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 1314 - 1338 of 3909
An observant police officer and a likely DNA match led to the arrest of a 43-year-old Cloquet man last week on suspicion of trying to strangle a woman in her home this summer. Cloquet detectives and officers arrested Brendan Gareth Smith Friday afternoon after an extensive investigation of a home invasion June 7. Smith appeared in Sixth District Carlton County Court Monday, Oct. 10, charged with first-degree burglary and third-degree assault, both felonies. He was granted a public defender and bond was set at $250,000. According to the...
A request to allow the local industrial landfill to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week for two specific customers was approved by the Cloquet planning commission Tuesday. The motion passed by a 3-1 vote, with new commissioner Michelle Wick the only “no” vote. Wick lives near the SKB Environmental landfill in the neighborhood near Hilltop Park, and had suggested the commission table the request so she could have time to do some research. The vote is an advisory one: the final decision rests with the Cloquet city council. City pla...
Blackhoof Township residents have collected nearly 100 local signatures on a petition opposing a new “green” cemetery advertising its services on land in the township. Residents again attended Tuesday’s county board meeting, this time to object to the approximately 20-acre cemetery, Loving Earth Memorial Gardens, being established adjacent to eight relatively new homes. The cemetery caters to clientele wishing to be buried naturally without embalming or cremation. Matt Connell originally bought the land but does not live here. The issue has p...
The Esko school district is planning a few projects that will give students and the greater community an opportunity to stay active year-round. The Esko school board has been working on plans for a new fitness center over the last few months, something that was identified near the top of the list on the district's 10-year facilities plan. The board shared some initial plans for the new fitness center at the meeting Monday, Oct. 10. In a presentation given by ICS, the district's building project...
The Thomson Township board of supervisors is continuing to seek improvements for the township’s sewer system in order to prevent future emergency repairs, like the one in late July 2022 on Highway 61 in front of the Esko school. At their meeting Thursday, Oct. 6, the board approved a project, to be completed by July 1, 2023, that will update sewer lines in the area surrounding where the emergency repairs were done in summer of 2022, to prevent a similar situation again. Township engineer Joe Jurewicz recommended the township work with Visu S...
Another case of measles was confirmed in Minnesota earlier this month, bringing the total to 13 since June. All of the cases are among unvaccinated children, ranging in age from 2-years-old to kids in their early teens, state health officials said in a press release. Measles is a very contagious respiratory virus that typically starts with a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes and later causes a rash, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While almost all th... 
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When Cory Drickhamer pulled in for the start of business at the MarksMan Trading Post one day earlier this week, there was a customer right behind him. Within moments, the pawn shop had five more used rifles to sell, including a Remington .30-06 pump carbine - a well-regarded deer hunting rifle. "I bought five guns in the first 10 minutes I was open," Drickhamer said. "I didn't even count my cash register drawer yet." MarksMan Trading Post celebrates its one-year anniversary in November. When...
A reader residing along 14th Street in Cloquet messaged to note how progress on the street’s reconstruction had reached the paving stages this week following a summer spent detouring due to underground utility upgrades. “Yippy! No more detouring,” wrote the tipster. Only, not quite yet. The paving had proceeded from the roundabout at 14th Street and Washington Avenue north toward Prospect Avenue. Crews were continuing to rebuild curbs and sidewalks south of Washington Avenue along 14th Street toward Tall Pine Lane. Street repaving will follow....
Gathering last week capped cemetery saga that began in 2017 The tribal chairman of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa called for new protections for Native American burial grounds during a community gathering last week. Speaking alongside the St. Louis River, near a site where burial grounds were disturbed by a state highway project in 2017, Kevin Dupuis was joined by a crowd of more than 125 mostly Indigenous people in the Fond du Lac neighborhood in Duluth on Friday, Sept. 30....
The Cloquet City Council took up the topic of food trucks at its meeting Tuesday at City Hall, wondering if it should amend an ordinance to allow the cultural phenomenon better access to city park events. Councilor Kerry Kolodge raised the issue after having heard from a food truck operator who was denied access to a large bike race last month at the Pine Valley recreation area. The city currently doesn’t allow food trucks at parks unless it’s a city-sponsored event, such as the Fourth of Jul...
Area students descend upon Cloquet Forestry Center Some of the first morning frosts of the season didn't put a chill on the enthusiasm of local fifth-graders participating in the Conservation Education Days at the University of Minnesota's Cloquet Forestry Center last week. More than 500 students from eight Carlton County school districts spent a full day learning outside their usual classrooms at the educational event focused on natural science topics Sept. 28-29. The annual event for...
The palm trees in Fort Myers, Florida left standing following Hurricane Ian last week don't look like palm trees anymore, said Cloquet's Sam Baker. "They look like telephone poles," Baker said. "They lost all their fronds." Baker was one of at least two college students from Cloquet, including Sam Buytaert, who were evacuated from the west coast of Florida last week, as Hurricane Ian made its way to shore. Initial forecasts had predicted the hurricane would hit the Tampa Bay area - where Buytaer...
There are seven candidates running for three open seats on the Esko school board in the Nov. 8 general election. The district is hosting a forum for the public to attend and ask questions of the candidates at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 11 in the Esko High School theater....
State officials planned to start sending checks Oct. 5 to more than 1 million pandemic frontline workers in industries including food service, education, health care, long-term care, and first responders. Each worker who was approved will receive a one-time payment of $487.45 from the state, either as a direct deposit in the next 10 days or prepaid debit card in the mail over the next few weeks....
Law enforcement found a missing 18-year-old inmate from the Northeast Regional Correctional Center in Saginaw, Minnesota. NERCC staff had called 911 to report Kristofer Ryan Orr unaccounted for at approximately 11:40 a.m. Friday, Oct. 7. Orr was apprehended without incident at 8:03 p.m. near the area of the Bachelor Road and Esker Trail in Grand Lake Township after receiving a citizen tip. This location is north of NERCC and Orr reached the area on foot after leaving NERCC earlier this morning....
Cloquet detectives and officers arrested a 43-year-old Cloquet man Friday afternoon after an extensive investigation regarding a home invasion June 7 on Boulder Drive in Cloquet. According to a news release from the police department, during the June home invasion, a woman was awoken after an intruder entered the home and began strangling the woman as she slept. The victim's husband was alerted from another room and later had a brief confrontation with the suspect before he fled the home into the nearby woods. Law enforcement scoured the area...
Last week saw two different partial Wrenshall school board candidate forums, but residents may yet be able to attend a meeting with all seven candidates. After rejecting a Sept. 20 forum organized by the teachers union, three of the current board members - Jack Eudy, Deb Washenesky and Cindy Bourn - held their own candidate event Thursday, Sept. 22 at the Silver Brook town hall. Residents had plenty to say at the meeting, which started with a short introduction from each of the sponsoring...
Two dozen people attended Monday’s Carlton County board meeting to voice opposition to a new cemetery being established in Blackhoof Township, at what is known to locals as the old Gordon MacVey dairy farm on Pioneer Road. The Loving Earth Memorial Gardens markets itself as a “eco-friendly” cemetery that provides burial of bodies that are not cremated or embalmed. There are no concrete vaults, and the containers for the bodies are biodegradable. Preparation of the body is billed as “nontoxic.” Grave markers are made from natural, local mat...
Cloquet school board members set the preliminary levy at maximum Monday, Sept. 26, with the final figures to be certified on Dec. 12 after more budget work and state input. District finance director Candice Nelis recommended the board set the levy at “maximum” because the budget and levy are still in flux. That meant the board did not set a dollar amount Monday, but the levy limitation in the board packet — which Nelis said had already changed — listed the levy payable in 2023 at $7.435 million, up from $6.997 million in 2022, an increas...
The Carlton County Board of Commissioners approved a maximum levy increase of 6.9 percent for the 2023 budget year during its meeting Monday. The levy set in September can be lower — but not higher — in December following the completed budget process. But none of the commissioners were optimistic the levy would go any lower. The vote featured commissioners Tom Proulx, Dick Brenner and Marv Bodie voting in favor, and Mark Thell voting against. The board set the preliminary budget at $32.3 million for 2023, an increase of $2.1 million over las...
After nearly two years of searching for a new space, it took workers only 10 weeks or so to turn a former furniture store into a new home for the Cloquet Kids Corner and Li'l Lumberjacks Learning Center programs. The cavernous empty space at Pine Tree Plaza in Cloquet is now a long winding hallway lined with bright classrooms - Kids Corner on the right, Li'l Lumberjacks on the left - ending in an indoor gym for kids. Cloquet Community Education director Erin Bates said it's going really well so...
Esko board approves maximum levy The Esko school board held a special meeting Monday, Sept. 26 to approve the proposed levy payable in 2023. The board was not able to vote on the levy at its normal meeting on the second Monday of the month because there were details on a few projects, such as the newly proposed fitness center, that still needed to be worked out. With some of those details ironed out, according to superintendent Aaron Fischer, the district felt more comfortable with the board approving the levy that was presented to them at the...
I-35 traffic near Barnum returned to the normal configuration with separated northbound and southbound traffic on Monday. Motorists should expect continued single-lane traffic in each direction for the remainder of the week of the 26th as final work occurs on the shoulders. After the traffic is shifted, all ramps will be open. Visit the project website for details about the project: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/d1/projects/i35-barnum/index.html....
The Thomson Township Board of Supervisors met for a brief meeting Thursday, Sept. 22. With only three board members in attendance, there was little new business to be discussed by the board. The board approved a new member joining the Township’s volunteer fire department and looked at a proposal regarding a public works facility study. The board did not comment on any of the candidates they reviewed in regard to the empty seat on the board. The board did suggest that the spot would be filled in time for the board’s next work session in mid...
Nothing changed at Churchill Elementary School on Friday when U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced the 2022 National Blue Ribbon Schools - and the Cloquet school as one of 297 to make the list. Teachers and staff at the school were still doing what they do, students were still attending classes, studying and hanging out with friends. But there was extra excitement in the air, a little sense of being recognized as something special. It's a big deal. National Blue Ribbon Schools...
