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 451 - 475 of 1471
Nothing changed at Churchill Elementary School on Friday when U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced the 2022 National Blue Ribbon Schools - and the Cloquet school as one of 297 to make the list. Teachers and staff at the school were still doing what they do, students were still attending classes, studying and hanging out with friends. But there was extra excitement in the air, a little sense of being recognized as something special. It's a big deal. National Blue Ribbon Schools...
The Thomson Township board of supervisors defended itself this week after closing a public meeting to discuss applicants to fill an open seat on the board. The board went into what it termed “closed meeting” on Sept. 8 to discuss what was labeled on the agenda as “a personnel issue.” In fact, the board was meeting to discuss replacement of Jason Paulson, who resigned in August from the board with two years remaining on his term. Paulson cited a staffing shortage in the airline industry, causing him to work more hours as a pilot. In private...
What turned out to be a false 911 call reporting “an active threat of violence” at Cloquet High School Wednesday morning sent law enforcement racing to the building, where students and staff were unaware of any problems. “The phone call was a hoax, but it threw both buildings into lockdown,” Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary said. A news release from the Cloquet police department said the Carlton County Sheriff's dispatch center received a call at 10:37 a.m. from an unknown, unidentified person stating there was an armed suspect with an AK-4...
News that the police department secured a $110,000 grant to pay for a DWI enforcement officer came as welcome relief to Cloquet city officials Tuesday. Not only will it bring an increased focus on driving-while-impaired arrests and education, police chief Derek Randall said they will fill the position with a current officer, so city funds allocated to pay that salary and benefits will be freed up for other uses. That could mean purchasing police body cameras — which were discussed, but didn’t make the budget — or replacing the department’s stun...
Cloquet Ward 3 city council candidate Pete Erickson has a unique challenge this fall: he has to get voters to do more than fill in a box next to his name. For Erickson to win, voters will have to actually write his name, and NOT fill in the box next to the listed candidate's name: Chris Swanson. In the meantime, Swanson is running his own informal "Please don't vote for me" campaign, after moving out of Ward 3 and stepping down as councilor in August. August was too late to change the ballots fo...
Jeremy Gardner plays the piano in the "Ivory Garden" outside Wood City Nutrition on Avenue C in the West End of Cloquet last week during a break from work. Gardner's wife, artist and photographer Krista Leigh Gardner, decorated the piano and surrounding planters as part of the West End Flourish grant program last summer. Anyone is welcome to come and play the piano while the weather remains warm enough to keep it outside....
The West End of Cloquet was the first part of town rebuilt after the Fires of 1918 and has the most historic buildings, but it's also the area with the most vacant storefronts. It's a relatively small area: spanning avenues B, C and D from Broadway Avenue to the other side of Arch Street. For the first 50 years or so of Cloquet's existence, the West End was the beating heart of the city, particularly in terms of government. City Hall and the jail were here, the Pine Knot newspaper and lots of...
There were more smiles than tears Wednesday morning at Cloquet's Washington Elementary School, as students arrived for the first day of school. The atmosphere was almost celebratory among some families. Moms Carina McKenna and Kelly Bischoff staged a photo shoot for their boys, heading into grades 1, 3 and 4 in the new school year. "They're super excited," said Bischoff. Washington principal Robbi Mondati said the feeling was mutual. "The day has been going great," she said around lunchtime...
Cloquet city councilors unanimously voted for a preliminary 2023 levy increase of 6.5 percent Tuesday, following advice of staff to build a little "wiggle room" into the budget. Ward 2 councilor Sheila Lamb made the motion, stressing that the goal was to lower the levy increase to 5.95 percent by the time the city budget and levy are formally adopted in December. City administrator Tim Peterson recommended the "wiggle room" and higher increase, noting that the council can choose to decrease the...
The Cloquet Area Alternative Education Programs, a small alternative school for grades 6-12 which draws from 12 school districts, made a list of 371 schools that will receive extra support by the state department of education last week. The program’s four-year graduation rate was below 67 percent for all students, triggering the extra support. Located in Cloquet’s Garfield School, the school ironically reported its highest percentage of graduates last year at 59.4 percent. According to the state’s Minnesota Report Card for CAAEP, the school had...
It would be difficult to determine who had the starring role - politicians or candy - in Monday's Labor Day parade, but there was a plethora of both. And the kids were open to either, plastering political stickers on T-shirts without questioning platforms and filling backpacks and plastic grocery bags with enough candy to keep the dentist busy through Halloween. Many local candidates made their public debut this election season, while numerous state politicians and even U.S. Senator Amy Klobucha...
With only a few days left until Labor Day, Central Labor Body president Chad Tuura is bouncing between excitement over what he’s predicting will be a large parade and worry, because this important local event basically rests on his shoulders. He was giddy Tuesday night, after learning that Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon had agreed to be grand marshal in Monday’s parade, and after hearing from the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party that Cloquet would likely see some “major polit...
Warren Hietala came full circle last month while working in the blacksmith's shop at the Carlton County fair. It was there that the Cloquet High School junior once escaped as a youngster while his parents were working in the art building. He'd become immersed watching blacksmith Steve Davis and others crafting red hot metal into tools and trinkets. "My parents would never let me touch the pictures, because they were worried I would break them or something, so I would come in here and watch...
Remember the 500-year flash floods that ripped across the Northland 10 years ago, and the drought that had farmers and others praying for rain last summer? Cloquet city officials are hoping to make a plan for future climate change and they need help from the people who live here. City staff and the SEH consulting engineering firm are in the process of preparing an assessment of the stormwater infrastructure throughout Cloquet, something that was last done 40 years ago, according to assistant city engineer John Anderson. As part of the...
Following a closed meeting Wednesday that lasted three hours, the Wrenshall school board fired the school’s information technology director, Jaime Hopp, the Pine Knot News learned Thursday. Hopp had been the subject of a personnel investigation which began earlier this summer. The tech director was alleged to have profanely alluded to “killing” the district superintendent while in the staff lounge in June. Another district employee overheard the comment, which superintendent Kim Belcastro later reported to Carlton County authorities. Following...
Following a closed meeting Wednesday that lasted three hours, the Wrenshall school board fired the school’s information technology director, Jaime Hopp, the Pine Knot News learned Thursday. Hopp had been the subject of a personnel investigation which began earlier this summer. The tech director was alleged to have profanely alluded to “killing” the district superintendent while in the staff lounge in June. Another district employee overheard the comment, which superintendent Kim Belcastro later...
A federal judge last week dismissed the remaining claims in a $4 million civil lawsuit filed by a former Cloquet detective, but left open the door for continued action in state court. Scott Holman, a detective and K-9 officer who had worked for the Cloquet Police Department for 22 years, was fired by the city council in June 2019. Holman’s complaint claimed that the detective’s termination was the result of a Brady policy created by the Carlton County Attorney’s Office for “sanctioning” police officers without due process. The term “Brady” r...
The Lakehead Harvest Show returns Friday for its 61st annual show with daily activities from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Friday through Sunday, Aug. 26-28 at 70 E. St. Louis River Road near Esko. Bring the whole family and get ready for a trip into the past on this old-school working farm. There’s lots to see and do there. Volunteers demonstrate all kinds of farm activities using old-school equipment to thresh, plow, crush rocks, plane wood and even make shingles. Lakehead Harvest president Ryan Hansen s...
Hawaii's loss was Cloquet's gain this summer, when a dog being trained as a backup accelerant detection K-9 for the island state became available in June. Cloquet Area Fire District battalion chief Jason Maki picked up Delta, a 2½-year-old golden retriever mix from the North Carolina training site in mid-June. "It's a long story, but she was one of two dogs that were slated to go to Hawaii after the police academy," Maki explained. "They do two dogs because Hawaii is super strict on...
After close to 10 months of musical chairs, the Cloquet Area Fire District staff and board members celebrated a slew of promotions and other moves that have the district almost on stable ground in terms of staffing. CAFD chief Jesse Buhs said in many cases, a promotion led to a vacancy that was filled and created more vacancies behind it. A case in point, Buhs was appointed interim chief in December and officially got the job in March. A new assistant fire chief position was created, and former...
Where there's smoke, there's fire ... except when it's electrical and firefighters turn the power off. That's what happened at Heather's Cafe in Cloquet Thursday, Aug. 18. Firefighters from the Cloquet Area Fire District spent hours at 1302 and 1304 Cloquet Avenue, after getting a call about smoke inside. Traffic down Cloquet Avenue was rerouted while they were there. Battalion chief Jason Maki said CAFD crews -- by cutting holes and using heat sensitive cameras -- eventually found wood smolderi...
Former Minnesota Wilderness junior hockey coach Brendan Phelps won’t face charges after two men in an online video alleged that Phelps had traveled to Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, for an intimate encounter with someone he believed was a 16-year-old male. Instead, when Phelps arrived, he found the men — private citizens, not police — with video cameras, one who claimed he had posed as the boy online. The 18-minute video was posted to YouTube in July by a group called Midwest Predator Catchers. While...
For decades, Marcie Stolberg has kept the island next to her campground as sacred space, aware of the stories of long-ago Native American battles and tragedy. It was there, according to the 1937 novel, "Wawina: A Beautiful Story of an Indian Princess" by Chief Northwind (Joseph Northrup's pen name), that two stubborn chiefs refused to make peace, their children met a tragic end, and a huge battle took place. A walk around Knife Island today reveals mostly undisturbed greenery - trees,...
Kettle River's main street was bustling Saturday, as the small town celebrated its annual Ma & Pa Kettle Days event. Politicians, vendors and others – including the Moose Lake Historical Society and the Starr Club – lined the city's Main Street. The sounds of music from under the big top provided a backdrop for many conversations between old friends, shoppers and those trying to decide which candidate they will vote for. Dan Reed, who orchestrated this year's event with a committee of vol...
Cloquet city councilors and Mayor Roger Maki voted unanimously Tuesday to uphold the city’s subdivision ordinance requiring sidewalks in any new subdivisions, despite a planning commission recommendation to the contrary. City planner/zoning administrator Al Cottingham told councilors that the three members of the planning commission recommended approval of a variance from the subdivision code for developer James Kuklis for phase 2 of his Trails Edge subdivision, to be located southwest of Trail Drive and 18th Street. The proposed plat shows 13...
