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 984 - 1008 of 3909
A Cloquet man was charged last week with seven counts of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly assaulting a juvenile. Bradley Loren Owens, 40, was charged and appeared for a remote hearing in Sixth District Carlton County Court on May 11. He faces one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (sexual penetration), five counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct (contact) with a juvenile under the age of 14, plus one count of soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct. According to the criminal complaint, the Cloquet Police...
An estimated 1,500 people showed up for the Sjodin family Saturday, packing the Four Seasons Sports Complex and Event Center in Carlton to demonstrate their support for 18-year-old Janae Sjodin, badly hurt in a car crash six weeks ago. The parking lot outside was packed. Cars overflowed onto Chestnut Street for blocks in either direction. More and more people streamed into the arena throughout the afternoon, dropping money in the donation jar by the entrance and buying raffle tickets inside....
An enrichment day last week for Queen of Peace Catholic School found a large group of students bicycling through the Historic West End of Cloquet. The goal was to teach students the rules of the road. "They're going to be riding bikes long before they're driving cars," said volunteer Paul Baecker. "They've got to know the rules." Baecker works with the school as a mental health therapist. He and his wife, Jana, and their four young children moved to Cloquet from Germany, where they were...
When Bill Stone started Venture North Aviation at the Cloquet Airport in 2009, it was just Stone and one airplane in a one-room office at the airport. As of last week, Stone announced Venture North now boasts nine aircraft and 15 employees and taught accelerated flight courses to more than 200 customers last year. This year they expect more than 360 customers. Stone made the announcement at an open house event held to celebrate the grand opening of a multi use hangar that houses airplanes as...
Contractors resumed construction on Minnesota highways 210 and 73 in Cromwell on Monday, the Minnesota Department of Transportation reported. Remaining work on the $3.7 million project includes sidewalk and entrance installation, culvert and storm sewer lining, striping, and final signage. Motorists can expect daytime lane closures and intermittent flagging operations. All work is expected to be complete before July 1. The project to reconstruct the existing highway was designed to improve the ride for travelers and increase stormwater...
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa joined two other northeastern Minnesota tribes last week in solidifying their stewardship of the 3.3-million-acre Superior National Forest. Fond du Lac, along with the Boise Forte and Grand Portage bands, joined officials with the Superior National Forest in signing a memorandum of understanding on May 2 in Grand Portage. The memorandum will ensure the bands’ involvement in the future management of the Superior National Forest, a joint news release said. The memorandum recognizes the bands as origi...
Down to their last man, the Wrenshall school board seems to have found their next superintendent. The district has offered Jeff Pesta, retired Deer River superintendent, its position beginning July 1 and working half-time through the next school year. Pesta and the district are in negotiations, and board member Mary Carlson reported during the board’s committee of the whole meeting Wednesday that Pesta has said he wants to help the financially struggling district and not take a penny more than what the district is currently paying outgoing K...
The Cloquet Housing & Redevelopment Authority has received designation as a “High Performer” by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development under the Public Housing Assessment System Measurement of four key indicators: Physical, financial, management, and capital fund administration. Executive director Debra Shaff attributes achieving HUD’s highest ranking to the HRA’s staff and commissioners. “Big things are possible as a result of our commissioners and staff’s continued commitment, enthusiasm, perseverance and leadership,...
Esko parents are continuing to show up and show their support for changing the school district’s Eskomos nickname. At the Esko school board’s meeting Monday, two parents and a representative from the National Coalition Against Racism in Sports spoke in support of changing the mascot during the open forum portion of the meeting. Two letters of support were sent to the board as well. Parent Rachel Gilbertson said many more support the cause. “Within the last two months, I’ve received an outpouring of support from people throughout this communi...
Carlton and Wrenshall have completed the plan to combine all competitive activities with the merger of robotics and speech for next year, Carlton superintendent John Engstrom announced Monday, following the debut of combined spring sports this year. Activities such as theater and prom will have a different approach, he said. Engstrom explained that each school puts on one or more plays and that they should be kept in place, “but also open them up to the student body of each.” The decision whether to combine prom and dances went to the stu...
The Minnesota Court of Appeals has rejected challenges from Dennis Michael St. John Jr., who was found guilty by a Carlton County jury in January 2022 of three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, along with kidnapping and domestic assault of a woman. St. John’s attorney, Kevin Gregorius of Meshbesher and Associates in Minneapolis, asserted that the Carlton County Sixth District Court erred in seven instances regarding procedures, evidence and testimony during his trial. All were rejected by the appellate court led by Judge Tracy S...
The conflict between an outspoken business owner and the Wrenshall city council spiked again last week, when the council voted to send a letter informing Jeff Bloom he was out of compliance with city ordinance. Bloom is the owner of the Wrenshall General Store and RV park, and was in attendance at the May 3 city council meeting. Bloom told the board he would not seek to renew an interim use permit for his Ponderosa Sales, an auction business located on the same property as Bloom's other...
Daniel Wilson, a committed client at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program facility in Moose Lake, said Wednesday that a "vast majority of clients are horrified" by the two assaults that took place there recently. He said that despite the past records of the people who live at the facility, most are "nonviolent." But he also said "we all sort of expected it" when it came to the attacks. On May 1, according to a complaint filed in Carlton County District Court May 3, client Nicolas Ladell Aron-Jones...
The Cloquet Middle School gymnasium was transformed into a powwow grounds Saturday for the seventh annual Ziigwan (Spring) Powwow. "It's a way we can honor our students, our program and our school," said Cloquet American Indian Education program director Teresa Angell. "And we invite the whole community." Angell counted 300 people at the feast, plus others who came and went during the daylong event. It was a happy occasion, the first school powwow after a three-year hiatus because of Covid-19....
The snow may have finally melted, exposing the effects of December’s devastating storms. The heavy snow left some young trees bowing like monks while older trees fell or dropped limbs that were overwhelmed by the weight of the wet snow. The freeze that followed froze many in the same position much of the winter. Strong winds this spring are finishing the damage in some cases; people armed with saws and clippers are doing the rest. In an effort to help citizens who are now cleaning up the m...
A 29-year-old man committed to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program in Moose Lake was arrested on assault charges Monday after causing a 53-year-old staff member to be airlifted from the facility. The condition of the victim was not known late Monday, said a Carlton County Sheriff’s Office news release. Carlton County 911 dispatch received a call from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program at Moose Lake at 1:23 p.m. Monday, reporting a client assault on a staff member. Sheriff’s Office deputies and Essentia Health ambulance services responded, alo...
The Cloquet Fourth of July committee is looking for community-minded volunteers to help organize and/or work the community’s largest annual event. Many hands make light work, and this event could certainly use a few more hands, whether it's stuffing envelopes or making calls for donations, helping with setup on July 3, or with events on the Fourth from wiffleball to face painting to the parade. Call or text 218-213-1231 or email [email protected]....
The Cloquet Area Chamber of Commerce honored two of its members as businesses of the year at its 70th annual meeting and banquet last week, and paid special attention to two local industries that are reaching major milestones this year. The Cloquet Sappi mill is celebrating 125 years of manufacturing at its site along the St. Louis River in Cloquet, while USG Interiors will mark 100 years of manufacturing in the historic West End of Cloquet. While both businesses have changed owners and...
The Thomson Township board of supervisors is moving forward with the East Riverside Road paving project that residents have been pushing for since 2019. The board approved a bid for the paving project at their meeting on April 27, 2023, for $403,864. The township received five bids and ultimately selected the lowest bidder to complete the project. This comes after 27 township residents signed a petition urging the board to repave East Riverside Road in March 2021. Due to new building construction on the road, the board approved the request for...
A 31-year-old Grand Rapids, Minnesota man was killed Saturday, April 29, when his tractor-trailer overturned, catching fire and causing an explosion north of Cloquet, at the convergence of northbound Minnesota Highway 33 and U.S. Highway 53. Xavier Ryan Henson was hauling a tanker northbound on Highway 33 and was unable to negotiate the curve at the junction with Highway 53, a Minnesota State Patrol news release said. The semi left the roadway, overturning and catching fire. Smoke in the aftermath of the explosion and subsequent fire could be s...
Carlton County has been awarded federal funds made available through the Department of Homeland Security under the Emergency Food and Shelter Board Program. Carlton County has been chosen to receive $5,987 from the State Set-Aside and $6,441.00 State Set-Aside Reallocation to supplement emergency food and shelter programs in the county. Carlton County has distributed Emergency Food and Shelter funds previously to the Salvation Army, Moose Lake Food Shelf, and the Tri-Community Food Shelf. Public or private volunteer agencies interested in...
'God always takes the good ones first' Hundreds of people packed the National Guard Armory in Cloquet Tuesday morning to pay their respects to a Cloquet dad, husband, father and coach who died earlier this month. Master Sgt. Noah Feehan, 39, died of glioblastoma, a brain cancer likely caused by exposure to toxins emitted by burn pits and jet fuel while serving in the Air National Guard as an avionics technician for 18 years. Before the service started, the line of folks waiting to get in snaked...
Presented with a plan to cut a program that's been serving kindergarten-age children locally for decades, the Cloquet school board balked Monday. The board denied a recommendation to close the Early 5's wrap-around care program, but not before hearing from a host of mothers and past users of the program. "It's frustrating and upsetting to worry about other kids falling through the cracks," said Emily Dunaisky, whose son was in Early 5's. Carly Baker said her husband is 37 years old and "he did...
The city of Carlton may have hit a speed bump last week on its way to adding two full-timers to its ambulance service. A skeptical Wrenshall city council heard Carlton’s proposal during a special meeting April 19, and Wrenshall’s five-member board remained noncommittal, telling Carlton it would have an answer following its May 3 council meeting. “Why does Carlton have to be in the ambulance business?” asked Wrenshall councilor Melvin Martindale. “You’re 1,100 people strong and you’re just not big enough to support (it) and you’re raisin...
Carlton County's Dotseth supports secession study The seriousness of a Republican bill introduced last week can likely be summed up in its author's preferred name for it, the "Rocks and Cows Act." The bill would produce a study by an appointed commission on finding a pathway for Minnesota counties bordering North Dakota and South Dakota to be annexed into those states. The bill was introduced by Rep. Matt Grossell, with 19 other Republicans signing on, including Carlton County's Rep. Jeff Dotseth, who supports a study on why neighboring states...
