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 2052 - 2076 of 3909
A former fast food restaurant manager pleaded guilty to felony third-degree sexual assault of a girl who was 15 years old at the time. Garrett Carlson, 24, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation Aug. 23 in Sixth District Carlton County Court by Judge Rebekka Stumme. According to the criminal complaint, Carlson was 22 at the time of the assault, in the summer of 2018. He was a manager at the Cloquet McDonald’s and the 15-year-old was an employee. That summer Carlson and the girl began communication on SnapChat and he asked her for...
With Judge Robert Macaulay retiring on Aug. 31, the wheels are in motion to find a replacement for the longtime Carlton County Sixth District judge. The Commission on Judicial Selection recommended three candidates to Gov. Tim Walz for consideration to fill the upcoming vacancy: Nicole Bettendorf-Hopps, Clarissa Ek and Amy Lukasavitz. The commission shared background on each candidate: • Nicole Bettendorf-Hopps: Serves as the managing attorney for the Sixth District Public Defender’s Office. Her experience includes the areas of rehabilitative j...
The intersection of Carlton Avenue and 14th Street was reopened for traffic on Carlton Avenue this week, but officials still recommend people choose another route, as the intersection is unfinished. Carlton County assistant engineer Rick Norrgard said the city’s work on the utilities between Cloquet and Carlton Avenue is complete and the roadway graded, plus concrete curb and gutter poured. The first layer of bituminous pavement should be poured by Labor Day in that section. Utility work is almost complete in the portion of the project from C...
A pop-up camper parked at the Knife Island Campground burned and was destroyed Tuesday, but no one was injured. According to the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, the fire was reported at 8:16 p.m. Aug. 24, by someone driving by on Interstate 35. The camper was unoccupied. The owner returned while the fire was being extinguished. He reported he had used the stove to cook food prior to leaving. The cause of the fire is undetermined but not suspicious. Crews from the Esko and Carlton fire departments responded and extinguished the fire. The c...
Traffic slowed to a crawl on Interstate 35 Monday morning as law enforcement officials responded to a 911 call reporting numerous individuals stopping and walking toward an active Enbridge Line 3 construction site in the median between the north- and southbound lanes. Officers from the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol and Fond du Lac Tribal Police Department along with members of the Carlton Ambulance and Fire responded to the scene. No injuries were reported but numerous individuals were parked and standing on and a...
The idea of a roundabout is no longer under consideration for the intersection of Minnesota Highway 210 and Carlton County Road 61, county engineer JinYeene Neumann said Monday at the board of commissioners meeting. Neumann presented information about the application for a Transportation Economic Development program grant application for the intersection. The board approved it. The engineers have designed the strip with J turns for traffic control instead of a roundabout. Neumann said that...
A petition is now circulating in the Wrenshall school district to block an appointment to the school board made Aug. 16. The hasty vote-in of Bill Dian to replace new school principal Michelle Blanchard — made with no discussion among board members — rankled enough people with its lack of transparency to get the petition going. The petition states that the board “selected a candidate who was interviewed privately by the board chair and a few school board members rather than holding a public interview process or even discussion of candi...
Members of both the Gordy Lundquist family and the Gordy's Hi-Hat family are inviting the community to celebrate his memory at an ice cream social set for 4-6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19 in the parking lot of the Hi-Hat restaurant on Highway 33 in Cloquet. There will be a brief tribute at 5 p.m. The ice cream is free and so are the stories. Everyone in the community is invited. Gordy Lundquist, who founded Gordy's Hi-Hat restaurant with his wife, Marilyn, passed away July 6 at the age of 93. "Anyone...
The number of police officers and firefighters applying for disability benefits from the state retirement fund tripled in the past fiscal year, with 79 percent claiming they can't do their jobs due to post-traumatic stress disorder. The number of claims has exploded since George Floyd was murdered by then Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in May of 2020, touching off protests, rioting and arson across the Twin Cities area. The Minnesota Public Employees Retirement Association, known as... 
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It’s not only metro area police departments that are seeing a rise in public safety employees claiming disability since the state changed its rules about job-induced post traumatic stress disorder. As reported in the July 30 issue of the Pine Knot, Cloquet has seen seven officers retire on disability since 2019 — when the new ruling went into effect — nearly a third of the department. Although the Public Employees Retirement Association covers approved disability payments, according to state law the employer is required to continue to provi...
In July, Mounds View Public School officials sent emails to families, telling them the district would only recommend, not require people to wear masks in school buildings. “As we’ve learned over the past 18 months, guidance can change quickly depending on the spread of Covid-19 and our local conditions. This decision reflects our current intentions, but it is subject to change,” Superintendent Chris Lennox and board chair Jonathan Weinhagen wrote in an email to district families and staff. In just over two weeks, those intentions had indee... Website
Graduates: Scholastica The College of St. Scholastica has announced its list of conferred graduates for spring 2021. They include: Cloquet Courtney Ableiter, Alysha Anderson, Damien Autio, Kolby Barney, Isaac Boedigheimer, Rachel Broadway, Brooke Dickison, Angela Evenson, Lisa Follett Pollak, Jada Johnson, Morgan Leslie, Shelby Lonne-Rogentine, Shanelle Oakland, Gina Olson, Gregory White Esko Bryce Bottila, Justin Jones, Rachel Kuntz, Camille Mattonen, Paige McCoy Carlton Courtney Gregory, Samuel Macor Cromwell Allie Hakamaki, Andrea Hakamaki,...
It happened so quickly, Nicole Krisak didn’t even have a chance to react. While the official record will show that the Wrenshall school board voted unanimously to appoint a new person to its board Monday, Krisak could legitimately be considered a nonvote. She didn’t have a chance to say “yea” or “nay” as she swivelled her head in what looked to be astonishment. Superintendent Kim Belcastro had barely finished offering her suggestions to the board on how to proceed with the appointment before Alice Kloepfer blurted out a motion to appoint Bil...
Cloquet’s Timothy Scott Young Jr., 38, was found not guilty after a weeklong jury trial in Carlton County Sixth District Court Friday, Aug. 13. Young had been accused of two felony counts of sexual assault after an alleged incident in April 2020 involving a girl under the age of 16. He could have served up to 30 years if convicted. After two days of jury selection last week, Carlton County Attorney Laurie Ketola presented her case. The victim, now 16, testified, carrying a blanket and a teddy bear for security. Other witnesses included her d...
The old building at 219 St. Louis Avenue burned with a fury once firefighters finished their final practice sessions Saturday morning, torching one of the few remaining structures on Cloquet's Dunlap Island. From 8 a.m. to nearly noon, they lit fires and practiced putting them out in the many rooms of the apartment building, until the roof started to sag and it wasn't safe to be inside anymore. "I think we got 18 cycles in before the building got too unstable," said Cloquet Area Fire District...
Carlton County will petition the Minnesota Department of Transportation for a speed limit of 45 mph on Big Lake Road from Pinewood Drive to just past Brevator Road and the tribal center. The tribal council for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa had requested the speed be set at 35 mph on the newly repaved section of road. County highway engineer JinYeene Neumann told the board of commissioners at its regular meeting Aug. 10 that a MnDOT speed study done earlier in the year supported a 55-mph speed limit. Neumann said she is using...
The Cloquet City Council and Cloquet School Board are in the midst of a virtual faceoff over a new lease for use of the city-owned hockey arenas. Earlier this month, the school board voted unanimously to only ratify one year of a three-year lease; on Tuesday night, the council voted against approving the lease at all. Although school board chair Ted Lammi rallies annually against what he considers the gouging of the school district, this is the first time the school board has pushed back. Of...
The signs are down and Chub Lake Beach is safe for swimming again, according to Carlton County officials, who retested the beach since sending out a notice in July. Carlton County zoning and environmental services administrator Heather Cunningham explained that when the beach is closed due to failed test results, it applies only to the county-owned public beach, not the entire lake. Reasons for a failed test can vary, she said, but it is not because of failed septic systems at Chub Lake, a groundwater-fed lake which generally has good water. A...
Residents turned out in large numbers for many of this year’s Esko Fun Days events, according to Community Ed director Michele Carlson. “I think people were excited to get back together,” she said. “We had a great turnout — I think there were close to 500 people at the park and a hundred at the street dance.” A very meaningful part of the annual celebration in Thomson Township is the Davis Helberg award, recognizing volunteers in Esko. The winner of the 2021 Davis Helberg Community Impact Award is Frank Liupakka. “Frank is a pillar of the...
Traveling back in time really is possible in Carlton County. All you have to do is take a hike. A walk through the woods below the fire tower at the Cloquet Forestry Center - 3,506 acres 3 miles east of Cloquet in the heart of the Fond du Lac Reservation - reveals a forest of tall, straight and large old pine trees. These towering conifers recall a time before eager lumbermen cut down most of the long-lived trees here to build homes and furniture for consumers worldwide, back when our...
Creatives are sharing their talents to bring more people and businesses to the West End of Cloquet. Come out from 4-7:30 p.m. Friday Aug. 27, and watch watercolor and oil painters capture the St. Louis River, hear musicians play the new community piano, meet Star Wars Rise of the Podcast hosts, visit floral displays and grab a great dinner — all in Cloquet’s historic West End. New businesses are relocating to the West End and joining current business owners working with West End Flourish cre...
It has been 100 years since Finland natives John and Hannah Konu bought and moved to land west of Moose Lake near the Kettle River. Their grandson, Gerry, and great-grandson, Mark, are carrying on the family tradition of farming the land despite the continued decrease of small family farms. Gerry and Mark Konu will be honored at a reception at the Carlton County Fair on Saturday, where they will be presented with the award of Carlton County 2021 Farm Family of the Year from the University of...
The Lakehead Harvest Reunion returns next weekend for its 60th annual show with daily activities from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug, 27-29 at 70 E. St. Louis River Road near Esko. Old steam engines will roar and splutter, moving tractors or pulleys that power other types of machinery. There will be threshing, shingle-making and rock crushing and a sawmill, all powered by steam. Lakehead Harvest is an educational nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of the past, with a focus on local farming, harvesting, and general farm life throughout...
Carlton County is asking residents with online access to go online and fill out a survey a www.surveymonkey.com/r/Broadband. This survey asks what the citizens of Carlton County have for broadband and their review of the service. The data will be used for verifying where there is high speed internet....
To help ensure public safety and protect natural resources, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources expanded burning restrictions on Tuesday. Burning restrictions will now cover 34 counties where intensifying drought has elevated the potential for devastating wildfires, including Carlton County and 13 other counties. The burning restrictions include the following: -No campfires are allowed for dispersed, remote, or backcountry camping on all lands. - No campfires (with or without a ring) are allowed on any DNR-managed lands. This applies...
