WINONA, Minn. — The ultra-light airplane that crashed and killed the pilot at the Winona airport last week had a parachute system that didn’t activateate, investigators  said. Police ,who were first to arrive at the crash, recognized the ballistic parachute system mounted on the lower aft section. A Fire Department team was called to determine if the system was armed. The manufacturer then was called and advised that the system could be rendered safe by cutting the activation pull cord. Rather than risk an explosion, however, the firefighters called a state bomb squad to disarm the device.

Earlier: Cause of fatal Winona plane crash still unknown

Earlier: R.I.P.: Wayne Ledebuhr

Earlier: Winona aviation hobbyist dead in crash

Earlier: Pilot dead in crash at Winona airport

WINONA, Minn. — Overnight storms took down a few trees and tore off lot of limbs around Winona but blocked n ostreets nor caused any injuries.  In the county: Up East Burns Valley one tree blocked County Road 15.  There was also a tree down on U.S. Highway 14 near St. Charles.

DEXTER, Minn. — Flooding forced the closure of 3-1/2 miles of transcontinental Interstate 90 between Rochester and Austin. The flooding was between the Dexter and Elkton interchanges. This is mostly flatland where I-90 was engineered above the terrain.

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 54 emergency medical calls plus 19 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, Mune 30:  15 medical calls plus 4 fire call.

> Monday, June 29: 2 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.

> Sunday, June 28: 5 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Saturday, June 27: 8 medical calls plus no fire call.

> Friday, June 26: 12 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Thursday, June 25: 6 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

> Wednesday, June 24: 9 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 38 calls

Low-level flooding.  Torrential rains swelled Winona County creeks, including usually tranquil Garvin Brook out of Farmers Park upstream from Stockton. In places the creek-side golden rod, six feet highand in full July bloom, was mowed flat by the fast and swollen un-off. Image: Steve Lunde

Earlier: Flash floods possible around Winona

WINONA, Minn. —  A National Transportation Safety Board worksheet on a fatal crash at the Winona shows   that the pilot, Wayne Ledebuhr, was landing after a 32-mile flight upriver from LaCrosse. The Board investigator who visited he site, said a fuller report will be completed in 30 days . At this point, according to the investigator’s worksheet, the crash was “under unknown circumstances.” The plane, an Airborne Windsports Edge numbered XT-912-, was destroyed. It was categorized as a weight-shift-control aircraft.”

Earlier: R.I.P.: Wayne Ledebuhr

Earlier: Winona aviation hobbyist dead in crash

Earlier: Pilot dead in crash at Winona airport

RUSHFORD, Minn. — For a second consecutive day the co-op MiEnergy called on customers to unplug and dial down to conserve electricity. The alert was for the same peak usage period as the day before, from 2 to 6 p.m. Waves of severe morning thunderstorms , with as much as three inches of rain in parts of the MiEnergv service area, failed to cut continuing heat and oppressive humidity.

Earlier: Excess power draw expected on MiEnergy network

WINONA, Minn. — Police arrested a Winona man based on terroristic telephone threats against his girlfriend’s former boyfriend. Arrested was Tyler Eugene Kingsley, age 37, of Winona. The threat: “I’ll come to your house and kill you and your wife and your oldest child and burn your house down.” Police had been called about 8:15 a.m. to the girlfriend’s place, in the 150 residential block of East Fifth Street, to sort out a confused child custody exchange. While there, police learned of the call with the threat. The children in the house are 16 and 13, one of whom is subject to shared custody. Police believed the custody mix-up was innocent enough and due to the estranged father being in the process of moving.

Kingsley. Charge: Reckless terroristic threat. Jailed roughly three hours after police were called to unravel child custody issue.

Vulnerable. Northern Winona County mostly north of Intersatte 90 from western border to Mississippi River. Image: National Weather Service

Forecasters: Thunderstormms dropped “excessive rain”

WINONA, Minn. — Early morning thunderstorms roared through northern Winna County with torrential rains for almost three hours. The National Weather Service issued alerts for urban areas where overwhelmed storm sewers could back up into city streets. Vulnerable too were creek-side rural roads in low-lying areas. Specifically warned:

> Areas around Locks and Dam 5 and 5A.

> County Road 28 along Speltz Creek into Rollingstone.

> County Road 31 north of Altura.

> The communities of Altura, Bethany, Elba, Goodview, Lewiston, Minnesota City ,Rollingstone, St. Charles, Stockton, Utica, Whitman,  Wilson, Winona and Wyattville

WINONA, Minn. — Police rescued a woman from a garage in which she said she locked herself to escape from an abusive boyfriend. Officers said the woman, age 41, was swollen and bruised. This was about 12:50 a.m. in the 400 block of Mankato Avenue. The assault, she said, had been in the house  — that she was pushed backward onto bed, grabbed by the feet and pulled forward, and fell to the floor. Her elbow still hurt, she told officers. She said she kicked the boyfriend and ran to the detached garage in the alley and locked herself in. From there she called 911. Within an hour police located James Robert Hernstine, age 46, a couple blocks away on Chatfield Street. He denied any physical assault and said he had been locked nut and left for some fresh air. He was booked for domestic assault.

ST.CHARLES, Minn. — A man loaded a 10-cubic foot John Deere cart with items he wanted to give away. He pulled the cart to end of his driveway for passersby to sort through. The sign: “Free for the taking.” You guessed it: Somebody took the cart, valued at $380, and left everything else. This was on Equine Drive northeast of St. Charles.

Missing. But can it be considered truly stolen?

WINONA, Minn. — An East Side traffic stop yielded unauthorized marijuana and the prescription pain-killer oxycodone., police said. Arrested Jwas oseph Kenneth Taylor, age 48 of Winona. This was about 9:30 a.m. near Broadway and Laird streets. The arresting officer had stopped Taylor, whom he recognized as not having a valid driver’s license. Taylor admitted to having marijuana, which the officer discovered was not in a required container from a licensed cannabis shop. Also, the officer said, he found a pill box with the opioid oxycodone for which Taylor didn’t have a prescription.

RUSHFORD, Minn. — The utility MiEnergy asked customers to conserve energy Tuesday afternoon when usage was expected t peak because of a heat spell. MiEnergy has customers in southeast Minnesota and adjoining Iowa counties. The peak was expected from 2 to 6 p.m. The utility’s grid supplier Dairyland Power, has a surcharge for peak usage. MiEnergy passes surcharges on to end-customers.

WINONA, Minn. — Police wrestled a man to the ground after stopping him on a bicycle with a distinctive college backpack that matched one stolen two days earlier. Arrested was Shawn Albert Hawley, age 49, who has no address but has been around town a while. Hawley was charged with having stolen property, including the backpack and U.S. mail. He also was charged with obstructing police. The arresting officer said he tried stopping Hawley on a bicycle in the 100 block of Second Street, but the man yelled: “I’m not talking to you now. I’m not in the mood.” Hawley tried pedaling off but was taken down and cuffed. This was about 8:30 p.m.

Earlier: Not quite a warm welcoming to college

Hawley. Arrest was just after dark downtown

WINONA, Minn. — Staff training at the Bob Welch Aquatic Center has been completed for the long-awaited 2026 opening. Expect a line Tuesday for the event at  12:30 p.m. The opening couldn’t come too soon. A sweltering air mass of ultra-high humidity had settled into the region.with temperatures in the 90s

Earlier: Embarrassed city agency sets SMU as swim option

Earlier: No Winona splashin’ yet: Pool still closed

Earlier: Not yet: Repairs delay Winona pool season

DES MOINES, Iowa —The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the Legislature’s 2018 law that banned prisoner access to pornographic material. Twelve inmates had claimed the law violated their constitutional rights as citizens. The Court acknowledged that inmates hold constitutional rights but that they are subject to restriction. The ruling was unanimous.

DENVER — The $1.3 billion lawsuit against Minnesota’s MyPillow executive Mike Lindell for libels over the 2020 presidential election has been withdrawn. Lindell, now a candidate for Minnesota governor, called the decision a “win!” The circumstances of the withdrawal, however, were cloudy. Critical details of the deal were not announced. The now-dismissed suit had been filed against Lindell in 2021 for his false charges that voting machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems were rigged to throw the 2020 election against Donald Trump. Dominion sued not only Lindell but also right-wing media outlets that promulgated the same falsities. Unable to substantiate the falsities, Fox News paid Dominion $787 million. Newsmax paid $67 million. Lindell, however, had nothing to lose and refused to settle. His MyPillow company had collapsed. He was broke. He continued espousing his conspiracy theories. Since then these events have occurred.

> Trump was elected president in 2024.

> Trump has maintained his false narrative that the 2020 election was rigged and has sought to avenge the loss in every forum available.

> Among Trump’s targets continued to be Dominion, whose voting machines had been used in 27 states.

> Dominion was purchased last September by Trump-friendly Scott Leiendecker, who renamed it Liberty Vote.

Concerns arose immediaately about Leiendecker’s purchase. As a Republican election official in St. Louis, he had an insider’s knowledge of election mechanics and dynamics. The question: Was he a partisan figure who could control voting machines used nationwide? Put bluntly: Was he a Trump lackey. Leiendecker didn’t allay the concerns by aligning Liberty Vote with Trump’s 2025 executive order for sweeping election reforms to favor Republicans. At the same time Leiendecker was making statements like: “Liberty Vote signals a new chapter for American elections — one where trust is rebuilt from the ground up.” Was he saying that Dominion had indeed done bad? If so, the suggestion was that he had knowledge of a capacity for voting equipment to create false tallies.

Earlier: Minnesota political parties’ 2026 choices

Earlier: GOP convention backs Qualls for governor

Earlier: Glitter and dazzle: Lindell’s campaign debut

Earlier: GOP quavering at Lindell governorship talk

Earlier: Governor on Lindell: A disaster if elected

For a bride’s bouquet perhaps. Although not native to Minnesota, they’re plentiful. Some folks even consider them a common roadside weed, In California, however, they are pricey additions for bouquets. Here let them pair nicely with roadside orange “outhouse daylilies.” Image: Andy Frank

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.  — Small robots that have ambled around many U.S. campuses delivering cafeteria food are being withdrawn. San Francisco-based Starship Technologies is reassigning the robots for more profitable duty fulfilling orders at grocery stores. The electric-powered six-wheeled robots use artificial intelligence and sensors to cross streets and navigate around obstacles. Starship began placing its robots campuses in 2019.

Starship robot. On mission delivering meals around campus.