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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After deliberating at three meetings over the past two weeks, Cloquet school board members voted Monday to require universal masking indoors for grades K-12 once school starts on Sept. 8. The mandate doesn't apply to outdoor activities, including recess, sports or other classroom or school events. Masks are already federally required on all public transportation, including school buses. The vote and the conversation showed some shift from the board's committee of the whole meeting Friday, when t... Full story
Horses were a big part of the action last weekend at the Carlton County Fair in Barnum....
The Lakehead Harvest Show returns Friday for its 60th annual show with daily activities from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Friday through Sunday, Aug. 27-29 at 70 E. St. Louis River Road near Esko. Old steam engines will roar and splutter, moving tractors or pulleys that power other types of machinery. There will be threshing, shingle-making and rock crushing and a saw mill, all powered by steam. Lakehead Harvest is a educational nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of the past, with a focus on local farming, harvesting, and general farm... Full story
Come to Cloquet’s West End from 4-7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 27 to hang out with artists and learn more about activities going on in the most historic part of town. There will be a plein air “paint out” near the Cloquet Chamber, an ivory garden debut at Wood City Nutrition and Room at the Table food truck at the VWF parking lot. Learn more about Star Wars Rise of the Podcast at the Old Roberts Furniture building or just walk around and enjoy the flowers and historic buildings.... Full story
The Cloquet Forestry Center at 175 University Road, Cloquet, is the site for the latest “story strolls” sponsored by the Cloquet Public Library on Saturday, Aug. 28. Enjoy two story strolls: “The Forever Sky” by Thomas Peacock and “Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story” by Kevin Noble Maillard along the 1.1-mile Yellow Loop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Peacock and Betsy Albert-Peacock also will share storytelling from 10:30-11 a.m. at the Pavilion. The library is also giving away a free book while supplies last.... Full story
The Esko Fire Department has had a busy week fighting the Greenwood Fire, alongside various departments from across northern Minnesota. After a request for equipment on Aug.16 from the state, the Esko Department has had two to six firefighters and various trucks assisting with fighting the dangerous and growing wildfire that was sparked by lightning and detected on Aug. 15 about 40 miles north of Two Harbors. Cloquet Area Fire District fire chief Matt Ashmore said CAFD sent a Type 1 "normal"...
Cloud cover, lower temperatures, and increased relative humidity helped to moderate fire activity and growth of the Greenwood Fire midweek after a hectic Monday that saw the fire make wind-aided runs to the east. A shift of wind from the north brought heavy smoke as far south south as Carlton County Tuesday morning. Superior National Forest officials estimated Wednesday that the fire has torched 21,720 acres, or just more than 30 square miles. The Monday runs doubled the size of the fire....
The Cloquet Labor Day festivities return Monday, Sept. 6. A parade — a regional highlight celebrating workers since 1917 — starts at 11 a.m. and runs down Cloquet Avenue from 18th to Eighth Street. There will be food trucks in the city parking lot at Cloquet Avenue and 11th Steet before and after the parade. A car show runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Northeastern Hotel and Saloon on Dunlap Island, with beer, brats and burgers available. Voting for awards is done by participants and spectators until 2 p.m. with trophies presented at 2:30 p.m...
The University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardeners in Carlton County is seeking new members for the 2022 gardening season. As volunteers, master gardeners learn from scientific research and one another to serve the community as resources for questions about horticulture. They also deal with local foods and sustainability and teach about practices that restore Minnesota’s native prairies and protect water. Learn more at extension.umn.edu/master-gardener. or email [email protected] or call 218-384-3511. Applications will be accepted online u...
The attorney for a Cloquet man who fatally shot his friend will ask the court to dismiss a third-degree murder charge. William Gatton, defense attorney for 18-year-old Joseph James Fohrenkam, said he plans to file a motion to dismiss the charge against Fohrenkam for lack of probable cause during a hearing Monday in St. Louis County Sixth District Court in Duluth. During Monday’s hearing, Gatton and prosecuting attorney Nathaniel Stumme agreed on a schedule for filing legal arguments on the dismissal motion. Gatton has until Oct. 8 to submit h...
A former fast food restaurant manager pleaded guilty to felony third-degree sexual assault of a girl who was 15 years old at the time. Garrett Carlson, 24, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation Aug. 23 in Sixth District Carlton County Court by Judge Rebekka Stumme. According to the criminal complaint, Carlson was 22 at the time of the assault, in the summer of 2018. He was a manager at the Cloquet McDonald’s and the 15-year-old was an employee. That summer Carlson and the girl began communication on SnapChat and he asked her for... Full story
With Judge Robert Macaulay retiring on Aug. 31, the wheels are in motion to find a replacement for the longtime Carlton County Sixth District judge. The Commission on Judicial Selection recommended three candidates to Gov. Tim Walz for consideration to fill the upcoming vacancy: Nicole Bettendorf-Hopps, Clarissa Ek and Amy Lukasavitz. The commission shared background on each candidate: • Nicole Bettendorf-Hopps: Serves as the managing attorney for the Sixth District Public Defender’s Office. Her experience includes the areas of rehabilitative j...
The intersection of Carlton Avenue and 14th Street was reopened for traffic on Carlton Avenue this week, but officials still recommend people choose another route, as the intersection is unfinished. Carlton County assistant engineer Rick Norrgard said the city’s work on the utilities between Cloquet and Carlton Avenue is complete and the roadway graded, plus concrete curb and gutter poured. The first layer of bituminous pavement should be poured by Labor Day in that section. Utility work is almost complete in the portion of the project from C...
A pop-up camper parked at the Knife Island Campground burned and was destroyed Tuesday, but no one was injured. According to the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, the fire was reported at 8:16 p.m. Aug. 24, by someone driving by on Interstate 35. The camper was unoccupied. The owner returned while the fire was being extinguished. He reported he had used the stove to cook food prior to leaving. The cause of the fire is undetermined but not suspicious. Crews from the Esko and Carlton fire departments responded and extinguished the fire. The c...
Traffic slowed to a crawl on Interstate 35 Monday morning as law enforcement officials responded to a 911 call reporting numerous individuals stopping and walking toward an active Enbridge Line 3 construction site in the median between the north- and southbound lanes. Officers from the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol and Fond du Lac Tribal Police Department along with members of the Carlton Ambulance and Fire responded to the scene. No injuries were reported but numerous individuals were parked and standing on and a...
Residents of Sunnyside Health Care Center enjoyed a sunny afternoon outside earlier this month when cardiac rehab director Azur Coleman brought her daughters Araya and Keaira, and their horses, to entertain residents. Residents rewarded the horses for their performances with a big basket of carrots....
The idea of a roundabout is no longer under consideration for the intersection of Minnesota Highway 210 and Carlton County Road 61, county engineer JinYeene Neumann said Monday at the board of commissioners meeting. Neumann presented information about the application for a Transportation Economic Development program grant application for the intersection. The board approved it. The engineers have designed the strip with J turns for traffic control instead of a roundabout. Neumann said that...
A petition is now circulating in the Wrenshall school district to block an appointment to the school board made Aug. 16. The hasty vote-in of Bill Dian to replace new school principal Michelle Blanchard — made with no discussion among board members — rankled enough people with its lack of transparency to get the petition going. The petition states that the board “selected a candidate who was interviewed privately by the board chair and a few school board members rather than holding a public interview process or even discussion of candi...
Members of both the Gordy Lundquist family and the Gordy's Hi-Hat family are inviting the community to celebrate his memory at an ice cream social set for 4-6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19 in the parking lot of the Hi-Hat restaurant on Highway 33 in Cloquet. There will be a brief tribute at 5 p.m. The ice cream is free and so are the stories. Everyone in the community is invited. Gordy Lundquist, who founded Gordy's Hi-Hat restaurant with his wife, Marilyn, passed away July 6 at the age of 93. "Anyone... Full story
The number of police officers and firefighters applying for disability benefits from the state retirement fund tripled in the past fiscal year, with 79 percent claiming they can't do their jobs due to post-traumatic stress disorder. The number of claims has exploded since George Floyd was murdered by then Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May of 2020, touching off protests, rioting and arson across the Twin Cities area. The Minnesota Public Employees Retirement Association, known as... 
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It’s not only metro area police departments that are seeing a rise in public safety employees claiming disability since the state changed its rules about job-induced post traumatic stress disorder. As reported in the July 30 issue of the Pine Knot, Cloquet has seen seven officers retire on disability since 2019 — when the new ruling went into effect — nearly a third of the department. Although the Public Employees Retirement Association covers approved disability payments, according to state law the employer is required to continue to provi... Full story
We need to re-evaluate how we select judges in Minnesota. Judge Robert Macaulay, who has served Carlton County since 1995, is retiring next week. A statewide panel called the Commission on Judicial Selection accepts applications from lawyers who want judgeships, and recommends three of the applicants to the governor, who makes the appointment. The commission picks candidates using such criteria as integrity, maturity, temperament, legal knowledge, ability and experience, and community service. It’s that last one that has us concerned. A...
I find it hard to understand how wearing a mask in public has become a political issue. But it has. To me, it's an example of how easily politicians and talking heads can manipulate people's viewpoints on subjects they know little about, and how easily propaganda can convince people of illogical and unrealistic facts. Spreading misinformation seems to bind some people together, getting a large block of people to mistrust the authorities seems to be a favorite tool of those with an unclear... Full story
Northeastern Minnesota failed to match the state’s population growth rate (6.3 percent) from 2010 to 2019. The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), using estimates from the U.S. Census, found that the seven northeastern counties’ population declined by 0.6 percent, down 1,935 residents. Cook County accounted for the fastest population growth rate at 5.5 percent, still below the statewide average. Carlton County was the other net gainer in the region, posting a growth rat...
Bob Bromme recently stopped in Cloquet to catch up with friends and to pay a reverent visit to the site where his wife is buried, and where he will be, too. He's 88 now, born in 1933, and lives in Surprise, Arizona. I caught up with him at the Pine Knot office to listen to tales of his storied past. Bob said he couldn't figure out why a columnist might want to interview him; after all, he's "generic." Hardly, Bob. Bromme's parents moved to Cloquet when he was 5 years old. His dad got a job at... Full story
