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 Pine Knot News was once again named the "most outstanding weekly" in Minnesota at the annual Minnesota Newspaper Association convention last week. It is the second year in a row the paper received the distinction, which comes with the traveling Mills Trophy. The win for the paper comes as circulation increases put it in a larger category of newspapers in the annual Better Newspaper Contest that MNA puts on. The Pine Knot won 23 awards for journalistic and advertising excellence, plus the...
Frequent Pine Knot News contributor and award-winning columnist Steve Korby hails from Scanlon, so he knew some of the sixth-graders pictured last week (at right). "The teacher, who was also the Scanlon principal, is Lydia Henke," he said. "She was my sixth-grade teacher as well. She was a Cloquet Country Club member. I remember how shocked I was to see her having a cocktail in the CCC clubhouse after a round of golf. My teacher!" Korby said the tall kid in the back is Paul Carlson and the...
Carlton County will receive almost $7 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, county economic development director Mary Finnegan reported at the board of commissioners committee of the whole meeting Feb. 1. There are nearly four years allowed to plan and spend the funds, she said. Local governments, including cities and townships, have been given their own share. This opens the possibility for the local governments to partner with the county with some of the money, Finnegan said. The county board and department heads requested local...
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...
According to a press release from the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, the crash involved a Toyota pickup driven by a 37-year-old male from Duluth and a Freightliner semi driven by a 48-year-old male from Cromwell. The Toyota truck was eastbound on County Road 4 and stopped at the intersection with County Road 61. The driver pulled away from the stop sign and was struck in the passenger side of the vehicle by the northbound semi. The driver of the Toyota was transported to Essentia hospital in Moose Lake and later airlifted to a Duluth h...
Join Cloquet schools superintendent Michael Cary, along with school board members and administration for conversation 9-10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 7 at Common Ground, on the corner of Avenue C and Broadway in Cloquet. The “coffee in the community” meetings are being held monthly at various coffee shops in Cloquet and are a venue for people wishing to have a two-way discussion with school officials....
A Carlton man is facing DWI charges and more after allegedly running into a Duluth snowbank. According to a press release from the Duluth Police Department, at approximately 10:40 p.m. Monday, Jan. 31, Duluth police officers were dispatched to a report of a car in a snowbank at the intersection of 69th Ave. West and Raleigh Street. Officers located a male, later identified as Carlton resident Paul Booker, 30, who appeared to be passed out in the driver’s seat. Next to him in the passenger seat was a handgun, which the officers secured. It w...
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College welcomes new and experienced beekeepers to the seventh annual Beekeeping and More symposium next week. The virtual event will feature talks given by regional beekeeping experts, UMN Bee Squad and nationally known beekeeper Mike Palmer. The virtual event costs $15 per person and is 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12. To register or find out more, visit https://bit.ly/3s5Ur6e. During this year’s symposium, participants will learn about native pollinators and tips and tricks for beginning beekeeping. T...
Cloquet graduate Luke Heine said he tried to teach himself computer science in high school, but it was overwhelming and there were few resources, aside from one good friend. "I had Billy Bauer, he was phenomenal," Heine said. "He got me into it, but it just was way too hard." Now a Harvard University grad who recently sold his first startup software company, Heine gets it now. He wants to give other kids from his hometown and region a leg up in the world of computer science, so he's calling a...
Next week, the County Seat Theater Company will present an old-fashioned melodrama, "The Villain Wore A Dirty Shirt, or, Always Wash Your Long Johns 'Cause It Makes a Lotta Cents." It's a boo-hiss villain tale around laundry in a mining town in frontier days. "This show is filled with fun characters," said director Joel Soukkala. "It is so fun to get a group of actors together of all ages and just play." The cast of 15 performers features a number of young actors. "It's a good old-fashioned melo...
Charges were filed Thursday, in the case of a hit-and-run crash nearly three weeks ago in Cloquet that police previously described as a case of "road rage." A 38-year-old Cloquet woman was charged via summons Thursday, Feb. 3, by the Carlton County Attorney’s office. Rebecca Lee Glader faces seven different charges, including three different counts of felony criminal vehicular operation-substantial bodily harm-driver who causes collision leaves scene, along with gross misdemeanor and misdemeanor traffic violations including failure to stop, f...
While other area schools and cities are heightening Covid-19 protocols, the Esko school board voted Monday to pass a set of guidelines that would allow the removal of mandatory masks on Feb. 7. With a 3-2 vote at the regular meeting Jan. 24, the board passed guidelines that state the mask mandate for elementary school students would be suspended if the number of active Covid-19 cases for the district is under 25. If the number of cases is not below 25, masks could be mandatory for all students. “The board has not set a specific strategy, but i...
The Fond du Lac Reservation Business Committee approved a mask mandate from Jan. 21 through Feb. 18 for the following facilities: Black Bear Casino Resort, Fond-du-Luth Casino, and Fond du Lac Gas & Grocery. The City of Cloquet implemented a mask mandate for all public spaces through Feb. 18. Carlton County already requires masks in all of its public buildings....
The 2022 precinct caucuses will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1. Precinct caucuses are meetings run by Minnesota’s political parties. They are the first in a series of meetings where parties may endorse candidates, select delegates, and set goals and values, called party platforms. The Carlton County DFL party is making its caucus meetings as contactless as possible due to Covid levels. Participants are asked to come to their local polling place, where a volunteer will give them a form to complete and return onsite before departing. There w...
After warning families that the district might have to switch to distance learning because of staffing shortages caused by the pandemic, Cloquet superintendent Michael Cary said things are looking up. Staffing levels have stabilized, somewhat. “They’re still not exactly where we would want them to be, but they have definitely improved,” Cary told Cloquet school board members during Monday’s meeting. “All the available data that we can see would suggest that we should be at or nearing our [Covid] surge peak soon — if we haven’t hit it alread...
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...
Carlton County was one of five counties recognized for the Association of Minnesota Counties County Achievement award out of all 87 counties in Minnesota last month. Several Carlton County departments were recognized for their collaborative work on the drive-through Covid-19 vaccination clinics, including Public Health and Human Services, GIS, Land Department, Sheriff’s Office, Transportation Department, County Coordinator, and Maintenance Department. According to the most recent Carlton County newsletter, this collaboration was innovative a...
For the fourth time in the last 40 years the Carlton County board of commissioners declared their support for necessary funding by state and federal action to rebuild Highway 73 in western Carlton County, particularly the 8-mile stretch south of Cromwell. There was little discussion before the unanimous vote during the county board meeting Monday, Jan. 24. Federal funding is available through the new infrastructure initiative and the state of Minnesota has a budget surplus of more than $7.5 billion. County highway engineer JinYeene Neumann...
Talk of the Cloquet Area Fire District continued at the Thomson Township Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday, Jan. 20. In past discussions about CAFD board representation, it was unclear whether the township’s representative had to be an elected official, a township employee, or if it could be anyone. According to township attorney Dave Pritchett, the representative cannot be a paid and/or current employee of the township, but must be an elected official to vote on the CAFD. Board supervisor Jason Paulson questioned whether the township w...
A Cloquet man who is facing manslaughter charges will argue he acted in self defense, and seek to have the charges dismissed, according to his attorney. Joel Jay Ammesmaki, 58, was charged with first-degree manslaughter in September for “causing the death of another while committing assault in the fifth degree with such force and violence” that death or great harm was “reasonably foreseeable.” Ammesmaki was arrested Sept. 14 after police responded to a 911 call at around 2 a.m. reporting an unwanted person in an apartment inside the Fond du...
Following the upheaval of the final weeks of 2021, the first Cloquet Area Fire District Board meeting Wednesday, Jan. 19, was positively noncontroversial. The fact that it was held online likely helped — the board will meet remotely as long as Covid numbers are high — as did the rollback of the ambulance district tax increase at the board’s final meeting in December. After stepping up to serve as chair following Bob DeCaigney’s resignation last month, Brevator Township rep Linda Way was elected chair for 2022 by unanimous vote of her fellow...
The two women accused by protestors of abusing children in their care fought back in Sixth District Carlton County court Tuesday. More than 100 people observed the online hearing, which ultimately continued the removal of 10 children from their Cloquet homes as allegations of abuse on the part of their caretakers are being investigated. The investigation and legal actions came about after photos and video of the alleged abuse were circulated widely on Facebook earlier this month, and protesters...
More than 100 students attending Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College during Fall Semester 2021 achieved high academic standing and earned Dean’s List honors for the semester grading period. Requirements for earning Dean’s List honors at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College include maintaining a GPA of 3.0 or higher while completing 12 or more course credits during the semester. Students may take daytime classes, evening classes, weekend classes, online classes, or a combination of the...
Tyler Ojibway, a law enforcement major from Cloquet, graduated this past fall....
The Minnesota Association of Townships will award up to five $2,000 scholarships to high school juniors this year. All students attending a Minnesota public, private, or parochial school, or a home-study program, are eligible to apply for the program. Since its inception in 2001, the MAT Scholarship Program has had more than 2,100 submissions and 92 recipients. Applicants should submit a written essay using critical thinking on the topic of promoting township government by May 1. Winners will be chosen by an independent panel of judges and...
