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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The Cloquet Area Fire District has a new assistant fire chief, a new position board members hope will bring more stability to the department and easier succession planning for the future. Corey Larson was unanimously approved as the new assistant chief at the CAFD board meeting June 15. Larson has been with the CAFD for the two and a half years as the district's training officer and firefighter/paramedic, worked in Superior before Cloquet, and has 13 years of experience in the field. Larson...
The Cloquet Area Fire District will hold a special open meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 29, in the Northwoods Room at the Cloquet Public Library. The consulting firm of Fitch & Associates will report on the cost allocation for ambulance services for the district. This is the first time the district will have a clear idea of how much each service costs and the meeting is open to the public. Made up of the member communities of Cloquet, Scanlon, Perch Lake and Brevator, CAFD also provides...
In the end, the 2022 session of the Minnesota Legislature left a lot on the table after its deadline Sunday night. Plans on what to do with a huge budget surplus — cutting taxes and spending — remain in limbo as leaders of the two political parties hemmed and hawed this week on whether legislators would come back for a special session. In Carlton County, it means more waiting on state help for the new justice center and funding for improving facilities for the Cloquet Area Fire District. A spe...
Cloquet Area Fire District firefighters lost more than an arson detection dog when K-9 Wish was euthanized Monday, they lost a friend. A mix of golden retriever and Labrador, Wish had been with the fire district and her handler, Jason Maki, for nine years. She and Maki were certified on May 9, 2013, and she served enthusiastically - nosing out arson cases - until recently, when her health began to fail unexpectedly. She was diagnosed with advanced cancer and died Monday, exactly nine years from...
The Thomson Township board of supervisors approved crack sealing and restriping for both the town hall building parking lot and the fire department’s parking lot, along with other roads throughout the township, during their meeting Thursday, May 5. The crack repair, sealing, and restriping of the parking lots has not been done since before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to township engineer Joe Jurewicz. Some board members were concerned about the price increase from previous repairs, but Jurewicz assured them the township i...
The spring season has Thomson Township board members and township engineer Joe Jurewicz busy planning improvement projects. The Riverside Road project, which has been discussed by the town board and community members since early 2021, was approved by the board at its April 21 meeting. It involves paving the unpaved section of the road in 2023. This year, preparatory work will be started by the township’s utility and maintenance crew. Jurewicz said the preparation will consist of minor dirt work, adjusting grades, and adding gravel to p...
It's a task that's loomed large since Erin Bates took over as Cloquet Community Education director almost 18 months ago: find a new home for Li'l Lumberjacks Learning Center. Mission accomplished. In September, Li'l Lumberjacks and the entire Kids Corner program will move into a new facility at Pine Tree Plaza - most recently a furniture store - after extensive renovations inside. "We needed to relocate Li'l Lumberjacks, it was either that or potentially close the program," Cloquet...
Three kittens are safe and sound thanks to an alert RV owner and Cloquet firefighters, police officers and an animal rescue volunteer who all came to the rescue. On April 12, a camper owner heard baby kittens crying inside the vehicle when he returned from shopping at the Walmart store in Cloquet. Cloquet police officer Elijah Haglund responded and soon got Jodi Carlson of Missing Pets of the Northland involved. According to the Missing Pets Facebook page, Carlson tried to lure the kittens with...
The Thomson Township Board of Supervisors voted to sign a letter of support for Carlton County’s planned reconstruction project for County State Aid Highway 61 at its meeting on April 7. Following a presentation by county engineer JinYeene Neumann and discussion with a concerned resident of the township, the board offered the support so the county can begin applying for a grant to help fund the project, set for construction in 2025. The reconstruction project would be from Highway 45 to Highway 35, reducing the four-lane roadway to two lanes w...
Last Friday, a local firefighter could have been hit by a passing driver. Fortunately, he had retrieved the equipment he was taking from the rescue truck before the driver demolished the traffic cone near the truck, without even slowing down. When you see emergency responders — police, firefighters, ambulance, tow truck drivers — responding to roadway incidents, move over and slow down. It’s common sense and it’s also the law. Minnesota’s Ted Foss Move Over Law, named in honor of the State Pat...
Cloquet Area Fire District crews responded to a structure fire on the 700 block of 29th Street in Scanlon just after 2 p.m. Monday, March 28. Upon arrival, there was fire showing from the rear of the structure and extending into the eaves. Firefighters were on the scene for approximately two hours and determined the cause was accidental. There were no injuries. The CAFD also responded to a car fire and a kitchen fire on Saturday....
Cloquet police chief Derek Randall said Tuesday that police are still waiting for autopsy results for Amanda Cadotte, a 33-year-old Cloquet resident who died on March 3. According to a news release, Cloquet and Fond du Lac police departments, along with the Cloquet Area Fire District, responded to 956 Trettel Lane in Cloquet on a medical call at approximately 7:24 a.m. March 3. Cadotte was unresponsive and pronounced deceased at the scene. Cadotte is survived by four sons. Randall said the investigation hinges on the medical examiner’s r...
Carlton County is looking for the approval of Thomson Township organizations to move forward with planning the proposed County State Aid Highway 61 reconstruction and trail project, but the community organizations are not ready to give their stamp of approval. Carlton County engineer JinYeene Neumann requested a letter of support from the Thomson Township board at their meeting March 17, to be used as part of a grant application process for the project. Due to relatively low traffic on the roadway, approximately 2,400 vehicles a day, and...
It was the Snapchat heard around the world, or at least the part of the globe where most of our readers live and work. A tossed off conversation between teenage boys on social media, packed with racist comments that they apparently thought were somehow cool, or funny. They were neither. They were appalling. But anyone who sent messages threatening to harm the boys should also be ashamed. Threatening the writers isn’t going to make them better people … and that’s the goal, isn’t it? In some cases — i.e., a Facebook conversation between a...
Cloquet Area Fire District crews responded to a structure fire on the 700 block of 29th Street in Scanlon just after 2 p.m. Monday, March 28. Upon arrival, there was fire showing from the rear of the structure and extending into the eves. Firefighters were on the scene for approximately two hours and determined the cause was accidental. There were no injuries. CAFD firefighters also responded to a car fire and additional kitchen fire on Saturday....
Two schools in Esko and Cloquet were impacted by threats last week, but they weren't the only ones faced with frightening messages on St. Patrick's Day. Law enforcement responded to an anonymous 911 call at 12:49 p.m. Thursday indicating that an explosive device was seen in an Esko High School classroom. Students and staff were evacuated to a nearby safe spot and the entire school was closed down for several hours as the building and grounds were searched extensively. An online search of bomb...
The Cloquet Area Fire District has a new fire chief, but he's no stranger. CAFD board members voted unanimously last week to remove the "interim" title and appoint Jesse Buhs the full-time CAFD fire chief. Buhs has been interim chief since former fire chief Matt Ashmore resigned in December, a move that came after the former chief was placed on paid administrative leave Nov. 11. It had taken the board two national searches and a revision of the job requirements to land on Ashmore, who lasted...
Former Cloquet Area Fire District chief Matt Ashmore signed a separation agreement with the CAFD board in December that provided him with $35,407 (equal to four months salary) and a payout of unused vacation time of $7,954. Ashmore was CAFD fire chief for only a year and was hired by the CAFD board after two searches to replace retired fire chief Kevin Schroeder. Ashmore had worked as a battalion chief and emergency medical services director before he moved here from Hibbing. When he resigned...
Students and staff at Esko schools were safely evacuated Friday afternoon, after the Carlton County Sheriff's Office received an anonymous 911 call indicating an explosive device was seen in an Esko High School classroom. Officers and school officials initiated evacuation procedures, and enlisted the help of emergency responders and law enforcement from many different agencies to conduct an exhaustive search of the building and surroundings. No suspicious items were located, and the campus was...
The Cloquet Police Department is investigating the “suspicious” death of Amanda Cadotte, a 33-year-old woman, within Cloquet city limits on the Fond du Lac Reservation. According to a news release, Cloquet and Fond du Lac police departments, along with the Cloquet Area Fire District, responded to Trettel Lane in Cloquet on a medical call at approximately 7:24 a.m. Thursday, March 3. Cadotte was unresponsive and pronounced deceased at the scene. It is an open and active investigation, as the death is being considered suspicious, police said, whi...
The Thomson Township Board of Supervisors heard annual reports from community leaders and discussed taxes at the annual township meeting Tuesday, March 8. The board approved the proposed 2023 tax levy for the township, $1,738,876, which reflects a 3-percent increase from the previous levy for 2022. There was no discussion regarding the 2023 levy, but resident Jim Nynas questioned the board about the township's relationship with the Cloquet Area Fire District and wondered if there had been any...
The Cloquet Police Department issued a news release Monday that they are investigating the "suspicious" death of an unidentified woman last week on the Fond du Lac Reservation and within Cloquet city limits. According to the news release: At approximately 7:24 a.m., Thursday, March 3, the Cloquet and Fond du Lac Police departments, along with the Cloquet Area Fire District responded to 956 Trettel Lane in Cloquet on a medical call. Responding officers found an unresponsive adult female who was pronounced deceased at the scene. This is an open...
Responding to a 911 call at 10:56 p.m. Friday, emergency responders found a dead man with extensive burns next to a burned-up pickup truck in the 8000 block of Highway 2 near Saginaw. The deceased man will not be named while the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office is waiting for the medical examiner to confirm positive identification. According to a news release from the SLC Sheriff’s Office, it appears the 61-year-old man was driving his vehicle on his property when he collided with an unoccupied vehicle, a trailer, and a large sand berm bef...
A massive multi-state drug investigation ended last month with arrest warrants issued for 21 people, including three people from Cloquet. According to a Duluth Police Department press release, the Lake Superior Drug and Violent Crime Task Force investigation spanned three states — Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota — and roughly six months. In June 2021, members of the task force began investigating a Chicago-based drug-trafficking organization (DTO) that transported substantial quantities of fentanyl and heroin from Chicago to Duluth. The fen...
Continued fluctuations between moderate and frigid temperatures this month, coupled with spates of snow, have left roadways slick. In just the past week there were several incidents of cars sliding off roads and some overturning. In Cloquet on Friday night, Jan. 21, a bus carrying athletes from a game back to Two Harbors entered the intersection at Washington Avenue and into northbound traffic on Minnesota Highway 33. The bus, carrying 23 people, including the 71-year-old driver, hit an SUV traveling northbound on 33, the Minnesota State...
