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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It's a classic long Minnesota goodbye to an absurd degree. Millie, a guest at the Pine Knot News office the past two years, will be staying at least another year. Blame the staff at the newspaper, for they keep serving up quality journalism and advertising that is enticing Millie to stay. Millie, as the staff has affectionately coined the Mills Trophy, is symbolic of the Minnesota Newspaper Association's "most outstanding weekly." The distinction was bestowed upon the Pine Knot for the third...
Bolstering Carlton ambulance service, costs pitched to townships A proposal to create two full-time positions atop the city of Carlton's all-volunteer ambulance service was met with optimism by officials from surrounding townships Jan. 25. "You did a professional job here tonight," Silver Brook Township board chair Duane Laveau said. "You probably sold Silver Brook Township just by the professionalism here tonight." The proposal to beef up ambulance service came in front of more than 40 local...
Dave Perry, a teacher at the Cloquet Area Alternative Education program, is one of 131 nominees statewide for the 2023 Minnesota Teacher of the Year, Education Minnesota announced in January. Perry is the only Carlton County teacher to be nominated. Perry, who teaches social studies and special education and helps coordinate the restorative practices program at the school, said helping students find their paths is a quality he has aspired to as an educator. Perry was one of four teachers statewide to receive the Educator of Excellence Award...
The annual medallion hunt is on. Cloquet Community Ed, WKLK radio and the Northland Foundation AGE to age program are again sponsoring a Groundhog Day medallion hunt, with $500 in local gift certificates for the winner. Starting Thursday, Feb. 2, tune in to WKLK 96.5 FM or WKLK 1230 AM for daily clues between 7:25 and 7:35 a.m. Clues will be posted on the Cloquet Community Ed and WKLK websites after noon each day until the medallion is found, somewhere on city-owned land. No climbing, scaling or digging will be required, nor will the medallion...
The Wrenshall school board agreed in a special meeting Wednesday to survey community members before posting the district’s open superintendent position. “I don’t think we can rush this,” board member Misty Bergman said. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for.” Superintendent Kim Belcastro announced her retirement in January after 11 years in the job. She and the board agreed to keep her on part-time through the end of the school year to maintain leadership in the school and administer to the business of the school. Belcastro and s...
A one-time Cloquet resident was convicted of second-degree intentional murder last week in Minneapolis. Cody Logan Fohrenkam, 30, was found guilty Thursday, Jan. 26, of shooting and killing 15-year-old Deshaun Hill Jr., a student and athlete at Minneapolis North Community High School. The shooting occurred after the two happened to pass each other on the sidewalk - Hill wearing a walking boot on one foot, Fohrenkam searching for the person who punched him four times and stole his phone at a conv...
Cloquet Area Fire District board members started the new year by taking care of official business: selecting the Pine Knot News as the district’s official newspaper, and Frank Yetka as its official attorney. The board also elected officers for 2023. Leadership of the CAFD board will remain the same, with Brevator Township representative Linda Way serving as board chair, Fond du Lac Band rep Bruce Blacketter serving as vice chair and Scanlon rep Marshall Johnson serving as treasurer. Fire chief Jesse Buhs thanked the board members for their s...
Until her sudden passing in November, Stephanie Hammitt had made herself into an indispensable figure at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. At the time of her death from cancer on Nov. 14 at age 60, the president of the college was prioritizing enrollment, student success and an updated strategic plan. But she led in other ways, too — ways which make her absence more profound. Hammitt fostered connection with an open-door policy. Each day and every week, many people would pop in to t...
There are several activities going on at FDLTCC this month: Language symposium The fourth annual Ojibwe Language Symposium will be held this weekend, Feb 3-5, at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. The free symposium is a family-oriented, collaborative community event where language holders and learners can come together. As in past years, the event will offer two strands of language learning: an emergent level for beginning speakers, and an immersive level for practitioners and fluent speakers. For more information and registration,...
A set of ordinances presented to Thomson Township residents last week has people talking, and not all of them are in favor of more government control over their properties. At issue are two proposed resolutions that would require a shared maintenance agreement and minimum design standards for private shared driveways and roads in the township. The proposals would ensure safe and adequate access for public safety and to permit future upgrading, proponents on the board say. More than 40 residents...
Residents of Cloquet’s Aspen Arms apartments were alarmed last week when a large number of law enforcement officials parked in front of and behind the building, entering and remaining inside for a significant period of time, more than one resident told the Pine Knot News. In the end, police arrested James Thomas Tuttle on suspicion of possessing and disseminating child pornography. The 31-year-old was living with his mother in the 74-unit public housing building run by the Cloquet/Carlton Housing & Redevelopment Agency. According to the c...
Congratulations on running a determined and clean campaign for the District 11A Minnesota House position, Pete Radosevich. After you’re done licking your wounds from the unfortunate election defeat, please get back to writing your “Harry’s Gang” column for the Pine Knot. We miss ya, Pete. Sean Sundquist, Culver...
I had worked with former state representative Mike Sundin on a veterans identification bill. The federal government signed a veterans identification bill into law in 2015. HF 720 would bring Minnesota law into compliance with federal law. I would suggest an attorney general opinion as to why Minnesota is not in compliance with federal law. How quickly granting of driver’s licenses despite illegal immigration has moved ahead, yet getting a veterans designation on a driver’s license has not occurred that complies with federal law is som...
As a former teacher and coach in the Carlton school district, I have watched the demise of both the Wrenshall and Carlton schools. There is plenty of blame to go around. School boards, administration and parents all share a piece of this very sad situation. Seldom have I heard this question asked: What is best for our students? In the opening paragraph of a Jan. 20 article in the Pine Knot News, Brady Slater uses the phrase “Deeper cooperation.” Past and present adult leadership hasn’t a clue as to what this really means. Students have been...
February is Minnesota School Board Recognition Month. It’s a great time to recognize our elected community members, who selflessly give their time and energy in support of high-quality public schooling for our youth. School board members in Cloquet are entrusted by this community with responsibility for an annual budget of $46 million, 2,600 students, 450 employees and five buildings. School boards are charged with making decisions that can sometimes be quite difficult or require sifting through a great deal of information. They also bear r...
When I seek feedback on Minnesota Twins or Vikings news and transactions, I turn to two reliable sources in Cloquet. The first is smiling Dave Haapanen, usually found stocking shelves in the cereal or salad dressing aisles at Super One. The second is Justin Dinger, who works with kids in the teen section of the Cloquet Public Library. This is Justin's story. Justin grew up in the Twin Cities - Brooklyn Center, to be exact - with his mom and dad, and two younger brothers, and attended Park...
While it's evident how hard the Esko girls basketball team plays on the court against its opponents, head coach Sue Northey is quick to note her Eskomos don't hold back when it's blue versus gold. "Sometimes we play harder against one another at practice," admitted Northey. "We're all super-competitive," added junior Hannah Swanson. "We all hate losing and just love to win." That winning spirit was on full display earlier this week when Esko earned a 51-43 comeback victory over Cromwell-Wright...
Team breaks through to go over .500 The Cloquet boys basketball team won for the fifth time in the last six games when they throttled Duluth Marshall, 98-69, Monday. "We are playing pretty well right now," said Cloquet head coach Steve Battaglia. "We are finally getting healthy and last week was the first week we had all been together. It is nice to have a few more weapons to work with on offense." A couple of those weapons are sophomores Seth Rothamel and Jack Battaglia, who finished with 23...
A packed gym and a raucous crowd greeted the Carlton and Fond du Lac boys basketball teams Tuesday night. The next-door neighbors took to the floor as the Ogichidaa were able to overcome a quick start by the Bulldogs and come away with an 88-74 victory in a game FDL led 45-30 at halftime. "We started slow, but then got things clicking and I thought we controlled the game," said FDL coach Cameron Thompson. "We had some mismatches that we felt we could use to our advantage and we were able to do...
The Kingdom Builders Ministry will hold its third annual ice fishing contest 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16 at Chub Lake. Concessions and prize areas will be to the left of the landing. Plan to bring your own auger and fish anywhere on the lake. Entry fee: $20 for adults, $10 for 12 and under. There will be raffle tickets, and prizes for northern, walleye, crappie, sunfish and perch species, and largest fish in each category. The prize for the overall largest fish is a Lake Superior excursion with Team Crush Outdoors in addition to the top...
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is celebrating 10 years of the EagleCam (mndnr.gov/eaglecam), a popular annual livestream of a bald eagle nest in Minnesota. The livestream now has thousands of followers watching from homes, workplaces, classrooms, waiting rooms and care facilities in all 50 states and at least 150 countries. The EagleCam goes live in November each year to show the daily repairs and upgrades the eagles make to their nest. The pair remains active at the nest each day and normally by mid-February have laid two or...
The DNR establishes deer population goals — how much of a population increase or decrease is desired in a particular DPA — as part of managing the state’s wild deer. The DNR is asking for public input on deer population goals in 23 deer permit areas in eastern and south central Minnesota. It includes areas in Carlton county and to the west. Comments may be submitted via email or postal mail and must be received by Monday, Feb. 13. Email: [email protected] Postal mail: Barb Keller, Fish and Wildlife Division, Minnesota Depar...
By earning three points last weekend, the Minnesota Wilderness reclaimed a share of first place in the Midwest Division of the North American Hockey League. With 49 points each, the Wilderness are tied atop the standings with the Fairbanks (Alaska) Ice Dogs. The division-leading teams were scheduled to play one another Thursday in Cloquet after this edition of the newspaper went to press. The Wilderness will then host a pair at Northwoods Credit Union Arena against the resurgent Wisconsin Windigo on Friday and Saturday. The team from Eagle...
Quilting at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church is 9 a.m. until noon every Wednesday. The next Kettle River council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Kettle River senior center. While I was in the hospital with hepatitis when I was 14, I was awakened in the middle of the night when they brought in a roommate for me. It just so happened to be a classmate of mine. She had had an emergency appendectomy and they brought her into my room after the surgery. While we were in the hospital, the Eisenhower/Nixon campaign train came to town. All of...
Hey, I hope things are going well for you and yours. I am now living alone since my son and son-in-law went back to San Francisco. They had been with me since July, so now it seems strange to be alone, but good in some ways, too. Now I have time to do some of the things I had been putting off since Bob died. I’m sure some of you know what I’m saying. I will also be back doing community things and subbing from time to time. I did take a week off since the guys were leaving and I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them. We went to St....
