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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With two-and-a-half years of his four-year term behind him, Robert Abramowski resigned from the position of secretary/treasurer of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa last week, effective Friday, Jan. 31. He made the announcement at the Jan. 16 Reservation Business Committee open meeting for band members, saying he wants more time for other priorities in his life. RBC chairman Bruce Savage thanked Abramowski for his services and said the RBC will appoint Brookston representative Earl...
The Cloquet Area Fire District board, with eyes on breaking ground on a new building this fall, unanimously declared its intent to bond for a Station 1 replacement at its 22nd Street property. A desire to avoid rising building costs coupled with the fact that the fire and ambulance service has outgrown its current aging space prompted the vote, after years of planning. The resolution doesn't set the decision in stone, nor does it take referendums off the table. It lays the groundwork for a...
JR Bents and Gentry Olson took a moment to reminisce during a break in the action at a basketball exhibition between Cloquet's "unified" gym class and their counterparts from a similar team in Bemidji. Bents, a ninth-grader at Cloquet High School, joined the class last school year. "I didn't really know anybody, and I met Gentry," he said. "We're really good friends right now." Olson, a seventh-grader at Cloquet Middle School, leaned back pensively. "Eh," he joked, fluttering his hand in a...
Thursday, Jan. 16 Girls Basketball Hill City/Northland 65 Fond du Lac 21 ML/WR 66 Pillager 52 Cromwell-Wright 79 McGregor 26 Superior 53 Cloquet 45 Esko 66 Barnum 27 Two Harbors 61 Carlton/Wrenshall 37 South Ridge 61 Silver Bay 35 Boys Hockey Northern Edge 6 MLA 1 Girls Hockey Northern Lakes 3 CEC 2 (OT) MLA 2 Northern Tier 0 Friday, Jan. 17 Boys Basketball Two Harbors 67 Carlton/Wrenshall 41 Superior 92 Cloquet 46 Cromwell-Wright 71 McGregor 51 South Ridge 80 Nashwauk-Keewatin 53 Fond du Lac 73 Bigfork 67 Esko 83 Barnum 63 Girls Basketball...
Minnesota Power crews restored power Tuesday to 2,500 customers in the Barnum, Moose Lake and Sturgeon Lake areas who were impacted by an outage caused by the bitterly cold temperatures that morning (when temperatures dropped below -22 degrees). The company called in additional lineworkers and resources from surrounding areas to assist in the response, including a helicopter to fly the transmission line so crews could figure out the problem faster. The outage, which occurred around 4:30 a.m., was caused by a substation breaker failure. Crews...
Carlton County Animal Rescue is having a supply drive with a drop-off box at Moose Lake Brewery, beginning now and ending with a Paws & Pints fundraiser 1-4 p.m. Feb. 8. See the Carlton County Animal Rescue Facebook page to purchase tickets and for more information about the latest CCAR rescues and needs....
January is National Blood Donor Month. The Red Cross reports that someone in the United States needs a blood transfusion every two seconds. It is vital for cancer treatments, chronic illnesses and surgeries. In an effort to continue to meet the needs of the community, the Essentia Health-Moose Lake Foundation is hosting a blood drive from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 27, at Essentia Health-Moose Lake hospital, 4572 County Road 61. Please make an appointment by signing up at www.mbc.org/searchdrives (search sponsor code 3724). Interested...
The St. Olaf Band, conducted by Dr. Henry L. Dorn, will perform at Cloquet High School at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, during its 2025 winter tour. Founded in 1891, the St. Olaf Band, from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, performs compositions and transcriptions for symphonic band and was dubbed “one of America’s preeminent bands” by The New Yorker. Dorn leads the St. Olaf Band in his second year as conductor. Local residents are invited to support this world-class music made in Minnesota. Tickets are $10 and free for students and educa...
Bun Carlson's seat sat conspicuously empty as the Cloquet City Council meeting convened Tuesday. Carlson, the Ward 1 councilor for the past six years, died Jan. 12, at age 68. Mayor Roger Maki opened the meeting with words about Carlson, recalling him as a councilor who researched the issues and voted for what he felt was best. One of the first items of new business for the council Tuesday was determining how to fill the open seat through 2026, the remainder of Carlson's term. After some...
Following a city water main break before Christmas, a Cloquet family finds itself in an insurance nightmare where no one will help them: neither the city nor their insurance agent. Residents Jamie and Andrea Anderson addressed the Cloquet City Council Tuesday, sharing the story (and photos) of the water main break that damaged their home, which also serves as an in-home childcare. The Cloquet couple were denied by their own insurance company, State Farm, which blamed the city. Then the city's...
Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan informed the school board on Monday she will not seek renewal of her contract when it expires at the end of June 2026. "I understand the district may be exploring the possibility of transitioning to a part-time superintendent role in the future, which does not align with my goals," Stepan said in an email to the Pine Knot News. "To provide ample time for planning, I wanted to communicate my decision early, allowing the district to thoughtfully consider its ne...
As the state’s plans to license legal cannabis dispensaries continue to be delayed, Thomson Township officials are taking steps toward deciding how the township will handle cannabis business regulations. During Thursday’s regular meeting, the board formed a committee to consider cannabis regulations. Committee members include township supervisor (and former Cloquet assistant police chief) Terry Hill, supervisor Logan Saline and township attorney David Pritchett. The supervisors will bring public safety and zoning/planning experience, res...
The committee rosters were announced this legislative session for the Minnesota Senate. Carlton County’s representative, Sen. Jason Rarick (R-Pine City), will continue on the Education Finance, Energy, and Higher Education committees. He will also return to the Labor Committee, which he previously served as chairman in 2021. “Being that this is a budget year and our state is headed towards an over $5 billion deficit, the top priority for us needs to be reining in the overspending that Democrats have engaged in for the past two years,” Raric...
The documentary PBS television show “Inside Senior Living,” featuring several Carlton County residents, is now being shown on stations across the country. Senior living consultant Melissa Fritz of Minneapolis found herself smack dab in the middle of the confusion and chaos of elderly care when her father was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s dementia. From all of this uncertainty came the idea for the docuseries following Minnesota families as they navigate these often gut-wrenching scenarios. Each of the eight episodes were filmed in Mi...
The financial stress that is being put on individuals and families by our elected officials in the form of new taxes each year must be looked at very seriously in terms of how the continual increases are affecting their lives. The population of Carlton County has increased very little over my 80-plus years here, but taxes on the people have continued to increase at an alarming rate. Carlton County’s tax base is made up mainly of homeowners, who want to live here but are being taxed at such high rates it is really difficult for them. Carlton C...
On Jan. 6, 2021, thousands of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to overthrow the election results. They injured more than 140 police officers, five who later died or took their own lives because of the attack. More than 1,500 insurrectionists were convicted by juries of their peers or pled guilty and were sentenced. President Trump repeatedly called the convicted rioters “hostages” and “patriots,” and the assault “a day of love.” In one of his first acts in office this week he pardoned all but a handful of them. Our own U.S. Re...
I was driving down Country Club Drive by the Cloquet golf course when I spotted friend and fellow library board member Mary DuPont Hagen. She was outside the two-story, white house where she grew up, doing fall cleaning, painting, and yard work with her daughter. I asked about the tiny replica house by the hedge row. Like the big white house, it had windows on all sides, a front door, bunk beds, and a shingled roof. But an adult could not stand up in it. Mary said she spent many hours in the...
Friday, Jan. 24 Boys hockey CEC vs. Bemidji, 7 MLA at Barron, 6 Girls basketball Barnum at Aitkin, 7 Boys basketball ML/WR at Carlton/Wrenshall, 7:15 Cromwell-Wright at East Central, 7:15 Esko at Two Harbors, 7:15 ML/WR at Carlton/ Wrenshall, 7:15 Alpine skiing CEC at Lutsen Saturday, Jan. 25 Boys basketball Barnum at Swanville, 3 Esko vs. Maple River, 12:30 Girls basketball ML/WR vs. Ely, 2:30 Nordic skiing CEC at Ely, 9:30 a.m. Wrestling CEC at South St. Paul H.S., 10 Monday, Jan. 27 Girls hockey CEC at North Shore Storm, 7 Girls basketball...
The Chippewa Steel swept the Minnesota Wilderness in a weekend series last week. Chippewa took a 6-3 victory Friday night in Chippewa Falls and followed with a 5-2 win Saturday in Cloquet. Those results led to Chippewa and the Wilderness swapping places in the Midwest Division — the Steel (17-17-4) moved into fifth place with 38 points, while the Wilderness (17-16-3) fell to sixth with 37 points. Minnesota next heads to Alaska for its next five games. The Wilderness are in Fairbanks to meet the Ice Dogs in a three-game series that begin on T...
The first half of last Friday's boys basketball matchup between Esko and Barnum was tight with Esko managing to stake themselves to a seven- point lead. Then Esko came out and got on an offensive roll in the second half and eventually pulled away to an 83-63 Polar League win in Barnum. "They are a typical Barnum team," said Esko coach Derek Anderson. "They are strong, patient, physical and always well-coached and in general they are always a quality opponent." The Bombers stayed close with Esko...
Strong and balanced scoring helped propel the Esko girls basketball team to an impressive 66-27 home win over the Barnum Bombers on Thursday night. "We were able to control the tempo," said Esko coach Sue Northey. Esko relied on speed and quickness as they rolled to the win. Clara Swanson led Esko with 18 points and was a tough matchup for the Bombers. "Esko plays at a fast pace and that's how they've done it for a long time," said Barnum coach Mariah Minkkinen, who missed the game due to...
For the second year in a row, winter weather has been a challenge for the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton alpine ski teams, with Monday's meet at Mont du Lac cancelled due to frigid temperatures. Head coach Ryan Zimny wasn't fazed by the change. "The lack of natural snow has been annoying, but at least it has been cold enough to make snow, so much better than last year," he said, referring to conditions at Spirit Mountain in Duluth, where the boys and girls teams practice. Zimny said the girls team is...
Gordy Sather of Cloquet earned a $25 gift certificate to Outdoor Advantage for being spotted with twin "I Think Knot" bumper stickers on his truck. He reads the weekly newspaper for what he called the "interesting stuff," he said. "It's posts all the times and schedules, and has interesting things to read."...
Salutations. By the time you read this news, we will have Donald J. Trump as our 47th president of the United States. The people have spoken, now we will have to wait and see how Trump's second term turns out. The ice rink at the Cromwell Park has been flooded and is ready for skaters. Skates are available in the warming shack. The Cromwell-Wright Dollar for Scholars annual meeting was held this week in the school cafeteria. New members are welcome. If you have any questions about what this...
Kenneth D. “Kenny” Joyce, 81, of Cloquet passed away Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, at Aspirus St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth with his family by his side. Kenny was born Oct. 1, 1943, in Cloquet, the son of Ed and Eunice (Pedersen) Joyce. He graduated from Mountain Lake High School in 1961 and played football and baseball in his younger days. Kenny started playing fastpitch softball in 1960 in Mountain Lake, and it became a lifelong passion. He married Glenna Steinle, his high school sweetheart, in 1965 in Mountain Lake and they moved to Cloqu...
