQUE ISLE - After a Jan. 30 ultimatum from Vilas County DA Karl Hayes, Presque Isle finally gave The Lakeland Times the year-old public records on the town’s multi-year investigation into potential misuse of its own computers, which prompted the open records request. Despite months of delay and advice from attorney Steven Garbowicz that the records were public, Town Chairman Allen Eschenbauch only provided the files via USB on Jan. 27. Eschenbauch claimed a spring 2024 email migration caused the “permanent loss” of all prior emails and data from two of three computers. The request involved the multi-year computer misuse probe, which the board ended in Jan. 2025, even though a Special Investigations & Forensic Technologies forensics review recovered just under 39,000 deleted files and advised the investigation “needs to continue.”