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 2101 - 2125 of 3909
Public-record filings are indicating that there may be another shakeup in the direction of Cloquet’s only new car dealership, and its one-time owners have filed for bankruptcy. June filings with the Minnesota Secretary of State office shows that Cloquet Auto Center has renewed the various assumed names attached to Cloquet’s Ford and Chrysler dealership. What’s new is that the Cloquet Auto Center name was renewed in May with an address associated with Duluth-based car dealership group Evergreen, which owns dealerships in the Twin Ports and a...
Minnesota's air quality has been exceptional for all the wrong reasons this week. On Thursday, an air quality monitor in Brainerd recorded the highest particulate reading ever recorded in the state, since the monitors were installed about 20 years ago. "And then a couple hours later, that smoke moved down to St. Cloud, and we broke that record in a matter of hours — at like 422 micrograms,” said Nick Witcraft, an air quality forecaster for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). “That was quite impressive to see." And those two recor... 
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This summer’s drought is painted in the yellow of parched grass and fields, and the cracked brown and grey mud of a riverbed far more exposed than usual. The St. Louis River is still running, but it’s the lowest Minnesota Power’s Chris Rousseau has seen since around 2005. “Right now we’re about 7 feet below what we consider a normal-high pond,” Rousseau said of the Thomson Reservoir, where the water has receded substantially, leaving beaches of drying mud and docks that serve no boats. Only...
Superintendent John Engstrom read his prepared statement. After a pause that encapsulated the import of his words, Carlton school board member Sue Karp said “well stated.” Three other board members agreed. “Our hearts are in a K-12,” Karp later said. The lament in the school library during one of those typical short July meetings was palpable. Engstrom had just laid out a future for the district that didn’t include educating students in grades 9-12. He announced that talks with Cloquet to release Carlton students to its high school had reach...
This year is the inaugural year for the Munger Mission. The Munger Mission was started by Jolene Steffens, owner of Carlton Bike Rental & Repair. The idea behind the mission is to spur people to get out and bike the Willard Munger Bike Trail. The mission is pretty simple and is a "do it at your own pace" type of challenge. Riders can either use their own bikes or rent through Carlton Bike Rental & Repair. Renting a bike for the mission would cost $35. Other rental options are two hours at $14...
Got a home sewer line that repeatedly backs up from roots? The City of Cloquet is offering a grant program for homeowners who need to upgrade or repair leaky or decaying lateral sewer lines running from the home to main sewer lines. The grants are part of a program to reduce the problems of clean water inflow and infiltration into the sanitary sewer system, which can overwhelm the system during heavy rain events and cause overflows of untreated sewer water. The program offers financial assistance of 80 percent of costs up to $4,000 for the...
The Cloquet Broadband Committee is asking residents and businesses to take a broadband survey to determine internet needs for the area. Visit www.goctc.com/cloquet to take the survey and find the link to a speed test or go here: mnruralbroadbandcoalition.com/speedtest. The western municipal city limits of Cloquet are not included in the survey because the FDL Reservation will be rolling out their broadband fiber to the home network connections which will be open to ALL residents within the FDL Reservation territory, not just Band members. The...
Motorists will encounter a lane closure on northbound Interstate 35 bridge crossing Moose Horn River, south of Barnum for the next 1-2 weeks while maintenance crews repair issues found during maintenance painting performed earlier in the week. MnDOT will be conducting environmental borings for soil and groundwater sampling near the intersection of Minnesota Highway 210 and Minnesota 73 in Cromwell next week. Motorists should expect narrow lanes and lane closures which may cause difficult turning movements, especially with large vehicles and...
As one sales tax nears its halfway point, the city of Cloquet is banking on residents approving a new one in November 2022 that would pay for improvements to the hockey arenas and Pine Valley park. It’s been almost nine years since the city’s first sales tax was passed, with 63 percent of voters approving the half-cent tax. Collection of monies for that sales tax will sunset after raising either $16.5 million or 30 years, whichever comes first. Finance director Nancy Klassen said Tuesday the city collected $1.1 million from sales tax funds in...
The information is in. Architects and engineers have told Carlton County that moving the new justice center, consisting of the jail and courtrooms, to the “green site” located northeast of the transportation building on Old Highway 61 will save sitework costs of $3.5 to $3.9 million. The current courthouse parking lot is plagued with costly remedies: not enough space, bedrock outcroppings, wetland areas, a sewer line, and lack of staging area for a major construction project. The green site is aptly named for the evergreen forest that cov...
New broadband options will be available to Thomson Township residents in the coming months, according to the Thomson Township board of supervisors. Residents of Thomson Township came to the board meeting July 15, suggesting that the board explore giving residents the option of underground cabling for their internet. Board members said they appreciated the suggestions, since reliable fast internet access is an issue that the township has struggled with historically. The board then used the time to inform the public of new broadband options that...
A state court on Monday sent a key air emissions permit for the planned PolyMet copper-nickel mine back to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for further consideration and additional findings. The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the MPCA did not adequately explain its reasons for granting the permit, after environmental groups and the Fond Du Lac tribe alleged that PolyMet was engaging in so-called “sham permitting” by planning a much larger mine than what it applied for. It’s a setback for what would be the state’s first copper-... Website
The 56th Wrong Days is now on record as being one of the best ever. The Friday night steak fry, pie social, O-G-N-I-B, Minnesota Sings and fireworks were very successful, along with all the activities Saturday and Sunday. Thank you, thank you to all who participated, donated or helped in any way. The cash drawings for the buttons went to Tim Dahl, $100, Kieriahna Goodin, $50 and Jim Walli, $25. More than 400 button tickets were sold. There are still a few 2021 WD buttons available; please let...
The Hot Summer Nights concert series returns after last summer's pandemic pause at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet. The 2021 series will include two weeks of free concerts in the college's spectacular amphitheater, featuring local bands Whiskey Trail and Rock-A-Billy Revue. The popular performances are open to the public and will be held 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, July 29 and Thursday, August 5. "We're excited to bring back the Hot Summer Nights concert series with two local favor... Full story
Summer festival season is upon us. This weekend Moose Lake and Wright will celebrate their signature events, with Agate Days running Saturday and Sunday and Wrong Days in Wright kicking off Friday. Wright may be the only city in Carlton County that can still claim an “annual” festival, as organizers there did not pause the Wrong Days in Wright celebration because of the pandemic. It was business as usual last year — with masks added to the mix — and it’s business as usual this year: think three days of smalltown fun for everyone. Check out...
Calling all artists, future artists and wannabe artists: Cloquet's West End is inviting you to bring your art supplies and sense of adventure to a West End Art Day on Saturday. Organized by artist Phyllis Ducey with assistance from a West End Flourish grant, the event is a way of getting art out into the community, specifically Fauley Park and Avenue C. There will be space on Avenue C for artists to set up and paint in the city's historic West End. "I'm hoping to have people sprawled out in the...
A property in Scanlon with political flags on a pole disparaging President Joe Biden and voters with expletives, and supporting former President Donald Trump, is being sold, and the flags are gone. According to real estate listings, the home at 22nd Street and Doddridge Avenue on the border with Cloquet was listed in earaly June for $250,000. The home hadn't sold as of early this week and the price had been reduced to $224,000. In March, the Pine Knot News had a story about the flags and...
A woman who was severely injured in a fire at Cloquet’s Larson Commons apartments last month has died. Nancy Carlson, 70, was a tenant at the senior high-rise on Cloquet Avenue; the fire started in her apartment the morning of June 13. The Cloquet Area Fire District responded to a 911 call around 9:30 a.m. June 13, for a fire and possible trapped victim. Upon arrival, CAFD crews forced entry into the apartment and found the residence full of smoke with zero visibility. Crews found and removed Carlson, then extinguished the fire. Carlson was t... Full story
Police are still investigating an armed standoff Saturday that ended with the suspect shooting himself and dying at the scene. According to a press release from the Cloquet Police Department, officers from Cloquet, Fond du Lac, Carlton County and the Minnesota State Patrol responded to a home on the 300 block of Ridge Road at 10:19 a.m. Saturday, July 10, on a report of a man armed with a gun who entered the house and threatened the residents. The home is on the Fond du Lac Reservation within Cloquet city limits. The responding officers were...
The Wrenshall school district is moving ahead with plans to update a moldering building on its campus into a space for industrial and technology classrooms. The school board approved a plan Monday that requires $3.1 million to shore up the former rec building, money that would likely come from a non-voter-approved levy. This is adding to the $9.3 million nonvoter-approved levy the board passed in early 2020 to cover projects that are now being completed at the school. The district is allowed to... Full story
Sam Kavanaugh, a 2009 Carlton grad who recently won the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions, will have the seat of honor (likely in an antique fire truck) in the Carlton Daze parade at 1 p.m. July 25. Kavanaugh won a total of $156,202 on Jeopardy in 2019 during a five-day winning streak, which qualified him for this spring's Tournament of Champions, when 15 top performers came back to the Jeopardy stage for the chance to win $250,000. Kavanaugh credits his teacher parents and going to school in...
On top of 34 awards and a trophy for Most Outstanding Weekly Newspaper in the Better Newspaper Contest organized by the Minnesota Newspaper Association, the Pine Knot News recently won two more awards from the Minnesota Society for Professional Journalists for 2020 work. Competing in the category of newspapers with a circulation of under 50,000, newspaper page designer and reporter Mike Creger, editor Jana Peterson and other staff took third place in the category of Best Issue, for the entire issue from March 20 that focused on the rapidly...
The Esko School Board approved pay hikes for noncontract substitute workers during its July 12 meeting, citing a need to not only attract new substitutes but also to show appreciation for the current roster of substitutes. The rates for substitute teachers did not change, and will remain at $120 per day or $60 per half-day. But substitute paraprofessionals, food service, and custodian workers and program assistants all will receive $12 per hour, a raise of 50 cents per hour. Superintendent...
A tiny Carlton County department gained national recognition recently for work they did to limit person-to-person contact during vaccination clinics held during the pandemic. Geographic Information System coordinator Jared Hovi and GIS specialist Siona Roberts were awarded the prestigious Special Achievement in GIS award for their work creating a digital tracking system for residents wishing to be vaccinated during the Covid-19 pandemic. Their goal was to eliminate paper forms and limit human...
In the wake of the pandemic when substitute teachers were in short supply, Cloquet School Board members approved raising the daily pay for substitute teachers to $150 a day during Monday’s meeting, up from $116 a day. They also moved the position to the district non-union rate sheet. In the future, superintendent Michael Cary said the substitute pay will be increased annually by the same percentage as the teacher contract because of the move. Cary explained that substitute teachers work eight h...
