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 901 - 925 of 1401
Bernard "Ben" Allan Hanson, 87, passed away Dec. 15, 2020, at New Perspective assisted living in Cloquet, surrounded by his family. He was born Nov. 21, 1933, to Albert and Julia (Blegen) Hanson. He grew up in the Aitkin area, attending schools in Thor and Aitkin, graduating in 1952. After graduation he worked on several farms in North Dakota. Ben worked as a lineman in Denver before being drafted into the U.S. Army June 9, 1954. He was stationed in France and honorably discharged May 16, 1956....
With so many folks missing their regular holiday gatherings this year, James Sheetz wanted to share one of his favorite traditions from his time at Wrenshall School. In the 1960s, home economics teacher Joan Urbanski worked with her students to put together a Christmas tea, complete with handmade recipe books. Urbanski still lives in the area. Sheetz asked Audrey (Olson Seboe) Kavanaugh, class of 1965, to reminisce: "I loved everything about it," she said. "Starting with baking and decorating...
Carlton County Covid cases continued their downward trend for the fourth week in a row, with an increase of 108 cases and four deaths because of Covid-19 from Tuesday to Tuesday, Dec. 15 to 22. Compared to 172 new cases and eight deaths from Dec. 9-16, it’s a decrease. And those numbers were a decline from Dec. 2-9, when there were 224 new cases and 21 deaths, and Nov. 25-Dec. 2, when there were 327 new cases and seven deaths. But the numbers are still much higher than Carlton County Covid numbers last spring and this summer, when there was jus...
The Carlton school board this week firmed up its position when it comes to the current standoff with the Wrenshall board and possible consolidation between the two neighboring districts. On Monday, the Carlton board agreed in a committee of the whole discussion that it would vote at its regular meeting Monday on the question of debt sharing should a consolidation take place. Should the board vote to not share debt among all taxpayers in a new district, consolidation could be off the table. At least half of the six-member board indicated Monday...
How did Alcohol Road in Wrenshall get its name? That's this week's History Mystery question. Alcohol Road is still used as an address for residents and businesses although the road is officially called County State Aid Highway 51 today. (But not according to Google Maps, as seen in the photograph here.) We called City Hall, which sits on the road in question. City clerk Alieca Johnson said there are plenty of tales about how the road acquired its unique name. "Depends on who you ask," she said....
It’s the time of year when local governments are approving budgets for the coming year, and tax levies to go with them. Here’s a roundup of levies passed in the past week: Cloquet School District The Cloquet School Board members approved a 2.15-percent levy increase for taxes paid in 2021 following the truth-in-taxation hearing held Monday, Dec. 14. The increase brings the total local tax levy to $7,136,281, an increase of $149,993 over last year. That’s a smaller increase than most recent years, said district finance director Candace Nelis...
When the most recent surge of Covid-19 infections hit Carlton County in a big way, the staff at Community Memorial Hospital in Cloquet had to handle their own surge in patients. CMH CEO Rick Breuer said staff are exhausted. "I've heard people describe it as a mass casualty event that just keeps happening," Breuer said. "I mean, we prepare for those kind of things as sudden, acute things, not as an ongoing event. We've turned a lot of corners and seen a lot of ebb and flow, but it's straining a...
Within the last two years, the Carlton and Wrenshall school districts have combined their football, cross country, and football cheerleading programs under the Raptors mascot. This year, they are continuing their work together by launching another collaboration, this time in the classroom. Carlton and Wrenshall secondary special education students will have the opportunity to learn together in Wrenshall under the guidance of special education teacher Aaron Lattu and paraprofessionals Debbie Bous...
Residents are invited to donate new, unwrapped toys or gift cards for children age 17 and younger through Dec. 16 for the Carlton VFW toy drive. Dropoff locations include the Carlton VFW, City of Carlton offices, Thrivent Financial, Carlton Wellness Center, Carlton Meat & Grocery and The Brickyard in Wrenshall. Donations can be dropped off during regular business and city hours. If you would like to make a monetary donation, please make checks payable to the Carlton VFW Auxiliary. Hats, mittens and scarves will also be collected at the dropoff...
Covid-19 numbers appear to show that Carlton County is on the downside of the latest and strongest surge of Covid-19 infections since the pandemic began, according to daily numbers provided by the Minnesota Department of Health. However, Carlton County Public Health officials pointed out there is usually a 14-day lag in data, so the effect of Thanksgiving won't show up for another week or two. For the second week in a row, the state reported fewer new positive cases in Carlton County than the...
World War II veteran Burt Wang found an unexpected silver lining in 2020, in part because of the Covid-19 pandemic. He found a new home and family with Theresa Bridge and her daughters, and a new lease on life with all the busyness of life in their Cloquet home this summer. And he got his first drive-by birthday party on Tuesday, when he turned 97 years old. Wang was alternately delighted and moved to tears to see old neighbors turn up on his birthday, then flabbergasted when a parade of cars...
With so many holiday traditions upended this year it's fun to be able to hold dearly to the ones we can enjoy safely together. Our family has always loved the lighting displays put out by Wrenshall area residents. The drive back from daycare always takes longer in December because we have to drive down Goad Drive on the way home. I was excited to see the community get into the spirit again this year with the fourth annual Deck the Wrens Halls lighting contest. My family did a drive through town...
Carlton County saw exactly two recounts following the Nov. 3 election. The Carlton County auditor’s office completed a recount of votes in the special election for Wrenshall council member, and got the same results, with just two votes separating winner Joyce Gvesrude (116) from Kevin House (114). On Wednesday, Dec. 2, votes were recounted for three Esko School Board seats with the same numbers coming up. Sixteen votes separated the third- and fourth-place candidates: Leona Johnson received the third-highest number of votes with 1,347 votes a...
Covid-19 cases in Carlton County are still rising rapidly, although the increase over the past week is lower than the previous week, with 327 new cases from Nov. 25 to Dec. 2, versus 407 from Nov. 18-25, according to daily numbers provided by the Minnesota Department of Health. Deaths from Covid-19, however, show no sign of slowing. Carlton County went from a total of two deaths on Oct. 27, to 15 deaths attributed to Covid by Friday, Nov. 27. Another two deaths were reported earlier this week. N...
Mark Allen Klejeski, 61, of Carlton passed away Nov. 24, 2020, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth. A private service was scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, at the Atkins Northland Funeral Home, with a videorecording of the service posted on the funeral home website Thursday afternoon. Harold Louis “Bampa” Ruhnke, 89, of Wrenshall passed away Nov. 30, 2020 at Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton, surrounded by his loving family. Due to Covid-19, a memorial service will be held at a later date at the SonLife Community Church in Wrenshall. Arran...
Like for plenty of other folks around the country, our Thanksgiving looked quite a bit different this year, but we still celebrated our immense blessings around a dinner of poultry and savory spices. This year I felt especially thankful for the health and safety of my family. My husband, Janaki, contracted Covid-19 sometime in early November and has since recovered, but the repercussions from even one mild case are a good reminder of the precautions we all should continue to take to keep each...
MPR News With Covid-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations at or near record highs, roughly 60 percent of Minnesota K-12 students are currently in distance learning - more than double the rate from early October. Many schools pivoted to remote instruction just before Thanksgiving break and plan to stay that way for at least a couple of months. St. Paul Public Schools, for example, which began the year with distance learning, won't resume any in-person instruction until at least Jan. 19, or two...
This year’s election ballot had four choices for three positions on it for the Wrenshall school board. Upon responses by these applicants to questions published in the Oct. 2 issue of this newspaper, this taxpaying citizen abstained from voting for any of the four. Here’s why: After three failed referendums in Wrenshall, a survey on consolidation between Carlton and Wrenshall deemed that the communities were in favor of a merger, although the majority of folks I’ve spoken with find it to be obliquely skewed. All four running seemed to be in fav...
The cult horror film "Plan 9 from Outer Space" was Bela Lugosi's last film, and was shot without a script because director Ed Wood didn't really know what it was going to be about. This is the kind of important trivia that a puppet named Rentfield shares on a new horror movie TV show shot partially in a pole building in Wrenshall. Local resident Mike Sholtz is the puppeteer for Rentfield as well as the co-creator of "Uncle Clutch's Video Horror Shop." The show takes its inspiration from the...
Cloquet High School Quarter 1 Honor Roll A HONOR ROLL Grade 9 Elexis Anderson Drew Angell Madyson Babineau Joseph Bailey David Baker Hannah Bastien Owen Brenner LeeAna Burley Ava Carlson Elise Cawcutt Ella Chartier Quinn Danielson Macy Dearborn Kiana DeFoe Emmie Doesken Ethan Doty Madison Fredrickson Anders Gunelson Riley Hall Isaac Hill Makenna Horvat Kiley Issendorf Eli Jazdzewski Kloey Jensen Carly Johnson Gage Johnson Annalise Kalm Foday Kamara Mary Kayser Brynn Kowalke Caden Kubis Kyle Lahti Kobin Lambert OE Levinski Erin Loeb Walker...
The Carlton school board voted Monday night to hire a company to provide construction cost estimates on transforming South Terrace Elementary into a facility that could serve three more grades, up to grade 8, or serve all students through 12th grade. The move comes as the board has discussed its options the past month since state funding fell through this year for a consolidation with Wrenshall. The South Terrace studies won’t be new to Carlton taxpayers. The district did similar studies leading up to a failed referendum in 2017 to expand t...
Covid-19 affects playoff picture Local playoff football teams have had their seasons sliced by Covid-19 and the playoffs have turned into an extension of those problems. Carlton-Wrenshall was scheduled to play at Hinckley-Finlayson on Tuesday night, but the Raptors had to forfeit due to Covid exposure of their team. South Ridge was scheduled to open the playoffs against McGregor on Friday night, but that game was also a forfeit as the Mercs are unable to field a team. That means the Panthers will move on to the second round of the Section 5...
Carlton County broke another Covid-19 record last week, jumping from a cumulative total of 937 positive cases on Nov. 11 to 1,013 on Nov. 12, an increase of 76 new cases in a day. From Wednesday to Wednesday, Nov. 11 to Nov. 18, the total number of cases in the county jumped by 313, from 937 to 1,250, and the number of deaths attributed to Covid went from seven to nine in that same seven-day period. By comparison, on Oct. 7, the cumulative cases in the county were at 320, with just one death....
The City of Wrenshall is running a wellness challenge in an effort to get community members outside and moving. The idea was conceived in a brainstorming session with the new parks/community committee. Outgoing mayor Donna Mae Weiderman reports that the response has been positive. "It really is a way for people to get outside while social distancing yet still feel connected as a community." Pandemic restrictions have a definite impact on physical activity. Wrenshall community members responded...
As of Monday afternoon, six days after the election, exactly eight late mail ballots had arrived at the Carlton County auditor’s office, not exactly a game changer. Although the Pine Knot News did not receive a final report from the auditor’s office after the deadline Tuesday, a look at the Secretary of State’s website shows both the Democrat and Republican presidential candidates each gained four votes. All late ballots had to be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by the end o...
