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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There was a time when a person could hear a church service in Finnish in Cloquet, live in the "Finntown" neighborhood and join one of several cooperatives started here by Finnish immigrants. Many descendents of those immigrants still live here. Some are easily identified by their blue eyes and blond hair, or their names - Riihiluoma, Juntunen, Ikola and Soukkala, among others - while others may be identified by their speech patterns or habits, such as taking a sauna (pronounced SOW-na if you're...
Crossing the St. Louis River on Minnesota Highway 61 in Scanlon offers a glimpse of a construction crane and a handful of workers crawling over one of the neighborhood dams. Even in the rain, the marine contractors from J.F. Brennan can be seen wearing yellow slickers. They've been working on a $3 million Minnesota Power project since May. It's aimed at replacing seven of eight gates on what is the east channel dam, built 100 years ago. "Hydro dams are long-lasting, forever assets," said Nora...
Longtime Carlton resident Gordon "Gordy" Davis was unanimously selected to serve as the 2023 Grand Marshal of the Carlton Daze parade starting at 1 p.m. Sunday. Look for Davis in Sunday's parade down Chestnut Avenue, a huge part of the annual community celebration, which spans three days and offers a wide range of fun activities, starting today (Friday) with a 5K and kids' races, bingo, crafters and live music. Highlights Saturday are the car show 9 a.m.-3 p.m. on Chestnut Avenue and...
A former Cloquet police officer was charged last week by the Minnesota Attorney General’s office with financially exploiting a vulnerable adult — an elderly woman she befriended after responding to a call — and attempting to swindle the woman’s estate and her estranged husband after she died. Laci Marie Silgjord worked as a police officer and later a K-9 partner for the city of Cloquet from 2015 to 2022. She met Joan Arney (now deceased) in May 2020 after the Cloquet resident called police about...
A former Carlton County resident is accused of murdering a man and breaking into a Minneapolis apartment 39 years ago. Matthew Russell Brown, 66, was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree burglary by electronically filed criminal complaint on May 26 in Fourth District Hennepin County Court. The complaint was sealed until the arrest warrant was served. According to the now public criminal complaint, police responded to an apartment building at 3209 Girard Ave. South in Minneapolis around 2:30 a.m. July 19, 1984. Two women rushed...
A man died after apparently hitting a tree on his ATV last week. A motorist came upon the crash and dialed 911 at 7:52 p.m. Wednesday, July 19, on the 3500 block of Pine Road in Barnum Township. Paul Douglas Nelson, 51, was pronounced dead at the scene. According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, the initial investigation revealed Nelson was driving an ATV northbound on Pine Road when it left the roadway and struck a tree. He was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash. It is not clear what caused the ATV to leave the r...
The Moose Lake Community School got an unexpected gift recently: an extraordinary endowment donation of $1.75 million, gifted by the estate of Magdalyn Lund. According to a news release, the donation was made in memory of Magdalyn’s late husband, George E. Lund, a 1931 graduate of Moose Lake High School. Lund was a survivor of the catastrophic 1918 fire. After graduating from Moose Lake High School at the age of 16, he attended the University of Minnesota where he earned both his bachelor and master of science degrees in chemical e...
Sheriff Kelly Lake requested five additional staffers in 2024 during Monday's budget presentations to the Carlton County board. In outlining a nearly 10 percent staffing increase for the public safety department, Lake asked for three additional corrections officers to help staff the new jail that's part of the new $75 million justice center under construction in Carlton. On the sheriff's office side, Lake argued for another investigator and a civilian data analyst to help handle the influx of...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program has funds available for very-low- and low-income individuals and families seeking to purchase or repair a home in a rural area. The Direct Home Loan program offers financing to applicants who are unable to qualify for traditional financing. No down payment is required, and the interest rate could be as low as 1 percent. The maximum loan amount is $40,000 at a 1-percent interest rate, repayable for a 20-year term and can be used to improve or modernize homes and make essential r...
Walker Orenstein MinnPost.org Talon Metals has submitted its plan for an underground nickel and copper mine in Aitkin County to Minnesota regulators, launching the environmental review of a project that could become a domestic source of metals for electric vehicles but which has also drawn skepticism from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. While the submission is just the first phase of what could be a lengthy process, it's nevertheless a milestone for Talon and what it calls the Tamarack Nickel... 
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Last winter was one most folks won't soon forget, with record snowfalls common and collapsed roofs and fallen treelines forever impacted. Even now, the city of Carlton is dealing with the aftermath. The city-owned arena, Four Seasons Sports Complex, is the subject of a pending insurance claim, having suffered exterior damage from the ice and snow. The damage is obvious to passersby, as the arena side facing Highway 210 features a long crumpled strip of steel siding. "The ice and snow buildup...
We received testimony, and physical proof, the past week that the mermaid fountain at Garfield School in Cloquet has been around at least since the 1950s. It was a goldfish pond at the bottom. Sandy Strand provided this delightful picture of her first-grade class in October of 1950. There's the fountain in the back at far right, in Miss Campbell's classroom. Sandy, who is in the all-white dress under the "Happy Helpers" sign, behind the boy in the plaid shirt, clearly remembers the day the girl...
A father and his two sons canoeing on the Nemadji River in southeast Carlton County Saturday called in a report of human remains found on the river bank east of Minnesota Highway 23 and south of the Soo Line Trail. This week the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office was making an identification effort after a laborious effort to remove the remains from the remote area. The Carlton County Sheriff's Office received a call at 1:30 p.m. about the find. Sheriff deputies and responders from Wrenshall and...
A man housed in the Minnesota Sex Offender Program facility in Moose Lake was sentenced to 220 months — over 18 years — in state prison Monday to attempted second-degree murder. Nicolas Ladell Aron-Jones’ victim made a statement in the hearing, as did the offender, saying he prefers prison time to the MSOP. Aron-Jones, 29, pleaded guilty in May to the most serious of four charges against him. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the other charges of first-, second- and fourth-degree assault were dismissed. “He attempted to kill someone...
A fire on the 100 block of Jay Cooke Road spread from a vehicle to a home early Tuesday. According to a news release from the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, a passerby noticed the vehicle fire and reported it around 6:35 a.m. Tuesday, July 18, also stopping to notify the homeowners. When deputies responded, the fire was initially observed under the hood of a vehicle in the driveway. As the fire grew, it spread to the residence. The Esko Fire Department arrived and contained the fire at the residence, with assistance from Carlton and W...
A barn on the 2200 block of Olson Road in Blackhoof Township caught on fire, likely the result of a lightning strike around 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, a Carlton County Sheriff’s Office news release said. Firefighters from Blackhoof, Esko, Carlton, Barnum, Moose Lake, Mahtowa and Wrenshall fire departments responded and found the barn fully involved in fire. Due to the size of the fire and rural location, a large amount of water had to be brought in by truck to put out the fire. There were no animals in the barn, no injuries, and no other s...
Several Carlton County communities are planning National Night Out events on Aug. 1. Cloquet will have its first large National Night Out event back at Veterans Park 5-8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, for the first time since 2019. Other local National Night Out events are detailed below: • The city of Wrenshall will hold its NNO event 5-7 p.m. Aug. 1 at Hugh D. Line park. Join neighbors for this free, family friendly event with hot dogs, freezies and chips provided. Bring lawn games, musical instruments and friends. • In Kettle River, the fun beg...
The Salvation Army in Carlton County is encouraging donations to support their food shelves through July 31. That’s how long the Open Your Heart organization will match all financial gifts made to The Salvation Army food shelf up to $4,000, effectively doubling the impact of every donation. Send checks to 316 Carlton Avenue, Cloquet, MN 55720. Call 218-879-5447 or visit SalvationArmyNorth.org for more....
Cloquet's West End business district has been seeing larger weekend crowds, thanks to business owner Ryan Bridge, of Bridges Customs. A growing crowd of car enthusiasts are making their way to the West End every other Friday to share their love of unique cars and enjoy the "drifting" display by Bridge's drifting team. In car culture, drifting is the practice of driving a car in a controlled skid, as if on ice. These drifting competitions have nothing to do with racing and a checkered flag....
A 76-year-old Cloquet man could be facing more than 11 years in prison for possession of child pornography and use of a minor in pornographic work. On April 24, Edward Christian entered a plea to seven counts of possession of pornographic work; minor under 14 along with one count of use of minors in sexual performance/pornographic work; minor under 14 years old. Under the terms of the plea agreement, six charges of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree with a person under 13 were dismissed. According to the criminal complaint, Christian...
An 80-by-110-foot residential lot in southeast Cloquet gave rise to robust discussion on housing throughout city hall this month, with the city council agreeing Tuesday to sell the lot to a building contractor who plans to build on the lot with the intention to sell. "The 'for-sale' market is the toughest market we've faced to date," said community development director Holly Hansen during last week's meeting of the Economic Development Authority. "It's been easier to put up apartment buildings...
The Carlton school district hired Angela Lind to fill the open business manager position, after the previous business manager, Norm Nelis, took a job at the Hermantown school district. Lind formerly worked just up the road at Wrenshall, but was laid off there in a cost-saving measure. “She’s been a fantastic addition,” said Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan during Monday’s board meeting. Under Lind’s new contract, she will earn a salary of $61,000 in her first year with regular longevity increases of $1,000 per year for the next 8 years. In...
At the very center of a panoramic photo of Cloquet taken before 1918 stands a substantial stone building. A bank? A theater? A store? Nope. The prominent building is the public library, completed in 1902 when Cloquet was still a village. Cloquet had no city water or sewer system, no electrical service, and no paved roads - but it had a library, a public symbol of the value of culture and learning. Donations totalling about $7,500 came from the Shaw family, Northwest Paper Company, and First...
Here is one example of the options available for a new scoreboard at the gymnasium in Wrenshall, as presented by Daktronics to the district recently. A decision on the style of scoreboard and shot clocks is expected to be made in the next month....
The Mangan family of Barnum is the subject of a crowdfunding campaign following a house fire July 8 that destroyed their home. Adam, Laura, and toddler Hunter Mangan’s home on Grizzly Lane in Barnum Township was a total loss and required a harrowing escape outlined in the Go Fund Me appeal. “Laura looked up to see smoke and flames coming from their home,” the narrative said. “She screamed for Adam and rushed into the house to grab little Hunter who was taking a nap in his crib. When she turned around flames had engulfed the door, so she pre...
