Up North Progressive
Politics and commentary for Northern MichiganBlog Archives
Two Anti-ICE and GEO Group Protests in Baldwin
Wednesday , 18, June 2025 GEO Group, Punk Prison Leave a commentGEO Group once again activated the prison located in Baldwin, Michigan, for the fifth time. Unlike the previous four failed activations, this one occurred quietly. The prison is up and running now and receiving detainees kidnapped by ICE. GEO Group has a less-than-positive relationship with the community. Originally a facility for juvenile offenders, the “punk […]
Here We Go Again: GEO Group’s Wack-a-Mole Prison Scheduled to Open for the 5th Time
Thursday , 20, March 2025 GEO Group, Punk Prison Leave a commentFor-profit “punk prison” North Lake Correctional Facility, owned by GEO Group, announced today that they have a shiny new federal prison contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE. The prison corporation that had maxed out its contributions to the Trump campaign by February 2024 received its payoff. The 1,800-bed facility, located just north […]
Maxed-Out GOP Donor GEO Group Demands Tax Break from Poorest County in Michigan
Sunday , 6, October 2024 GEO Group, Punk Prison 1 CommentLast month, GEO Group contested a property tax assessment with the Michigan Tax Tribunal, demanding that the value of their sole Michigan prison be significantly reduced. The assessed property is the shuttered North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin, Michigan. The facility was built 26 years ago with the approval of the Lake County Board of […]
Meet the Candidates: Floyd Brown for Lake County Probate Judge
Friday , 20, September 2024 Candidates, Election 2024 Leave a commentLake County’s primary election on August 6, 2024, eliminated a long list of candidates for Lake County Probate Judge. Of the two remaining candidates, one of them is a Lake County resident with real community roots and an impressive career history. That candidate is Floyd Brown. Floyd Brown graduated from Baldwin High School in 1984. […]
Crib Fit For a Judge UPDATE: It’s Legal But is it Honest?
Tuesday , 30, July 2024 Candidates, Community, Election 2024 Leave a commentThere have been new developments in the case of the Lake County probate judge who lives in a 600-square-foot three-season hunting cabin in the woods. David Glancy claims his main homestead is 10211 East 16th Street in Lake County. But does he live there? Until recently, according to one source, the answer was no. Glancy […]
Crib Fit For a Judge: The Curious Case of Judge Glancy’s Lake County Home
Friday , 5, July 2024 Candidates, Election 2024 2 CommentsOccasionally, the Up North Progressive receives a tip from a reader about strange things happening with political candidates. This time, the tip is about a candidate for probate judge in Lake County and the case of his home address. David M. Glancy is the current Probate Court Judge of Lake County. He was appointed to […]
Over 50 Organizations Say No in Reopening Michigan For-Profit GEO Group Prison as an ICE Detention Center
Monday , 26, September 2022 COVID_19, GEO Group, Punk Prison 3 CommentsIn four days, GEO Group’s North Lake Correctional Facility once again will close. The for-profit prison in search of a prison population lost its contract through President Biden’s January 2021 executive order to not use private prisons for federal detainees. US Congressmen John Moolenar and Bill Huizenga, in June of 2022, proposed to convert the […]
Governor Whitmer Announces Manufacturing Jobs and New Housing in Northern Michigan
Wednesday , 16, June 2021 Community, Governor Gretchen Whitmer Leave a commentGovernor Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced new manufacturing jobs and mixed-use development in northern Lower Michigan today. The two projects will provide manufacturing jobs in Copemish, and new mixed-use development in Baldwin. M R Products, a woman-owned company that manufactures crowd control and visual barriers will invest $4.2 million dollars to create […]
Public Service Announcement From a Former(?) Employee of North Lake Correctional Facility
Tuesday , 18, May 2021 COVID_19, GEO Group, Punk Prison 4 CommentsNorth Lake Correctional Facility has been a double-edged sword in Northern Michigan’s side for over two decades. GEO Group can’t keep the for-profit prison open without government contracts, and the local community can’t stay fiscally afloat without the revenue the white elephant produces for them. In 2019 GEO Group announced the millions of dollars donated […]
Lake County Michigan Has First COVID-19 Exposure Site
Monday , 10, August 2020 COVID_19 Leave a commentIf you ate dinner at Na-Tah-Ka in Irons, Michigan, on the evening of August 7, 2020, you need to be tested for COVID-19. An individual who dined there on Friday night was notified on Saturday, August 8, 2020, that they tested positive for coronavirus. COVID-19 testing will be available in Baldwin, Michigan on August 14, […]