Articles written by Mike Creger
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After long slog, bonding bill is signed
After five special sessions since the regular session ended in May, the Minnesota Legislature last week passed a $1.9 billion bonding bill. It was signed Wednesday by Gov. Tim Walz. The bonding will allow for public works projects across the state, i...
Highs, lows found in state funding
As the Minnesota Legislature breathed its last gasps of air of the 2020 session, Carlton County can find some wins and some big losses when contemplating what became a session extended by five months with mostly unproductive special sessions since... Full story
Mail-in, absentee ballots abound
The dynamics of this year's general election brings to mind a question: Is it the pandemic or the rhetoric? Minnesotans are requesting absentee ballots in record numbers for the Nov. 3 election -... Full story
Sub shortage still crippling schools
People coming down with Covid-19 is not the problem handcuffing the Cloquet school district. It’s the waiting for test results when someone shows symptoms. That was the assessment this week from superintendent Mike Cary as the district continues...
Covid regulations stress schools
Wrenshall superintendent Kim Belcastro didn’t need to say it. Her face told all. “It’s been a tough week,” she told the school board Tuesday night during a special meeting. The day before, she announced that the school would be going to full... Full story
Carlton, Wrenshall schools report smooth starts
Reports to the school boards at Carlton and Wrenshall this week showed that the two small districts had relatively drama-free starts to the year despite intense pressure due to Covid-19 pandemic protocols. In Wrenshall, the major hitch remains the...
Women discover each other 25 years after China adoptions
Two 20-something women have matching tattoos using the Latin words attributed to Julius Caesar: "Veni, vidi, vici," which translates to "I came, I saw, I conquered." It seems a fitting phrase for...
Fast, furious storm pummels county
A sloppy kiss between a moist, unstable air mass and a veering cold front led to a stormy afternoon and evening last Friday, Aug. 14, across Carlton County. Strong downdraft winds snapped trees and un... Full story
Photo: A Great Debate
There was a passionate debate during a Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game at Veterans Park Tuesday, not to be mistaken as part of the nearby picnic for Carlton County Republicans. Nicholas...
County schools continue reopening scramble
There are outliers among Carlton County schools, those that won’t be coming back this fall with all of their students. So far, students in Esko, Carlton, Cromwell-Wright, Moose Lake and Barnum will likely go back to school en masse next month if th... Full story
Midway through with Esko bridge
The bridge replacement project at the Midway River just north of Esko in Thomson Township on Carlton County Road 1 remains on schedule to be completed by early October, the county engineering...
Surveys, stats and state will drive school openings
An August scramble like no other is on across Carlton County this August as schools prepare to reopen for the year. School boards, staff and administrators are meeting this week and next to make almos... Full story
Esko faces nickname scrutiny
A petition duel continued this week on the website Change.org considering the use of the nickname "Eskomos" for the Esko school district. Both begun by students at Esko High School, one petition says... Full story
Schools strain for clarity on opening
As a pandemic summer heats up meteorologically, so has the national rhetoric around how school districts will start classes in August and September. Normally sleepy and short meetings of school...
Carlton will do impact study alone
The Carlton school board decided on Monday to go it alone on a $3,000 study that would determine what district residents would pay in taxes if a consolidation with Wrenshall should ever come to fruition. The financial impact study would pinpoint how...
Carlton plans for worst case, construction continues in Wrenshall
Superintendent John Engstrom pressed hard and Carlton school board members pushed back. In the end, they seemed to have come to some clearer idea of what the district's future might look like,...
Wrenshall student recovers from COVID-19
After opening its gym to volleyball practice on July 6, officials at Wrenshall High School had to soon shut everything down as a friend and fellow student of the volleyball players tested positive for Covid-19. Superintendent Kim Belcastro made the... Full story
Pair crushes trail speed record
It's high and dry in Idaho. When she felt the humidity here, Brittany Peterson immediately knew she was back home. The Carlton native and elite trail runner was trying to take advantage of a COVID-19... Full story
It's berry time in Carlton County
The weather is heating up and so is berry season. Despite struggles with keeping plants watered during what has been a dry spring and early summer in Carlton County, strawberries are ripe at Spectrum... Full story
Youth sports inching toward games
For some, the slow opening of youth sports in Minnesota during the COVID-19 pandemic comes too late. For others, it offers a ray of hope for action outside of practice. State health officials... Full story
School budgets offer tale of two districts
The two districts attempting to pull off a consolidation in the next year showed strikingly different anticipated budgets for the next year. The Carlton and Wrenshall school boards met in regular monthly sessions Monday night via online platforms....
Big Lake sewer project is 'dead'
The minutes from the Perch Lake Township annual meeting in March were stark. “The sewer project is dead.” After months of negotiations in 2019, the failure to reach a new joint powers agreement between the Big Lake Area Sanitary District and the...
Voices, silence mark vigil
Geese honked in unison overhead. Then, after they passed over, the few of the formation's stragglers gave fading squawks individually. Birds chirped from newly flowered fauna. There were the whirs... Full story
Carlton picks short-term superintendent
The Carlton school board has chosen its next superintendent to replace Gwen Carman, who is leaving for a job in southeastern Minnesota. John Engstrom said the Carlton job appealed to him because it's...
Budget is rosy for consolidated schools
School board members got a glimpse this month of what a budget for a Carlton and Wrenshall consolidated district might look like. Some rough data project a significant fund balance increase for school operations in a consolidation. With current...
