A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 293
We're celebrating another loyal reader of the Pine Knot News this week as Kayla MacDiarmid and her children, Olivia and Trayce, were the recipients on Saturday of a $25 gift certificate to B&B Market. The MacDiarmids were found in Hilltop Park in Cloquet, driving around with one of the Pine Knot News "I Think Knot" bumper stickers. The bumper stickers are available at our office at 122 Ave. C in the Historic West End of Cloquet. In addition to B&B, participants in the bumper sticker promotion...
The call was unmistakable and perked the ears of a Jay Cooke State Park staff member: "Help!" a person cried. Within moments, a response was developing. The Carlton County Sheriff's Office came with its drone team, and the fire departments from Carlton and Esko descended onto the park with four-wheelers and rope rescue kits. "Ultimately, nobody was found in distress," Chief Deputy Dan Danielson said. "And nobody ever reported any loved ones missing. It could have been a self-rescue." Jay Cooke...
Carlton County is preparing for its waste disposal future. With the sunsetting of the Superior, Wisconsin landfill looming sometime in 2027-28, the county board approved a letter of support for a proposed Keewatin landfill during the board’s meeting in Carlton Tuesday. “Carlton County recognizes that there is still a need for environmentally protective landfills,” said the letter supporting Shakopee, Minnesota-based Dem-Con’s proposal for a regional waste disposal and recycling operation in Keewatin — some 85 miles northwest of Carlton o...
The Wrenshall School Board is expected to seek a new round of consolidation talks with the Carlton School District following an affirmative vote on a proposal Wednesday. In a letter addressed to the Carlton School Board, the Wrenshall board proposes a joint meeting of both full boards. “During that meeting we hope to listen to the community on the topic of consolidation and discuss how potential consolidation negotiations might move forward,” says the letter presented at the Wrenshall com...
It’s budgeting season for local municipalities, and one week after the Carlton County sheriff’s office requested five new staffing positions, the county board heard another staffing request, one that would increase the human resources office from two to three full-timers. After some consternation, the board unanimously advanced the proposal during its committee of the whole meeting Tuesday in Carlton. “I can’t figure out how we keep growing,” commissioner and board chair Dick Brenner said. “It bothers me a lot.” Carlton County HR oversees the...
Crossing the St. Louis River on Minnesota Highway 61 in Scanlon offers a glimpse of a construction crane and a handful of workers crawling over one of the neighborhood dams. Even in the rain, the marine contractors from J.F. Brennan can be seen wearing yellow slickers. They've been working on a $3 million Minnesota Power project since May. It's aimed at replacing seven of eight gates on what is the east channel dam, built 100 years ago. "Hydro dams are long-lasting, forever assets," said Nora...
Sheriff Kelly Lake requested five additional staffers in 2024 during Monday's budget presentations to the Carlton County board. In outlining a nearly 10 percent staffing increase for the public safety department, Lake asked for three additional corrections officers to help staff the new jail that's part of the new $75 million justice center under construction in Carlton. On the sheriff's office side, Lake argued for another investigator and a civilian data analyst to help handle the influx of...
Last winter was one most folks won't soon forget, with record snowfalls common and collapsed roofs and fallen treelines forever impacted. Even now, the city of Carlton is dealing with the aftermath. The city-owned arena, Four Seasons Sports Complex, is the subject of a pending insurance claim, having suffered exterior damage from the ice and snow. The damage is obvious to passersby, as the arena side facing Highway 210 features a long crumpled strip of steel siding. "The ice and snow buildup...
An 80-by-110-foot residential lot in southeast Cloquet gave rise to robust discussion on housing throughout city hall this month, with the city council agreeing Tuesday to sell the lot to a building contractor who plans to build on the lot with the intention to sell. "The 'for-sale' market is the toughest market we've faced to date," said community development director Holly Hansen during last week's meeting of the Economic Development Authority. "It's been easier to put up apartment buildings...
Paul Ward turned 90 this summer, and the story of how he landed the area's most well-known agate has changed. But only a little. Shortly after the 108-pound agate began being celebrated in Moose Lake during the early 1980s, the story went that Ward was looking for agates in a local pit when he unearthed the monster he first thought was a root. But last month, during a visit to his Sandstone, Minnesota residence by the Pine Knot, Ward recalled a different origin. He was clearing land and...
The Carlton County Board of Commissioners breezed through its first meeting of July in 24 minutes Tuesday. But it managed to get work done, raising the threshold for project labor agreements while also announcing its intent to work more closely with the local tribe on matters that impact both jurisdictions. Regarding project labor agreements, county engineer JinYeene Neumann explained the decision to raise the threshold triggering a project labor agreement from $175,000 to $250,000 on county-led construction. A committee had met throughout the...
Having come through the crucible of making cuts and adopting a budget for the new school year, the Wrenshall School Board began tackling a host of open positions at its meeting in Holyoke on Monday. Currently, due to retirements, resignations and roughly $320,000 in budget cuts, the district is without a licensed boiler operator, lead custodian, head cook, school nurse, information technology specialist and a business manager in charge of the district’s budgeting. The board approved the hiring of a lead bus driver at the meeting. The d...
A new accessible entrance and buildout of a youth center are the focus of a significant expansion at a prominent church in Cloquet. Journey Christian Church associate pastor Fred Goldschmidt called the construction an appropriate metaphor. "We're making it easier for people to get in the door," Goldschmidt said. "As Christians, we want to make it easier for people to get involved with Christ." The $420,000 project is being conducted by Ray Riihiluoma Construction of Cloquet and it's hoped it...
Born in western Cloquet, Vern Simula wants to return to his home county when it's his time to go. He's already made a burial shroud and developed an advanced funeral directive on how he wants to be buried. Until recently, the 90-year-old living in Morris, Minnesota, had chosen a proposed green burial cemetery in Blackhoof Township, near Barnum, where wary residents and local and state lawmakers have cooperated to put a halt to the cemetery's progress. "I want a simple, traditional burial," said...
The Wrenshall School Board approved a $4.95 million budget for the 2023-24 school year during a special meeting June 26. Coupled with expected revenues of $5 million, the budget comes with a surplus of $48,272, and follows $312,000 in cuts earlier this year in anticipation of an ongoing shortfall if cuts weren’t made. The board had sought to build a $100,000 surplus, and could still get there given a higher enrollment. “It’s looking pretty good,” board chair Nicole Krisak told the Pine Knot. The budget was based on enrollment of 325 student...
A Wrenshall-area farm with roughly 50 horses and cows is under investigation again, following renewed reports of animals being underfed and lacking care. The spotlight on the farm returned Monday at the Carlton County board meeting in Cloquet, where concerned residents reported harrowing details, and both the county attorney's office and a statewide nonprofit humane society reported ongoing investigations into the farm. "I've been watching these horses and cows on this property since 2019 and...
Families who desire their children graduate with a Catholic education now will have that option in Cloquet, following the arrival of a high school program beginning this fall. Mater Dei Apostolate is moving from Duluth into the Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Cloquet at 102 Fourth St. "The idea that now in this area we can offer our people access to pre-K through 12th grade Catholic education is something I'm excited about," Father Nick Nelson said. "You want to be able to provide what you...
Visitors have said words can't really describe what it's like to camp at Allure of the Woods Rustic Retreat in Carlton, but they use the guestbook to try their best: "A cozy, peaceful getaway." "We made memories here." "(It) made me feel like a kid in a really sweet way." "You have sparked our love for nature." For proprietor Denise Coleman Lyng, the words fill her with joy. "My heart's desire is to have a place people can come to feel like it's private, feel like it's safe, and embrace what's...
For 6-year-old Aiyana Tegels, Wednesday was no ordinary day. She underwent surgery in St. Paul to remove corrective apparatuses from her legs that she's worn since late February. Expected to help Aiyana walk normally, the surgery was the culmination of a long journey that started when she was 6 months old, when her mother first noticed her daughter had trouble sitting up. "That's when we kind of noticed that her little feet weren't working the way they should," Ashley Tegels said at the...
There's a new superintendent in Wrenshall following unanimous school board approval Monday. Retired Deer River superintendent Jeff Pesta was approved for a part-time role. It's what the financially strapped district could afford and what Pesta, 58, wanted to work. "I wanted to continue to work part-time," he said. "It's like scratching an itch. Working through challenges, solving problems, that's something I still want to do." Pesta replaces Kim Belcastro, who spent 11 years in the role,...
Touring the USG mill in Cloquet this week, Jenna Leger met every encounter with a greeting and a smile. She inquired about employees' families, vacations and lives in general. She knew them all not only by name, but details of their lives, too. "We call ourselves a family, the USG family, and we mean that," Leger said. Married 11 years and pregnant with the couple's second child due this summer, Leger is the plant manager at the ceiling tile manufacturer located on the banks of the St. Louis...
Both legislative bodies approved a capital investment package to fund infrastructure projects around the state Monday, just hours before the session adjourned. It included funding for three District 11A projects: $17.5 million for the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (Cloquet, Thomson Township, city of Carlton), $10 million for the Carlton County female offender program and the jail and courts facility, and $5 million for Cloquet water infrastructure improvements on lines serving the...
As a high school senior, Dylan Lauer lived at his girlfriend's home, a fact that categorized him as homeless at the time. One of Lauer's parents had relapsed into addiction and been jailed, sending his siblings to their other parent in the Twin Cities. "It's my life," he said. "I'm not afraid to talk about it." Lauer, 23, didn't want to lose his senior year at Cloquet, a place filled for him with friends and academic and athletic promise. "Kassidy's family [the Steens] opened their doors so I...
The road to the Robertson Cup ended abruptly for the Minnesota Wilderness last weekend, coming with a two-game sweep to the Oklahoma Warriors. The series started promisingly for Minnesota, which took a 2-0 lead into the third period of Game 1 on Friday at Fogerty Arena in Blaine, Minnesota. But Oklahoma was the North American Hockey League’s top scoring team in the regular season and fought back accordingly, winning 4-2, before seizing a 3-1 series-clinching win on Saturday. The Cloquet-based M...
The 125th anniversary of the Sappi mill in Cloquet will bring a company picnic in August, and another surprise following a quarter-century drought. "For the first time in 25 years we're actually going to have public mill tours in July and August," said managing director Tom Radovich earlier this week. "We've got about 12 dates picked." Look for details to come on those celebratory events. Radovich met with local members of the news media prior to a tour of the mill on Monday. He told the story...
