A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 75
The Esko school district is planning a few projects that will give students and the greater community an opportunity to stay active year-round. The Esko school board has been working on plans for a new fitness center over the last few months, something that was identified near the top of the list on the district's 10-year facilities plan. The board shared some initial plans for the new fitness center at the meeting Monday, Oct. 10. In a presentation given by ICS, the district's building project...
The Thomson Township board of supervisors is continuing to seek improvements for the township’s sewer system in order to prevent future emergency repairs, like the one in late July 2022 on Highway 61 in front of the Esko school. At their meeting Thursday, Oct. 6, the board approved a project, to be completed by July 1, 2023, that will update sewer lines in the area surrounding where the emergency repairs were done in summer of 2022, to prevent a similar situation again. Township engineer Joe Jurewicz recommended the township work with Visu S...
Esko board approves maximum levy The Esko school board held a special meeting Monday, Sept. 26 to approve the proposed levy payable in 2023. The board was not able to vote on the levy at its normal meeting on the second Monday of the month because there were details on a few projects, such as the newly proposed fitness center, that still needed to be worked out. With some of those details ironed out, according to superintendent Aaron Fischer, the district felt more comfortable with the board approving the levy that was presented to them at the...
Thomson Township officials hosted a sewer rates presentation Thursday, Sept. 8, to allow the township engineer Joe Jurewicz to explain why he is recommending an increase in rates for upcoming years. When Jurewicz and the Thomson Township board of supervisors began public discussion about raising sewer rates earlier this summer, the prospect was met with questions from the community about why there was a need for a price hike. Jurewicz and the board offered the sewer rates presentation to the public to give them an opportunity to see the work th...
At their first meeting of the new school year, the Esko school board heard good news from district administrators. Principals Greg Hexum and Brian Harker told the board Monday, Sept. 12 that there is excitement in the building like never before. With a handful of new teachers, and classrooms being somewhat back to normal after the height of the pandemic, students arrived eager to learn. Superintendent Aaron Fisher said enrollment numbers have remained similar to last year, despite the predicted reduction in numbers this year. All told, 1,265 Es...
Thomson township supervisor, Jason Paulson, gave some final statements to the board and the community at the Thomson board meeting Thursday, Aug. 18. Paulson had announced his resignation from the board, and his position on the Cloquet Area Fire District Board, at the board of supervisor’s first meeting in August. Paulson left the board with some closing remarks about his six years as a supervisor. He mostly focused on the fire district. “One thing I’ve learned in my six years is the value of our community’s first responders,” Paulson s...
A quiet summer for the Esko Public Schools has allowed administrators and school board members to move forward with plans for a few school improvement projects that will begin construction during the 2022-23 school year. The Esko school board approved the district’s contract with Minneapolis-based ICS, the construction company the district has used in the past, for the construction of a new fitness center and to complete the new water treatment system. Superintendent Aaron Fisher said these p...
The Thomson Township Board of Supervisors is looking for a township resident to fill a vacancy on the board following the resignation of one of its most active members. Jason Paulson announced his resignation from the Board of Supervisors and the Cloquet Area Fire District Board at the Township board meeting Thursday, Aug. 4. Paulson has been an outspoken member during his six years on the board. As the county's representative on the Cloquet Area Fire District Board, he pushed for change in the...
Broadband availability is a hot topic once again in Thomson township, with the Cloquet broadband committee seeking to include an underserved area of the township in their proposal to provide better broadband options to more households in Carlton County. Township clerk Rhonda Peleski told the Thomson Township board of supervisors about the opportunity to join in on the project at their meeting Thursday, July 7. According to Peleski, the city of Cloquet has partnered with telecommunications service provider CTC to prepare and find funding to...
The Esko school district’s plans to create a school forest for students has blossomed into a bigger project that the whole Esko community can become involved in. Steve Krueger, a teacher at Esko, proposed the idea of a school forest to the Esko school board back in April. The board gave Krueger and the school forest committee its approval to move forward with the project so that the committee could begin working with the Department of Natural Resources. Krueger presented the committee’s lat...
Dreams of new outdoor basketball courts in Esko could soon become a reality. According to Matt Berger, a former basketball coach, player and trainer, the outdoor courts in Esko have been well-loved by the community over the years. But now, summer basketball players find themselves wrapping a lot of skinned knees due to the uneven and cracked nature of the old courts. Berger told the Thomson Township board of supervisors at its meeting Thursday, June 16, about the crooked posts and worn-out hoops there. During the summer of 2021, Berger and...
The Esko athletic department is developing a new sportsmanship initiative to help educate and encourage athletes, along with establishing guidelines and consequences for actions that don’t “represent who Esko is.” Activities director Chad Stoskopf presented an outline for the new sportsmanship initiative to the Esko school board at its meeting Monday, June 13. The initiative, Stoskopf said, is focused on educating athletes and coaches to prevent any unsportsmanlike behavior. It will include the reinstatement of the mandatory all-sports meeti...
Residents of Thomson township are looking at higher sewer rates for the first time in more than 20 years. Following many discussions about the township’s sewer system’s needs and the cost to maintain the system, township engineer Joe Jurewicz and the Thomson Township board of supervisors informed the public at their May 19 meeting that rates need to be adjusted. According to Jurewicz, the township last altered sewer rates in 2000, but with the township replacing parts of the system this year, they need to have the funds to be able to mai...
The Thomson Township board of supervisors approved crack sealing and restriping for both the town hall building parking lot and the fire department’s parking lot, along with other roads throughout the township, during their meeting Thursday, May 5. The crack repair, sealing, and restriping of the parking lots has not been done since before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to township engineer Joe Jurewicz. Some board members were concerned about the price increase from previous repairs, but Jurewicz assured them the township i...
Esko students, from kindergarteners to the senior class, have a lot to be proud of, according to school principals and superintendent Aaron Fischer. High school principal Greg Hexum reported to the Esko school board at its meeting Monday that high school seniors have received over $2.5 million in scholarships to pursue secondary education after graduation. According to Hexum, more than $170,000 in local scholarships were awarded at the annual Esko Educational Foundation’s scholarship night. The remaining scholarships, totalling about $2.5 m...
The spring season has Thomson Township board members and township engineer Joe Jurewicz busy planning improvement projects. The Riverside Road project, which has been discussed by the town board and community members since early 2021, was approved by the board at its April 21 meeting. It involves paving the unpaved section of the road in 2023. This year, preparatory work will be started by the township’s utility and maintenance crew. Jurewicz said the preparation will consist of minor dirt work, adjusting grades, and adding gravel to p...
The Thomson Township Board of Supervisors voted to sign a letter of support for Carlton County’s planned reconstruction project for County State Aid Highway 61 at its meeting on April 7. Following a presentation by county engineer JinYeene Neumann and discussion with a concerned resident of the township, the board offered the support so the county can begin applying for a grant to help fund the project, set for construction in 2025. The reconstruction project would be from Highway 45 to Highway 35, reducing the four-lane roadway to two lanes w...
The beginning of spring has left Esko students itching to get outside. With the approval to create a school forest by the Esko school board and a solar panel project continuing to be developed, the district is excited to give students more opportunities to learn about the environment around them by exploring it firsthand. Esko third-grade teacher Steve Krueger and some of his colleagues recognized the importance of getting students outside and active while they are learning. During discussions about developing outdoor classrooms for teachers...
Carlton County is looking for the approval of Thomson Township organizations to move forward with planning the proposed County State Aid Highway 61 reconstruction and trail project, but the community organizations are not ready to give their stamp of approval. Carlton County engineer JinYeene Neumann requested a letter of support from the Thomson Township board at their meeting March 17, to be used as part of a grant application process for the project. Due to relatively low traffic on the roadway, approximately 2,400 vehicles a day, and...
The Esko school board is looking ahead to the 2023 school year, with Covid-19 cases slowing down for the district and the end of the current school year in sight. As of Friday, March 11, there were only two active Covid-19 cases documented by K-12 students and staff. The low number of cases not only means that masks remain optional for students, but it also allowed Esko school board members — and audience members — to hold their meeting Monday, March 14, without talking about Covid protocols, which have been the focus of many meetings throughou...
The Thomson Township Board of Supervisors heard annual reports from community leaders and discussed taxes at the annual township meeting Tuesday, March 8. The board approved the proposed 2023 tax levy for the township, $1,738,876, which reflects a 3-percent increase from the previous levy for 2022. There was no discussion regarding the 2023 levy, but resident Jim Nynas questioned the board about the township's relationship with the Cloquet Area Fire District and wondered if there had been any...
The Esko SubZero robotics team is preparing for its biggest season yet. The team of more than 40 Esko students has been hard at work since early January, constructing a robot to compete at the Lake Superior Regionals Competition at the Duluth Event Entertainment Center on March 4, a FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition. "First off, robotics gets confused with battle bots a lot, but it's really not that at all," said team captain Ben Holt....
For the first time in more than 20 years, the Esko One Act play team took its show to the state competition Friday. Before the team loaded their trailer and drove to St. Paul, their classmates and teachers at Esko high school held a sendoff for the One Act team. "Most of us don't do sports, theater is kind of our jam," said actor Drew Prachar. "So to realize we made state and now we get to run through the halls was pretty neat because a lot of us would never get that opportunity otherwise. It...
In a room packed full with nearly 40 parents and teachers, the Esko school board chose to not alter the district’s current Covid-19 mitigation strategies despite tense discussion between board members at their meeting Monday, Feb. 7. As of Monday, students in the district are not required to wear masks to class or school events, regardless of vaccination status. It’s a new policy for students in elementary school, and the same policy that’s been in place for more highly vaccinated secondary students since the start of the school year. Accor...
Don’t trust every phone call from an unfamiliar number. That was the message Carlton County Sheriff’s Office deputy Randy Roberts had for Thomson Township residents and the board of supervisors at the board meeting Thursday, Feb 3. According to Roberts, phone scams were a “big issue” in Thomson Township last month. He said one instance in January had him stopping some residents from withdrawing money at the bank for a business they had never heard of that called and asked for money. “Legitimate businesses don’t ask for money over the phone....
