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 351 - 375 of 484
After the yearly review by the state corrections inspector earlier this month, the Carlton County jail is looking at a forced retirement. The final report following the Jan. 9 inspection of the jail and its daily operations included plans to recommend to the commissioner of corrections that a future "sunset authorization" be made for the facility. Senior detention facility inspector Sarah Johnson noted in her findings that "it is the intent of the Department of Corrections to continue to work...
The special election for the Ward 3 Cloquet City Council seat is fast approaching. Polls will be open at the new Cloquet City Hall, 101 14th Street, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. The Ward 3 Council term will expire Dec. 31, 2022. The special election is being held to fill the seat vacated by Dakota Koski. Koski was elected to the Ward 3 seat in November 2018, took office in January 2019 and stepped down in July 2019 after purchasing and moving to a house outside of Ward 3. By...
The new White Pines Apartment building in Cloquet is now full, according to Debra Shaff, executive director for the Cloquet/Carlton Housing & Redevelopment Authority, who said the building was full on Dec. 27. Created in response to a 2014 housing study that showed a serious shortage of housing in Cloquet/Scanlon, particularly for lower income levels, the 35-unit building focuses on affordable housing for people who have some income, but can’t afford a market rate apartment. Rates are determined according to a tenant’s income. Adjacent to the...
Cloquet's new city administrator started work last week, but he's no stranger to the Cloquet area. Tim Peterson lives in Esko with his wife and their two children, ages 12 and 8, and had worked as the city administrator in Moose Lake for three and a half years before taking the Cloquet job. Prior to working in Moose Lake, he was deputy clerk finance director for the city of Proctor; before Proctor, he worked as finance director for the LifeHouse nonprofit that provides support to homeless and...
With little fanfare, Cloquet's new water treatment plant came online in December and so far things are going swimmingly. Residents should notice little change in tap water because the plant is filtering a mineral that hasn't been present in recent years, after the city quit using one of its five wells. Now that well - which previously provided 30 percent of the city's water - is back in action, but with no added manganese because of the city's new $6.6 million facility. Manganese occurs...
Former Cloquet police detective Scott Holman filed a civil lawsuit last week seeking $4 million in damages caused by his dismissal from employment, including defamation and "intentional infliction of emotional distress." Holman, represented by attorneys Mike Padden and Paul Applebaum, names four defendants in the lawsuit: the city of Cloquet, Carlton County, Carlton County Attorney Lauri Ketola and Cloquet City Councilor Kerry Kolodge. The lawsuit states that Holman's termination was the result...
Cloquet commercial and residential customers will see an increase in their city water rates this month, after the Cloquet City Council approved an increase to water and sanitary sewer rates at its Dec. 17 meeting. According to the city’s website, the average residential customer could expect the monthly bill to increase by nearly $5. Public Works Director Caleb Peterson explained the city did a rate study in 2017 and the increases were planned. “They’re primarily influenced by infrastructure replacement projects for pipes, pumps and pump stati...
About four years ago, when Minnesota Highway 33 was being reconstructed, the entrance from Big Lake Road into the Pinetree Plaza was moved a bit further up the hill. This made vehicles entering the parking lot head directly for an island consisting of curbs, rocks, shrubs, and a stop sign. I submitted a letter back then, concerned that drivers entering had to swerve left to miss the island and then immediately swerve right to avoid running head on into oncoming traffic exiting the parking lot. I thought this island should have been moved or...
Ward 3 voters in the city of Cloquet who won’t be around to cast their votes in the Cloquet City Council special election on Feb. 12 can vote absentee now. Uriah Wilkinson and Chris Swanson advanced to the February special election following a November primary in which only 14 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot. Out of a possible 1,312 registered voters in Ward 3, Swanson received the most votes with 124. Wilkinson garnered 54 votes and Ray Schow got seven. Swanson grew up here and has been teaching government and history at Cloquet High...
Cloquet city councilors had to reconsider a decision they made during their final meeting of 2019 on Tuesday night, but the result was the same. Again the council denied a request from SKB Environmental Landfill to alter its Conditional Use Permit (CUP) and expand its hours of operation to allow for drop-off and dumping of SRFI waste (paper residue left over from junk mail) 24 hours a day. The vote was 4-3, with councilors Bun Carlson, Sheila Lamb, Kerry Kolodge and Laura Wilkinson voting to...
How does one rank the top stories from an entire year? Are calculations made in terms of long-term health, dollars spent, numbers of people affected? What about long-term historical effects, or maybe Facebook clicks? No matter what metric you choose, 2019 was an eventful year in Carlton County, with elected and appointed officials making changes, kids smoking again and building moves that will stand for generations to come. Rather than ranking our top stories of 2019, we chose to place them in...
Philip Lippo Philip Lippo, 78, of Cromwell passed away in his home Friday, Dec. 13, 2019, with family at his side. Phil was born near Frederick, South Dakota, to Matt and Lola Lippo. He grew up and attended school in Cromwell. He joined theU.S. Marine Corps in 1960 and served with the military police at Lemoore, California, until he was honorably discharged in 1964. Phil and Delores “Dee” Peterson Bridge were married in Cromwell in 1970. They farmed near Tamarack and operated Dee’s Café in Cro...
One step at a time. That's the approach one consulting firm is recommending for repairs and renovations to the city's ice arenas, in particular The Barn. After spending close to $50,000 in October to replace the R-22 refrigerant that had leaked out of the aging pipes and ice plant at the more-than-40-year-old facility, determining options for fixing and replacing the cooling systems at both facilities has become a priority for the city. It's more complicated than systems simply getting old....
In January of this year, the council tabled a request from the Cloquet police department to purchase 26 Heckler & Koch VP9 (9mm) handguns at a cost of $17,277 after requesting additional information. On Tuesday night, they passed the same request - 26 H&K VP9 handguns - but this time the cost of the guns was significantly lower, at $12,974, a reduction from $688 per gun to $499. It was, however, still a more expensive bid than the second gun considered by the department, the Glock 19 (9mm)...
Cloquet’s downtown revitalization efforts received a nice boost last week when, along with three other Minnesota municipalities, the city was selected for the 2020 Artists on Main Street cohort. Over the next two years, Cloquet will receive $30,000 for project funding and program implementation. It took the collaborative efforts of public employees, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals to bring the Artists on Main Street initiative to Cloquet as they all shared a similar vision f...
Rarely does a government body tell us: “We have enough money. We don’t need so much next year.” No, taxes usually go up. And when they do, it’s inevitable that people complain. Last week, the city council voted to increase Cloquet’s property tax levy by 1.7 percent. That’s pretty good. Property taxes make up about 14 percent of the city’s total budget, but the property tax is considered the crucial component of a community’s contribution to its city. If a city is managed well, it provides the services its citizens require in an efficient and c...
The double whammy of winter storms on either side of Thanksgiving Day will surely be remembered by those who endured it. Some were lucky enough to be nestled with friends and family for what turned out to be a weeklong holiday for school kids. Others dealt with trying to dig themselves out and get to work or attend to other essential business as the blizzard that hit Saturday and into Sunday dropped 13 to 20 inches on Carlton County. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Nov. 26-27, the first significant...
The city of Cloquet will soon have a new leader at the top, and it’s someone who already knows a lot about the area and the unique challenges and advantages of living in Carlton County. Cloquet city councilors unanimously approved the hire of Tim Peterson as the new city administrator at Tuesday’s regular meeting. Peterson, the city administrator in Moose Lake and previously deputy clerk in Proctor, has been through floods, massive snowstorms and meetings with the state legislature reg...
A few weeks ago I was in court arguing a motion against the always impenetrable opposing attorney Jessica Sterle. Midway through, the judge needed to stop for a minute to consult with her clerk and Jessica and I took a few minutes to get caught up. We’ve been colleagues for a long time, and have gotten to know each other personally and professionally. After a few minutes, Jessica made an interesting observation: I, Pete Radosevich, was the only male in the courtroom. The judge was a woman. T...
Only one of three candidates for the Cloquet City Administrator job - Tim Peterson - made it to a second interview, held prior to the City Council work session Tuesday. Peterson, the current city administrator in Moose Lake and previously deputy clerk in Proctor, displayed a good understanding of both the issues and strengths of Cloquet, in a question and answer session with councilors that went both ways. Peterson asked councilors what they see as priority projects for the city. Answers ranged...
The thin blue line is looking even thinner right now in Cloquet, as the police department faces staffing challenges caused by retirements, departures and officers who are on leave but still with the department. At full strength, the Cloquet Police department is budgeted for a total of 24 licensed full-time police officers, detectives and command staff. They are currently down to 16 working officers, and only one (of three) working command staff. "We have seven that are either gone or on leave,...
Five months after his dismissal, a former Cloquet police detective is in the news again. Scott Holman, a 22-year member of the department, lost an arbitration case appealing his dismissal this week. His name also came up during last week's Cloquet city council meeting when the council voted to retire Holman's former K-9 partner, Raja, because of health issues. City officials learned Tuesday that the city prevailed in a grievance arbitration case between the city and Teamsters Local 346,...
The Ward 3 voters in Cloquet (about 14 percent of them) have spoken. Following Tuesday's primary election, Chris Swanson and Uriah Wilkinson will advance to the special election in February for the Ward 3 Cloquet City Council seat. Ray Schow will not. Out of a possible 1,312 registered voters in Ward 3, Swanson received the most votes with 124. Wilkinson garnered 54 votes and Schow got seven. One ballot didn't count because the person voted for two candidates. Election judge John Cavanaugh said...
I have spent much of my life in the public eye. As a teacher, I was always very familiar with the idea that it wasn’t just what you did in the classroom that mattered. Nearly anything done in the community was also the subject of judgment and gossip. Then working in the media, I knew that my words were given more importance than they deserved. When I stopped working on radio and TV, I was more than happy to fly under the radar. I even moved away from Cloquet for a couple of years and most d...
I am a 25-plus-year resident of Cloquet and have been working as a Realtor in the area for the last 15. As a long-time resident of this city, I have always had a vested interest in the political landscape and an interest in the direction Cloquet is headed. I have served on the planning commission for the last nine years and have been politically active in this community for the last 20. I have served on multiple boards, including transportation and housing and governmental affairs, to name a...
