Pine Knot News - A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news

New Carlton County attorney Lauri Ketola was sworn into office five days early Wednesday morning, so her kids could be there for the momentous occasion. The crowd packed into the third-floor courtroom at the Carlton County Courthouse broke into applause as Senior judge Dale Wolf finished administering the oath of office to Ketola, who defeated incumbent Thom Pertler in the general election. Pertler had held the office since 2005, but basically stepped down days after the election citing health reasons and appointing Jeffrey Boucher as "acting county attorney." In a short and somewhat tearful s...