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 1 - 25 of 35
A group of local students and staff got caught up in a wave of flight cancellations last weekend, when bad weather, a glut of travelers, and staffing and technology issues caused more than 10,000 U.S. flights to be canceled or postponed. That meant 30 Cloquet High School students and five staff members and chaperones found themselves unexpectedly stranded in Miami from Sunday through Wednesday, when the second leg of their return trip from Costa Rica was canceled with no explanation. CHS...
Sometimes people just need a helping hand to live safely at home. At Larson Commons - an affordable apartment building for seniors and the disabled in Cloquet - workers from Senior Friend Home Care have been that helping hand for years. Clients live in their own apartments, but they receive a range of services on a regular basis to make that independent living possible, and they know they can call the Senior Friend extension when they need someone to pop in. On Tuesday, Senior Friend had five...
Lane Johnson, a researcher at the Cloquet Forestry Center, knows a needle in the haystack when he sees one. "I have a photo mystery I wonder if your readers might be able to solve." He's looking for an original print of a photograph scan he found in the Carlton County Historical Society records for the forestry center. The image title reads: "Presbyterian Church Picnic, Forestry Station, Cloquet." "It seems the print was part of a photograph collection scanned by the (museum) some time ago but...
After a lapse of around 40 years, the Carlton County highway maintenance department is proposing a new, written agreement with those Carlton County townships that use the county to grade and plow their roads. County engineer JinYeene Neumann is encouraging the townships to provide input on any changes needed. She plans to present the proposed maintenance agreement at the spring Carlton County Association of Township Officers meeting on April 26. "We are open to any suggestions from the...
Local historian, playwright, journalist and storyteller Dan Reed will be selling (and signing) copies of his new book, “We spoke of many things,” during the Knot Gallery art reception Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Pine Knot News office at 122 Avenue C in Cloquet. Although the book is a historical narrative of Reed’s extended family, he said readers have told them they recognize echoes of their own family experience. Check out next week’s Pine Knot News for a story about the book, Reed and a l...
A man was arrested and at least three passengers injured Saturday after the driver rolled his SUV in a crash while likely under the influence of alcohol, according to the Carlton County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies responded to the one-vehicle crash at 10:15 p.m. Saturday, April 2 on the 1400 block of County Road 4 in Twin Lakes Township. The SUV was traveling eastbound when it left the road and struck a driveway approach, causing it to roll over with five adult occupants inside. All were believed to be wearing seat belts at the time of the c...
Cloquet Area Fire District crews responded to a structure fire on the 700 block of 29th Street in Scanlon just after 2 p.m. Monday, March 28. Upon arrival, there was fire showing from the rear of the structure and extending into the eaves. Firefighters were on the scene for approximately two hours and determined the cause was accidental. There were no injuries. The CAFD also responded to a car fire and a kitchen fire on Saturday....
In a work session with Cloquet city council members Tuesday, members of the Cloquet broadband committee shared their personal and professional experiences with internet access in Cloquet, with a common conclusion: It’s not good enough. Their recommendation? Take the $300,000 the city has committed from America Rescue Plan Act funds and use that for an engineering study to identify a fiber system and costs for roughly $20,000, and use additional funds to secure and match larger grants that target broadband access. All four committee members s...
Judge Amy Lukasavitz's chambers is a work in progress. There are just a few personal touches in the office that was once the realm of fellow Carlton County Sixth Judicial District Court judge Rebekka Stumme, who moved into the chambers of retired judge Robert Macaulay. Lukasavitz was appointed to replace Macaulay last fall. While Stumme gets the larger chambers and a personal bathroom, the newest judge smiles while sitting in the light pouring in through the large courthouse windows in Carlton....
One of the two Cloquet women who had children taken from their custody in January appears ready to take her case to trial. Nicole Ammesmaki had what is called an admit/deny hearing Tuesday and her attorney stated that her client denies the court’s reasoning for taking her five children out of her home. The hearing also served to clear up questions Carlton County Sixth District judge Rebekka Stumme had regarding the complicated case. Ammesmaki, who by all accounts has cooperated fully with steps required to regain custody, also faces criminal c...
Cloquet police chief Derek Randall said Tuesday that police are still waiting for autopsy results for Amanda Cadotte, a 33-year-old Cloquet resident who died on March 3. According to a news release, Cloquet and Fond du Lac police departments, along with the Cloquet Area Fire District, responded to 956 Trettel Lane in Cloquet on a medical call at approximately 7:24 a.m. March 3. Cadotte was unresponsive and pronounced deceased at the scene. Cadotte is survived by four sons. Randall said the investigation hinges on the medical examiner’s r...
The Carlton County Sheriff’s Office is notifying the public that a 24-year-old man who is classified as a risk Level 3 sex offender will be living in Wrenshall Township effective April 7. Darren Tyler Dunn was previously convicted of engaging in sexual conduct and contact against known teenaged females. In each incident Dunn used a relationship of trust he had created to attain and exploit unmonitored access. He used attention and affection in his effort to manage his victims. Dunn has served his sentence and is transitioning in to the c...
Ice skaters of all ages are invited to skate for free with an Easter bunny from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 16 at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. Minnesota Wilderness hockey players will be skating as well and there will be music, prizes, a raffle, cookies, treat bags and take-and-make crafts. The Cloquet track and field team will serve a pancake breakfast 8-11 a.m at Carmen’s Restaurant. Breakfast is $5 and free for those age 4 and under. The event is coordinated by the City of Cloquet and Cloquet Community E...
The Barnum school board took unprecedented action to hire Bill Peel as a half-time shared superintendent during a special meeting on Thursday, March 31. Peel is also superintendent of the Willow River school district. “The opportunity presented itself to change to a half-time superintendent,” board chair Jessica Unkelhaeuser explained. “With that opportunity, we’ll be looking at a full-time high school principal and a full-time elementary principal.” The board passed a motion to change the original proposal of hiring a full-time superinte...
This overreaching deer was recently found in Frankie and Norma De Dominces' yard in Cloquet. "We live on the outskirts of the city and frequently see many deer," Norma said. "This deer was raiding our bird feeder and I was surprised she could reach that high." Norma said it may be time to "raise the bird feeders higher."...
Maybe it’s the perspective a long life brings, but I find myself eyeing with some skepticism the glut of “personal brands” that assault us every day on television, in print, and through social media. Entertainers, celebrities, politicians striving for acclaim, artists and writers who’ve mastered the public relations game, journalists and media stars who are building their national profiles—all are “important” in terms of the attention they garner. But are they actually important? In some ways, of course, the question is impossible to...
I remain struck by the tagline for WDIO-TV in Duluth: “With You For Life.” Seems ominous, doesn’t it? It’s a double entendre, maybe. First meaning, perhaps, “with you through this journey of life.” But if it is a double entendre, I’m not sure if they really want you to think that you are tied to them for your entire being. As a typical Minnesotan, that aggressive connotation is just that, a bit aggressive. I think of “With You From the Cradle to the Grave” or a life sentence in prison. So does that tagline hit its mark? I reviewed these thought...
With Ann Carlander's help and Annie Dugan's encouragement, Knot Gallery curator Ann Markusen put out a call for portrait art for the April/May exhibit, and a variety of area artists responded. One, Ivy Vainio, uses photography as her art form, as Markusen reviews below. While this is the first time Vainio's photographs will grace the 100-year-old brick wall that is the Knot Gallery at the Pine Knot News office, the four other artists are returning exhibitors, and show a different side of their...
Ivy Vainio's large-scale photo prints of Anishinaabe elders grace our multicolored brick wall at the Pine Knot News office, a striking introduction to a portrait exhibit which opens today, April 8, with an artists reception 5-7 p.m. at the Pine Knot Gallery at 122 Ave. C in Cloquet's West End. One set of Vainio's photos depicts elders participating in cultural events. Virgil Sohm shares an Anishinaabe hand drum song, photographed at the Kiwenz Ojibwe language camp. Another captures the late Ron...
The County Seat Theater Company will present what general manager Joel Soukkala calls a "diva-licious farce" beginning Thursday, April 14, after a Covid-19 case pushed the debut back from the planned opening today. "Suite Surrender" is set in 1942 with two of Hollywood's biggest actresses (portrayed by Mimi Effinger and Etta Souter) descending upon the luxurious Palm Beach Royale Hotel with assistants, luggage, and a legendary feud with one another in tow. Everything seems to be in order for...
The warm weather of spring and the melting snow has local track teams getting ready for another exciting season. Take a look at some of these athletes in this preview of the 2022 track and field season. Cromwell-Wright Longtime Cromwell boys and girls track coach Dave Foster welcomed 35 athletes just a couple of weeks ago. Some of the very best runners in the area sport the Cardinals logo. "On the girls side we will be very young, with no senior or junior girls this year," said Foster. "The...
It's been rousing fun tracking some of the feedback I've been receiving from my column March 4 on local high school basketball scoring records. Carlton County sports fanatics have much to be proud of with its basketball heritage. Records continue to fall and the dialogue of which specific generation of teams and individuals is the "best" is a top local coffee shop conversation igniter. Thanks to Dwight Cadwell, WKLK radio personality and local sports expert, I was corrected on who holds the...
A second period of wild swings in action culminated in two Minnesota Wilderness power play goals that propelled them to a 4-2 victory over the Springfield Jr. Blues April 1 to complete a sweep of the two-game series. Niko Rexine scored twice and Will Persson added the winning goal and an assist in leading the Wilderness to a 5-2 victory Thursday night. The wins kept the Wilderness in third place through the weekend in a chaotic NAHL Midwest Division. The Wilderness have a 8-1-1 record in their last 10 games. They’re now nipping at s...
With bears emerging from hibernation in the coming weeks, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources reminds homeowners to check their property for food sources that could attract bears. "Please take the time now to remove or secure anything that could attract a bear," said Eric Nelson, DNR wildlife damage program supervisor. "Prevention is key. Once a bear finds a food source, it will likely return again." As bears emerge, their metabolism gradually ramps up and they will begin looking for...
We slid Cap'n Ron's Skeeter into the warming water of late March. On each side of the landing, the docks towered above us, a harbinger of how dangerously low the water had receded. We slowly worked our way onto the main lake, straddling the slimy off-white navigation buoys bobbing in the morning wind. In all directions, the reservoir revealed its scarred, exposed underbelly. My son Josh and I had come to Texas for one thing: to chase the Florida strain largemouth bass lurking in the back bays...
