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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When we started the Pine Knot News three years and three months ago, people in the newspaper industry noticed. I think it was mostly shock — who was crazy enough to start a brand-new paper? — mixed in with a little bit of hope. The Minneapolis Star Tribune sent a photographer and a reporter to our office in Cloquet, with our story told as part of a larger story focusing on the relative healthiness of newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. Minnesota Public Radio called, so did Business North, and Fox... Full story
Business people often think that any government regulation is an intrusion into their business and should not be allowed. In fact, that theme has become a plank in the Republican platform, as evidenced by the likes of Grover Norquist — who had some success in the earlier part of this century with his “no new taxes” pledge — and with recent politicians who have campaigned on a promise of eliminating government regulations. Sometimes they are right, and sometimes they are wrong. For example... Full story
Last June, I lost a close friend, Gary Ross. It wasn't officially recorded as a direct Covid-19 death, but the damn pandemic was surely a contributing factor. Sorry about the curse, but it is deserved. He was a couple years older than me and had cancer scares, diabetes, tremors and, finally, heart issues which were ultimately his undoing. Gary's wife died about a year earlier. Since her illness was at the height of the pandemic, he couldn't even visit her at the hospital until she went into... Full story
To our concert patrons: As we work on scheduling our next season, we are once again reminded of how important you are. There are concert organizations that have not yet been able to return to live concerts. This is due in large part to audiences who won’t conform to Covid protocols — primarily, mask mandates. We are so lucky to have your support on this issue. This is why we can do what we do for our community. Thank you. We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, Feb. 27 for the highly anticipated Irish group, Ring of Kerry. Jeanne and Dan Dot... Full story
In this season of election ramp-up, the party differences articulate the value of servant leadership. The elected officials and political activists should not focus solely on the immediate issues to achieve short-term gains without preparing for unintended consequences. When elected officials are using descriptive statistics to support a claim without fully vetting the information, the statistics are used to score political points among the base or cause fear. Recently, elected officials seeking other offices have been claiming to do something... Full story
We weren’t taken aback at the news that Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College is ending its football program. Football is always expensive, with lots of players, lots of equipment. Very few of the football players — at least in recent years — had local or state connections, so it was hard to drum up any sort of local following. And, finally, there is no football field anywhere near the campus, so “home” games were played as far away as Superior. But you know what is close to the college campus? A soccer complex. When FDLTCC began its athle... Full story
The Minnesota Legislature starts up again next week, and while it’s fun to make fun of lawmakers, they really do an important job in our society, and most of them take their job very seriously. There are some pretty big issues to debate this year, including the budget surplus (Democrats want to spend it; Republicans want to lower taxes); setting new boundary lines for elections; and dealing with the pandemic. It will be fun to watch. They will also discuss an amendment to the Minnesota c... Full story
There was a wonderful article in the Pine Knot (Jan. 7) that prompted me to write a little bit of history to pass down. This particular article really touched home. My grandparents on my father Wallace Johanson’s side were Swedish emigrants — along with other family, the Bergquists and some Berglands — who chose this wonderful town of Cloquet to settle and raise their families. After the 1918 fire my grandfather, Wilhelm Dahl Johanson, who had moved into town from his little log cabin on Brevator Road, purchased land from John Johnson, my gr... Full story
Kudos to Mayor Maki and the City Council for implementing and supporting a mask mandate in indoor public gathering places. I appreciate the courage this took. Thank you for helping us help ourselves. John Boland, Cloquet... Full story
As a business owner, the news of the Cloquet mask mandate passed Jan. 18 raised some questions and concerns. When previous Covid-19 safety measures were implemented, I ensured that my restaurant followed all of the appropriate guidelines. I did not complain. I did not receive any write-ups or fines over the course of numerous mandates and shutdowns. I did witness a tremendous toll on my business, my employees, and my patrons — and the most recent mask mandate has me concerned that these problems will arise yet again. The current cost of an i... Full story
Lately, I’ve been reading about American political history since World War II. Prominent topics include the civil rights movement, the Congress of American Indians (founded in 1944), the women’s movement beginning in the late 1950s, and the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s. I’ve learned a great deal. One of the most amazing insights is how important it is for us as citizens to be engaged in the political process and especially to organize with others to share views on priorities and to su... Full story
It’s been a while since John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address inspired children and adults to see the importance of civic action and public service. “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country,” he said, challenging every American to contribute in some way to the public good. That doesn’t mean a person needs to run for political office, or give up their high-paying job to join AmeriCorps: it simply means we all should do our part. Volunteer to plant flowers in the spring, chaperone school trips, help with t...
I wonder what would happen if hundreds of strangers suddenly got stranded in Cloquet. Maybe a huge blizzard hits while we’re hosting a big hockey tournament? Or tragedy strikes on a summer Sunday afternoon, when seemingly a million people are passing through town on their way home from the weekend. I guess it’s pretty unlikely, but it could happen. There was indeed such a scene after 9/11, when 38 planes were suddenly grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, leaving almost 7,000 passengers str... Full story
We’ve heard a lot about resigned attitudes toward the Covid-19 pandemic. They run from “everyone’s going to get it, so why try to avoid it?” to “it doesn’t seem so bad now, like the flu.” But anyone entertaining those thoughts is likely just in denial. Every day, we hear stories about how the pandemic, with its slings and arrows, is deeply affecting all of us. It’s mental. It’s physical. It’s all so draining, and, yes, still deadly. The omicron variant is creating the largest spikes of the entire pandemic. Luckily, we have tools — now familia...
Strangely, in my career, I’ve made a lot of friends just by suing them. It sounds odd, doesn’t it? But it’s true. Usually, it would seem, lawsuits more often end up making enemies out of friends. But it doesn’t have to be that way, especially if both sides are respectful and treat each other like gentlemen. That’s how, not long after I moved to town, I became friends with Cloquet’s No. 1 Gentleman, David Johnson, who passed away this week. I was working for the Newby law firm and was assigne... Full story
With 2021 in the rearview mirror, the Pine Knot News reached out to a variety of local leaders to ask them what they hope Carlton County will see in 2022. Here’s what those who responded said: Minnesota Rep. Mike Sundin “As we reflect on the difficult times that we have experienced in the last couple of years, I’d like to thank the people that have contributed to keeping us healthy and safe as best as they could. Health care professionals and public servants of Carlton County deserve to be recognized for their efforts in safeguarding publi... Full story
The whole point of a representative democracy (which is the form of government we have used in the United States for a couple of hundred years or so) is to elect one person for every certain number of people. We could use a different form of representation, maybe letting each group of like-minded people have a representative, like plumbers can elect a representative, or dog lovers get a representative, or any other myriad ways to elect leaders, but we don’t. It’s based on population, the tru... Full story
When Mary Jo was 7, someone called her “Fatso” as she and her family were walking out of the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart church on a sunny Sunday morning. The offending girl was Mary Jo’s age and she leaned into Mary Jo’s ear as the crush of exiting churchgoers pressed them together, the Confirmed adults reaching for the Holy Water font, dutifully dipping their fingers. “Yer a fatso,” she’d whispered and then pulled away, back to her place between her two parents, who remained perfectly ign... Full story
With New Year’s Eve and severe cold colliding in northern Minnesota this weekend, we encourage an abundance of care and caution. Temperatures this weekend will be 15 to 20 degrees below zero at night, with windchill at 35 below zero. If you bring someone to their home — perhaps someone who has had too much to drink — please either walk them to the door or stay there long enough to make sure they make it safely inside. For those who don’t remember, there is a former University of Minnesota Duluth student who doesn’t have any fingers or toes b... Full story
Last year’s predictions were so eerily accurate that some people thought I had cheated, like maybe I had looked up the answers before making my predictions, which is, of course, impossible. My 12-year-old son, Patrick, suggested that maybe I had invented a time machine, as he thinks I am both brilliant and handy. But, alas, there is no time machine; I am just that good at predicting the future. So, I again share my talents with you and make my remarkably accurate predictions for 2022: • Tar... Full story
We can’t say it any better, so, for Christmas, we again share with you the prose poem, “Desiderata,” written by Max Ehrmann in 1927. The title itself means things that are desired or wanted, in this case, desired qualities of the soul and of the heart. Desiderata Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story...
Greetings from the Pine Knot News family in Carlton County. It’s been quite a year for the family, so we’re excited to share this with our friends and extended family during this holiday season. We had some great news in January. We won the coveted Mills trophy for being the best weekly newspaper in Minnesota from the Minnesota Newspaper Association. And we we competed against some pretty big weeklies with much higher circulation. That’s a career-defining honor, Jana said, and is quite an achie... Full story
Carlton County workers and businesses are receiving economic development support through funds provided by the State of Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Recently announced competitive awards fall into two categories: business expansion grants and workforce development grants. In a recent competition for $6 million in business expansion grants, Carlton’s Chemstar Products Company has been awarded $140,000 from the state’s job creation fund. Chemstar, a leadi...
The Carlton school board vote taken Monday, Dec. 20, on the proposed grade 9-12 tuition agreement with Cloquet did not result in a vote of support for the school and community — as it appears at face value — but rather a vote to dissolve the district. An entity cannot repeatedly operate with a deficit budget and continue to function longterm, whether that entity is a business, nonprofit, household, or, in this instance, a school district. It appears the school board has kicked the proverbial can down the road again; although this can is not...
My family and I would like to thank John Prouty, Jim Meikle, and the Pine Knot staff for their part in looking up information on our uncle Sig. It occurs to me that Sig may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which was not recognized at the time. He was in Italy, and I have read stories of infantrymen in Italy having to follow tanks up the mountain, where the tank treads chopped up the bodies of American and German soldiers who had died on the trail. I know Sig would have been horrified to see something like that. Ken... Full story
