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 3169 - 3193 of 3909
A former Carlton County resident accused of shooting his sister’s boyfriend in the head at his grandmother’s funeral last fall pleaded not guilty to three felony firearm charges in U.S. District Court last week. Shelby Gene Boswell, a convicted felon, pleaded not guilty Jan. 2 in Duluth to charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm in a school zone and discharge of a firearm in a school zone. According to the criminal complaint, Boswell approached 45-...
It’s 20 minutes that could change the future of two school districts and the children they serve. That’s about how long residents, staff and parents in the Carlton and Wrenshall school districts should set aside to complete their copies of a community survey regarding consolidation talks and facility plans between the two districts. Copies of the survey were mailed to school district residents and any parents/guardians of students who open-enroll into either district. Staff received the sur... Full story
Heating the Midwest, a biomass advocacy group, honored a Carlton County project and three others across the state in October at its annual conference celebrating Bioenergy Day in the Midwest. Bruno Zagar, environmental specialist with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, accepted a "Outstanding Biomass Thermal Heating Projects" award on behalf of the band for its Sawyer Community Center project that heats the building using scrap wood chips in an efficient boiler system, replacing...
The current Minnesota Conservation Volunteer Magazine has a 10-page article complete with photographs of our own Julie Collman and her husband, Bob Baker, as they snowmobile, and snowshoe for Big Brook Trout in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Author Michael Dvorak did an excellent job of writing the article and I’m sure he was thrilled to be spending time with Julie and Bob doing what they love doing: fishing. Pine Knot News outdoors writer Bret Baker also wrote about the couple ...
This was the first week of “back to reality” for a lot of us. School is back in session and most folks are back to work. Monday morning was a bit rough and it can be hard to find our way into routine again. I’m like a lot of folks who are looking to develop some new, healthier routines with the coming year. One of the ways I am approaching this is by choosing just one word for 2020 that I can use to focus on and reflect throughout the buffering and jostling of daily life. Since having kids, I ha...
Special guest Minnesota Department American Legion Auxiliary President Mary Hendrickson, Cloquet Commander Glenn Wirtanen, Girls Stater Sydney Hall, and Boys Stater Caleb Swanson recently attended a Cloquet American Legion meeting to talk about Boys State and Girls State projects that are a packed week of learning focused on responsible citizenship, leadership, and more. Over one week in June, participants are assigned to mock cities and to fictional political parties. They are immersed in learn...
How does one rank the top stories from an entire year? Are calculations made in terms of long-term health, dollars spent, numbers of people affected? What about long-term historical effects, or maybe Facebook clicks? No matter what metric you choose, 2019 was an eventful year in Carlton County, with elected and appointed officials making changes, kids smoking again and building moves that will stand for generations to come. Rather than ranking our top stories of 2019, we chose to place them in...
Last month, the Pine Knot published a photo from the Carlton County Historical Society of people digging out from a February of 1922 storm in Cloquet. The photo above was described as from an "unknown street." Thanks to sharp-eyed reader Ben Anderson of Cloquet, we now know that the photo was from the corner of Third Street and Second Street, looking south, near the gas station designed Frank Lloyd Wright. The two homes on either side of Third Street in the foreground remain... Full story
The scene at the WKLK radio station last Friday morning looked more like a bar at closing time than an early-morning radio show. Partially emptied bottles of vodka, rum and beer sat on a table outside the studio, drunk by three now-intoxicated volunteers under the supervision of close to a dozen police officers and radio station staff. Josh Widdes had been at the radio station since 5:45 a.m., drinking and taking tests every half-hour to determine how impaired he was. With his larger frame, Widd...
A Cloquet highway project is the only one of five state grants announced Monday located outside the Twin Cities area. The Cloquet project will create "J-turns" on Minnesota Highway 33 where it intersects on the south end of Gillette Road (near the Department of Natural Resources building) in the city's busy retail corridor off Interstate 35. Currently cars can cross over Highway 33 from frontage roads on both sides of the highway, and there is space in the center for one car to wait in the... Full story
Several Carlton County health staff and about 25 other people attended the year-end meeting of the Carlton County Board of Commissioners Dec. 23 to support and finally clap when a new tobacco ordinance was passed unanimously. It is believed that this ordinance will decrease tobacco and vaping use by young adults by controlling access to those products to the age of 21. Nine letters of support came to the commissioners from sources such as the state Department of Health, the American Lung Association and medical provider Essentia. Only one...
The crime scene tape outside of Sara's Vac Shack is there because Mother Nature knocked down the large sign that is usually perched on top of the Cloquet Avenue business. Lloyd Nohl, sales and purchasing manager (and husband to owner Sara McAuliffe), said they got a call from the Cloquet Area Fire District on Sunday, telling them that the sign was hanging down from the building. With the help of the CAFD bucket truck, they got the sign back on top of the building. Making lemonade out of lemons,...
I hope you and your family have sources of warmth and joy surrounding you this new year. My family and I are new to this area - like "from North Carolina summer of 2019" new - and we are finding the cooler environment more than made up for by the warm hearts and supportive voices in our neighbors and new friends in this community. All this change, combined with a new year, provides ample opportunity to develop new habits. Some are specific to our new setting here in the northern climes. In the...
Carlton County Sheriff Kelly Lake announced the local awardee of the Minnesota Sheriffs' Association Scholarship Program for 2019, Olivia Gottschald of Esko. The scholarship program, which is promoted by the 87 sheriffs of Minnesota, awards scholarships each year to individuals planning to become Minnesota peace officers. Individuals apply through their local sheriff's offices, and the awarding of the scholarships is made by the sheriff in the awardee's home community. This year the scholarship...
Happy New Year to all my readers and friends. It had been a long time since I was home, but finally on Dec. 26, after 11 days, I got home from my total right knee replacement at Cloquet’s Community Memorial Hospital. I couldn’t have been happier with the nurses, staff and all the folks who made my stay as comfortable as possible. If it weren’t for the pains in my abdomen, which the doctors can’t seem to find the cause of, I would be well on the way to mending. Now it’s on to therapy and more...
Carlton County residents are encouraged to recycle Christmas trees during Treecycling, a free program with drop-off locations across the county. Christmas trees, like yard waste, are banned from landfills in Minnesota. Remove all ornaments, lights, tree stands and tree bags before bringing trees to a Treecycling location: • SAPPI Fine Paper, gatehouse entrance • East end of Avenue B, Cloquet, through Jan. 12 • Moose Lake compost site near city garage, through Jan. 12 For more information, call 218-384-9178 or email: recyclin... Full story
It was all in good fun as a friendly game of hockey ebbed and flowed at the Pinehurst Park hockey rink Sunday night. Everyone just kind of showed up, said Travis Berg, who was only watching Sunday due to a concussion from playing high school hockey. The informal pickup game included several past and present Lumberjacks hockey players. The boys soccer team was also well represented. It was, after all, a pickup game - just like Minnesotans have always played for generations with sticks, pucks,... Full story
The men’s Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge campus is in need of winter clothing, including hats, scarves, coats, boots, gloves and more in sizes medium through XX large. Donations can be used, but must be clean and in good condition. Drop off donations at Common Ground Coffee Bar and Deli at 103 Avenue C in Cloquet until Jan. 3.... Full story
Carlton County Extension While some consider January and February to be a gardener’s “off season,” there’s actually plenty to do and see in the winter for the average gardener. The following are some tips and activities to get you through the bitter cold months and to prepare for the upcoming gardening season. Pruning The best time to prune most trees and shrubs is late winter or the dormant season. Pruning changes the form and growth of a plant. Pruning can also be considered preventive maintenance for both insect and disease damage. Many prob...
Tom Radovich is the new managing director at the Cloquet Sappi mill. The title is new, but the face is a familiar one, as Radovich has been interim mill manager for about three months and has worked at the Cloquet site since 1994, when he got an internship. Radovich is excited to lead the local mill but acknowledged that the job comes with responsibilities. "It's such an important business to the community, to so many people: not just the ones who work here, but secondary suppliers, truckers,... Full story
As noted in the most recent issue of the Lumberlog by Cloquet Community Education, the Cloquet parks commission voted earlier this year to close the hills at Pine Valley to tubing “due to safety considerations and an aging tow rope system.” Pine Valley will continue to be home base for Cloquet kids’ ski jumping and Nordic skiing, as well as the CEC Nordic ski team. If you love tubing, visit Mont du Lac Resort’s brand-new Outta Bounds tubing park, which includes four speed lanes, two children’s lanes, and two custom lanes that careen through t...
The Pine Knot News will go to press early for the New Year’s holiday. That means deadlines will come early for the Jan. 3 issue. For the Jan. 3 issue, please email letters to the editor, press releases and other editorial submissions to news@Pine KnotNews.com by noon Saturday, Dec. 28 and advertising requests sent to ads@Pine KnotNews.com by noon Sunday, Dec. 29. Call or stop by with any questions on Monday, Dec. 30. We will reopen Jan. 2-3. The Pine Knot offices will be closed Dec. 31 t... Full story
At its final meeting of 2019, the Carlton County Board of Commissioners set the property tax levy increase at 2.9 percent, shaving 1 percent from the preliminary levy set in September. This is the smallest increase in the levy for many budget cycles. “I am pleased that we came in at that figure,” board chairman Dick Brenner said. “A 2.2 precent wage increase for county employees this coming year, rising insurance costs and added staff in the sheriff’s office for state-mandated jail coverage all put pressure on the new 2020 budget.” The vote...
With five chapters written (but not in stone), the process of creating the new “2040 Comprehensive Plan” for Thomson Township is nearing completion but there’s still time to give feedback on the future vision for the township. Comp plan steering committee and planning commission members along with Township supervisors met with MSA planning consultants Dec. 10 to discuss the latest draft of the plan, which outlines the community’s goals and objectives for future land use in the nearly 40 square miles of land that make up the mostly rural t...
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed a $1.4 trillion spending package that included a measure to raise the age for buying tobacco from 18 to 21. The tobacco provision makes it a violation of federal law to sell tobacco to anyone under 21, and applies to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and vaping cartridges. The law is not immediate; it will go into effect in the summer of 2020 across the country. According to Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, 19 states had already raised the legal age to buy tobacco products to 21. Youth tobacco...
