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 1 - 25 of 42
The announcement by Minnesota governor Tim Walz that distance learning would be extended for the rest of the school year was a gut punch to many area students. It hit seniors particularly hard. Members of the Class of 2020 who were hoping they'd spend the last few weeks of school with their classmates will continue to learn from home, mostly online, and see the majority of their friends only through various social media platforms and video classroom meetings. News that all spring high school spo... Full story
Hope W. took on our Earth Day coloring page and pledged to pick up litter on her walk and bike rides. Thanks, Hope....
Sophomores in Cloquet high school teacher Jason Richardson’s English class were asked to write short essays recently with Earth Day as a theme. We published two last week. Here are more of our favorites. Teamwork Right now, the earth is fragile. It’s littered with widening cracks and deep fissures, not just of the natural variety, but of the societal variety as well. Mankind is like a glass knee on the verge of giving out. We’re faced with so many looming problems, climate change being one,... Full story
Historic Minnesota events with anniversaries this week. May 1 1933 Prompted by Gov.Floyd B. Olson, the Minnesota legislature passes an emergency law stopping farm foreclosure sales. The Great Depression and the dust bowl had hurt farmers throughout the nation, and they had responded to foreclosures by organizing the Farmers’ Holiday, which attempted to stop the sale of farm products until prices rose. May 3 1959 After passing through the St. Lawrence Seaway, which had opened on April 25, the British freighter Ramon de Larrinaga becomes the f...
Barnum superintendent Mike McNulty felt chilled the afternoon of April 1 after leaving his office at Barnum High School and returning to his rented cabin near Sand Lake. "I felt like I was coming down with a cold," he said in a telephone interview this week. "I took a hot shower to warm up." But he felt better the next morning and went back to his office. "I didn't have a temperature but, within hours, I alternated between feelings of being chilled and feeling hot," he said. "I got out of the of... Full story
Cloquet Community Education started a campaign last week called Get the Community Blooming. "April showers bring May flowers," director Ruth Reeves said. "And with those flowers comes May Day, a celebration to mark the beginning of summer." Community Ed is asking people to choose a square of sidewalk on Washington Avenue and use chalk to decorate it with flowers or whatever spring vision one has. "Use your driveway as a canvas, make a yard sign or even decorate your whole yard," Reeves said....
After finding out that an employee in the USG plant in Cloquet tested positive for COVID-19, USG took immediate action, according to USG spokesperson Kaitlyn Henderson. USG temporarily suspended the department where the employee was working to allow for thorough cleaning in accordance with recommendations from the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control. In addition, USG, reported, it has been regularly cleaning common areas with increased frequency and is also completing an additional disinfecting of common areas where the... Full story
COVID-19 stimulus checks are automatic for people who receive Social Security retirement, survivor or disability, and Supplemental Security Income. People who receive Railroad Retirement benefits and Veterans Affairs beneficiaries who didn’t file a tax return in the last two years will also get automatic payments. Social Security recipients may have started seeing payments by April 29, according to the IRS. SSI and Veterans Affairs benefit recipients who don’t file a tax return and have dependent children need to act by May 5 to claim the $500-... Full story
The U.S. Census Bureau is beginning to send reminder notice postcards to an estimated 69 million households that have not yet responded to the 2020 Census. About 53.4 percent of households across the country have already responded since invitations began arriving in mailboxes on March 12. Those households that have not yet responded to the census will receive an in-person visit by a census taker to collect their information later this summer. Minnesota has the highest response rate, at 64 percent, followed by Iowa with 61.2 percent. Wisconsin,...
The more you look, the more you find. In a little over a week since the Minnesota Department of Corrections began testing more prisoners at its facilities in Moose Lake and Willow River, the numbers of confirmed cases climbed from a total of 29 on April 22 to 78 a week later. At Moose Lake, where COVID-19 infections first appeared, confirmed cases went from 14 on April 22 to 33 a week later, on Wednesday, April 29. Over the same timeframe in Willow River confirmed cases went from 15 to 45. An...
While Gov. Tim Walz says his stay-at-home order has worked to buy the state more time to prepare for increasing cases of COVID-19 and better testing, that extra time also means that the state's expected peak of infections will likely occur mid-summer. Which is exactly when small and large communities across the state are busy celebrating July Fourth. Or maybe not. In Carlton County, Moose Lake city councilors elected to postpone their July Fourth festivities, and Agate Days event organizers... Full story
For the first time in recent county board action, commissioner Mark Thell voted “no” to approve a road construction project funded through the half-percent sales tax after a presentation by county highway engineer JinYeene Neumann at the Carlton county commissioners meeting Monday, April 27. The project under discussion was the upgrade of the St. Louis River Road between Highway 33 and CSAH 1, awarded to Ulland Bros for $1,054,622, which came in 17.2 percent under the engineering estimate. It is one of two roads left from the original list fro... Full story
With the Cloquet School District looking at a possible $1 million deficit (out of a $30 million operating budget) during the 2020-21 school year, the pressure to approve a number of planned cuts was high during Monday’s school board meeting. The board approved close to $700,000 in cuts at the meeting. Superintendent Michael Cary said the district tends to leave about $300,000 in deficit spending on the table almost every year, which usually disappears due to increases in student numbers t... Full story
The Carlton County Sheriff’s Office is planning to implement a system of portable recording devices, also known as body-worn cameras, for deputies who are licensed peace officers. Under state statute, before a local law enforcement agency purchases or implements a portable recording system, it must first provide an opportunity for public comment by mail, electronically, and at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing body with jurisdiction over the budget. There will be an open forum at the Carlton County board meeting starting at 8:30 a...
The Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota will hold a Kids Count coffee via Zoom in partnership with Carlton County from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Thursday, May 7. Attendees will learn about this year’s Data Book which focuses on trends in key indicators of child and family well-being and highlights public policy that has improved or could improve outcomes for our youngest citizens and the entire state of Minnesota. Anyone working with youth, including school staff, nonprofits, child care providers, etc. are welcome to join. Participants must RSVP to bit...
The Cloquet Community Memorial Hospital Foundation will hold a Distant Wine Social at 7 p.m. May 15 ... in your home. With a minimum donation of $30, get your name on a list to pick up a bottle of wine ($5-$20 value) at Cloquet, Duluth or Pike Lake Super One Liquor. Then join the Foundation and guests for a community toast to Community Memorial Hospital and Sunnyside Health Care Center. Show your support by posting your pics and “cheers” to CMH/SHCC on the Foundation’s Facebook page (Cloquet Community Memorial Hospital Foundation) or Insta...
Quite a few are suffering because of the order to stay at home and quarantine in place. So many, in fact, that it's hard to keep up with all the sympathy we have for those suffering. But right about now our hearts go out to high school seniors, who are being denied prom, spring sports, senior banquets and a normal graduation ceremony with all your classmates. High school seniors are a rare breed. By the time a student reaches 12th grade, they are no longer children, yet not quite adults either....
Today, the first of May, "May Day," is a date of significance for several reasons. May 1 is "Law Day" in America. The American Bar Association celebrates the day as recognition of how the law played a significant role in our society and the role the law played in the formation of our country. I'd never heard of it until I started working at the Newby Law office and Patty Murto, then unknown to me, called looking for volunteers to give free legal advice to people at the courthouse. Of course, I s...
Tracey Goranson's "Hair It Is!" is the longest-living commercial business on Cromwell's Main Street. Tracey offers haircuts, perms, color, eyebrow waxing and a tanning booth to men, women and children of all ages. She's built a loyal clientele of locals and cabin people. It's a wonderful career for Tracey, who loves working a mile from home and being her own boss. Once "stay at home" restrictions began, the Minnesota Board of Cosmetology sent Tracey updates, including the notice to close...
The COVID 19 pandemic is a threat to the entire world population. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, is "novel," or not seen before. The implication is that an individual human's immune system has no natural immunity, aka antibodies, to attack and defeat the rampage to, at the minimum, the respiratory system. The scientific community is working on a vaccine to provide immunity. Until then, when an infected human sheds the virus onto another human, the virus it will proceed... Full story
Theresa Elizabeth "Tess" Draeger, 92, passed away on Monday, April 27, 2020 in Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton. She was born on Sept. 15, 1927 in Munising, Michigan to Josephine (Ludwa) Broda and Francis M. Broda Sr. Tess graduated from Mather High School in Munising in 1945. On Jan. 31, 1947, she married Leonard "Chuck" Draeger in Munising. They moved to Duluth in 1951 with their two young daughters and to Carlton in 1957. She was a hardworking woman. As a teenager she worked at the... Full story
Patricia M. Oist, 93, of Cloquet passed away April 23, 2020 at Community Memorial Hospital. She was born April 22, 1927 in Cloquet to Leonard and Helen (Unzen) Young. Patricia graduated from Cloquet High School. She worked at the Northwest Paper and Potlatch companies and was a member of the Potlatch Quarter Century Club. Patricia was a member of Queen of Peace Catholic Church, Loyal Order of Moose Lodge 1274, Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 1163, Hebert Kennedy VFW Post 3979, and was a charter... Full story
The B&B Market donation drive in Cloquet keeps on going. John and Kim Lind announced this week that they have received more than $70,000 from people to go toward packages of food for those who are struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic response. The Linds estimate they have helped out more than 3,500 people in the region. The couple got a boost a few weeks ago when friend Mark Osvold of Pine River Sales donated an enclosed trailer to help with deliveries the couple was making with... Full story
Community Memorial Hospital continues to need cloth facemasks, homemade or storebought. Drop off inside the front doors of the hospital in a bin clearly marked for facemasks. These masks help everyone as we try to prevent the spread of COVID-19. (middle photo) CMH and Sunnyside Health Care Center are also accepting donations of the following items: gloves (latex-free only), gowns (disposable), surgical and clinical masks, N95 respirators, face shields, Tyvek suits, powered air-purifying... Full story
The Moose Lake Area Fire Department collected 725 homemade face masks from people in the area at the statewide mask drive April 25. In the photo at left are Joyce Hibke,Corey Hibke, Steve Trenhaile,Paul Belanger, Amber Lenz and Mike Chambers. The fire department distributed the donated masks to Augustana-Cassia Health Care, Augustana-Cassia Assisted Living, Gateway Family Health Clinic, two senior apartment complexes and the Mercy Hospital Foundation. The Kettle River Fire Department collected...
