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
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When someone sets the record for the Minnesota Voyageur Trail Ultra, there isn't a ton of drama. That's because there's only a handful of people at the finish line. Justin Stewart finished the 50-mile race in 6 hours, 38 minutes, and 34 seconds Saturday, more than 45 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher. He was greeted by race director Sam Frey - who accompanied Stewart's finish with a cowbell while other volunteers cheered. Frey then presented the Springfield, Illinois runner with his awa...
There was a time when a person could hear a church service in Finnish in Cloquet, live in the "Finntown" neighborhood and join one of several cooperatives started here by Finnish immigrants. Many descendents of those immigrants still live here. Some are easily identified by their blue eyes and blond hair, or their names - Riihiluoma, Juntunen, Ikola and Soukkala, among others - while others may be identified by their speech patterns or habits, such as taking a sauna (pronounced SOW-na if you're...
Longtime Carlton resident Gordon "Gordy" Davis was unanimously selected to serve as the 2023 Grand Marshal of the Carlton Daze parade starting at 1 p.m. Sunday. Look for Davis in Sunday's parade down Chestnut Avenue, a huge part of the annual community celebration, which spans three days and offers a wide range of fun activities, starting today (Friday) with a 5K and kids' races, bingo, crafters and live music. Highlights Saturday are the car show 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Chestnut Avenue and...
A former Cloquet police officer was charged last week by the Minnesota Attorney General’s office with financially exploiting a vulnerable adult — an elderly woman she befriended after responding to a call — and attempting to swindle the woman’s estate and her estranged husband after she died. Laci Marie Silgjord worked as a police officer and later a K-9 partner for the city of Cloquet from 2015 to 2022. She met Joan Arney (now deceased) in May 2020 after the Cloquet resident called police about...
National Night Out began nearly 40 years ago with the idea that the best way to build a safer community is to know your neighbors and your surroundings. A network of neighborhood watch groups and other crime prevention efforts along with law enforcement agencies threw block parties, cookouts, festivals and other events to bring people together with public safety officials, in their own neighborhoods or the larger community. It just keeps growing, reaching “millions of neighbors across t...
A man housed in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program facility in Moose Lake was sentenced to 220 months — over 18 years — in state prison Monday to attempted second-degree murder. Nicolas Ladell Aron-Jones’ victim made a statement in the hearing, as did the offender, saying he prefers prison time to the MSOP. Aron-Jones, 29, pleaded guilty in May to the most serious of four charges against him. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the other charges of first-, second- and fourth-degree assault were dismissed. “He attempted to kill someone...
Cloquet's West End business district has been seeing larger weekend crowds, thanks to business owner Ryan Bridge, of Bridges Customs. A growing crowd of car enthusiasts are making their way to the West End every other Friday to share their love of unique cars and enjoy the "drifting" display by Bridge's drifting team. In car culture, drifting is the practice of driving a car in a controlled skid, as if on ice. These drifting competitions have nothing to do with racing and a checkered flag....
Native Americans serve in the U.S. military at five times the national average, according to the United Service Organizations. Pride in that service was on display throughout the Fond du Lac Veterans Powwow last weekend, with military uniforms and camouflage interspersed with a dazzling display of traditional regalia worn by 476 dancers competing in the powwow. Drummers pounded out the Veterans Song, while flags from every military branch, eagle staffs from various reservations, and families...
A state grant is bringing free movies in the park to the city of Cloquet, starting Friday, with "Inside Out," a Pixar film about Riley, a happy, hockey-loving 11-year-old Midwestern girl whose world is turned upside-down when she and her parents move to San Francisco. It's the kind of movie lots of kids around here could probably relate to. "I think the messaging about expressing your feelings is really important, and something maybe we all need to do: learn to express ourselves," said Amy Louhe...
Cloquet police are cracking down on risky driving, with the goal of helping everyone on the road get home safely. That means stopping people who are driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, along with those who are texting and driving, speeding or engaging in other poor driving behaviors. While the entire force makes traffic stops like these in addition to other duties and calls for service, there is one officer who focuses solely on impaired driving, thanks to a state grant that fully f...
The debate over making lacrosse a sanctioned high school sport advanced slightly at Monday’s meeting, as administration and the local Northern Siege Youth Lacrosse Association inch toward an acceptable agreement. But it won’t be an easy sell, at least not in its current form. Board member and former Cloquet superintendent Ken Scarbrough expressed strong concerns about the proposal to have Northern Siege fund all the costs for a high school lacrosse program for the next five years and how that will impact the district’s control over the poten...
A Carlton man charged with possessing and creating pornographic work of children is now facing federal charges which carry a much higher mandatory minimum sentence, according to Carlton County Attorney Lauri Ketola. Stephan Jeremiah Hansen, 29, made his initial appearance May 26 in U.S. District Court in Duluth on four charges of production and attempted production of child pornography. The indictment describes four images of naked minor girls. Key to the federal charges is the use of materials that had been “mailed, shipped and transported t...
For the second year in a row, the Carlton County Disabled American Veterans Chapter 18 is the grand marshal for the Cloquet Fourth of July parade. They got a do-over because last year's parade was canceled due to weather. "Here's hoping lightning doesn't strike twice, a year apart," said July Fourth co-coordinator Ivan Hohnstadt. "We'd really like to see the DAV get a moment in the spotlight, since they are so often the ones quietly making things happen." The more than 600 members of the DAV...
A dramatic emergency landing on Interstate 35 last week did no damage to the plane or the pilot, Daniel Blace of Saginaw. The emergency landing on the northbound lanes of Interstate 35 between Barnum and Mahtowa took place around 1 p.m. Friday, June 16. After landing successfully, Blace drove the plane off the interstate and into the ditch. The pilot, who was alone in the plane, told the Pine Knot News it was a forced landing. "The engine quit. You can't stay in the air when that happens," he...
With the appointment of new police officer Jacob Bubb at Tuesday’s Cloquet City Council meeting, the Cloquet Police Department is nearly at full strength — 24 sworn police officers — after being decimated by a wave of disability retirements several years ago. Police chief Derek Randall said Bubb was the top candidate, and will be a good fit for the department, which he said is young and passionate about community policing. Bubb was born and raised in Esko, and attended Hibbing Community College to get his degree in law enforcement. He is close...
Cloquet school board members unanimously passed the closest thing to a balanced budget the school district has seen in years, with only $2,366 in the red for the unassigned general fund versus a projected deficit of $514,000 this time last year. “This is probably the lowest or as close to a balanced budget as I’ve seen,” said district finance director Candace Nelis. The unassigned general fund includes salaries, benefits and most items administrators and school board members have more control over, versus items such as food services, trans...
Cloquet senior Karson Patten finished a high school golf career that included five trips to state on a high note: he tied for second place in the Class AA tournament, his highest individual finish yet. Were it not for a disappearing ball on the 10th hole, head coach Aaron Young said he was confident Patten would have ended the tournament tied for first. "No one could find it, so that put him two strokes back," Young said. "But it was really nice to see Karson finish so strong." On Day 2, Patten...
In a field dominated by seniors, Cloquet freshman Ethan Lavan faced a sophomore in his first Class A state tennis match at Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis, and won 6-3, 6-4, against Ayan Glaser from St. Anthony Village. Cloquet-Esko-Carlton head coach Derek Johnson said they didn't know much about Glaser going in - the two had not even played any common opponents - but he thought Lavan had a good shot at winning as long as he kept his cool. He did. "He earned it. He deserved to be...
People of all ages turned out for the USG ice cream social Tuesday, in honor of the local mill's 100th anniversary in Cloquet. There were plenty of young ones eager for frozen treats, face painting or balloon creations. Others waited their turn to spin the wheel for prizes, which included water bottles, sunglasses, flashlights and USG T-shirts. There were even jobs to be discussed. And then there was Ben Anderson, a dapper 92-year-old wearing a red flat cap and swapping stories with current...
Minnesota state legislators and Gov. Tim Walz came through in a big way for the city of Cloquet, judging by the list of benefits shared by city administrator Tim Peterson during Tuesday’s council meeting. Top of the list was an increase to Local Government Aid, or LGA, which is set to increase statewide by $80 million annually starting in 2024, translating to an additional $500,000 for the city of Cloquet. Peterson told councilors some of the money will help put the city on more solid footing. “Let’s just remember that our budget looked really,...
Although they weren't always the most well-behaved students, the Esko Class of 2023 garnered high praise from school administrators and each other during Friday's commencement for the way they embraced life in many different unique ways, learning yet also teaching lessons along the way. Four students and principal Greg Hexum shared their thoughts before the 82 members of the Class of 2023 walked across the stage one by one and graduated. "My journey to getting here was not always easy," student...
Members of the Cloquet Combined Honor Guard made their longest and final Memorial Day stop - their 10th in three hours - at Veterans Park Monday. It was a celebration of Memorial Day in its purest form: honoring the more than 1 million men and women who gave their lives on the field of battle in service of this country. "Some fell during historic battles, with iconic names such as D-Day, Khe Sanh, Pearl Harbor, Fallujah, Ramadi," said master of ceremonies Troy Smith, retired Sgt. 1st Class and...
Cloquet High School principal Steve Battaglia made a pretty big announcement at Friday's commencement: for the first time in at least recent memory, every senior was graduating. "We have zero seniors that walked the halls who aren't graduating tonight. Everybody is graduating," he said, as the crowd erupted in applause. There is an asterisk to go with that statement. He meant every senior who was on campus this year. He wasn't including students who moved away, went to other schools or never...
As contractors began the work of disassembling parts of the Cloquet High School track and football field this week, Cloquet school board members approved the sale of $2.7 million in bonds Monday to help finance renovations of the outdoor athletic facilities complex. Six companies bid, with the lowest bid from Piper Sandler Companies coming in at a true interest rate of 4.7711 percent, lower than the pre-bid estimate of 5.34 percent. Jodie Zesbaugh, Ehlers municipal advisor, said the lower bid...
A former inmate of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program facility in Moose Lake pleaded guilty Monday to attempted second-degree murder. Just over three weeks after viciously attacking a security counselor at the facility, Nicolas Ladell Aron-Jones, 29, pleaded guilty in Carlton County District Court to the most serious of four charges against him. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the other charges of first-, second- and fourth-degree assault will be dismissed. According to the criminal complaint filed on May 3, Aron-Jones placed the motor...
