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 1996 - 2020 of 4091
In compliance with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) emergency temporary standard on Covid-19 for employers with 100 or more employees, Cloquet and Carlton school board members both adopted policies meeting the OHSA mandate Monday, Jan. 10. The deadline for policy implementation was Jan. 10, which meant Carlton declared a special meeting for the vote, while Cloquet tackled the issue as part of its regular meeting. Businesses, including school districts, with more than 100 employees have two options: adopt a p...
Like many school district officials across the region and state, Esko school board members adopted a policy this week requiring all district employees to either be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or wear masks and test weekly. Board members did not have much of a decision on whether or not to adopt the policy on Monday, as it is proposed to be mandated through the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, meaning the district could be fined for not being in compliance. “To everyone listening, I wish I had something else to say b...
While businesses sweat out a pending Supreme Court decision on Covid-19 vaccine mandates, the Wrenshall school board found and took advantage of a loophole Monday night. At its first regular meeting of the year, board members voted to not include themselves as employees of the district, putting it below the 100-employee threshold for the mandate called for by President Joe Biden. Before Monday, Wrenshall’s employee count was 101. The Minnesota School Boards Association has been prepping districts across the state to put policies in place...
Once she decided to make her entrance, Cloquet's first baby of 2022 didn't waste any time. Rowyn Oak Jubie was born at 11 p.m. Jan. 2 at Community Memorial Hospital, less than an hour after her mother and dad arrived at the hospital. "It was quick and intense," said mother Sara Haverkamp. "There wasn't even time for pain meds." Sara and Rowyn's dad, Jimmy Jubie Jr., had been trying to get pregnant for 10 years. When Haverkamp's daughter, 14-year-old Jayda, hit age 12, they sort of gave up. And...
Reader Kim Matteen spotted a reference to Cloquet in the latest issue of Smithsonian Magazine. In its Prologue section, under the heading of "Origins," Max Ufberg writes about the rise of snowboarding from a "goofy" pastime to an Olympics sport. Vern Wicklund, as the story goes, was messing around with modified sleds when he was a teenager in Cloquet, as early as 1917. In 1939, he and relatives Harvey and Gunnar Burgeson, all now living in the Chicago area, patented what is generally considered...
The Cloquet VFW got a jump on the New Year's Eve celebrations, with a dance that started at 1 in the afternoon Friday. The Chmielewski family, including Florian, Florian Jr., Patty, and Nick provided song and music for the many, mostly older, couples at the dance....
The Disabled American Veterans Carlton County Chapter 18 will hold a clothing drive every Saturday in January from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Cloquet and Moose Lake. The DAV will have a truck by the green boxes at the armory in Cloquet and Lamperts Lumberyard in Moose Lake, accepting clothing, bedding, purses, shoes, towels and jackets. Please don’t bring furniture or electronics....
The postponed senior Christmas party has been rescheduled and rebranded a “Welcome 2022” party from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 13, at the Cloquet Senior Center by the hockey arena. Enjoy a roast pork dinner for $4, and bingo (with prizes) sponsored by the Thrivent Action team. Call 218-879-5870 to save your space....
The Pine Knot office in Cloquet will be closed Friday, Jan. 7, for staff time off, returning on Monday. If you urgently need to speak to someone, call 218-213-1231 and leave a message or email [email protected]....
David Tushar, a former Carlton County priest who was placed on leave in July 2019 due to allegations of sexual abuse of a minor over 40 years ago, died Dec. 23 in Las Vegas. Tushar had served as a priest in the Diocese of Duluth since 1985, serving in Carlton, Sawyer and Cloquet at various times during the last 16 years of his career. Tushar was added to a list of “credibly accused” priests by the Duluth Diocese in January 2021. The allegations stemmed from his earlier service while he was serving as a Holy Cross Father in Niles, Illinois in...
Minnesotans looking for private health insurance have until Saturday, Jan. 15, to enroll through MNsure, the state’s health insurance exchange, for coverage starting Feb. 1. Visit MNsure.org or call 651-539-2099....
Fifth District commissioner Gary Peterson was chosen as the new chairman of the Carlton County board of commissioners at the annual re-organizational meeting Tuesday, Jan. 4. Fourth District commissioner Mark Thell became the vice chairman of the county board and chairman of the committee of the whole meetings for 2022. For a number of years, leadership roles for the board and the committee meetings have rotated with each board member takings a turn. The board approved meeting times and days. Regular county board meetings will continue to be...
A five-judge panel is ready to draw new boundaries for Minnesota congressional and legislative districts if necessary. The panel met Tuesday to hear from lawyers representing people who are trying to influence the once-a-decade process through litigation and their own proposed maps. The judges heard arguments for and against four separate proposals. The differences among the four plans are detailed and sometimes hard to detect without a close look. They range from adding or subtracting entire counties from congressional districts to dividing...
All Carlton County families are welcome. Professor Ryan Hjelle will present virtually this month on digital addiction in the second of a six-part series on Digital Wellness for Teens and Tweens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11. Hjelle is a University of Minnesota Duluth professor who spoke about sleep and teens in November. To join this free online presentation, go to meet.google.com/rwh-ppnp-oib or dial 1-434-886-0181 and enter pin: 691 293 364#. RSVP or send questions to [email protected]....
Carlton County residents are encouraged to recycle their fresh-cut Christmas trees during Treecycling, a free program with dropoff locations at the Sappi gatehouse entrance in Cloquet and Moose Lake compost site across from the city garage through Jan. 17. Christmas trees, like yard waste, are banned from landfills in Minnesota. Please remove all ornaments, lights, tree stands and tree bags before bringing trees. Residents can recycle holiday lights at the Carlton County Transfer Station at 1950 Highway 210....
The city of Cloquet is looking for a few good men and women to step up and serve on several local boards and commissions that help oversee various governmental departments or entities. Currently, there are openings on the Planning Commission, Parks Commission, Cloquet Public Library Board, Cloquet Area Fire District Board and the Citizens Advisory Board, which helps police department hiring, firing and disciplinary actions, among other things. Council members approved the reappointment of seven...
A Cloquet man was arrested Thursday, Dec. 30, after leading Fond du Lac police on an extended chase and then attempted to harm an officer with his vehicle. Stephen James Smith, 29, faces felony charges of fleeing police in a motor vehicle, second-degree assault with a vehicle, third-degree drug possession and misdemeanor charges of introducing contraband into a jail and giving a false name. According to the criminal complaint, Fond du Lac police attempted to stop Smith for failing to signal and driving without headlights along with speeding on...
A motion by Carlton school board member Eryn Szymczak for no board member pay in 2022 died for a lack of a second Monday, when board members held their organizational meeting. “With our budget deficit, this could really help put some money back into the school system,” said Szymczak, referring to the ongoing annual budget deficits of nearly $1 million a year and the board’s recent decision to continue with both a high school and elementary school in the district, which will make drastic cuts a n...
Rebuilding Cloquet after the 1918 fire spurred not just growth of the wood products industries, including paper production, but also what are known as "spin-off" developments. The Northern Printery, established in 1923 by Parker Childs, remains as one of those businesses. Rick Luke, the current owner, has spent the better part of his life working in the original building at 206 Avenue C. "I started here in 1969 as a trainee for high school my senior year," Luke said. "It was called vocational...
The Cloquet boys basketball team capped off the Wood City Classic last Wednesday by winning the championship game 78-72 over a feisty Pine City squad at Cloquet Middle School gymnasium. “The tournament went well,” said Cloquet coach Steve Battaglia. “We had youth medal nights with the girls on Tuesday and the boys on Wednesday, so the evening sessions were well attended. For the coaches and players, it’s really nice to get some games in without having to leave town.” Against Pine City the Lumbe...
After struggling with only one win in the final month of the 2021, the Wilderness have started 2022 on the right foot. After falling behind 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period Saturday, Minnesota came alive to outscore Fairbanks 4-1 for the game’s final 40 minutes to win, 5-4, forcing a split in the two-game weekend series and snapping the Ice Dogs’ nine-game winning streak. Reid Conn was the hero, as he scored the game-winner with 6:57 remaining in the third period. Conn took advantage of a neutral ice turnover, picked up a loose puck in fro...
Santa came through for winter sports fans. After back-to-back storms starting the night after Christmas - once he and the reindeer were safely back in the North Pole - there is now plenty of snow for cross country skiing, sledding and even snowmobiling. The National Weather Service in Duluth estimated Carlton County got between 12 and 14 inches of snow this week, depending on where in the county. The folks at the Cloquet Forestry Center measured a total of closer to 10 inches, with a base of...
We have found some more clues in the curious case of a plaque honoring Sigfred Johnson, a World War II veteran from Cloquet who died in 1948. As reported in the Dec. 17 issue of the Pine Knot, the plaque was discovered hanging on a wall at a salvage yard in the area. Bonnie Edin called after reading the story and insisted that she found the plaque among her father's things when he passed away and gave it to Ken Johnson, Sigfred's nephew. We found Ken after John Prouty showed us a picture of the...
The goal of declaring the former Mexico Lindo restaurant building a "vacant and hazardous substandard building" is not to demolish the historic structure, community development director Holly Hansen told the Cloquet city council. Rather, it is to attract responsible ownership to repair and revitalize the building in the heart of downtown. When Cloquet city councilors voted unanimously to declare the building hazardous last week, they also set a public hearing for Feb. 1, as the next step toward...
An empty semi-truck that was stuck on the railroad tracks near the Sappi guardhouse was hit by a Burlington Northern train Monday. According to Cloquet Area Fire District battalion chief Jeremy Hutchison there were no injuries: the driver had gotten out of the truck before it was struck by the train. The call came in at 12:18 p.m. Monday, Dec. 27. CAFD, the Cloquet police department and the Minnesota state patrol responded. "There were no injuries, no spills or fire or hazardous chemicals,"...
