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

According to city administrator Aaron Reeves, Cloquet police chief Jeff Palmer was placed on “voluntary paid leave” effective Tuesday, April 16. Reeves said he could not elaborate on Palmer’s... Full story

A remorseful Cloquet man pleaded guilty to shaking, squeezing and dropping his infant daughter, telling the court Monday that he "snapped" in a moment of mental weakness and hates himself for it....

Cloquet city councilors voted unanimously Tuesday to exonerate two city employees — city administrator Aaron Reeves and human resources director James Barclay – on Tuesday, following...

"Mom, come home. A tree just fell on our house." That would be my son, Jack, calling me at work. The big old spruce tree in our front yard had finally yielded to the hours of wind last Thursday,...

Spirits were high as the Carlton school board meeting kicked off Monday, as parents and staff, along with students from both Carlton and Wrenshall, packed into the high school library for a meeting...

Members who visited the brand new Members Cooperative Credit Union branch on opening day Monday gave the new facility rave reviews. "It looks very nice," said Angela Weisz. "Very warm and inviting."...

FLOODWOOD-The back of Coach Derek Hart's T-shirt said it all. "Making history," it read. "I've told every one of these kids, everybody who walked through the door, that's exactly what they're all...

What does it take to make a championship team? Well, for the members of the Cloquet High School Economics team, it took a lot of lunches together, a stack of 3-inch binders crammed with information...

The reality of a significant budget deficit for the current school year appears to be changing Carlton School Board attitudes about working with the Wrenshall School District, as evidenced by...

Cloquet Schools Superintendent Michael Cary announced that school is canceled for Thursday, April 11, because of weather predictions that would cause students to be traveling home in the worst of the... Full story

My buddy, Bob Watts, died last week at the age of 96. I met Bob - as I do many people - because I wrote a story about him and his efforts to make sure every veteran's grave was decorated with a flag...

Fifty years ago, the Cloquet High School auditorium plans included an acoustical shell. Since then, 50 years' worth of band and choir performances have been less than they could have been, as the...

Cloquet graduate and Alaska Nanooks skier Anja Maijala ended her ski season on a high note, despite a nagging shoulder injury. Maijala was the top U20 female skier in the 1.4K classic sprint at the...

A Minneapolis man was arrested March 21 after leading sheriff department deputies from Aitken and Carlton Counties on a high-speed chase that ended just west of Interstate 35. Derrick James Holmes,...

A judge has ordered a mental health evaluation for a man accused of shooting and killing his uncle in rural Carlton County last April. James Francis Montano, 33, of Bayfield County, was arrested in...

Former Cloquet police chief Wade Lamirande has filed a new complaint against the department he used to oversee. On Friday, March 22 Lamirande emailed a complaint to Cloquet city councilors, city...

Cloquet City Councilors voted to investigate one of their own with zero objections Tuesday, not even from the subject of the investigation, Steve Langley. "I welcome an investigation," the Ward 5... Full story

When Amy (Robnik) Joob was 15 and an Esko High School sophomore, a vocational inventory stated she was best suited to be a hotel manager, police officer or firefighter. She also considered being a cos...

Joining forces can be difficult. Hesitant at first, members of the only combined Carlton-Wrenshall sports team told Carlton school board members Monday that the two teams started out the 2018 fall...

The timing couldn't have been better. The conditions were perfect this year for the annual Cloquet City Ski Meet, an event featuring both ski jumping and Nordic ski races at Pine Valley. The sun was...

Carrying signs denouncing Wells Fargo bank's investments in oil and pipelines - particularly the Enbridge Energy Line 3 replacement pipeline slated to go through Carlton County - a group of about 15,...

A Bayfield County man accused of shooting and killing his uncle in rural Carlton County last April was indicted on first-degree premeditated murder charges by a grand jury Thursday, March 7. The...

Carlton School Board member Tim Hagenah voted with his feet last week — by abruptly walking out of the March 7 committee of the whole meeting. Hagenah’s departure ended the meeting because school...

The ceiling of the gymnasium at Cloquet’s Garfield school was leaking before it started raining Wednesday. Which meant the Cloquet School Board almost had to vote to replace all of the roofs at...

Two national traditions will combine Saturday at the annual NorthEastern Mojakka Cook-Off, as area cooks show off their best Finnish soups, all washed down with the buyer’s choice of green or...