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 38
The lost chickens of Carlton County have been found. And they've been adopted. This week, for the second time in a month, people exploring the woods off Carlton County Road 4 between Interstate 35 and Hay Lake - along the border of Blackhoof and Twin Lakes townships - discovered hundreds of chickens roaming wild. And for the second time since Sept. 12, a call to action on social media has raised outrage and compassion as people have taken the birds in. It isn't difficult to ascertain where the...
After making Time magazine last year with one of the first drive-thru vaccination clinics in the country, Carlton County did it again this week. This time, residents could get a twofer, two shots in the same drive-thru, both of them free. On tap were both Covid-19 and influenza vaccinations, inside the county transportation building on Wednesday and the county's Barnum garage on Thursday. Getting both shots - a double, if you please - is fine according to the Centers for Disease Control and...
Some parents in the Esko school district are not happy with what they perceive as the “woke” culture at Esko High School, according to Kara Kangas, a parent in the district. Kangas expressed frustration at Esko’s decision to elect its homecoming candidates based on personal character only, without requiring a set number of boys and girls. The results of the vote had two boys with the most votes, followed by two girls. “What happened to our homecoming,” Kangas said to the board. “We had two mal...
A former Barnum girls basketball coach pleaded guilty Friday to having sex with a player. Andrew Palmer, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Two other third-degree counts will be dismissed as part of the plea deal. Carlton County Attorney Lauri Ketola said Palmer “provided a factual basis that he had intercourse with the victim,” adding that there was no agreement on sentencing. According to the criminal complaint, a 17-year-old Barnum student’s parents contacted local law enforcement in January, regar...
Misty Louise Mattinas, 27, pleaded guilty Friday to one felony count of criminal vehicular homicide, with alcohol concentration .08 or more, in Sixth District Carlton County Court. Two other felony charges of criminal vehicular homicide, six felony charges of criminal vehicular operation-bodily harm, and two charges for endangerment of a child along with an open bottle law violation, and driving after revocation were dismissed as part of the plea bargain. Mattinas’ three-year-old son died as a result of the crash on White Pine Trail last N...
DFL legislators tour the fire district’s Station 1 last week. Segregated by party, state legislators have been cruising around the state on a tour of entities with projects vying to be included in the next round of state bonding. One of those stops was Cloquet on Oct. 5. The Cloquet Area Fire District is asking the state to bond for up to $10 million — with a 50-percent local match — to build a new facility combining the Cloquet and Scanlon fire and ambulance stations. The money would also...
Although the Cloquet Area Alternative Education Program is full, other schools in the Cloquet district are seeing a decline when compared to pre-pandemic numbers, superintendent Michael Cary told board members Monday. Pre-Covid, Cary said, resident student numbers had been decreasing slightly, but the high number of students open-enrolling into the district always offset and kept the district numbers on an upward trajectory. There were a number of years in which the enrollment grew quite a bit, just after the new middle school was built; those...
Lane closures that began this week on southbound and northbound Interstate 35 at the Moose Horn River between Moose Lake and Barnum are expected to last until the end of the month. The left lane in both directions is closed for pier work underneath the bridge at the river. Lanes are expected to reopen Oct. 31....
Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa clinic coordinator Chris Davis has earned national recognition- the Outstanding Service Award, presented by the National Indian Health Board at a ceremony last week. NIHB is a Washinglon, D.C.-based organization established to represent tribal governments through collective advocacy, program development, as well as policy formation and analysis. The service award was created by NIHB to recognize individuals or organizations whose work has made an...
Thomson Township board supervisors are taking a look at some township roads before winter begins. At its Oct. 7 meeting the board voted to pay for preparation work on Hillside Road so that it can be repaved by the end of 2021. Residents along the road petitioned for an assessment and came together to pay for the new road themselves, which is allowed under Minnesota statute 429. The board decided to take on the cost of the preparation work since the project will ultimately benefit the township, not just the residents who live there. The final...
As part of West End Flourish events, enjoy and participate in a unique class and pop-up performance art event 3-5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16 at Dunlap Park. Organizer Kim Buskala said the first 30 participants will receive a journal made by Northern Printery. “We will dance, we will write, we will be in the community,” she wrote. Buskala offered a writing prompt to consider in advance of the event: “How do you envision change, how do you imagine our city, the west end?” Also including music and storytelling, the pop-up will finish with a communi...
A directive has come from Minnesota Supreme court chief justice Lorie S. Gildea to the Sixth Judicial District, which includes Carlton County, that all backlogged cases due to the Covid-19 pandemic are to have judicial action before the end of this year. Upon the recommendation of county attorney Laurie Ketola, the Carlton County board of commissioners unanimously approved hiring a provisional attorney during Monday's regular meeting, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act money coming from the federal government. The attorney will be hired for...
Some of us may remember learning about the pioneer days when the women settlers would gather every so often for a quilting bee, a day of camaraderie and sewing. Even though our 21st-century lifestyle is far removed from those early days, the essence of the quilting spirit is alive and well in the members of the Wood City Quilters. The group formed in April 2019 with about 15 members. They originally met in the Esko Town Hall, but now meet on the second Wednesday each month in the Cloquet Public...
Bill Grant Minnesota Community Action Partnership Results from the 2020 U.S. census are beginning to trickle out, and for those living in poverty, the news is decidedly mixed. On the one hand, congressional response to the Covid-19 pandemic has moved almost 3.5 million Americans above the poverty line. Yet, poverty rates for minority populations remained far higher than for whites. According to the Coalition on Human Needs, 19.5 percent of Blacks and 17 percent of Latinx in the Current Population Survey were below the poverty line compared to...
There’s nothing like a random four-day weekend for kids from school. Education Minnesota weekend is coming up next weekend and it’s a treat for students and for many parents, who take the opportunity to travel, visit friends and family, and do other holiday-type things without the burden of an actual holiday. It’s great. I know a handful of teachers. Not one of them, when asked, is planning to use the four-day weekend for anything other than “personal development.” None plan to attend Education...
Norma Winnifred (Groves) Andrew, 97, passed away in Phoenix on Aug. 31, 2021. Born June 1, 1924, to parents Arthur William Henry Groves and Winnifred Edith (Brown) Groves of Orillia, Ontario, Canada, Norma was the eldest daughter among seven siblings. She was interred at St. Andrews and St. James Cemetery in Orillia on Oct. 2. Norma's first job was in Orillia as a Bell Telephone of Canada switchboard operator, where she worked her first year after high school. In 1943, at age 19, she enlisted...
Gerald Allen Heikkila, 87, of Cromwell passed away Oct. 8, 2021, at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth. Jerry was born in Cromwell on Jan. 24, 1934, to George and Esther Heikkila. He was raised, and attended school, in Cromwell. On May 11, 1957, he married Wilma Wicklund. Jerry served in the U.S. Army from 1957 to 1959. He worked 38 years on the railroad. He started his career as a laborer for Northern Pacific and retired as a district roadmaster for Burlington Northern Santa Fe. After retirement,...
Retired Cloquet school superintendent Russell Smith, 80, passed away Aug. 9 at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Oct. 23 at Nelson Funeral Care in Cloquet. The family will host a time of fellowship beginning at 10:15 a.m. A luncheon will follow the service. Brandon Allen Blacketter, 24, of Cloquet, passed away suddenly on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021. An all-night wake begins at 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 15 at the Fond du Lac Cultural Language and Learning Center, 1713 Mizhaki Road, Cloquet. It will...
Kayla I. Gist, 38, of Cloquet, passed away Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021, surrounded by family at Mayo Methodist Hospital in Rochester. Kayla was born on May 28, 1983, to Pamela M. Carlson-Jones and Thomas H. Thompson in Rugby, North Dakota. Kayla was married to Anthony Gist on Feb. 9, 2007, at Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Cloquet. They renewed their vows on Feb. 7, 2009, in Fargo when Anthony returned from deployment. She lived with Anthony and their two daughters, Hannah and Elise, on the family...
Duane "Dewey" K. Johnson, 73, of Cloquet, passed away Sunday, Oct. 10, 2021, at St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth. He was born May 16, 1948, in Cloquet, the son of Kenneth and Margaret (Olson) Johnson. Dewey graduated from Cloquet High School in 1966 and attended Bemidji State College before joining the U.S. Marines during the Vietnam War. Dewey joined the Cloquet Police Department in 1974 and retired as police chief in 2003 after 29 years of service. He was an avid hunter and enjoyed skiing...
Katherine R. Axtell, 87, of Cloquet, passed away Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021, at St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth. She was born May 14, 1934, in Superior, the daughter of Joseph and Theresa (Hudacek) Pensak. Katherine was raised in Brookston. She was a member of Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Cloquet and enjoyed embroidering, gardening, flowers, shopping, country music and John Wayne movies. Most especially, Katherine loved her family, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and...
Darrell Davey is not afraid to reveal his inner nerd in conversation about games or all things ghoulish. And when something manages to combine the two - like his own All Hallows' Eve game - the Cloquet man enters a different dimension. Asked to describe the game he created, designed and is now selling, Davey starts with "it's like dudes on board, PVP," before translating the acronym as "player versus player." Then the fast-talking Davey dives into the theme of the game: monsters versus...
Haunted Hawthorne This 10-minute walk-through maze at 827 Hawthorne St. in Cloquet returns for another year. There’s candy at the end and you can buy a $5 raffle ticket to win a T-shirt. It’s free, and donations are accepted. Do the haunt 7-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through the end of the month. Carlton mazes • The Ru-Ridge Corn Maze is open Thursday-Sunday through Halloween at 1781 County Road 1, Carlton. • The neighboring Haunted Shack and Haunted Ridge is open the nights of Oct. 15-16, Oct. 21-24 and Oct. 28-30. Hours are 7-9 p.m. Th...
It was one of those appointments I wasn’t looking forward to. The confirmation program had made a big change and the kids and parents weren’t happy, to put it mildly. Tension had been building for months and finally had boiled over into open conflict. Ron, whose daughter was in confirmation, had asked to come talk to me. I knew the conversation was going to be difficult. He came into my office, closed the door, and took a seat. He immediately vented his anger, making his case that the kids wer...
In 1971, 50 years ago, the Floodwood school board voted to allow female teachers and staff to wear pantsuits for the first time. I think the other area schools also allowed women to wear slacks to school around this time. Now, I don’t think I see a female working at our schools in a dress or skirt more than once or twice a month. And yesterday, when I was shopping in Duluth, I saw only one woman wearing a dress and she was likely more than 80 years old. I also remember that the girls had to w...
