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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Minnesota Governor Tim Walz today extended his order for all schools to engage in distance learning through the end of the school year, which means students will remain at home for their learning and extracurricular activities sponsored by the schools will not resume. He made the order as part of the state's ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic. The full test of his order is below: Emergency Executive Order 20-41 Authorizing and Directing the Commissioner of Education to Extend the Dista... Full story
Just before Easter, a single chick-in-an-egg toy was left at the end of the day after a customer brought in a birchbark basket of 30 of them. The toys were free. Another woman brought in homemade facemasks on Friday that anyone could take for free. "They went like crazy," said Renee Gaffney, one of the owners of TJ's Country Store. Those are just two examples of how people in the tiny community of Mahtowa have pulled together during the statewide stay-at-home order in response to the...
At least a few Carlton County residents found a pleasant surprise in their bank accounts this week: money from the federal government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Trump on March 27. There is no exact schedule for payments but officials said the first wave of payments includes mainly people who filed a 2018 or 2019 tax return and gave the IRS direct deposit bank information. Paper checks are scheduled to be issued at a rate of 5 million each week until September, s...
The primary elections for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation Business Committee (RBC) District I and District III seats originally scheduled for March 31 were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The primary election will now be held June 9, 2020, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The general election will be held August 18, 2020. Candidates for RBC District I (Cloquet) representative include: Wally Dupuis (incumbent), Eugene (Eny) Reynolds, Todd J. Tidaback, Jeroam Defoe and Jarvis “Chubbs” Paro. District I residents vot...
The Cloquet City Council will again be holding its city council meeting by teleconference, in response to the COVID-19 emergency. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. April 21. Residents who would like to submit comments or questions for the Public Comments portion of the meeting are asked to email [email protected] prior to the meeting and include “Council Agenda” in the subject line along with your name and address and any agenda item you are referring to. All public comments are considered public data. Residents can listen to the meeting by... Full story
The Carlton County board of commissioners met Tuesday, April 14 with all commissioners participating: Dick Brenner and Gary Peterson attended via telephone conferencing while Marv Bodie, Tom Proulx and Mark Thell were physically present, but socially distanced. County attorney Lauri Ketola read a portion of Governor Tim Walz’s declaration in response to the deepening COVID-19 pandemic, stating that the county board meetings could utilize telephone or computer videoconferencing to conduct county business. For personal safety, commissioners, c...
CAT7 TV is back. The community access channel serving Cloquet, Carlton, Scanlon and Esko residents had not been operating since March 5, when the Cloquet City Council voted unanimously to terminate the station's only remaining employee, coordinator Eric Lipponen. After meeting with members of the Cable Commission, the city hired contractor Martin Dean to get the station up and running again, which took only a couple hours, according to city administrator Tim Peterson. CAT7 is Cloquet's only loca...
On Tuesday, April 14, authorities responded to a report of an airplane possibly having trouble in the air, trouble that led to an emergency landing on Midway Road near Stark Road. According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, the single-engine Cessna airplane took off from the Richard I. Bong Airport in Superior at approximately 1:45 p.m. Tuesday. The lone pilot, Hermantown’s Tyler Joseph Nelson, 33, was flying at approximately 3,000 feet when his single engine stalled. The pilot dropped altitude to maintain air speed. The pilot fou...
MNsure, the state’s health insurance exchange, and its COVID-19 Emergency Special Enrollment Period closes April 21. This special enrollment period is open to uninsured individuals who need health insurance. Shop and compare plans and see if you qualify for financial help to pay for your plan by using MNsure tools online. For details, call 651-539-2099 or 855-366-7873 or visit mnsure.org....
[Editor's note] In last week's Pine Knot News, writer Steve Korby shared memories of an extra- ordinary week at Cloquet High School in 1970. Students and staff organized a weeklong seminar on the environment, called SCARE, an acronym for Students Concerned about a Ravaged Environment. The opening speaker for the week was former Vice President Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. The following are excerpts from his speech on April 6, 1970, setting the tone for the week. The speech and notes have been pr...
Cloquet High School’s third quarter honor roll students: A HONOR ROLL Grade 9 Robert Anderson Carter Anderson Brody Anderson Luke Barney Mason Beck Amy Blais Kollin Bonneville Roena Diver Patrick Dunaiski Alec Erickson Ellise Evenson Miles Fischer Eva Flovick Mariah Fonoti Isabella Genereau Alexis Goranson Sophia Green Francesca Halverson Macie Hoffmann Lauren Johnson Araya Kiminski Lance Konietzko Josiah Larson Nicholas Lassard Timber Latvala Bailey Lehto Connor Lindstrom Emily Litchke Macie Majerle Casey Marciniak John McGrath Nicholas Munoz... Full story
It isn't only restaurants that can offer curbside pickup during a stay-at-home order. Recently, some libraries in Minnesota have also started offering the service after the order was extended last week. The Carlton Area Public Library began offering its own curbside pickup service on April 13. The service is available to patrons with any Arrowhead Library card, including Cloquet and Moose Lake public libraries. Here's how to get started: To get new books or other materials from the library,...
Anniversaries are special occasions. And next week we celebrate 50 years from when we experienced one of the greatest shifts in values in the U.S. and across the globe: Earth Day. The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. It followed on the heels of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill in California that remains the third largest in U.S. history after the 1989 Exxon Valdez and 2010 Deepwater Horizon spills. Oil killed more than 10,000 large sea animals (dolphins, seals) and devastated a cherished... Full story
Gwen Carman, superintendent of the Carlton school district, has resigned. In a letter to school board chairwoman LaRae Lehto dated April 14, Carman said she had accepted the superintendent position in the Lewiston-Altura school district in southeastern Minnesota. Her resignation will be effective June 30. Her new job begins with the start of the school calendar year on July 1. Carman had interviewed for at least three superintendent jobs in the past few months. She was a finalist in Minnesota districts in Mora and St. James. Carman will leave... Full story
Property owners recently got bright yellow mailings from Carlton County telling them what the county considers the value of their property for tax purposes in 2021. But that doesn’t mean property owners should wait until next year to question assessed values, even as formal opportunities to do so this month are limited. The county wants calls about disputes right now. A number of Local Board of Appeal and Equalization meetings — usually held in April — have been delayed, changed in format, or ca...
Over the past 20 years, we have made tremendous progress in promoting and supporting breastfeeding, and you are much more likely to encounter a mother breastfeeding her child in public now than in years past. It is important that our community embrace this progress and make it easy for moms to feed their babies anytime and anywhere with ease and without restriction or negative remarks. Breastfeeding has many health benefits for children and mothers, and the Centers for Disease Control and... Full story
Gordy's Hi-Hat opened Wednesday, offering car-hop-style service for the first time in its 60-year existence. In a change from what was originally planned, no customers were allowed inside the restaurant to order. Instead staff took orders from people parked in 21 numbered parking spots around the building, placed those orders inside and ultimately delivered the food and drinks back to the car. While there was no formal line for cars, that happened at lunch anyway, as cars snaked their way... Full story
Those who would like to donate and have a photograph taken should contact Cline by email at [email protected] and tell him when you could have a photo done, along with your address, phone number, and email contacts. He will try to be efficient considering location and availability. Those who participate will get three digital photo with full rights. "There's no need to dress up for this," Cline said. "While it's fine if one chooses, it could be fun to document how folks look in their every... Full story
Cloquet Area Fire District board members interviewed two finalists Tuesday for the fire chief position that will open up when Kevin Schroeder retires in June. It won't be easy, as evidenced by board member Bob DeCaigney's comment during the board's post-interview discussion that, according to the job description and duties, what they are really looking for is "Superman." A CAFD press release detailed the process so far: The search for a replacement began in late 2019, and the board hired Baker...
Volunteer Services of Carlton County is offering a new Groceries-To-Go service. The service is different from the Age Well Arrowhead service. Both non-profit services are serving older adults (over age 60) and are partnering with the Super One Foods store in Cloquet. Volunteer Services director Jill Hatfield said the non-profit organization in Carlton is starting the program because the need is high here and will only get higher as the coronavirus infection rates increase locally. They can also deliver pharmacy orders if needed. Volunteer... Full story
Minnesota Veterans impacted by COVID-19 may be eligible for grants from the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA). Since Monday, MDVA has been accepting applications from Minnesota Veterans who have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. MDVA will award one-time financial relief grants in the amount of $1,000. Funding is available for both Disaster Relief Grants and Special Needs Grants. To apply for the grant contact Carlton County Veterans Service Officer Duane Brownie at 218-499-6838 or a MDVA Field Operations...
Spring thaw and saturated soils from last fall’s flooding are impacting road and trail conditions. Several roads and trails in state forests, state parks, recreation areas, and wildlife management areas will close temporarily because they are not firm enough to support vehicle traffic without causing damage. Depending on weather conditions, the temporary closures could remain in effect until sometime in May. “Each spring, forest roads and trails become wet and fragile and we use closures to protect them from damage,” said Dave Schuller, state...
The SCARE program at Cloquet High School in 1970 was a big deal. For a whole week, students would be immersed only in environmental issues of the day. It came days before the first Earth Day, 50 years ago this month. SCARE was an acronym for Students Concerned About a Ravaged Environment. It was the brainchild of Cloquet High School social studies teacher Jack Pichotta. I recently caught up with Jack (he was my Cloquet neighbor not long ago and my teacher at CHS) to reminisce about this... Full story
The first two weeks of distance learning has admittedly been a mixed bag for both students and staff at Carlton County schools, with many older kids adapting quickly to learning online, while some teachers struggle more with the daily grind of staring at a computer screen. Trying to reach students of all ages has been a challenge, administrators and teachers report. Technology breakdowns were another issue, from getting students hooked up with internet access, to software crashing, to fixing...
The Wrenshall School Board earlier this week approved bids for indoor air quality improvements at the school in Wrenshall. The board accepted the low bid of $4,158,000 from Max Gray Construction out of Hibbing to improve air quality in the older parts of the school. The board also accepted a bid of $436,922 from Mavo Systems out of Duluth for asbestos abatement. The board approved bonding for the work last year without a referendum from voters. Superintendent Kim Belcastro has said the work was too vital to wait for any improvements that might...
