News

At the Lake County Board meeting on Tuesday, November 22, Christine McCarthy, Environmental Services Director, presented an annual report. In the report she noted the sharply increasing activity for everything connected to land use permits from 2016 to 2021, with the numbers dropping off a bit in 2022. The reason for the spike and recent dip was not immediately clear but, McCarthy speculated, may have to do with a combination of backed up contractors, the supply chain issues, and the increased interest rate. Permits have been divided up and most fees have increased in the last few decades, driving up county revenue to match the hours county staff are putting in to work with with permit holders. McCarthy commented that for potential commercial use properties, there is a lot of collaboration with the county, with subsequent time and investment spent, without any guarantee that the buildings will eventually be built, hence the higher permit cost.

by Barb LaFond Omarzu I'm happy to introduce Lynette Miller. We just happened to be walking the same trails on the same day and struck up a conversation in the parking lot.

The Pot Pourri of Sports! I hope that everyone had an outstanding and safe holiday last week! The Minnesota TWINS unveiled four new uniforms for the 2023 season in an unveiling of the new look unis at The Mall of America. I'm hearing mixed reviews at this point.

Long-time board member Tom Burns was recognized for his many years of service to the Lake Superior School District board at their regular meeting on Tuesday this week. Superintendent Jay Belcastro stated that he remembered with appreciation Burns’ advocacy for students going back to when Belcastro was the assistant principal at Two Harbors High School (THHS), and thanked Burns for his 12 years of service to the school district.

The last day of the firearms deer season dawned with an air temperature of -1 F at my house. I didn’t go out, not because of the cold, but because the woods have been very quiet this fall in terms of deer activity, the few deer showing up on game cams typically consisting of a doe and her two fawns. There was a big bruiser buck caught on the cameras twice near the end of the season, both times between midnight and 2:00 AM, but the odds of encountering him seemed low enough to discourage motivation. Besides, I had already spent plenty of time in my stand or still-hunting over a lot of terrain.

Deer season had finally ended, and the Great March for Community Newspapers gathered steam once again. Winter had begun to settle in on the large encampment that had occupied the four Carlton County towns of Nickerson, Duquette, Kerrick and Bruno for many months.