Colwitz to Carnegie Hall, Numinen Edits the Law, Dissension at UPHS, Rolling Meadows and Hemlock Park Progress, Queen City Running to Iron Mountain, and Crazy Weather

The Latest from Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell

HOMETOWN GIRL DOES GOOD…Dr. Erin Colwitz, NMU’s acclaimed Director of Choirs, is about to add another feather to her cap. She’s been selected to conduct a choir at Carnegie Hall in New York next year. “It’ll be my Carnegie Hall debut, so yes, I’m excited,” she says, “but it’ll be big for my students, as well, because many of them will be in the choir, and it’ll be big for NMU recruiting.”…Over the weekend, she was busy conducting the State Honors Choir in Grand Rapids, but in April of next year, she’ll conduct Mozart’s “Coronation Mass”—a piece 30 minutes long—with a choir from all over the country, and a full orchestra. Colwitz has conducted choirs all over the world, but Carnegie Hall is just a little different. Doesn’t get much bigger than that.

HOMETOWN BOY DOES GOOD, also…Attorney Karl Numinem has just finished editing a huge, two-volume treatise, “Michigan Criminal Law and Procedure”. It’s now been published by LexisNexis which hired Numinen two years ago to oversee the project…“No one in recent years has published a one-stop shopping guide for criminal defense attorneys in Michigan,” Numinen explains, “so LexisNexis saw a void and decided to fill it.”…The books include chapters written by 20 of Michigan’s top criminal attorneys (including Numinen) on their areas of expertise, including sex crimes, drug crimes, search and seizure, sentencing, assault, confessions, and appeals. Sounds like a must-read for any Michigan attorneys or aspiring attorneys.

DISSENSION AT OUR HOSPITAL? Maybe…Two unions, representing techs and ancillary staff (MAST), and the nurses (MNA) still aren’t happy with recent changes that UPHS made in their health insurance plans. “We just felt there was a lack of respect because everything was last minute, and they gave us incorrect information,” says Josh Bowman, the president of MAST. He says premiums for MAST employees remain the same, but out-of-pocket costs for medical, dental and vision are way up. They’ve filed a grievance against the hospital. MAST’s three year contract with UPHS ends in September.

“It’s chaotic,” is how Christina Hanson, president of the RN Staff Council describes the changes. “They tell us one thing and they do something else. We look at our paychecks and they’re wildly different.” UPHS originally changed the nurses’ medical plan but then reverted back to the old one, requiring the nurses to re-enroll. Chaos. The dental and vision plans have changed, and the nurses say they now have fewer providers to choose from, and for a brief period they weren’t even covered because of the mix-up. Their contract is up in May.

The UPHS response:

“To clarify, employees have not lost their benefits; their health insurance changed when new benefits plans were implemented on January1, 2025….As an employer, we have a responsibility to offer competitive benefits that provide comprehensive coverage and contain the rising costs of health insurance premiums…We appreciate that this is a change for our team, and navigating new benefits and in-network providers can be challenging…”

GUESS WHICH PROFESSION Americans rate highest for ethics and honesty? Yep, nurses. According to a recent Gallup poll, 76% of us rated nurses very high or high….Next highest on the ethics and honesty scale: Grade-school teachers, military officers, pharmacists, and doctors…On the other hand, only 13% of us rated reporters high on the scale, but reporters still did better than members of Congress who were at a paltry 8%…So we don’t trust the government, nor do we trust the people who report on the government. We’ve got a problem.

WE SHOULD SEE a slight easing in Marquette’s housing shortage this year…Construction at Rolling Meadows, the new apartment development on M-553 out near Marquette Mountain, is well underway…“Ideally, we’re looking at June or July when we’ll start opening up the first unit to residents,” says Jim Conlin, one of the principals in the development. That first unit will have 12 apartments, all with two bedrooms and one bath. Conlin says the rental price of the apartments is still TBD. Rolling Meadows has been described as “workforce housing.” Not sure what that means exactly…All told, the first phase of the development, three buildings in all, will provide 40 apartments, most available before the end of the year…Eventually, Rolling Meadows could include 160 apartments.

A HALF MILE away, Veridea is building 26 homes at Hemlock Park that should be available for sale and occupancy later this year…Four different home models—ranging from 1200 to 1700 square feet, with a base price of $500,000. Mostly quarter-acre plots scenically set in the forest, just down the road from Marquette Mountain, and ten minutes away from downtown Marquette…Convenient, and, at that price, clearly a step or two higher than “workforce housing”…Hemlock Park is also constructing a 39-unit apartment building on the site.

NOT A BAD job, especially if you like the outdoors. The Department of Natural Resources is looking to fill a team of 1300 park workers in Michigan State parks, boating facilities, and other outdoor spaces for this summer…Hourly rates start at $15.25…The DNR says it takes less than five minutes to fill out an initial application for the job.

EXPANSION FOR THE Queen City Running Company…The store, featuring shoes, clothes and other accessories, opened in Marquette in 2016…Houghton in 2022 (Copper Country Running Company)…and now, on or around March 1st, will open its latest shop in Iron Mountain…“We saw that they have a huge Dickinson Trail Network there, lots of races, tons of runners, so the community is really ready for us,” says Paige Du Bois, one of the Queen City’s owners…Any concerns about expanding too fast? Nope, Du Bois says. They have a good business model, they keep track of their inventory, and they have the right people in place…Could they expand yet again, after the Iron Mountain opening? They’re not ruling it out.

BASEBALL IN THE wintertime can be a challenge here. Powerhouse, an indoor baseball and softball facility, now just over a year old, has been a godsend to young ballplayers…Eleven teams are honing their skills at Powerhouse this winter—kids from 6 to 19…Individuals can also rent the facility…The business, run by attorney Derek Swajenen and his wife Dana, is up 15% on the year…How’d they come up with the idea? “A few years ago in the winter, we were taking our daughter down to Appleton where they have an indoor facility,” explains Dana, “and that driving got kind of old. So we said ‘Why don’t we come up with something in Marquette?’” And they did. Local ballplayers are thrilled.

NOT A GREAT trend…Nearly two dozen TV stations owned by the Allen Media Group across the nation are eliminating their local meteorologists. Instead, the local viewers will now get feeds from forecasters at The Weather Channel in Atlanta. The apparent advantages? New technologies, more graphic capabilities and the ability to cover weather stories 24/7…The downside? The loss of local weather personalities who viewers can relate to—people who truly care about their community. Soon enough, it seems, we’ll have Artificial Intelligence delivering our weathercasts.

CLIMATE CRAZINESS…On a day last week when Marquette received a mere dusting of snow, New Orleans…New Orleans!!!…was pounded by ten inches of snow. Canal Street became an outdoor ice rink. Beaches in Florida and the Carolinas were also covered with the white stuff…Combine that with the hellish fires in Southern California, and it’s enough to make you want to move to…oh…some normal, predictable place like Marquette, Michigan.

POEM OF THE WEEK

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

—Robert Frost