Articles written by Mike Creger
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Carlton, Wrenshall school districts ready for public input on consolidation
The consensus reached at a joint meeting Monday of the full Carlton and Wrenshall school boards is that members will likely seek a referendum in August of next year on facilities improvements at two schools. But that fact, as opposed to having a... Full story
Kwik Trip expanding in Scanlon on motel lot
Kwik Trip is expanding its footprint off Interstate 35 in Scanlon after its corporate owners bought the defunct motel near the convenience store. There will be a shuffle of properties as the Golden... Full story
Districts might slow their roll on consolidation
The full school boards for Carlton and Wrenshall schools will meet jointly Monday for the first time since committees from each district reviewed costs for facilities in a consolidated school district. The cost of remodeling and building new parts...
Consolidation cost: $47.3 million
The price tag is in on upgraded facilities for a consolidated Carlton and Wrenshall school district: $47.3 million. That was the estimate presented to district superintendent and school board members...
Carlton, Wrenshall school boards approve maximum tax levies
Continued decreasing enrollment is driving decisions in the Carlton school district this month. Outside of the continuing discussions about consolidation with Wrenshall, the school board set its preliminary levy for next year at the maximum. By law,...
Consolidation crush is on for Carlton, Wrenshall school boards
There will be a flurry of meetings in the next two months as school boards in Wrenshall and Carlton continue to explore a consolidation of the districts. After joint meetings this summer with the full boards, members are moving in the direction of a...
Dating Cloquet's Labor Day celebration? It's not an easy task
Hey, it’s the 100th annual Labor Day celebration in Cloquet coming up this weekend. As your newspaper of record on such milestone events, we thought we’d check in on some history about what has... Full story
Utility refunds go up, up, up
More hard numbers are coming in regarding how much Carlton County and other taxing authorities within it will need to repay utility companies for overcharging in tax assessments. County assessor Kyle Holmes reported this week that a recent ruling in...
Big Lake sewer plan in mediation
The stalemate over a joint powers agreement between the Big Lake Area Sanitary District and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa required a mediation session this week. Results of that...
Clarity surfaces between school boards
The second joint board meeting this summer to broach the idea of consolidation between the Carlton and Wrenshall school districts, in Wrenshall Monday, went much like the meeting in July at South Terrace in Carlton. Until it didn’t. After a series...
Kettle River festival hangs on
The theme for this year's annual celebration in Kettle River is apt historically and for the event itself: "Ma & Pa Kettle Days Rebuilds After the 1918 Fire." It was the devastating forest fire a...
Family mystery solved with diploma
The picture always gnawed at Lynn Shaw. There she is, in 1958, posing with her brother and father next to their typical suburban Minneapolis home. The landscape is bare. Don Siiter is towering over hi... Full story
Kings of the Court: Carlton's improbable run 60 years ago
When the Carlton basketball team came home from Hibbing in March of 1959, players decided to get a bite to eat at a diner in Cloquet. They were in a celebratory mood, after all. Against all odds, the... Full story
Cards shown at school merger meeting
There was history. There was agreement. There were dull-as-unbuttered-toast moments. And, like a main event, the moment everyone had been waiting for - direct opinions from each school board member...
Talking turkey vultures
I have always had an eye on the old sheds sitting in the meadow at North Cloquet Road and Midway Road. They are so photogenic in different lights each day. So, with the camera in the car and tooling...
Wrenshall, Carlton boards to meet
The full boards from the Carlton and Wrenshall school districts will meet July 9 to discuss the possibilities of consolidation. The public meeting begins at 7 p.m. at South Terrace Elementary School in Carlton. There will be no public comment...
Carlton schools budget stays red
Despite making $143,000 in cuts, the Carlton school board faces an approval Monday of a 2020 budget that shows the district $580,809 in the red when comparing expenditures versus revenue. At a discussion meeting Monday, business manager Renee...
Carlton schools continue course toward consolidation
The Carlton school district is flirting with the possibilities of consolidation with Cloquet as discussion with Wrenshall has ebbed and flowed over the past few years. At the school board meeting Monday, there was some back-and-forth about how...
Big Lake sewer plan remains at an impasse
After years of study and infrastructure planning, the Big Lake Area Sanitary District is having trouble getting over the final hurdle in cleaning up a lake that is surrounded by failing residential sewer systems. The district has been trying to get...
Liquor store ownership change remains a family affair
There is some celebrating going on at Cold One Liquor in Cloquet this weekend. It's billed as a "new ownership grand opening" but the faces at the 15-year-old store will be familiar. Dean and Alison...
Wrenshall drops teacher position to deal with deficit
The Wrenshall school board on Monday night passed a resolution to not renew a contract for a probationary elementary school teacher. The move was discussed the week earlier at the committee of the whole meeting as a way to erase a $43,313 deficit in...
One football team for Carlton, Wrenshall?
A historical sports co-operative between schools in Carlton and Wrenshall could be approved as early as Monday by district school boards. Football coaches and activities directors from both schools made presentations to the public in Carlton and the...
Cloquet officially designates 'school forest'
The largest classroom at Cloquet schools is poised to receive some expert help from the state, and all the Cloquet School Board needed to do is give the classroom a name. This week, the board approved designating the 15 acres of woods, fields and...
Utility tax payback cases add up
Two recent resolutions in Minnesota Tax Court are part of a trickle that is expected to lead to a flood for taxpayers in Carlton County and in a swath of counties to the northwest. In early March, the tax court in St. Paul’s Ramsey County affirmed...
Wrenshall students have their say on school plans
Sometimes, it's the most obvious thing that can be neglected. In the past two years, the Wrenshall school district has offered up two referendums to make improvements at its K-12 school. Part of that...
