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 558 - 582 of 4027
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... Full story
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... Full story
"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... Full story
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... Full story
A Carlton man accused of felony attempted murder in February will undergo a psychological screening first to see if he is suitable to take part in court proceedings. That was the result Monday of a hearing for Jacob Clarin, 37, who is accused of assaulting a fellow resident Feb. 21 at Lake Venoah Board and Lodge outside Carlton, in Twin Lakes Township. Clarin appeared in an online Sixth District Court hearing Monday before Judge Rebekka Stumme. A prosecutor with the Carlton County Attorney’s Office and a public defender both agreed and recommen...
A fire destroyed an unattached garage in Atkinson Township north of Mahtowa Friday, March 1. Fire crews and emergency responders were called to the 3100 block of Carlton County Road 144 at about 4:30 p.m. There was no one home, and the fire had taken over a garage and was threatening a nearby pole barn. The fire was contained and the barn had only minor damage. The garage and its contents were a total loss. Responders included those from the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota Power, and the fire departments of Barnum, Mahtowa, W...
If one had stumbled upon the library at Carlton High School on Monday, you would have gotten the impression you were eavesdropping on some sort of couples therapy. There was talk about doing the right thing for the kids. Talk about trauma. About threats perceived and then called misconstrued. Talk about taking a breath and letting cooler heads prevail. There were demands made and demands denied. There was talk of impasses rebutted with carrying on, keeping the dialogue going. To someone who...
Cloquet was fifth out of 55 teams in the Lake Superior Regional FIRST Robotics competition last weekend at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, the best the team has placed in its five years of competing. The team went 7-2 in qualifying matches and was in three playoff matches. The RipSaw captains summed up the weekend: "We fought to maintain our position near the top of the ranks. Our robot, Bebop, was a dominant force on the gamefield by being a top scorer of each match. On Saturday, qu... Full story
She just couldn't take it anymore. Life at home was not good. "The family dynamic was not safe," said Cat, a high school senior. Her friends could see it, a few encouraged her to move out. "They could see the decline in my mental health, how I was behaving, and even my overall appearance," said the high school senior. Cat did not share any details of her home life and the Pine Knot is not using her given name in order to preserve her privacy. "I just reached a point where my mental health... Full story
The Minnesota Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Sheldon Thompson to reverse his murder convictions and grant him a new trial. Thompson, of Cloquet and Fond du Lac, was accused and found guilty of brutally killing his pregnant girlfriend, Jackie Defoe, their unborn child, and 20-month-old Kevin Lee Shabaiash Jr. in March 2020. He was found guilty by a Carlton County jury of eight counts of murder in June 2022. Five of the eight counts were first-degree murder charges, which came with an automatic sentence of life in prison. Assistant...
One of Carlton County's longest-serving employees received statewide recognition last week for her exemplary work in the recorder's office. Kristine Basilici, Carlton County recorder and registrar of titles, earned a member-of-the-year award last week during a conference in St. Louis Park of the Minnesota Association of County Recorders. Auditors, treasures and recorders from all 87 counties were on hand when Basilici received the honor. She received a brass and wooden plaque "in recognition of...
The Cloquet school district needs to make roughly $2 million in cuts for the next school year, officials said at Monday’s school board meeting. That’s a lot, even for a budget that is fast approaching $35 million a year. But the news is not as bad as it might seem. Superintendent Michael Cary stressed that close to three-fourths of those cuts are coming as a result of two large grants ending in 2024. Those cuts were anticipated from the start of the Covid-19 federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding and a sta...
Minnesotans will vote in the presidential primary Tuesday, joining a cluster of states and territories in what’s known as Super Tuesday. Democratic President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are favored in their respective primaries. The two are expected inch closer to the delegate totals needed to gain the party nominations, while Democratic Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota and former Republican Governer Nikki Haley of South Carolina hope for a show of strength. The Legal Marijuana Now Party is also holding a primary. E...
After the Cloquet Area Fire District opened its February meeting with a moment of silence for fallen first responders in Burnsville, CAFD board members unanimously accepted a donation of 12 bulletproof vests from the Dead on Arms shooting range and firearms store. Assistant fire chief Corey Larson said acquiring the new Safe Life Defense vests fulfills a key objective of a crew safety system. The district has been working with the Cloquet Police Department over the past two years to maximize...
Authorities in Carlton County Sixth District Court charged a 37-year-old Carlton man with attempted murder Feb. 23, two days after he allegedly attacked another resident in a local halfway house using a weapon made with a railroad spike. Jacob Robert Clarin faces up to 20 years in prison for a second-degree felony attempted murder charge, labeled “with intent-not premeditated.” A second felony, assault with a dangerous weapon, carries a maximum seven-year sentence and $14,000 fine. The attack occurred Feb. 21, when Carlton County She...
Joint meetings of the Carlton and Wrenshall school boards that had been scheduled to commence the first Monday in March have been put on hold. Instead, the smaller consolidation committee will meet at 5 p.m. Monday in the boardroom at Carlton High School. The committee, or consolidation team, meetings are open to the public, and feature superintendents as well as board chairs for both districts. Carlton and Wrenshall districts are moving toward consolidation into a single district as soon as the 2025-26 school year. School boards from both...
February was Children’s Dental Health Month in Minnesota. Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation delivered more than 50,000 dental health kits and educational materials to first-graders across the state through its Smiles@School program. Schools included most elementary schools in Carlton County. The kits contain critical oral health resources: a toothbrush, fluoridated toothpaste, floss, a timer, a water bottle, an oral health educational booklet, and more. The Foundation is also providing an educational video to teachers and nurses on the impor...
Court dispositions are public records submitted by the Sixth District Court in Carlton County. The Pine Knot News lists felony and gross misdemeanor convictions. OCT. 17, 2023 Anderson, Victoria Bernice, 32, Foxboro, Wisconsin, felony assault fourth degree, secure treatment facility, throw/transfer bodily fluid or feces. Fined $50. Samuelson, Darien Daniel, 30, Cloquet, gross misdemeanor nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images, intentionally disseminate images without consent. Adult supervised probation, two years. Fined $50....
On Monday, March 4, the Cloquet Police Department issued a final report on their investigation into the shooting at the Super 8 hotel in Cloquet on Jan. 9 that left two victims and the shooter dead, revealing that the shooter had taken drugs but likely didn't know his two victims. Police were called to the Super 8 hotel in Cloquet just after 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 8. A hotel employee, 22-year-old Shellby Marie Trettel of Cloquet, was found with a gunshot wound to the head inside the building. She later died at a Duluth hospital. A second victim,... Full story
Two former Cloquet residents were arrested in Arkansas last week for allegedly leaving seven cats behind - with no source of water or food - when they moved away from Cloquet late last year. Four cats were dead by the time someone entered the apartment 18 days later. A fifth cat died the same day and two cats have survived. Karlee Lynn Strum, 32, and Dominic James Welch, 26, were extradited to Minnesota this week from the White County jail in Searcy, Arkansas. They are each accused of 21 animal...
