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
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There will be no place like Cloquet High School to see the production of the popular "The Wizard of Oz" this weekend. A cast and crew of nearly 80 students will bring Oz to life with the familiar and not so familiar. Inspired by the children's novel written by Frank Baum in 1900, "The Wizard of Oz" film was released in 1939 and became a classic for the ages. "Its theme of love and hope is timeless. Who doesn't love that?" said Lily Rosen, who plays a Munchkin in the Lullaby League trio. Those...
Reliably blue and labor-centric throughout recent history, the city of Cloquet is experiencing something a lot of population centers are encountering: an encroaching red hue. Five of six precincts in the city contributed to the state's Democratic Farmer Labor sweep in major offices, including governor. Those precincts also favored Jen Schultz in the 8th Congressional District, despite the college professor and former state legislator being clobbered by incumbent Rep. Pete Stauber, a Republican...
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College lost one of its strongest supporters Monday, when its president, Stephanie Hammitt, died of cancer. Hammitt, 60, spent much of her career at the Cloquet college before officially becoming the first female president in January 2020. At that time, more than one person - including Minnesota Commissioner of Higher Education Dennis Olson and former FDLTCC president Larry Anderson - declared Hammitt the "perfect" person to lead the nation's only combined...
The free community Thanksgiving meal is returning to Zion Lutheran Church Thursday, and all Carlton County residents are invited to sit down and enjoy a nice turkey meal with all the fixings and in good company. Meals are also available for delivery countywide. This marks the sixth year in a row that the Carlton County Disabled American Veterans and Auxiliary have organized and prepared the free Thanksgiving meals. The DAV's Raffy Johnson spearheads the annual event with plenty of help. He...
In debt by more than $300,000, Wrenshall schools administration and its school board are expected to begin three rounds of cuts in December. The first cuts will total $50,000, followed by further rounds of more substantial cuts in January and June. "We have to right-size the school district by the next budget for sure," superintendent Kim Belcastro said last week during the board's committee of the whole meeting. On Monday, the board unanimously approved borrowing $500,000 against future state...
Suicide and foul play were ruled out after the body of a missing 38-year-old Carlton County man was recovered late last week. Authorities from Aitkin County located the body of Lucas Dudden early in the afternoon on Friday, Nov. 11, in shallow water on Rat Lake. The body was recovered within a half-mile radius of where the man's unattended truck had been found. Dudden was reported missing Oct. 31 after he failed to show up for work in Superior. "We had good reason to believe he was by himself," Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida said, describing...
What started in March as a group of sports-minded private citizens, business owners and coaches brainstorming ways to fundraise for artificial turf at Cloquet High School has now turned into a much larger project. Cloquet school board members gave their approval Monday for school district officials to explore possible revenue sources and a construction process/timeline for the following items: replacing the grass football/soccer field with turf, moving the tennis courts and doubling the size...
Make plans for Cloquet’s annual Santa’s Home for the Holidays celebration Dec. 1-3. Events kick off on Thursday, Dec. 1 with a chili feed, West End open house and Reading with Santa at the Cloquet Public Library. On Friday there’s spaghetti and photos with Santa at Queen of Peace. And Saturday, there’s fun all day long, from the pancake feed and holiday craft fair/expo at Churchill Elementary to the parade and fireworks downtown that evening with lots more in between. Look for Santa’s Home for the Holidays on Facebook for more informati...
Winter parking is in effect now through March, so don’t leave your cars parked on the streets of Cloquet overnight. According to city code, cars cannot be parked on the streets or in alleys between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. from Nov. 1 through March 31, to allow snowplow drivers and others to clear the streets. The only exception is a vehicle parked at an open business establishment between midnight and 2 a.m. “unless ordered to be moved at the direction of a peace officer.” In Esko, parking on the street is prohibited 4-7 a.m. In Carlt...
Construction is now complete in Cromwell on Highway 210 and Highway 73 and traffic can now move through the main intersection in town. Work will resume next season to complete sidewalks, final turf establishment, final striping and permanent signs....
Pine Knot News deadlines will move up one day for the Thanksgiving holiday next week. That means all news announcements, obituaries and legal notices must be received by 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 21. Call 218-878-9332 with any questions. The Pine Knot offices will be closed Thursday and Friday. Friday home delivery should not be affected....
Registration for the eighth annual Christmas Lighting Challenge is underway. Folks in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin are encouraged to enter their decorated homes and businesses and help spread some holiday cheer. The contest is free to enter. Voting by the community for both homes and businesses runs Dec. 2-21, with results announced Dec. 22. Winners in Duluth, Superior, Cloquet and Hermantown will receive a gift basket with prizes and gift cards from local retailers and a personalized award...
After watching the rental property next door deteriorate for 20 years, Cloquet resident Mark Vandervort turned to the Cloquet city council on Tuesday. At his wits' end, Vandervort asked the council to create a better path for holding landlords accountable for hazardous conditions or nuisance issues at their properties. He talked about garbage piling up outside the rental home on Prospect Avenue until he paid to have it removed himself, and plenty of police visits over the years. A renter told...
The Cloquet city council canvassed votes Tuesday, making the final numbers official with a unanimous vote. Those vote totals included the write-in candidates for Cloquet’s Ward 3 city council race, with Iris Keller receiving 49 votes to Pete Erickson’s 40. The totals are meaningless, however, as they were too low to beat former city councilor Chris Swanson’s landslide 602 votes. The race for Ward 3 was, undoubtedly, the most confusing race in the county. Swanson was the sole candidate on the ballot, but cannot serve again as the Ward 3 counc...
Money is being made available to boost staffing for licensed child care programs in Carlton County and the region as northeast Minnesota continues to be mired in a major shortage of child care openings. The Northland Foundation announced Wednesday that it has received $300,000 in funding and can provide eligible programs grants of $1,500 to $12,000 for spending on staff recruitment and retention strategies. Data released in June from First Children’s Finance, an advocacy group for improving child care opportunities, showed that northeast Minnes...
Although the local Salvation Army thrift store is gone, the social programs run by the local charity are alive and well, said social services coordinator Leah Fosle, in an interview earlier this year. But they need money to fund those services, and more than half of those funds comes from one annual fundraising campaign: the Red Kettle program. Those are the bright red kettles manned by volunteers at Super One, L&M and Walmart in Cloquet each year. A manned kettle can bring in $40 an hour or more. An unmanned kettle brings in zero, because they...
I'll be honest, I'm too young to have had Mister Rogers on my television growing up. Some of you may be in the same boat as me. Just because he is long gone from our screens, though, doesn't mean we have to forget the wisdom he passed along. In an age defined by division and discord, we would do well to heed one of his many lessons: that neighbors are not just the people you live next door to. I don't have to tell you that political division in our country has deepened in the last decade. I'm...
I want to thank the Pine Knot News for your strong commitment to the democratic process. Your coverage of events and candidates leading up to election day was thorough and unbiased. Your voter guide was the most informative publication on candidate positions I saw this season, from any news source. I appreciated that the questions for prospective candidates weren’t generic softballs but were timely and specific to the most important issues candidates will be dealing with if elected. From state senate to school board, you left no candidate u...
In civics classes, individuals are taught the separation of powers in government. However, separation of powers expands beyond the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches. Let’s explore other areas where there is separation of powers occurs. Remember, in Minnesota there are 87 county attorney offices that are staffed at various levels. The county attorney and law enforcement are part of the executive branch. With unique responsibilities, the county attorney prosecutes crimes based on the evidence collected and submitted by law e...
I’m not sure if even Fran Tarkenton could have consoled me as I hid in the closet. Of course, he was at that time on a plane returning from a Vikings loss in Washington. It was in the early evening on Nov. 30, 1975 — a gloomy, wet gloaming outside — and I still had chores to do. But I needed some time. I was incapable of doing anything just then, least of all my rotten watering and feeding job down in the barn. Offensive coordinator Jerry Burns said Tarkenton had the best performance he’d ever seen from a quarterback that day at RFK Stadium...
Wyatt Hudspith had just booted a careerlong 35-yard field goal to give his Esko football team a 17-14 lead over Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton midway through the fourth quarter last weekend, and the boys in blue and gold looked geared to win. The Rebels had other plans. Just 18 seconds later, do-it-all quarterback Owen Leach lofted an 85-yard touchdown toss to teammate Nick Waale one play after Esko scored, as No. 2 DGF downed the top-ranked team in Class AAA 21-17 before a chilly crowd Saturday, Nov....
Third-ranked Barnesville scored on its first two drives of the game and its defense came through time after time in a 21-0 shutout of Moose Lake/Willow River in the Class AA State football quarterfinals last Thursday at a cold and windy St. Cloud Tech High School. The Rebels opened the game with a three-and-out, and the Trojans got the ball on the ML/WR 40-yard line and marched down the field for a touchdown on a 4-yard Braeden Bredman run. Isaac Mandeval punched through the extra point to give...
Cloquet is sending one more athlete to state competition this fall, after senior Hannah Sandman swam her way to a second place and a personal record during last weekend's Section 7A girls swimming and diving meet in Hibbing. Sandman recorded the fastest time at 2:02.32 in the 200 freestyle Thursday in the preliminary races, then took second in the finals Saturday, which qualified her for the Class A girls swimming and diving state meet. Her final time was 2:01.90, her new personal record....
It's the end of daylight saving time. For former Cloquet High athletic standout Mike Forrest, "turn back the clock" came a week early. Forrest was inducted into the Minnesota Softball Hall of Fame Oct. 29 with a ceremony and dinner at Grand Casino in Hinckley. Forrest, 77, was a three-sport athlete at Cloquet High School and a household name in coffee shops in Carlton County in the early 1960s. Along with his all-state teammates Dave "Mouse" Meisner and Denny Breitbarth, Forrest will be forever...
It’s hunting season, which made me recall one of the scarier moments for my husband, Bob, and me. It was 1990 and our son, Garrie, got shot in the face with a .22 rifle on Nov. 10. When I found out, I didn’t even know my name when I called 911. But Garrie walked out of the woods with just a small stream of blood and a small hole in his upper lip. He ended up with a broken jaw and had to have it wired shut for six weeks after some extensive surgery. I never knew I could get that scared. Yoga resumes on Monday, Nov. 21 at Cromwell Park Pav...
