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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Observed on the last Monday of May, Memorial Day was originally set aside to honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting and decorating cemetery graves or holding family gatherings. Unofficially, it marks the beginning of the summer season. Local honor guard members and other veterans groups treat Memorial Day — and their stops at various cemeteries — as a sacred duty. Cloquet Combined Honor Guard Captain Rich Chassé said...
Minnesota lawmakers finished a momentous session Monday night by passing the final elements of a new $72 billion two-year state budget and shaking loose a record-setting construction projects package that was stalled for months. It was a year in which they legalized marijuana, guaranteed abortion access, boosted school aid, cut some taxes while raising others and much more. The all-DFL power structure at the Capitol passed its entire agenda — one that Republicans fought but couldn’t stop. Debate in the session’s final hours echoed what domin... 
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Both legislative bodies approved a capital investment package to fund infrastructure projects around the state Monday, just hours before the session adjourned. It included funding for three District 11A projects: $17.5 million for the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (Cloquet, Thomson Township, city of Carlton), $10 million for the Carlton County female offender program and the jail and courts facility, and $5 million for Cloquet water infrastructure improvements on lines serving the...
As a high school senior, Dylan Lauer lived at his girlfriend's home, a fact that categorized him as homeless at the time. One of Lauer's parents had relapsed into addiction and been jailed, sending his siblings to their other parent in the Twin Cities. "It's my life," he said. "I'm not afraid to talk about it." Lauer, 23, didn't want to lose his senior year at Cloquet, a place filled for him with friends and academic and athletic promise. "Kassidy's family [the Steens] opened their doors so I...
As Memorial Day approaches, let’s be ever mindful of what it represents. Along with the cookouts and other get-togethers, remember it is a day set aside to honor our fallen veterans. The planning of this year’s events started well before Memorial Day in Cloquet. Meetings were held at the VFW Hebert Kennedy Post 3979 and included the VFW, DAV Chapter 18, American Legion Post 262 and their Auxiliaries and the Fond du Lac Honor Guard. Planning included the placement of flags in the surrounding cem...
Contractors will begin construction work on Minnesota Highway 210 west of Carlton on Tuesday, May 30. The highway will be fully closed 0.2 miles west of Interstate 35 over Otter Creek, a Minnesota Department of Transportation news release said. The detour route will take I-35 to Frontage Road to Carlton County Highway 26/Moorhead Road to Carlton County Road 5/University Road. The detour is expected to last until June 29. Access to Black Bear Casino will be maintained from I-35. The $1.8 million project is replacing four box culverts over the...
The Moose Lake Area Historical Society is kicking off its summer opening by hosting Depot Fest 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 27 at the Moose Lake Depot & Fires of 1918 Fire Museum. The event will feature a bake sale, plant sale, vendors, info on pet microchipping, rescue and adoption and more. Concessions available 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The depot and museum are located at 900 Folz Boulevard, Moose Lake....
The Carlton County Historical Society is having its annual meeting from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 27. Everyone is welcome to attend. The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. in Cloquet’s Hillcrest Cemetery at the family plot for a family of heroes: the Edward and Mabel Kennedy family. The Kennedys were the first family in Cloquet to lose two sons in World War II. The Hebert-Kennedy VFW Post #3979 is named after the sons, Wallace and Jack; both were killed in action in the summer of 1943. Jack has a marker in the family plot, but Wallace was buried i...
All Cloquet and Carlton County offices will be closed on Monday, May 29 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. This includes County Courthouse Offices, County Government Services Building, County Transportation Department, Human Services, Public Health, Motor Vehicle License Bureau, Veterans Service Office, and the University of Minnesota Extension Service. The Hwy 210 Transfer Station will also be closed on Monday....
Starting Tuesday, May 30, local contractor 3D Construction will begin driving every street within Cloquet city limits to pick up brush, tree branches and tree trunks (in pieces no longer than 5 feet) from the roadside as part of the cleanup efforts following damaging winter storms. 3D Construction will not collect piles of leaves, pine needles or grass clippings; however, those can be brought to the city’s brush and leaf disposal site behind the public works garage, 410 Armory Road, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 7:30-11 a...
Carlton County Animal Rescue will hold three summer kickoff meetings: at 5 p.m. on June 5 at the Moose Lake Community Center, 313 Elm Ave.; at 6 p.m. on June 6 at the Cloquet Public Library; and a 7 p.m. virtual meeting on June 7. Get involved with this nonprofit organization dedicated to helping pets in Carlton County reunite with owners, find forever homes and live healthier lives through adoption, education and providing resources for people and pets. See www.ccarescue.com or look on Facebook under Carlton County Animal Rescue for more...
The annual Barnum Spring Fever Days celebration runs June 9-11 this year. Highlights include a rodeo at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday night at the Carlton County Fairgrounds grandstand, as well as a 5K run/walk, car show and parade Saturday morning, a family movie in the Dairy Barn and music at the Rugged Spruce golf club Saturday night and auto racing at noon on Sunday at the grandstand. Look for a full schedule of events in next week’s paper or search for Barnum Community Club on Facebook....
University of Minnesota Extension Educators will offer four honey beekeeping field days across the state in May and June. They will be at the Hampton Homestead at 3487 Sandy Lake Road in Barnum 9-11 a.m. June 16. They will also be in Duluth, at Duluth Farming Company on Normanna Road 1:30-3:30 p.m. June 16. Apiculture educators from the Extension Service and local beekeepers will go through colony handling, common disease and insect pests, and safety information. The free, in-person workshops will demonstrate the steps for a proper hive...
The Cloquet Fourth of July committee is looking for community-minded volunteers to help organize and/or work the community’s largest annual event. Many hands make light work, and this event could certainly use a few more hands, whether it's stuffing envelopes or making calls for donations, helping with setup on July 3, or with events on the Fourth from wiffleball to face painting to the parade. Call or text 218-213-1231 or email [email protected]....
Nastasija Harris has always dreamed of being able to build things — big things, like a house. The Cloquet High School senior took the first steps toward making that dream come true by taking classes in the Career and Technical Education department at the school. On Wednesday, she took the next big step by signing on to be an apprentice with the Carpenters Union. She will be sponsored by CMC Construction of Superior. “I’m really excited for this opportunity and new career,” said Harris, after t...
Stephanie Hammitt, late president of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, was posthumously awarded president emeritus status by the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The award of emeritus status is a special honor for employees who have served with great distinction. Hammitt worked at the college in a variety of roles from 1990 until her passing in 2022. She served as interim president for 18 months before officially being appointed president in November...
As contractors began the work of disassembling parts of the Cloquet High School track and football field this week, Cloquet school board members approved the sale of $2.7 million in bonds Monday to help finance renovations of the outdoor athletic facilities complex. Six companies bid, with the lowest bid from Piper Sandler Companies coming in at a true interest rate of 4.7711 percent, lower than the pre-bid estimate of 5.34 percent. Jodie Zesbaugh, Ehlers municipal advisor, said the lower bid...
A former inmate of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program facility in Moose Lake pleaded guilty Monday to attempted second-degree murder. Just over three weeks after viciously attacking a security counselor at the facility, Nicolas Ladell Aron-Jones, 29, pleaded guilty in Carlton County District Court to the most serious of four charges against him. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the other charges of first-, second- and fourth-degree assault will be dismissed. According to the criminal complaint filed on May 3, Aron-Jones placed the motor...
A Cloquet man pleaded guilty to four felony counts of disseminating pornographic work of a minor under the age of 14 on Wednesday in Sixth District Carlton County Court. James Thomas Tuttle, 31, agreed to the plea deal in exchange for a sentence of 12 years, 9 months in prison and no federal charges. Carlton County Attorney Lauri Ketola also agreed to drop two other dissemination charges, plus one charge of possession of pornographic work of a minor under 14. According to the criminal complaint, the Cloquet Police Department was tipped off...
I’ll bet many of you are clearing brush this weekend. I know my family will be. If city residents pile all our brush on the side of the roads within the Cloquet city limits, the city will come by and pick it up after next weekend. Look for more details in this edition of the Pine Knot News, or visit the City’s website for details. There are some restrictions and details you should verify before dumping a bunch of stuff at the curb. This is a great example of good government in action. No len...
The writing is on the wall, as plain as the nickname Eskomos and accompanying igloo are on the school walls, floors and uniforms of Esko sports teams. The state has spoken, and nicknames appropriating terms regarding Native peoples are no longer allowed under statute signed into law this past legislative session. The Esko school board and administration, after continued queries about the use of the Eskomos nickname, has correctly responded that it will take up the nickname question after this school year. The district doesn’t really have a choi...
My name is Edward Schulstrom, and I am the new summer intern at the Pine Knot. I have always been a member of the Carlton County community since I was born on my parents' farm in 2003. As a farm kid, milking cows, bailing hay and the Carlton County Fair were usually the highlights of the summer. At the county fair, my family would arrive at the crack of dawn to milk our cows, stay the entire day and only leave after milking again in the evening. When my parents took over Finke’s Berry Farm (...
EMS Appreciation Week is this week (May 21-27), so whom are we celebrating? Paramedics, emergency medical technicians (EMT) or emergency medical responders (EMR) are present in every community across our nation. There are several types of systems to manage emergency medical incidents in the U.S., ready to respond 24/7. Each has a system of sending responders to the scene of a medical emergency, and each system is determined by factors such as how many incidents, population density and service...
Reading about the motorcyclist and his passenger that were killed in a motorcycle crash in central Minnesota this last weekend brought back distant memories of my own mishap with a motorcycle. My first heroes in life were a couple janitors from school, Kirk Johnson and Dean Wolf. They were the volunteer firefighters who responded to my bust-up on a dirt bike several decades ago. Though my memory of the hospital visit is a little foggy, I distinctly remember the doctor thanking me for wearing a helmet, then telling me to brace myself as he...
John Everett Stillwell, 78, of Orr, Minnesota (formerly of Cloquet) went home to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ peacefully, on May 9, 2023, at his home with his loving wife by his side. John was born on January 1, 1945 in Carlton, MN. John was a member of the 148th Fighter Wing, where he retired with the rank of Senior Master Sergeant in 2001, after 30-plus years of “playing with airplanes” as he called it. John enjoyed spending time with his family, traveling, including his many fishing trips to Alaska, winters away from Min...
