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News & Opinion from Marquette, Michigan

Hiring an Iron Bay Chef, Pouring Liquor Down the Drain, Tearing Down a Paywall, the Latest from the Upfront and Walmart

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INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS AT the soon-to-be Iron Bay Restaurant and Drinkery (formerly L'Attitude). The most interesting? NMU executive chef and director of catering Nathan Mileski will be the new consulting chef at the Iron Bay. He'll keep his job at NMU while training the staff and developing the menu at the Iron ... Continue Reading

Hate in Marquette, Pessimism on Dark Stores, Waiting on Marquette Mountain, and Snow (a bit) in the Forecast

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HERE'S HOPING THE following is just one sad, isolated incident in our hometown. Khadijah Wilson has lived in Marquette for four years. She's black. She's worked as a nurse, she's served on the Boards of the Marquette West Rotary and the Women's Center, and she's currently on the Toastmasters' Board. She's the wife of ... Continue Reading

Decline or Growth? NMU Searches for an Identity

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TEN YEARS AGO, enrollment at Northern Michigan University was close to 10,000 students. Today, it's at 7750. And dropping. "We'll continue to decline for the next five to seven years," NMU president Fritz Erickson concedes. "We should stabilize our enrollment somewhere around 7000 students, maybe as low as 6500, just ... Continue Reading

NMU Expansion, Negaunee Demolition, Mather Inn Revival, Country Grill Closure, and Buying Local

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STRANGE, WE'RE NOT hearing much talk about NMU's plans to remodel and expand the University Center. It's a $17 million dollar expansion, complete with a 900 seat banquet facility. That's a big deal. It could open up a whole new market for the university in a town that's crying out for more banquet space. The Board of ... Continue Reading

The Ball is Back, and the Spectacle is Better than Ever

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THE BALL DROP is back for New Years Eve in Marquette. And it'll be a new ball dropped from a new building. You can thank the Double Trouble boys and the Downtown Development Authority. A couple of weeks ago, JP Electric announced that, after a few decades of conducting the ball drop from the Savings Bank ... Continue Reading

A High Rise on the Shore, High Praise from the Rest of the World

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WELL, IT'S FINALLY begun. Take a drive down Lakeshore Boulevard near the Hampton Inn, and you'll see that, at long last, construction of One Marquette Place is underway on the shore of Lake Superior. Actually, crews are moving dirt right now to fortify the ground in preparation for the  installation of massive ... Continue Reading

Questions about Upfront, a New Training Studio Downtown, and 906 Technologies on the Move

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LET'S NOT GET overly excited about the reopening of the Upfront (to be renamed The Harbor) just yet. It's not a done deal, not even close, according to an executive who works for the current owner Rhys Mussman in Indiana. This executive indicates there's been no apparent progress on getting financing for the deal over ... Continue Reading

Ball Drop in Jeopardy

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LOOKS LIKE MARQUETTE won't be celebrating its traditional New Year's Eve ball drop this year. JP Electric. which has conducted the drop on a volunteer basis since 1988, will not be involved this year. Owner John Prince says he and his staff are getting older, the ball drop has always been a little risky, and it's time to ... Continue Reading

Coco’s to Close

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COCO'S, THE LAKE SHORE Boulevard restaurant that's been for sale for the last couple of years, is closing down on October 30th. Owners Jackie and Patrick Gonda have given their employees and customers the sad news over the last few days. The Gondas are retiring and will eventually relocate to Spain where Patrick's ... Continue Reading