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
It wasn't just your run-of-the-mill cloud cover that kept Carlton County residents inside looking at the eclipse online on Monday. It was what writers call a leaden sky, oozing rain all day. A real soaker, with a deck of bruise-colored clouds blotting out any semblance of a sun, let alone one that was diminished by just over 70 percent as the moon moved over its path. It was dark all day, but perceptibly darker around 2 p.m., when the partial eclipse reached its peak. Or maybe it was just anothe...
A do-it-yourself expansion of part of Kangas Road will remain intact after the Thomson Township board of supervisors 4-1 vote last Thursday. Resident Al Bottila doubled the width of a portion of the road near his property by laying material in the east ditch. At the April 4 township meeting, when the board considered digging up the extension, supervisor Tony Compo and township attorney Dave Pritchett said they both inspected the site and said it looked fine. "You're putting the township at risk...
With my dad in a hospital bed in late 2022, we planned how the family would gather for the 2024 eclipse at his house in Vincennes, Indiana - not quite a halfway point between my brother's home in Florida and mine in Minnesota. A huge fan of all things outer space, my dad had taken an astronomy class in college and enjoyed dragging kids and neighbors outside to search for constellations, planets and even the space station for the rest of his life. He didn't live to see 2024, but we did. My...
Carlton superintendent Donita Stepan created a stir last week, when she announced April 3 to school district staff that a plan was being drafted that would move Carlton schools to a four-day school week as soon as next year. On Monday, during the first of three hastily scheduled public hearings announced Thursday, Stepan reflected for the school board on what she told teachers and staff. "I understand this is quick and I understand this isn't normally how we would do business, to move this...
The Cloquet school district is poised to cut 24 mostly teaching positions at a special meeting Friday, April 12, responding to lost revenue and evidence of declining enrollment. Superintendent Michael Cary outlined the cuts during the school board’s committee of the whole meeting Monday. None of the cuts are tenured teachers, and the nonrenewals will amount to roughly $1.6 million in savings. The district was responding to the end of what Cary called “soft funds” — grant-related state and federal dollars mostly from the sunsetting of pandemi...
News that the Biden administration finalized strict limits on certain "forever chemicals" in drinking water didn't come as a surprise to the city of Cloquet Wednesday. The new rule that will require utilities to reduce PFAS - or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances - in drinking water to the lowest level they can be reliably measured. PFAS have been under discussion for the past decade or two in Minnesota, in large part because Minnesota-based company 3M is and has been one of the...
The minivan smashed into a wooden utility pole, sheering it completely at its base. The back of the van then rose up and the entire vehicle flipped, coming to rest upside down on the sidewalk. That's the scene Dan Hertle described as he and his wife were strolling into Gordy's Hi-Hat in Cloquet Monday afternoon just before 3 p.m. "We had just parked, and there was this loud bang," Hertle said. "Really loud." He said he looked to where the sound came from, just a block north on Minnesota Highway...
The Lakehead Chapter of the Minnesota Finnish American Historical Society will hold its Spring Meeting at at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 18 at Kenwood Lutheran Church in Duluth. There will be a public program at 6 p.m., Dr. Paul Niemisto, professor emeritus of St. Olaf College, will discuss a new FinnFest publication, Finnish Heritage Hymnbook. It is a collection of hymns and songs in Finnish and English, and many hymns also in Swedish. The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will...
Esko superintendent Aaron Fischer summarized progress on the new fitness center at the district’s athletic complex Monday at the monthly school board meeting. The weightlifting and other machines should be coming in May, and the furniture should follow shortly after. “We’re right on the budget we have set, hopefully a little bit better actually,” he said. Fischer plans to have an open house and grand opening in June. Nathan Norton of ICS and Sal Bagley of Wold Architects & Engineers present...
Gordon Rolland “Gordy” Davis was born on July 24, 1928, to Rolland and Fern (Crowell) Davis in Duluth. He passed away on April 2, 2024, at his home in Carlton. Gordy attended Crosby Ironton High School in Crosby. After high school, Gordy moved to Cloquet to work at Wood Conversion. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on Jan. 25, 1951 and served his country during the Korean War in Germany with the Army Corp of Engineers. He was honorably discharged on Jan. 24, 1953. He was united in marriage to Lillian...
Carlton County Animal Rescue volunteers, the city of Cloquet and its police department, and a handful of pet-loving local organizations are partnering to host a microchip clinic. The clinic will take place 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 13 at Veterans Park in Cloquet. Carlton County residents must provide proof of residency at the event and will receive free microchips for pets. Non-residents can still bring their cats and dogs for microchipping for a $20 fee. Carlton County Animal Rescue is a non-profit group formed to find homes for stray and...
Esko superintendent Aaron Fischer told the school board Monday that he was cautiously optimistic the district would not have to face any retrenchment as a proposed budget for 2025 is being formulated. "Our forecast showed that we were going to be projecting to be OK, so we are moving forward without any cuts," he said. The number of students is the backbone of state funding and, unlike neighboring school districts, Esko has experienced a steady enrollment even with an overall decline in...
What started out as a promise to a best friend has evolved into a program for veterans living with trauma. Mike Waldron is the founder of 23rd Veteran, which he started in 2016. Waldron was born and raised in the Twin Cities and now makes his home in Esko. He served in the Marine Corps infantry and started combat in 2003 in Iraq. His best friend, Lance Thompson, who served with him, died from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. Ten...
Marlys Ann Kilen, 84, of Cloquet passed away with family by her side on March 31, 2024, under Essentia hospice care. She was born Feb. 29, 1940, to Alex and Ruby (Hohenstein) Milbrath in Rost Township, Jackson County, Minnesota. She graduated from Lakefield High School in 1958 and went on to attend Mankato State College, where she studied education. She received a master's degree from the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth in 1989. Marlys went on to teach at schools in Chaska, Windom and...
Sammi Olson is a Cloquet native who lives in Minneapolis and is a pilot for Delta Air Line's regional carrier Delta Connection. She graduated as Sammi Proulx from Cloquet High School in 2017. She'd wanted to be a pilot for a long time. "I think my dad had a really big influence on it because he was a pilot for the Guard in Duluth," Olson said. Don Proulx is her father. "I always wanted to do it since I was a kid, and I never really had any other plans or ideas." Olson got her bachelor's of...
Margaret Mell, 95, of Cloquet passed away peacefully on Friday, April 5, 2024. “Muggs” will be most remembered for her tireless and devoted years spent rescuing, caring for, and finding homes for our community’s stray and neglected animals. She was preceded in death by her husband, Donald Mell; and is survived by a sister, Ruby (Dick) Heikkinen; six daughters, Katherine (Bob) Winkler, Susan (Bruce) Anderson, Christine (Steve) Borgeson, Wendy Mell, Donna Mell, and Karen (Paul) Draeger; and many...
The words “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are ensconced in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. At a time when people in the new colonies struggled to meet basic needs, procure property and establish a free society, it is a bit puzzling that the Founding Fathers would list “pursuit of happiness” on an equal level as “life” and “liberty.” We are almost 249 years removed from the time when those words were written. The United States of America has grown from 13 colonies t...
Freedom to practice religion is a cornerstone of our country and its history — we enjoy many freedoms that are constitutionally protected, and the freedom of religion is the prime example. In the past, the Minnesota Human Rights Act included an exemption for religious groups from being forced to hire individuals that don’t align with their deeply held religious beliefs, because of that very protection. This meant that religious institutions like churches and schools were not forced to hire those whose belief system did not align with those of...
Trees, lakes, and water: Minnesota is known for an abundance of each. And there’s something else we have in abundance: common sense. We work hard, play hard, and don’t waste time on things that don’t serve us. Rep. Jeff Dotseth would be wise to follow suit. His time in the Minnesota House of Representatives has made one thing painfully clear: He doesn’t lead with common sense. Dotseth recently co-authored a bill, HF4687, seeking to address “cloud-seeding,” “weather control,” “zenobiotic radiation” and “electromagnetic radiation,” parallel to ch...
The Cloquet boys baseball team could have picked a couple of easier opponents to open with this season. Instead, the Lumberjacks opened with a doubleheader against Duluth East and Duluth Marshall at Wade Stadium last Thursday, April 4. The 'Jacks lost the opener to East 7-4 and then fell in the nightcap 8-1 to Marshall. "Both of those teams are going to be awfully good this season," said Cloquet coach Tyler Olin. The Lumberjacks will have to find a way to replace 13 players who graduated last...
Thursday, April 4 Boys Baseball Duluth East 7 Cloquet 4 Duluth Marshall 8 Cloquet 1 South Ridge 4 Mesabi East 1 Girls Softball Carlton/Wrenshall 4 Mt. Iron-Buhl 1 Boys Tennis Rock Ridge 6 CEC 1 Friday, April 5 Boys Baseball Mesabi East 6 ML/WR 3 Tuesday, April 9 Boys Tennis CEC 4 Hermantown 3 Girls Softball Cloquet 12 Duluth East 2 Playing its season-opener on the road on Ordean East’s newly-renovated artificial turf, the Lumberjacks (1-0) were powered by back-to-back-to-back home runs by Allie Jones, Blythe Proulx and Josie Lindstrom in the b...
Donald Thomas DeNio passed away Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth. Visitation: Noon until the 1:30 p.m. Celebration of Life on Saturday, April 13 at Atkins Northland Funeral Home in Cloquet. Rodney Allen Niskanen, 75, of Floodwood passed away Feb. 19, 2024. A Celebration of Life, with a bite to eat and a cup of coffee, will be held 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, April 27 at Downtown Fair Center, 107 W. Seventh Ave., Floodwood. Ardis Joan “Bestemor” (Eide) Jons, born June 9, 1933, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, died on Dec. 18, 2...
Big-time pitching carried Esko to its first Class AA high school state baseball championship last spring. Minnesota Gatorade Player of the Year Cale Haugen graduated, but the team will lean on pitchers Finn Furcht and Dylan Marciulionis to make another run. The three combined to limit three opponents to just six hits at state, as Esko clipped St. Agnes 1-0, Cannon Falls 7-2 and Perham 9-0 in the final at CHS Field in St. Paul. "We needed Cale to be great in the opener, which he was, in one of hi...
With a 1-0 overtime win April 5 in the finale of a two-game set with Springfield, the Minnesota Wilderness surged into a prospective playoff spot with two regular-season games to go. The Wilderness got a goal from Nate Murray two minutes into overtime to secure the win at Northwoods Credit Union Arena in Cloquet. Goalie Adam Prokop, of Wausau, Wisconsin has been carrying the team of late, and completed his fourth shutout of the season. The Wilderness (29-24-5) face the Springfield Jr. Blues...
The Cloquet-Esko-Carlton boys tennis team was all smiles on Tuesday as the team competed for the first time on the new high school tennis courts. "Everyone was so excited and thrilled with the new facility," said CEC coach Derek Johnson. "With snow last week we just didn't know if we'd get to open today, but we were able to open and they were able to get some of the bleachers in, so it really made for a fantastic night." The new Members Cooperative Credit Union athletic complex features eight...
