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 32
Close to 40 descendents of George Stearns Shaw stood on the steps of the Carlton County Historical Society on Saturday morning to celebrate the library their ancestors built not once, but twice, on Cloquet Avenue. Family members came from all over: California, Hawaii, Washington, Iowa, North Carolina, Kansas, and Alaska. Many hadn't seen each other for years, others had never met. And many in the group had helped pay for 2020 roof repairs to keep the Shaw Memorial Library building - now a...
What began as a booming one-day Christian music festival in Veterans Park 10 years ago has evolved into a days-long worship festival. Bracketed by tent revivals on the front end and an all-city church service Saturday the morning after, Wood City Worship Festival is the centerpiece of five days of opportunities "for people to meet Jesus," said Lee Harris, of Kingdom Builders Ministries, the non-denominational non-profit Christian organization that organizes the free annual event. Tent revivals...
The call was unmistakable and perked the ears of a Jay Cooke State Park staff member: "Help!" a person cried. Within moments, a response was developing. The Carlton County Sheriff's Office came with its drone team, and the fire departments from Carlton and Esko descended onto the park with four-wheelers and rope rescue kits. "Ultimately, nobody was found in distress," Chief Deputy Dan Danielson said. "And nobody ever reported any loved ones missing. It could have been a self-rescue." Jay Cooke...
Due to a delay in the manufacturing of a new cooling tower, Cloquet won't have ice through September, according to city public works director Caleb Peterson. Northwoods Credit Union Arena has been without ice since June, when refrigeration workers found the main cooling grid in the cooling tower outside the hockey arena was leaking severely. That's been pushed back to Oct. 1, Peterson said. The delay means the Cloquet-based Minnesota Wilderness junior hockey team will make a temporary home at...
Ina Blanch (Line) Jobe, 87, of Mahtowa, passed away Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in her home with family by her side. She was born Ja. 11, 1936, to Rufus and Hazel (Smith) Line in Cromwell. She went to school at Eagle Lake and Cromwell, graduating in 1955. Ina married Marlin Jobe in 1956, together they raised six children in the Cromwell-Wright area until 1965, when they moved to a farm in Mahtowa. Ina attended 4-H and later helped with Mahtowa’s 4-H club. She was a homemaker until her youngest c...
Lawrence Louis Kubis, “Cub,” 90, of Saginaw passed away peacefully at his home on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023. Lawrence was born Oct. 13, 1932, to Lawrence Sr. and Laverna Kubis in Jamestown, North Dakota. He was raised in Courtney and Jamestown, North Dakota, later moving to Saginaw, Minnesota. At the age of 12 he graduated from eighth grade then went to work on a thrashing crew. Lawrence worked for several construction companies before he married Pauline Pederson in 1955. He helped build the bento...
Robert “Bob” Ray Luing, 92, of Mahtowa, passed away on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023, at Barnes Care in Esko. He was born April 20, 1931, to Virgil and Belle Luing in Worthington, Minnesota. He was raised on the family farm and attended the one-room school, participating in Future Farmers of America and 4-H, graduating in 1948. Bob attended the University of Minnesota agriculture college after graduation. He married Faith on Dec. 3, 1951. Shortly after, Bob enlisted in the Army. He served in South Kor...
Lee Ann Nicholson, 74 passed away peacefully on July 30, 2023 in St. Paul. She was born in Cloquet Dec. 22, 1948, to Everett and Lorraine Bassett. She attended Cloquet High School followed by Minneapolis Business College. She married Morrie Nicholson on Dec. 30, 1967 in Rapid City, South Dakota. She quickly became a mother to two daughters whom she primarily stayed at home caring for before starting her working years. The family lived briefly in South St. Paul before settling into their Cottage...
Stuart Nelson of Cloquet entered an acrylic painting of a walleye in the annual Minnesota Department of Natural Resources stamp contest. His work finished second to Bemidji artist Sam Larsen’s acrylic depiction. There were 11 submissions in the walleye category. Nelson’s walleye works won in 2011, 2014 and 2020. He’s won the trout contest twice. Alborn artist Dean Kegler won the Minnesota trout and salmon stamp contest with an acrylic painting of a brook trout, and. Judging for both contests happened virtually on Aug. 3. The DNR uses reven...
The Carlton County Fair is galloping our way, with opening day on Thursday, Aug. 17. While the fairgrounds in Barnum are still quite empty, work is being done to make improvements, including concrete work in the dairy barn, a few improved sidewalks and updates to the Little Italy building. Amid interviews with prospective fair workers and other preparations this week, fair manager Lindsey Larson made time to answer some questions about the upcoming 132nd Carlton County Fair, themed "The Best We...
More than 135 4-H members will showcase their year-long learning and achievements at the Carlton County Fair next week. Minnesota county fairs are not just fun annual events for 4-Hers. Every summer, tens of thousands of members participate in county fairs to showcase the knowledge and skills they’ve gained throughout the year, and to continue their learning experiences. Members spend months working on projects designed to equip them with essential life skills such as problem solving, decision making, project management, communications and p...
Carlton County is preparing for its waste disposal future. With the sunsetting of the Superior, Wisconsin landfill looming sometime in 2027-28, the county board approved a letter of support for a proposed Keewatin landfill during the board’s meeting in Carlton Tuesday. “Carlton County recognizes that there is still a need for environmentally protective landfills,” said the letter supporting Shakopee, Minnesota-based Dem-Con’s proposal for a regional waste disposal and recycling operation in Keewatin — some 85 miles northwest of Carlton o...
Ma & Pa Kettle Days kicks off Friday, Aug. 11, when The Star Club at 6350 Hwy. 27, Kettle River, hosts the steak fry this year starting at 4 p.m.. There’s a whole day of fun Saturday, Aug. 12, including a pancake feed at 8 a.m. at the senior center. Stroll along the sidewalks in Kettle River for the stationary parade from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Enjoy the homemade pie social from noon to 2 p.m. at the senior center, followed by cash bingo from 3-5 p.m. at the Veterans building. On Sunday, Aug. 13, come for “An afternoon with writer Mark Mun...
One Book | One Minnesota is a statewide book club that invites Minnesotans of all ages to read a common title and come together virtually to enjoy, reflect, and discuss. The featured title for summer is “In the Night of Memory” by Duluth-area author Linda LeGarde Grover. Access the e-book free at https://ebooksmn.mackinvia.com/ through Sept. 24. LeGarde Grover will take part in a statewide discussion about her book and other work at 7 p.m. Sept. 6....
The Northland Foundation based in Duluth awarded 36 grants totaling over $1 million this past spring, including $150,000 to Carlton County “to help support the implementation of a sustainable, coordinated community response that will improve outcomes for victims and their children and disrupt generational violence.” Social issues and cultural initiatives were a large part of the foundation’s grant cycle. Northland covers seven counties: Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, and St. Louis, and five Native nations, including Fond...
One step at a time. After broaching the subject of consolidation again last week, Wrenshall school board members voted unanimously Monday to send a formal letter to the Carlton School Board with the goal of reopening consolidation talks between the neighboring (and both struggling) school districts. Wrenshall board member Mary Carlson said they planned to get the letter requesting a joint work session to the Carlton board as soon as possible, hoping the Carlton would get it on their agenda for Aug. 21. At least two Wrenshall board members plan...
With recreational cannabis now legal in the state of Minnesota, local cities can choose to regulate its sale in a variety of ways, Cloquet planner/zoning administrator Al Cottingham told the Cloquet City Council on Aug. 1. “Conceivably we won’t see [cannabis dispensaries] in the public areas until late (2024 or in 2025), however, we have some neighbors to the west that I’m not sure what may or may not happen,” Cottingham said, referring to the Fond du Lac Reservation and noting that the Red Lake Band opened a public dispensary the same day tha...
The goats were the hit of the Sappi picnic Friday, for those who were bold enough to lie on the yoga mat and let the goats jump over them. But there were plenty of other things to do and people to talk to outside of work at the all-day employee picnic at Veterans Park in Cloquet. It was the first all-employee picnic since 2012, said Sappi mill managing director Tom Radovich, but it won't be the last, he added. "One hundred twenty five years, that's a big milestone," he said of the mill's...
This sleek 1941 Ford convertible owned by Cloquet's Donald Hallback won Peoples' Choice at Gordy's Curbside Classic Thursday, Aug. 3. Hallback said the copper-colored beauty is a "Resto Rod" because it has all the modern conveniences, including air conditioning, power windows and power brakes. He recently purchased the car....
I get it that it never ends until it ends. Until I do. I get it that it never mends until it mends. And that it never will. And, I get it that life includes sorrow. As it always has. And, I get it that mine ain’t special. As no one’s is. Still, the narcissist in me wants the planet to bow to my individual misery and worship at the altar of my living loves. And to raise the specter of my unliving loves, like the Holy Ghosts they are, not make believe. And when I drive down the freeway and that so...
I try to keep my parking lot tidy, but there’s a stubborn cigarette butt that keeps lodging itself in the sidewalk crack right in front of my office door. I pick it up, but it keeps appearing. Sometimes it’s dark orange, like an Old Gold or Camel. Sometimes it’s white, like a Marlboro. I’m not sure how they get there, nobody I know smokes anymore. And I find it hard to believe that people still toss their butts on the ground, expecting someone else to clean up their garbage. But apparen...
As I prepare for spending some time at the Carlton County Fair in Barnum, I am thoughtful about an encounter last year. On Thursday of the fair, I was unprepared, mentally, for an angry, spite-filled dialogue loudly addressed at me while I was working at the DFL booth. The pointed diatribe was to me, but addressed “All you people.” To stop the verbal assault, I finally needed to point to the small gold star pin on my jacket and say, “You must know that Democrats are blue star and gold star families, too.” I was briefly shaken by the unexpec...
My congregations have been reading from the book of Genesis this summer and focusing on the story of Jacob. Some might know Jacob from songs about "climbing Jacob's ladder." Others might recognize Jacob from his fraught relationship with his twin brother, Esau. Still others may know Jacob as the father of the "coat of many colors," Joseph, who is sold into slavery by his brothers. Regardless of how familiar you are with the story of Jacob, it is a story of a dysfunctional family, full of poor...
Over the summer, the Cloquet High School outdoor athletic facilities have been transformed. This week saw another milestone in the $4.9 million project, as workers began installing bright green turf on the shared football and soccer field. "It is exciting," said Cloquet activities director Paul Riess. "The amount of work done is amazing. Every time I see something new I get excited." Drone film footage taken Tuesday showed rolls and rolls of turf waiting to be laid down on the new...
It was a tough draw. When Esko opened the Division II Minnesota State Junior Legion Baseball Tournament last Friday in Granite Falls against Morris, most baseball observers felt that the top two teams in the state were squaring off in the opening round. “We really felt that Morris and us were the top two teams,” said Esko coach Nick Legarde. “It was just too bad that we had to meet each other in the first game, but that’s how things played out.” After jumping to a 2-0 lead early in the quarterfi...
