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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While other area schools and cities are heightening Covid-19 protocols, the Esko school board voted Monday to pass a set of guidelines that would allow the removal of mandatory masks on Feb. 7. With a 3-2 vote at the regular meeting Jan. 24, the board passed guidelines that state the mask mandate for elementary school students would be suspended if the number of active Covid-19 cases for the district is under 25. If the number of cases is not below 25, masks could be mandatory for all students. “The board has not set a specific strategy, but i...
We weren’t taken aback at the news that Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is ending its football program. Football is always expensive, with lots of players, lots of equipment. Very few of the football players — at least in recent years — had local or state connections, so it was hard to drum up any sort of local following. And, finally, there is no football field anywhere near the campus, so “home” games were played as far away as Superior. But you know what is close to the college campus? A soccer complex. When FDLTCC began its athle...
Esko senior Nate Rengo has been vocal about mask wearing at the high school, saying he advocates taking any “proactive” measures to avoid a school shutdown and missing school events in his final year. After a board meeting earlier in January when mask use was debated, Rengo wrote a letter and sent it to administration and teachers. “We are in the middle of a huge surge of cases, and wearing masks could be the difference between online and in-person school,” Rengo wrote. “Distance learning is awful, just ask any student or teacher.” And that is...
Our frigid winter can only be soothed by embracing it. That's what Dan Malkovich of Cloquet was doing last week as he ventured out to Jay Cooke State Park for some night photography of the waning wolf moon. "The full moon in January, called the wolf moon, was hidden by an overcast sky" on Jan. 17, he said. "Here is a picture taken the next night, when the sky was clear and the moon was 96-percent full. Compared to our eyes, the camera has superior ability to record even low amounts of light,...
The latest photo from the Carlton County Historical Society is of some very smiley students at the Scanlon grade school in the early 1960s. Do you recognize anyone? The society would love to put some names to its photo collection. Send your information to news@PineKnot News.com with "history" in the subject line....
A group advancing the idea of a Carlton County animal shelter is holding its next meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 3 at the VFW in Carlton. Anyone is welcome to attend. Carlton County has not had a local humane society since the Friends of Animals Humane Society closed its doors the summer of 2018, due to financial stresses and an inadequate building. Since then, local officials have put funds previously paid to the humane society toward low-cost spay/neuter programs as well as free microchipping clinics. The police department and Facebook...
The Fond du Lac Reservation Business Committee approved a mask mandate from Jan. 21 through Feb. 18 for the following facilities: Black Bear Casino Resort, Fond-du-Luth Casino, and Fond du Lac Gas & Grocery. The City of Cloquet implemented a mask mandate for all public spaces through Feb. 18. Carlton County already requires masks in all of its public buildings....
The 2022 precinct caucuses will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1. Precinct caucuses are meetings run by Minnesota’s political parties. They are the first in a series of meetings where parties may endorse candidates, select delegates, and set goals and values, called party platforms. The Carlton County DFL party is making its caucus meetings as contactless as possible due to Covid levels. Participants are asked to come to their local polling place, where a volunteer will give them a form to complete and return onsite before departing. There w...
After warning families that the district might have to switch to distance learning because of staffing shortages caused by the pandemic, Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary said things are looking up. Staffing levels have stabilized, somewhat. “They’re still not exactly where we would want them to be, but they have definitely improved,” Cary told Cloquet school board members during Monday’s meeting. “All the available data that we can see would suggest that we should be at or nearing our [Covid] surge peak soon — if we haven’t hit it alread...
The Fond du Lac Resource Management & Tribal Court building has been renamed the John A. Smith Memorial Building, honoring a retired conservation officer who died at age 69 on Dec. 25. Smith served in many prominent capacities, including interim police chief for FDL and District III Reservation Business Committee representative. Being a conservation officer was his calling, however. Working for FDL for 47 years, Smith was the chief conservation officer protecting resources both on and off the...
Continued fluctuations between moderate and frigid temperatures this month, coupled with spates of snow, have left roadways slick. In just the past week there were several incidents of cars sliding off roads and some overturning. In Cloquet on Friday night, Jan. 21, a bus carrying athletes from a game back to Two Harbors entered the intersection at Washington Avenue and into northbound traffic on Minnesota Highway 33. The bus, carrying 23 people, including the 71-year-old driver, hit an SUV traveling northbound on 33, the Minnesota State...
Carlton County was one of five counties recognized for the Association of Minnesota Counties County Achievement award out of all 87 counties in Minnesota last month. Several Carlton County departments were recognized for their collaborative work on the drive-through Covid-19 vaccination clinics, including Public Health and Human Services, GIS, Land Department, Sheriff’s Office, Transportation Department, County Coordinator, and Maintenance Department. According to the most recent Carlton County newsletter, this collaboration was innovative a...
Residential households in the U.S. can order one set of four free at-home tests from USPS.com courtesy of the federal government. Go to https://special.usps.com/testkits to order. Here’s what you need to know about your order: Limit of one order per residential address; One order includes four individual rapid antigen Covid-19 tests; Orders will ship free starting in late January....
The Carlton County Extension Office is offering a class on Feb. 17 called “Growing Healthy Landscapes for Bees and Other Pollinators,” presented by master gardener Kathy Rahkola. The 90-minute class begins at 2 p.m. at 1630 County Road 61 in Carlton....
For the fourth time in the last 40 years the Carlton County board of commissioners declared their support for necessary funding by state and federal action to rebuild Highway 73 in western Carlton County, particularly the 8-mile stretch south of Cromwell. There was little discussion before the unanimous vote during the county board meeting Monday, Jan. 24. Federal funding is available through the new infrastructure initiative and the state of Minnesota has a budget surplus of more than $7.5 billion. County highway engineer JinYeene Neumann...
Talk of the Cloquet Area Fire District continued at the Thomson Township Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday, Jan. 20. In past discussions about CAFD board representation, it was unclear whether the township’s representative had to be an elected official, a township employee, or if it could be anyone. According to township attorney Dave Pritchett, the representative cannot be a paid and/or current employee of the township, but must be an elected official to vote on the CAFD. Board supervisor Jason Paulson questioned whether the township w...
A Cloquet man who is facing manslaughter charges will argue he acted in self defense, and seek to have the charges dismissed, according to his attorney. Joel Jay Ammesmaki, 58, was charged with first-degree manslaughter in September for “causing the death of another while committing assault in the fifth degree with such force and violence” that death or great harm was “reasonably foreseeable.” Ammesmaki was arrested Sept. 14 after police responded to a 911 call at around 2 a.m. reporting an unwanted person in an apartment inside the Fond du...
Following the upheaval of the final weeks of 2021, the first Cloquet Area Fire District Board meeting Wednesday, Jan. 19, was positively noncontroversial. The fact that it was held online likely helped — the board will meet remotely as long as Covid numbers are high — as did the rollback of the ambulance district tax increase at the board’s final meeting in December. After stepping up to serve as chair following Bob DeCaigney’s resignation last month, Brevator Township rep Linda Way was elected chair for 2022 by unanimous vote of her fellow...
The two women accused by protestors of abusing children in their care fought back in Sixth District Carlton County court Tuesday. More than 100 people observed the online hearing, which ultimately continued the removal of 10 children from their Cloquet homes as allegations of abuse on the part of their caretakers are being investigated. The investigation and legal actions came about after photos and video of the alleged abuse were circulated widely on Facebook earlier this month, and protesters...
The Minnesota Legislature starts up again next week, and while it’s fun to make fun of lawmakers, they really do an important job in our society, and most of them take their job very seriously. There are some pretty big issues to debate this year, including the budget surplus (Democrats want to spend it; Republicans want to lower taxes); setting new boundary lines for elections; and dealing with the pandemic. It will be fun to watch. They will also discuss an amendment to the Minnesota c...
There was a wonderful article in the Pine Knot (Jan. 7) that prompted me to write a little bit of history to pass down. This particular article really touched home. My grandparents on my father Wallace Johanson’s side were Swedish emigrants — along with other family, the Bergquists and some Berglands — who chose this wonderful town of Cloquet to settle and raise their families. After the 1918 fire my grandfather, Wilhelm Dahl Johanson, who had moved into town from his little log cabin on Brevator Road, purchased land from John Johnson, my gr...
Kudos to Mayor Maki and the City Council for implementing and supporting a mask mandate in indoor public gathering places. I appreciate the courage this took. Thank you for helping us help ourselves. John Boland, Cloquet...
As a business owner, the news of the Cloquet mask mandate passed Jan. 18 raised some questions and concerns. When previous Covid-19 safety measures were implemented, I ensured that my restaurant followed all of the appropriate guidelines. I did not complain. I did not receive any write-ups or fines over the course of numerous mandates and shutdowns. I did witness a tremendous toll on my business, my employees, and my patrons — and the most recent mask mandate has me concerned that these problems will arise yet again. The current cost of an i...
Wendy L. Clark Diemart passed away Jan. 12, 2022, at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth from complications from Covid. Her two sons were by her side. Wendy was born in Duluth to Stanley A. and Wilma (Anton) Clark on June 8, 1951. She attended school in Esko and graduated from Floodwood High School in 1969. She lived in Kansas for a time before moving back to Minnesota. She enjoyed sewing, watching her soaps and going to Black Bear Casino Resort. Wendy was preceded in death by her parents; brothers...
Stacy Lea (Golden) Beckes passed away very peacefully Jan. 23, 2022, surrounded by her family in her home. She was born on Aug. 22, 1966, in Cloquet, to Clifford and Catherine (Maack) Golden. Stacy grew up in Cloquet with her siblings, Gloria, Darla, Darin and Troy, with whom she had a very special bond. She spent her life in the Cloquet area, close to her family. Stacy was kind, compassionate, loyal, funny, easygoing, and accepting of everyone just as they were. She was a devoted mom with immen...
