Pine Knot News - A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news

In response to the COVID-19 impact on the local economy and health, the Carlton County board of commissioners approved a limited freeze on hiring, with the board pledging to make a step-by-step study of each position before a new person is hired....

Two-term Carlton County board commissioner Gary Peterson announced this week that he will seek re-election this fall. He made the announcement at the board’s committee of the whole meeting on Monday. Filing opens on May 19 with the Carlton County...

Saturday night sauna visits with Great-Uncle Krigsholm and the Reed and Koivisto grandparents included tales of past epidemics that killed family members or neighbors. Average life expectancy in 1918 wasn’t much past age 50. People who died in...

For the first time in recent county board action, commissioner Mark Thell voted “no” to approve a road construction project funded through the half-percent sales tax after a presentation by county highway engineer JinYeene Neumann at the Carlton... Full story

The Carlton County board of commissioners met Tuesday, April 14 with all commissioners participating: Dick Brenner and Gary Peterson attended via telephone conferencing while Marv Bodie, Tom Proulx and Mark Thell were physically present, but...

The workings of government have changed as the pandemic spreads at an unknown rate throughout the nation. Physical participation in Carlton County meetings and whether any County building should be open to the public were two of many public safety... Full story

Changes unfolding in the Carlton County Extension Office were laid out in a report presented by acting supervisor Donna Lekander at the Carlton County Committee of the Whole meeting March 3. The Extension program has been under intense scrutiny...

After deleting several portions of the tobacco ordinance that passed in December, the Carlton County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a reduced version of the ordinance with a May 1 enforcement date. The ban on the sale of all tobacco...

The state of Minnesota has set a closure date for the Carlton County jail of July 31, 2023. The deadline came in a letter from the Minnesota Department of Corrections, dated Jan. 28, 2020, delivered to Carlton County sheriff Kelly Lake and county coo...

Final passage and authorization of a county tobacco ordinance is still in the air despite being passed by the Carlton County Board of Commissioners Dec. 23. On Tuesday, Cromwell gas station owner Lance Line stated his concern at the board’s first m...

Several Carlton County health staff and about 25 other people attended the year-end meeting of the Carlton County Board of Commissioners Dec. 23 to support and finally clap when a new tobacco ordinance was passed unanimously. It is believed that...

At its final meeting of 2019, the Carlton County Board of Commissioners set the property tax levy increase at 2.9 percent, shaving 1 percent from the preliminary levy set in September. This is the smallest increase in the levy for many budget...

Development on Big Lake, the future of the sanitary district, cooperative zoning and boat enforcement all entered the discussion at an Oct. 28 meeting between the Fond Du Lac Reservation Business Committee members and officials from Carlton County. T...

The Carlton County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday to pursue Minnesota Legislative approval for the ability to levy a half-percent sales tax, contingent on local voter approval, to build a new Carlton County Jail. The Minnesota... Full story

Carlton County auditor/treasurer Kathy Korteum told the Carlton County board of commissioners that the estimated cost of the presidential primary has basically quadrupled. “We must be prepared for the new presidential primary occurring in...

The Carlton County Board of Commissioners will hold a public meeting on road funding Monday: specifically to get public input on the continuation of the excise tax authorized in 2014 for county transportation projects and improvements approved in...

The Carlton County Extension Office has made some procedural and management changes following an investigation last year conducted by the Aitkin County Sheriff’s Office. Allegations regarding a former Carlton County employee were “exceptionally c...

For more than a year, the Carlton County board of commissioners have heard concerns of the rising use of vaping e-cigarettes and the negative influences on the county’s youth. Earlier this summer the board instructed the county attorney to draw up...

Starting Oct. 1, Family Pathways will replace WINDOW Victim Services in providing domestic violence and sexual assault services such as advocacy, education, outreach and crisis line, as well as parenting time centers for supervised visitation in...

With little public input, the Carlton County commissioners unanimously voted to change the Office of Auditor/Treasurer from an elected to an appointed position. Cloquet’s Clarence Badger was the only person to address the board during the public...

The Carlton County board of commissioners voted 3-2 to upgrade the overcrowded Barnum transportation garage and attach a large addition to create a 50,000-plus square-foot facility. The need for a new facility wasn’t debated — it was how to pay...