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

School kids seem to always create a language of their own, mostly, I assume, so they can communicate with each other without their parents knowing what they are talking about. But when a kid goes to... Full story

They’re called “homes” for a reason. It’s where we live. Eat. Sleep. It’s where we keep our most precious possessions; it’s where we raise our kids. No one wants to leave their homes.... Full story

One of the best experiences I had running for office last year was traveling throughout Carlton County, meeting people in their homes and discussing politics. It’s true that a few people were... Full story

I heard Ricard Puumala passed away last week. The funeral is tomorrow and I'm planning to go, out of deep respect for my old friend. Doc Puumala seemed old when I met him, back in 1999 when I first... Full story

When Esko kids want safer crosswalks, they get safer crosswalks, even if it means they have to make some noise to get it done. There’s a wide, paved trail running from the high school to the... Full story

I try to keep my parking lot tidy, but there’s a stubborn cigarette butt that keeps lodging itself in the sidewalk crack right in front of my office door. I pick it up, but it keeps appearing.... Full story

Sydney J. Harris was a columnist I read as a kid in the Duluth News Tribune. One of my favorite recurring columns was his “Things I Learned En Route to Looking Up Other Things.” I suppose a...

Practicing family law can be far more difficult than expected. “This should be an easy one,” potential divorce clients tell me all the time. “We pretty much agree on everything.” Of course,... Full story

In town for a family reunion, and to help her grandparents Jim and Ann Mosack of Esko move to assisted living, Roz Chromy tracked me down to give me an update on her life since she left in 2009, a... Full story

I’m disappointed in the recent Supreme Court rulings, but not for the reasons you probably think I am. Sure, I would like to have seen President Biden carry out his plan to reduce student loan... Full story

I sure learned a lot at the two town hall meetings I held in Moose Lake and Scanlon earlier this month. The big issues, such as abortion rights, gun restrictions and taxes were not the top priority fo... Full story

I hope some of you can join us at the “town hall” meetings we’re holding around Carlton County next week. The first is Tuesday, June 6 at the Moose Lake Brewing conference room, and the other... Full story

I’ll bet many of you are clearing brush this weekend. I know my family will be. If city residents pile all our brush on the side of the roads within the Cloquet city limits, the city will come by... Full story

Gilligan and his pals relied on it to keep (relatively) sane. Fortunes have been made, legacies created, ordinary people turned into superstars. It’s been central to many movies and at least two bel... Full story

I was just in Houston, and there was an amazing story circulating. Apparently, some guy was meeting his girlfriend for a date at a burger joint. Both parked their cars at a lot across the street,...

Tucker Carlson, one of the most popular television personalities on Fox News, lost his job this week, to the cheers of liberals and to the tears of conservatives. But then Don Lemon, a liberal talk...

You don’t really own your land, right? The government just lets you use it as long as you pay your taxes, and, of course, you have to comply with zoning laws and all sorts of rules and regulations....

Sometimes lawyers have to argue in favor of issues they are opposed to. For example, a lawyer dedicated to First Amendment rights may defend a pornographer on constitutional grounds, although he’s...

The Legislature is gearing up to spend our money this week, so I thought I’d review some of the ways they plan to spend it. First, they are planning to increase wages and funding for the courts. As...

It’s difficult to explain why, exactly, there’s a disagreement over the revised project labor agreement (PLA) requirement for city-funded economic development projects. Just asking the question...

It was August 8, 1991, before I ever called my buddy Rolf’s dad “Bud” like everyone else did. Until that date, he had been “Mr. Kragseth” to me for over 20 years. This memory came back last...

Nothing strikes fear in a banker’s heart more than the words, “run on the bank.” It conjures up images of the Great Depression, the Great Recession, and Jimmy Stewart convincing his customers...

Thaw, freeze. Thaw, freeze. We’ve seen that cycle quite a bit this winter, especially as we close in on a record seasonal snowfall — will we beat the record of 113.4 inches? Stick around until... Full story

Gift certificates are very popular presents. They have been since at least 1978, when my sister Zora gave me a McDonald's certificate for Christmas. Fifty cents, which bought a burger and maybe a drin...

"Drill, baby, drill” is a fun slogan for those of us who can’t imagine a world without gasoline, and the protests over the Line 3 project cutting through Carlton County show that plenty of people...