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 458 - 482 of 3943
Carlton school board members got some healthy news this week: enrollment numbers in the district are on the rise, and the American Indian Parent Advisor Committee gave the school district a passing grade, both things that haven’t happened in recent years. Superintendent Donita Stepan reported enrollment numbers had shot up to 315 students as of the beginning of this month. Carlton had begun the school year expecting 295 students. If sustained, the new numbers are a reversal of a years-long trend. Last year, the district lost more than 50 s...
The “mud bog” is coming back to Ma & Pa Kettle Days. More than 40 people attended the Ma & Pa Kettle meeting March 10 and showed their support of the mud bog event, signing up to be members. At the meeting, Eric Senarighi of the Carlton County ATV Riders presented an environmental mitigation plan to handle potential problems for the Kettle River Mud Bog, scheduled Aug. 10 in conjunction with Ma & Pa Kettle Days. Senarighi has had extensive environmental mitigation training as an employee of Minnesota Power, based out of the Thomson Dam hyd...
The record snowfall winter of 2022-23 continued to reverberate at Carlton city council on March 13, when the council voted to use Donald Holm Construction, of Duluth, to repair Four Seasons Sports Complex. The city-owned arena suffered exterior damage from the ice and snow in the winter of 2022-23. The damage remains obvious to passersby, as the arena side facing Highway 210 features a long crumpled strip of steel siding. Ice and snow buildup came off the roof, and when it hit the ground it banged into the building and caved in lower parts of...
The annual rite of spring in Cloquet is the opening of Gordy's Hi-Hat on the hill in Cloquet. Customers will notice little change in the decor there, and, according to the Lundquist family, perhaps never will. Meanwhile, next door at Gordy's Warming House, the all-year coffee shop and eatery, there has been a total reimagining of the interior. "It needed a facelift," said Sever Lundquist, third-generation Gordy's owner. The Warming House opened in 2005 and was outfitted like many coffee shops...
On behalf of the Carlton County Retired Educators and ADK Sorority, we are requesting funds to buy school supplies and books to give out to the children and youth at the Carlton County Fair held in August at the Barnum fairgrounds. We volunteer all four days of the fair at the Little Red Schoolhouse, welcoming all the folks who stop in during the fair. We also clean the building, desks, slate chalkboards and windows, and generally keep the building in order. We also maintain the many displays, on the walls and bulletin boards, of the Carlton Co...
A 21-year-old man from Pengilly, Minnesota was arrested for criminal vehicular homicide Thursday, March 21 after a pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle in Moose Lake. The Carlton County Sheriff’s Office said Brent Keranen was transported to the Carlton County jail. Responders believed that alcohol impairment was a contributing factor in the incident that occurred just after 2 p.m. The sheriff’s office said reports from staff at the Minnesota Corrections Facility came in about a pedestrian, Justin McNeil, 61, of Moose Lake, laying in...
Senior Isaac Hill sat in the auto shop building at Cloquet High School Friday morning, parking an 18-wheeler over and over again, a different scenario popping up on the video screen in front of him each time, then being graded after each simulation. Hill can feel the change in steering pressure as he practices each maneuver. Most of the time he gets 100 percent, when 80 percent is required to pass. On the parallel parking exercise, he got only 96 points out of 100. That's because he turned too...
Call them hiccups or hurdles, the consolidation efforts between the Carlton and Wrenshall school districts were bound to encounter them. But so soon in the process? A third meeting of the shared consolidation committee yielded an impasse on Tuesday, when the Wrenshall contingent pressed contract issues, while the Carlton contingent balked. "If that is where the line is drawn," Carlton board chair Julianne Emerson said, alluding to potential for a deal-breaker, "we can all have a really free...
As Minnesota continues to face record-high winter temperatures, Gov. Tim Walz announced last week that Minnesota has unlocked federal funding for small businesses impacted by this winter’s historic drought conditions. Amid the warmest winter on record, federal Economic Injury Disaster Loans are available because of ongoing federal drought declarations affecting 81 Minnesota counties. “From skiing and snowshoeing to winter festivals, snowy winters are part of our way of life in Minnesota. The low precipitation we’ve experienced this winte...
The Carlton school board met Monday in a working session devoted mostly toward preparing for the next night’s consolidation committee meeting with Wrenshall. Carlton was still smarting from a set of emails exchanged primarily between the board chairs regarding information and agendas. The messages are terse, and like all emails had the potential to stir up raw emotions if written or received in a tone not intended. A March 4 meeting between the consolidation teams was intended to smooth over the disagreements and was partially successful, b...
A search was underway Wednesday morning on the Fond du Lac Reservation for a 31-year-old Native American man last seen and heard from on Friday. Peter Michael Martin is considered a missing person, according to a Fond du Lac Band news release. A search and rescue effort began at 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, March 13, using police and volunteers combing the Mahnomen neighborhood. The search-and-rescue effort was being coordinated out of the Brookston Community Center at 8200 Belich Road in Cloquet....
Two adults have been charged and two juveniles have been petitioned after the Feb. 24 shooting into a home in Cloquet. Carlton County Attorney Laura Ketola made the announcement after last week’s issue of the Pine Knot went to press. Arrested were Raymond Peterson, 19, and Mukwa Belanger, 18. Police investigating the shooting on Bagaan Street, near the Fond du Lac Supportive Housing complex, said they spoke with four people they believe were involved in the shooting, leading to the arrests. According to police, Peterson had an altercation w...
The regular Cloquet City Council meeting scheduled for March 19 has been canceled, due to a lack of agenda items, said city administrator Tim Peterson. The next regularly scheduled council meeting is set for April 2 at 6 p.m....
After flirting for weeks with a resolution that calls for wolf management in the state, the Carlton County board voted unanimously Tuesday to appeal to federal and state legislators to delist gray wolves from endangered species protection. The board agreed to send letters to Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, as well as Rep. Pete Stauber, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and local state legislators, Sen. Jason Rarick and Rep. Jeff Dotseth. "We are hopeful that you will support this effort to delist...
The annual meeting for residents of Thomson Township ended Tuesday with a standing ovation for clerk-treasurer Rhonda Peleski, who is retiring at the end of the month. Jason Paulson, a former township supervisor and current resident, made the motion to thank Peleski for her nearly 31 years of work for the township. "On behalf of Thomson Township citizens, I'd like to thank Rhonda Peleski for your decades of service to this community," Paulson said, requesting the motion be entered into the...
It’s been nearly nine years, but two more blocks of Eighth Street — from Prospect to Sahlman Avenue — are getting a much-needed overhaul this summer. Cloquet city councilors unanimously approved the reconstruction of the pothole-ridden street, along with replacing water, sanitary sewer and storm sewer infrastructure at a total estimated cost of $1.5 million. Construction is expected to begin in May or June and be completed in September. The majority of the costs will be paid through state aid dollars, which come with requirements that set t...
Responding to a call about a shed on fire around 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 9, firefighters with the Cloquet Area Fire District arrived at the 1500 block of Miskomin Street in Cloquet to find a house with heavy fire coming from the eaves and back of the building. The fire, which appears to be accidental, was quickly extinguished. Damage to the already boarded-up house was extensive, and the fire is still under investigation. Battalion chief Jason Maki said CAFD would like to remind everyone to...
The Minnesota Department of Health is reminding Minnesotans who rely on private household wells for their drinking water to test regularly for contaminants. Testing is particularly important if babies or pregnant people will be drinking the water. More than 4 million Minnesotans rely on groundwater for their drinking water, including 1.1 million who rely on private wells. A recent MDH study found that less than 20 percent of well users test their drinking water as frequently as MDH recommends. Public water systems are required to meet...
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture and partner organizations are proposing to treat spongy moth infestations this summer in seven counties across eastern Minnesota. Of the 42 sites, nearly half are in Carlton County. Residents are invited to get more information on the spraying at a meeting 4-6 p.m April 2 at the Cloquet Public Library. Formerly known as gypsy moths, spongy moths are ranked among America’s most destructive tree pests. The insect has caused millions of dollars in damage to forests as it has spread from New England w...
Are our local lakes and streams as clean and healthy as they should be? Is your shoreline or streambank eroding more and more each year? Would you like to beautify your yard while protecting water quality and attracting turtles, frogs, songbirds and beneficial pollinators such as bees and butterflies? Whether you've lived on a lake or stream for 1 year or 20 years, we encourage you to think about what we call your "buffer zone." This area between your backyard and the lake is very important. A...
"History is who we are and why we are the way we are," said David McCullough, the American historian who received two Pulitzer Prizes, a National Book Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. McCullough would have felt right at home at the Carlton County Historical Society. Whether you are figuring out your family tree, who lived on your farm before you, or how people lived here long ago - you will find a warm welcome and friendly people who are as curious as you are and David McCullough...
At least two men were jailed this past week after a house in Cloquet was struck with five to seven bullets from a handgun on Feb 24. The house on Bagaan Street, near the Fond du Lac Supportive Housing complex, was occupied at the time. There were no injuries in what police determined was suspected retaliation after an earlier physical altercation. Four males were involved in the shooting, police later discovered, including a juvenile, who suspects have said was the shooter. Raymond Peterson,...
The boys of the Carlton-based Busted Bots Lego robotics team stared at the TV in anticipation. Would the group of nine- to 12-year-olds be one of the six teams from their region to join 70 other Minnesota teams at the state competition? When "The Busted Bots" name was announced, the boys screamed, leapt on the couch in a huddle, and jumped up and down with unbridled joy. The FIRST Lego League robotics program began in 1998 to encourage STEM - science, technology, engineering and math - education...
The Cloquet Police Department and investigators of the deadly Jan. 8 shooting at the Super 8 hotel in Cloquet have determined that the shooter was a stranger to his two victims, had methamphetamine in his system, and was likely having a "mental health episode" when he shot a front desk clerk inside the hotel, a guest in the parking lot, and then himself. The shooter, Nicholas Elliot Lenius, 32, contacted a work associate during the early evening incident and said he was "dealing with monsters,"...
The Minnesota Department of Transportation is hosting a public meeting on Thursday, March 14, to give an update on the Minnesota Highway 73 Cromwell-to-Kettle River corridor study. The meeting begins at 4:30 p.m. in the Cromwell Pavilion. There will be a presentation on the corridor study and some possible alternatives, followed by time for questions and answers. Materials will be posted online after the meeting. There will also be a public survey posted online to gather feedback on the alternatives. For a link to the survey, visit...
