10/29/2025

UPPER PENINSULA, Mich— U.P. Michigan Works! Announced that the new location for the Ontonagon office will be 426 River St., Ontonagon, will open on November 10^th. Operations will begin immediately and U.P. Michigan Works! services will continue for Ontonagon County residents, but the office is no longer accepting walk-in and appointments must be scheduled in advance through upmichiganworks.org or over the phone.  For more information or to schedule an appointment, please visit our website at www.upmichiganworks.org or contact us at 1-800-285-WORK.

10/29/2025

N. WISCONSIN - The 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10, 1975 with all 29 souls aboard, including several from northern Wisconsin and Chequamegon Bay area, will soon be remembered with a monument dedicated to those lost.

The community of Washburn funded a memorial, using a part of the Ashland Oredock for the base, a sheet metal weathervane as the top and taconite pellets symbolizing the shipment that was never delivered to its destination. Designer Jamey Penney-Ritter made sure every piece had local historical significance and said the memorial, created by local artisans, was long overdue, as the south shore didn’t have any markers memorializing the event that changed the lives of the sailors lost, their families and community. The dedication ceremony is this Saturday, November 1 at the Washburn Marina. Find more information at washburnheritage.org/fitzgeral-memorial.

10/29/2025

MICHIGAN - Experts warn that recent federal layoffs at the U-S Department of Education could gut key protections for children with disabilities.

In March, roughly half of the department’s 42-hundred positions were eliminated, and a new proposal would slash nearly 500 more, largely wiping out the Office of Special Education Programs, or OSEP. Josh Cowen, an education policy professor at Michigan State University, says the move could leave families without critical support.

0:10  "It's the U.S. Department of Education, historically, at least over the last 40 years, that has been in charge of being kind of the last round of defense for those kids when they aren't getting what they need."

Federal officials contend the layoffs are necessary in order to streamline operations, reduce bureaucracy, and redistribute special education work to agencies such as Health and Human Services while maintaining current funding levels.