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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Remember the 500-year flash floods that ripped across the Northland 10 years ago, and the drought that had farmers and others praying for rain last summer? Cloquet city officials are hoping to make a plan for future climate change and they need help from the people who live here. City staff and the SEH consulting engineering firm are in the process of preparing an assessment of the stormwater infrastructure throughout Cloquet, something that was last done 40 years ago, according to assistant city engineer John Anderson. As part of the...
Following a closed meeting Wednesday that lasted three hours, the Wrenshall school board fired the school’s information technology director, Jaime Hopp, the Pine Knot News learned Thursday. Hopp had been the subject of a personnel investigation which began earlier this summer. The tech director was alleged to have profanely alluded to “killing” the district superintendent while in the staff lounge in June. Another district employee overheard the comment, which superintendent Kim Belcastro later reported to Carlton County authorities. Following...
Following a closed meeting Wednesday that lasted three hours, the Wrenshall school board fired the school’s information technology director, Jaime Hopp, the Pine Knot News learned Thursday. Hopp had been the subject of a personnel investigation which began earlier this summer. The tech director was alleged to have profanely alluded to “killing” the district superintendent while in the staff lounge in June. Another district employee overheard the comment, which superintendent Kim Belcastro later...
A federal judge last week dismissed the remaining claims in a $4 million civil lawsuit filed by a former Cloquet detective, but left open the door for continued action in state court. Scott Holman, a detective and K-9 officer who had worked for the Cloquet Police Department for 22 years, was fired by the city council in June 2019. Holman’s complaint claimed that the detective’s termination was the result of a Brady policy created by the Carlton County Attorney’s Office for “sanctioning” police officers without due process. The term “Brady” r...
Hawaii's loss was Cloquet's gain this summer, when a dog being trained as a backup accelerant detection K-9 for the island state became available in June. Cloquet Area Fire District battalion chief Jason Maki picked up Delta, a 2½-year-old golden retriever mix from the North Carolina training site in mid-June. "It's a long story, but she was one of two dogs that were slated to go to Hawaii after the police academy," Maki explained. "They do two dogs because Hawaii is super strict on...
After close to 10 months of musical chairs, the Cloquet Area Fire District staff and board members celebrated a slew of promotions and other moves that have the district almost on stable ground in terms of staffing. CAFD chief Jesse Buhs said in many cases, a promotion led to a vacancy that was filled and created more vacancies behind it. A case in point, Buhs was appointed interim chief in December and officially got the job in March. A new assistant fire chief position was created, and former...
Thomson township supervisor, Jason Paulson, gave some final statements to the board and the community at the Thomson board meeting Thursday, Aug. 18. Paulson had announced his resignation from the board, and his position on the Cloquet Area Fire District Board, at the board of supervisor’s first meeting in August. Paulson left the board with some closing remarks about his six years as a supervisor. He mostly focused on the fire district. “One thing I’ve learned in my six years is the value of our community’s first responders,” Paulson s...
Just over a century ago, a work crew dug up the remains of nearly 200 Ojibwe people from a burial ground at the end of Wisconsin Point, a long peninsula that juts out into Lake Superior across the water from Duluth. Among the exhumed was Chief Osaugie, who signed two major treaties with the U.S. government in the mid-1800s. The remains were reburied in 1919 in a mass grave at St. Francis Cemetery on the mainland in Superior. The bodies were moved to clear the way for an iron ore dock and other infrastructure that U.S. Steel wanted to build. But... 
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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...
There were more questions than answers Wednesday, Aug. 24, when the Wrenshall school board agreed to discipline an employee during a specially called meeting. The meeting was planned to review results of a personnel investigation which began earlier this summer involving the school’s information technology director, Jaime Hopp, and superintendent Kim Belcastro. The board met in closed session for three hours. Afterward, it declined to name who it was disciplining. But since the disciplinary resolution voted on by the board authorized B...
Where there's smoke, there's fire ... except when it's electrical and firefighters turn the power off. That's what happened at Heather's Cafe in Cloquet Thursday, Aug. 18. Firefighters from the Cloquet Area Fire District spent hours at 1302 and 1304 Cloquet Avenue, after getting a call about smoke inside. Traffic down Cloquet Avenue was rerouted while they were there. Battalion chief Jason Maki said CAFD crews -- by cutting holes and using heat sensitive cameras -- eventually found wood smolderi...
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...
After three months of work on 14th Street in Cloquet, city officials provided an update on the project on the city’s website, at cloquetmn.gov. Work on the roundabout curb, pavement and truck apron is complete, with sidewalk, lighting, pavement markings and signage set to be completed before school by Sept. 3. The roundabout will be open for east/west traffic by Sept. 3, as will Doddridge Avenue. However, work on 14th Street will continue in September and October. Storm sewer, sanitary sewer and water main installation is complete from W...
An inmate of the Northeast Regional Corrections Center in Grand Lake Township near Twig walked off the grounds around 7:20 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, according to a news release from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office. Zachary Daniel Mullen, 31, was missing for roughly four hours as deputies searched the area and sent alerts to surrounding agencies. Carlton County deputies located Mullen at about 11:25 p.m. and he has since been booked into the St. Louis County jail on a felony charge of escape from custody....
Former Minnesota Wilderness junior hockey coach Brendan Phelps won’t face charges after two men in an online video alleged that Phelps had traveled to Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, for an intimate encounter with someone he believed was a 16-year-old male. Instead, when Phelps arrived, he found the men — private citizens, not police — with video cameras, one who claimed he had posed as the boy online. The 18-minute video was posted to YouTube in July by a group called Midwest Predator Catchers. While...
Cloquet police officers responded to a crash between a motorcycle and a Honda CR-V vehicle Monday night that one person did not survive. According to a news release, at approximately 11:05 p.m. Monday, Aug. 29, the Cloquet Police Department responded to the crash at Carlton Avenue and 22nd Street in Cloquet. Upon arrival, officers found the small red sport-utility vehicle and a motorcycle that had been involved in the crash. The adult male motorcycle driver sustained significant injuries in the crash Officers and Cloquet Area Fire District...
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,...
Editor's note: Find the fair schedule below this story. This weekend people from the greater Carlton County area will gather in Barnum to celebrate the 131st Carlton County fair. Last year saw a record 40,000 people attend the fair after Covid-19 shut down the annual gathering in 2020. The Carlton County event continues to be one of the largest county fairs in the region. Fair manager Lindsey Larson said phone inquiries are up and she anticipates the number of entries for needlework, canning,...
A pole building burned in Skelton Township, outside Barnum, on Saturday, Aug. 13. A passerby reported the fire on the 4400 block of County Road 6 at 11:46 p.m. Responding emergency personnel found nobody injured, but a pole building that was a total loss along with its contents, a Carlton County Sheriff’s Office news release said. Barnum, Moose Lake and Kettle River fire departments responded to the fire, along with sheriff’s deputies and Essentia Health-Moose Lake paramedics. Deputies learned the homeowner had been using a wood stove in the...
A study of the Minnesota Highway 33 corridor through Cloquet is being conducted to help create a transportation plan in the area, said a Minnesota Department of Transportation news release this week. The Arrowhead Regional Development Commission and MnDOT are studying the state highway, in part, by gaining public feedback through a virtual open house available through Sept. 30. “The goal of the transportation plan is to look at pedestrian and bicycle safety along Highway 33 in Cloquet and develop a long-range plan and vision for potential s...
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College welcomed Indigenous-serving educators from across the world over the past week, hosting the annual gathering of the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium. Guests and local residents danced together at a drum and dance exhibition Saturday, and the fun continued Monday with canoe races and Baaga'adowewin (traditional stick lacrosse) on Tuesday. In addition to bringing people together, the free events helped illustrate the significance of t...
The Wrenshall school board will convene for a special meeting Aug. 24 to hear results of an investigation into possible misconduct by the school’s information technology director. The board will gather at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the school to learn what Edina-based Red Cedar Consulting found out during days of interviews related to a comment made by technology director Jaime Hopp. Hopp is alleged to have profanely alluded to “killing” the district superintendent while in the staff lounge in June. Another district employee overheard the threa...
Cloquet city councilors and Mayor Roger Maki voted unanimously Tuesday to uphold the city’s subdivision ordinance requiring sidewalks in any new subdivisions, despite a planning commission recommendation to the contrary. City planner/zoning administrator Al Cottingham told councilors that the three members of the planning commission recommended approval of a variance from the subdivision code for developer James Kuklis for phase 2 of his Trails Edge subdivision, to be located southwest of Trail Drive and 18th Street. The proposed plat shows 13...
The Carlton-Wrenshall Raptors football program won’t take the field for varsity action this season. It’s a victim of not having enough players despite the cooperative agreement between schools in the eastern half of the county. The schools will try to rebuild the football program by participating in the junior varsity and junior high levels. The possible expansion of a sports and activities co-op between Carlton and Wrenshall came to a halt this month, after the Wrenshall school board balked at the 13-page agreement approved by Carlton. “Th...
A quiet summer for the Esko Public Schools has allowed administrators and school board members to move forward with plans for a few school improvement projects that will begin construction during the 2022-23 school year. The Esko school board approved the district’s contract with Minneapolis-based ICS, the construction company the district has used in the past, for the construction of a new fitness center and to complete the new water treatment system. Superintendent Aaron Fisher said these p...
