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 151 - 175 of 399
After workers spent the past few weeks clearing the site of the future justice center, Carlton County commissioners and other dignitaries gathered for a traditional groundbreaking ceremony Monday afternoon. County Board chairman Gary Peterson led the event. State Rep. Mary Murphy, DFL-Hermantown, who has served as a state rep for 46 years, was the only woman to turn a gold shovel. Murphy and retiring District 11 State Rep. Mike Sundin were instrumental in guiding legislation for the $2 million...
The only local youth shelter will be closing its doors this fall. Located in the Sunnyside neighborhood of Cloquet, the Carlton Youth Shelter, run by Lutheran Social Services, will close by Oct. 1 and the county will utilize a different LSS shelter in Duluth. Carlton County Public Health and Human Services director Dave Lee said the main reason for the closure is low usage: the average number of children using the shelter has dropped to less than one person per day. Services for Carlton County families will now be provided at the new LSS...
For decades, Marcie Stolberg has kept the island next to her campground as sacred space, aware of the stories of long-ago Native American battles and tragedy. It was there, according to the 1937 novel, "Wawina: A Beautiful Story of an Indian Princess" by Chief Northwind (Joseph Northrup's pen name), that two stubborn chiefs refused to make peace, their children met a tragic end, and a huge battle took place. A walk around Knife Island today reveals mostly undisturbed greenery - trees,...
Bryan "Bear" Bosto surveyed a sunlit field outside the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School last week, and spoke with pride. "We have a lot of Native talent in this game," said Bosto, organizer of the Lax-4-Life summer lacrosse camp. Lacrosse nets lined a field divided into playing areas for both younger and older boys and one for girls. Bosto noted 32 children from six regional tribes taking part in the weeklong camp – a celebration of lacrosse and the Native American cultures from which the game sprang c...
Another tumultuous week within the Wrenshall School District saw a school board member formally apologizing to one group of people, while offending another, and teachers and administrators confronting the board about the impact of its behavior. "As a member of the LGBTQ+ community and co-advisor of our (gender-sexualities alliance) club, I can no longer remain quiet as our leadership ignores human and students' rights," said the school's media specialist Chloe Swanson during the board meeting...
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa unveiled its new $8 million addiction recovery center in Cloquet earlier this month to a throng of well-wishers, adding a new era of residential treatment to the reservation. Tagwii Recovery Center celebrated its grand opening Friday, Aug. 5, with a ceremony highlighted by a drum circle, speakers, tours and a luncheon. "This building has been a huge dream for many years," said Jenn DuPuis, associate director of Fond du Lac Human Services. "Hopes...
The Fond du Lac Tribal College Board of Directors (FDLTCBOD) finds the comments made by a sitting Wrenshall school board member regarding our American Indian ancestors disrespectful and degrading. The comments made by the school board member were in reaction to redoing a school parking lot and a question: “What if they dig up bones?” The board member responded that “I have a plan for that. Fence it off and bring in all the dogs from the dog pound. There won’t be any bones left.” The reference to finding bones was made in connection to the Fo...
Mark I. Watters, 67, of Crosby passed away July 19, 2022, due to a tragic accident. He was born Sept. 30, 1954, in Duluth, the son of Ira and Jacqueline (Molstad) Watters. Mark was a Cloquet High School graduate, Class of 1973. He later attended Fond du Lac Community College and received a degree from the University of Wisconsin for chemical dependency counseling. Earlier in life, Mark was employed by the Big Lake sawmill and worked with his father and brother-in-law Bob. He could fix anything...
Two northern Minnesota Native American tribes have sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a bid to reverse recent changes the state made to its water quality standards. The tribes argue the changes are likely to damage wild rice and pollute waters on their reservations and treaty-protected lands. The Fond du Lac and Grand Portage Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa filed the suit Thursday in federal district court. It seeks to overturn the EPA’s approval last October of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s recent overhaul of its Cla... 
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Members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe have voted in a historic advisory referendum to eliminate a requirement that enrolled members must have 25 percent tribal blood. Out of nearly 7,800 ballots cast, 64 percent of voters said the “blood quantum” requirement should be removed from the tribe's constitution, which was adopted under pressure from the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs in the early 1960s. In a second referendum question 57 percent said individual bands or reservations should be able to determine their own membership req... Website
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College was set to kick off its Hot Summer Nights concerts Thursday with a show by the acoustic duo PK Mayo and John Wright. The concert series is free, and shows are 7-9 p.m. the first three Thursdays in July in the FDLTCC amphitheater. Next up, enjoy groove trio New Salty Dog on July 14, followed by Rock-a-Billy Revue, a band with a history of bringing fun to every show, on July 21. Each exciting evening will feature music great for the entire family. All...
A public meeting Monday regarding captive deer, elk and moose farms yielded two surprises: news of a new elk farm in the county and a state agency’s refusal to give county officials any information regarding the new business. The Minnesota Board of Animal Health denied a request by Carlton County for any information on a new elk farm in Moose Lake Township. The reason for the denial was that the site location is considered proprietary information and protected. Neither the county or township was consulted on the new venture. County land c...
The Fond du Lac Reservation Business Council will soon welcome two new members. Robert Abramowski will replace Ferdinand Martineau as secretary/treasurer of the tribal council, a position Martineau held for 16 years, and Brad Blacketter is the new District II Sawyer representative to the RBC. Blacketter had 134 votes to Naomi Northrup’s 77; incumbent Sawyer Rep. Bruce Savage took third in the primary election and didn’t advance to the June 14 general election. Abramowski had nearly 54 percent of the votes, or 455 votes to 389 for Mar...
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...
The Fond du Lac (FDL) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa planning division has launched a Housing and Community Needs Assessment household survey. The survey has two components: a randomly selected group of households on the reservation will receive a door hanger with an online survey code in June; and any other interested households can complete the general survey. This survey is an important data collection project designed to compile accurate demographic, employment and housing information about FDL community members. The data collected during...
Carlton County's Jenny Barta has never worked harder than she has during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the public health nurse met the challenge head-on. "This is what I was called for, this is what I was born to do," said Barta, who also acts as the county's disease prevention and control coordinator. When the pandemic began, Barta added another job to her list of duties: subject matter expert for Covid-19. Barta has been a huge part of the county's response to the pandemic, which has received...
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will hold a general election June 14 for Reservation Business Council secretary-treasurer and District II positions. Incumbent Ferdinand Martineau and challenger Robert Abramowski are vying for the RBC Secretary-Treasurer position. Two challengers will face off for the RBC District II (Sawyer) seat. Brad “Raff” Blacketter and Naomi Northrup were the top two vote getters in the April 5 primary, edging out incumbent Bruce M. Savage....
Eleanore June Huisinger, 89, of Cloquet passed away Feb. 2, 2022, at Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton. Visitation: 1 p.m. until the 2 p.m. memorial service Saturday, May 28 at Nelson Funeral Care in Cloquet. A luncheon and time of fellowship will follow. Inurnment will be at the Perch Lake Cemetery following the luncheon. Jon R. Misquadace Spry, 48, of the Fond du Lac Band of Minnesota, passed away May 8, 2022 in Duluth. Also known as “Chippewa Jon,” he was born Nov. 11, 1973 in Cloquet. Visitation: 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 1 at the Fond du...
Plenty of excitement, and smoke, was in the air and forests along University Road in Cloquet last week. On Wednesday, May 11, a contingent of 25 fire practitioners purposely burned 9.5 acres of the University of Minnesota’s Cloquet Forestry Center. The primary objective of the prescribed burn was to reintroduce fire as an ecological and cultural process to promote and maintain the center’s historically fire-dependent forest. “We brought fire back today, there hadn’t been fire here in … years...
After years of planning by the Carlton County board of commissioners and county administration, major bid packages for the county’s justice center are scheduled to be released June 10, closing June 30. A guaranteed maximum price for the justice center will be presented to the board at its July 12 meeting by construction manager Adolfson & Peterson. There are many contractors involved in the project, which has grown to an estimated $73 million with an estimated 15 percent inflation rate built in. The final cost won’t be determined until aft...
About 30 county residents, including farmers, conservationists and entrepreneurs, met at the Carlton County Transportation Department Thursday, May 12, for two hours discussing politics and stewardship of our land. With the November election in view, participants shared ideas about government roles in encouraging return on investment, regulation, subsidies and community involvement. Jeff Dotseth, a real estate agent, meat producer, and Republican candidate for Minnesota House District 11A, participated in writing with support for the meeting an...
Jon R. Misquadace Spry, 48 of the Fond Du Lac Band of Minnesota, passed away Sunday, May 8, 2022 in Duluth, MN. He was also known as “Chippewa Jon” born November 11, 1973 in Cloquet. Visitation will begin Wednesday, June 1, 2022 with a viewing at 5 p.m. evening ceremony at the Fond Du Lac Cultural & Learning Center, 1713 Mizhaki Road, Cloquet, MN 55720 . The Traditional Funeral Service will be Thursday, June 2, 2022 at 10 a.m. traveling ceremony at Fond du Lac Cultural Language & Learning Center in Cloquet. Burial will be held in Old Holy Fam...
Chronic wasting disease is spreading in deer farms and, to a lesser extent, among wild deer in Minnesota and across the country. While there has been no CWD documented in Carlton County, a positive case in the city of Grand Rapids in March, and issues with a Beltrami County farm last year, have the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources looking at a statewide approach to disease surveillance, management, control and education. The fatal neurological disease affects the cervid family - deer,...
On the first day of a first-of-its-kind public hearing this week on the fate of a key permit for the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended against reissuing the permit, saying the project risked increasing levels of mercury and other pollutants in the St. Louis River downstream from the proposed mine. While only a recommendation, it could deal a potentially severe blow to the controversial $1 billion mine proposed near the northeastern... Website
Cloquet Forestry Center officials want folks to know they may be doing prescribed burns at the Forestry Center Tuesday and Wednesday, May 10-11. The burns are being done in collaboration with Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There will be on-the-ground staffing from Bois Forte, Leech Lake, and Mille Lacs, and The Nature Conservancy, on Wednesday....
