Firefighters and equipment from Oakland, Macomb, and Livingston Counties are being deployed to a Northern Michigan paper mill fire that has been burning for four days.

A person who died in a large fire at a cedar mill in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula has been identified as an employee of the business.

Administrative Law Judge Daniel Pulter invalidated a wetlands permit granted in 2018 to Aquila Resources Inc. “The ruling raises valid concerns about the potential impacts on groundwater, and surface water including the Lower Menominee River,” department spokesman Hugh McDiarmid Jr. said. “Obviously, we are disappointed by the judge's decision," company President Barry Hildred said Tuesday. Aquila has several options, including appealing to a department permit review panel, suing in state court or submitting a new application. Dale Burie, president of an opposition group called SAVE the Menominee River, said he expects Aquila to keep pushing for the project.

MENOMINEE, Mich. – A former sheriff’s deputy accused in the sexual assault of a teenage boy in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Brian W. Helfert of Menominee pleaded guilty in court Friday to attempted accosting for immoral purposes, which carries a penalty of up to two years. “I wish to plead guilty, your honor,” Helfert said in court, according to The EagleHerald in Marinette, Wisconsin. He also acknowledged “inappropriate” statements made to the teenage victim who he knew through his assignment as a Menominee County juvenile crime investigator and school resource officer. Helfert was fired from the Menominee County Sheriff’s Department in December 2019.