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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The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa announced last week some guidelines for members harvesting wild rice. “(R)espect the gift we have been given,” the Band’s Wild Rice Committee said in a news release Aug. 31. “Please avoid areas of green rice, knock with respect, and to think of those who come after you as those who came before you did.” The wild rice harvest began on Saturday. Other harvesting notes include: • Ricing will be allowed every day. • For the first week harvest hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; for the second week harvest goes...
As someone who works across Minnesota helping communities harness the benefits of clean energy, I am thoroughly impressed by northeast Minnesota community clean energy efforts. The region is home to various meaningful clean energy related projects. Among others, projects led by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa come to mind. The Fond du Lac Band has constructed an award-winning resource management building, a 1-megawatt solar field, a biomass district heat system, Tesla 8 vehicle charging stations, a Forest Carbon Sequestration... Full story
Ricard Reino Puumala, 88, died peacefully Aug. 19, 2023, at Inter-Faith Care Center in Carlton. He was born July 23, 1935, in Chicago to Reino and Marie Bepko Puumala, both doctors. Growing up in Cloquet, he was active in debate, thespians, band (trombone) and orchestra (violin), and Boy Scouts, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. He graduated from Cloquet High School in 1952 as a National Merit Scholar, then went on to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for his undergraduate and medical... Full story
Lee Ann Nicholson, 74 passed away peacefully on July 30, 2023 in St. Paul. She was born in Cloquet Dec. 22, 1948, to Everett and Lorraine Bassett. She attended Cloquet High School followed by Minneapolis Business College. She married Morrie Nicholson on Dec. 30, 1967 in Rapid City, South Dakota. She quickly became a mother to two daughters whom she primarily stayed at home caring for before starting her working years. The family lived briefly in South St. Paul before settling into their Cottage... Full story
The Northland Foundation based in Duluth awarded 36 grants totaling over $1 million this past spring, including $150,000 to Carlton County “to help support the implementation of a sustainable, coordinated community response that will improve outcomes for victims and their children and disrupt generational violence.” Social issues and cultural initiatives were a large part of the foundation’s grant cycle. Northland covers seven counties: Aitkin, Carlton, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, and St. Louis, and five Native nations, including Fond...
With recreational cannabis now legal in the state of Minnesota, local cities can choose to regulate its sale in a variety of ways, Cloquet planner/zoning administrator Al Cottingham told the Cloquet City Council on Aug. 1. “Conceivably we won’t see [cannabis dispensaries] in the public areas until late (2024 or in 2025), however, we have some neighbors to the west that I’m not sure what may or may not happen,” Cottingham said, referring to the Fond du Lac Reservation and noting that the Red Lake Band opened a public dispensary the same day tha...
Walker Orenstein MinnPost.org Talon Metals has submitted its plan for an underground nickel and copper mine in Aitkin County to Minnesota regulators, launching the environmental review of a project that could become a domestic source of metals for electric vehicles but which has also drawn skepticism from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. While the submission is just the first phase of what could be a lengthy process, it's nevertheless a milestone for Talon and what it calls the Tamarack Nickel... 
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Last winter was one most folks won't soon forget, with record snowfalls common and collapsed roofs and fallen treelines forever impacted. Even now, the city of Carlton is dealing with the aftermath. The city-owned arena, Four Seasons Sports Complex, is the subject of a pending insurance claim, having suffered exterior damage from the ice and snow. The damage is obvious to passersby, as the arena side facing Highway 210 features a long crumpled strip of steel siding. "The ice and snow buildup...
Native Americans serve in the U.S. military at five times the national average, according to the United Service Organizations. Pride in that service was on display throughout the Fond du Lac Veterans Powwow last weekend, with military uniforms and camouflage interspersed with a dazzling display of traditional regalia worn by 476 dancers competing in the powwow. Drummers pounded out the Veterans Song, while flags from every military branch, eagle staffs from various reservations, and families...
The Carlton County Board of Commissioners breezed through its first meeting of July in 24 minutes Tuesday. But it managed to get work done, raising the threshold for project labor agreements while also announcing its intent to work more closely with the local tribe on matters that impact both jurisdictions. Regarding project labor agreements, county engineer JinYeene Neumann explained the decision to raise the threshold triggering a project labor agreement from $175,000 to $250,000 on county-led construction. A committee had met throughout the...
I recently received a copy of a letter from Brian Buhr, Dean of the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences that provided an update on the Cloquet Forestry Center. A technical working group has been formed and charged with “compiling information related to the UMN’s current and potential future activities at Cloquet Forestry Center to inform the scope around a memorandum of understanding as the land is transferred to [the Fond du Lac Band]. This will provide clear options for a transition model to o... Full story
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College announced its lineup for the 2023 Hot Summer Nights Concert Series. The series includes four weeks of free performances in the college amphitheater starting Thursday, July 13, with Minnesota-based folk-rock and progressive rock band Lehto & Wright, a news release said. Concerts will take place at 7 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 3. The Cloquet Community Band will also return for a performance starting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, July 31. All concerts will be...
The Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities named Anita Hanson to serve as president of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College on June 21, effective immediately. Hanson has served as interim president since her predecessor, Stephanie Hammitt, passed away in November. "Anita navigated the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College community through an immensely difficult time with empathy and grace," said Devinder Malhotra, chancellor of Minnesota State. "Anita's...
On June 6, after careful review and analysis, the Army Corps of Engineers revoked the Section 404 wetlands permit for PolyMet Mining, Inc.’s proposed NorthMet mining project. This was a great victory for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, clean water, and Minnesota. Yet, in a press release issued shortly after the decision was made public, U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber from the Eighth Congressional District decried the Corps’ decision as an assault on northern Minnesota and our way of life. We are writing to set the record straight. The...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has revoked a key permit for the proposed NorthMet copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota, formerly known as the PolyMet project. The Army Corps rescinded the permit, known as the Clean Water Act “Section 404” wetlands permit, because the agency said the it could not “ensure compliance with the applicable downstream water quality requirements” of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, whose reservation lies downstream from the proposed mine on the St. Louis River. The decision does not deal a...
With University of Minnesota president Joan Gabel on her way out, people are wondering if the future of her initiative to hand over the Cloquet Forestry Center in its entirety to the Fond du Lac Band is still steaming ahead. I have been following the issue closely and I do not have any new information. I assume the non-transparent discussions are still ongoing. I suspect there will be a co-management agreement signed similar to what recently occurred with the national forests in Minnesota. The Chippewa National Forest signed a management... Full story
Minnesota State has named two finalists in the search for the next president of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. The candidates are Anita Hanson and Kimberly Spoor. Anita Hanson has served the college since 1994, beginning her career as a faculty counselor and disability services coordinator from 1994 to 2008. She currently serves the college as acting president, a position she has held since November. Previously, she served the college as vice president of student services and enrollment management during the fall of 2022; dean of...
Stephanie Hammitt, late president of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, was posthumously awarded president emeritus status by the Board of Trustees of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. The award of emeritus status is a special honor for employees who have served with great distinction. Hammitt worked at the college in a variety of roles from 1990 until her passing in 2022. She served as interim president for 18 months before officially being appointed president in November... Full story
The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa joined two other northeastern Minnesota tribes last week in solidifying their stewardship of the 3.3-million-acre Superior National Forest. Fond du Lac, along with the Boise Forte and Grand Portage bands, joined officials with the Superior National Forest in signing a memorandum of understanding on May 2 in Grand Portage. The memorandum will ensure the bands’ involvement in the future management of the Superior National Forest, a joint news release said. The memorandum recognizes the bands as origi...
Each year, Carlton County is well represented at the annual Homegrown Musical Festival in Duluth. It's the 25th edition of the weeklong festival that celebrates local music and other arts at venues across the Twin Ports. It opened Sunday and included Darren Shabaiash, right, with the stage name of Darren Sipity, who is a rapper from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. He was part of the opening ceremony set at Hoops Brewery in Canal Park. The #theindianheadband is a family group... Full story
Nearly 40 people turned out for the Carlton school board meeting Monday, many of them upset by allegations of a threat of violence against a Native American student. In a news release Monday, Carlton Indigenous Student Council leader Ayeden Diver alleged a white male student held a knife to the throat of a female Native American student before spring break in March and that the perpetrator received only a partial-day suspension as punishment. Diver also submitted a letter to the school board in...
Celebrate “The Wolf’s Trail: An Ojibwe Story, Told by Wolves” book with storytime and mask making at the Cloquet Public Library from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 22. The all-ages event will be led by students from the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Head Start. Refreshments will be provided. Author Thomas Peacock is a Cloquet native, growing up as part of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. This year, his 2020 book, “The Wolf’s Trail: An Ojibwe Story, Told By Wolves,” is the 22nd One Book Northland selection,... Full story
One could easily mistake a northeastern Minnesota meteorologist for a sadist these days. Just two days after the messy April 4-5 snowstorm, followed by some slight signs of an actual spring, the National Weather Service in Duluth issued a report on the likely flooding that will occur in the region. It seems the winter of 2022-23 just won't relinquish its hold on the public conversation during a non-existent spring that had any children on an outdoor Easter egg hunt tromping over snow deeper... Full story
Because of the recent high temperatures and reduced overnight freezing, Carlton County is already beginning to experience flooding in many areas. The National Weather Service issued a flood warning Thursday for Carlton County that will last through 4 p.m. Monday. Numerous roads remain closed or washed out due to flooding and streams continue to rise due to excess runoff from earlier rainfall and snowmelt. Low water crossings are inundated with water and may not be passible, a county warning... Full story
Melvin Lester DeFoe, 82, passed away surrounded by his loved ones until the very last moment on Thursday, March 30, 2023, in Cloquet. He was one of 13 children - born to Joseph and Elizabeth (Colburn) DeFoe on June 12,1940. He was a proud member of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. When Melvin was 6 years old he and his siblings attended Pipestone Indian Boarding School, in Pipestone, Minnesota. He completed elementary school there, then returned home and attended Cloquet public... Full story
