WANAMINGO, Minn. – A Mayer man, 90 miles from home, was injured when he overcorrected his car and rolled into the median on U.S. Highway 52. Dakota Camp Porter, 18, was taken 50 miles to a St. Paul hospital. His injuries appeared sustainable, Goodhue County deputies sad. The accident was northeast of Wanamingo about 12:40 a.m. Porter was headed north toward the Cities in a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt. The airbag deployed, deputies said.

Baseball: UW-Whitewater 11, UW-LaCrosse 3

Softball: Saint Mary’s 3, Gustavus Adolphus 1

Softball: Saint Mary’s 3, Bethel 5

Baseball: LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 6, St. Croix Falls Saints 3

On poles sprouting from spirea beds. A fine breeze takes the folds out of  a trio of loyalty banners at the Central Park at Broadway and Main streets. The new Minnesota flag with its distinctive north star is doing duty on its official launch day. The day coincided with the 166th anniversary of  Minnesota’s admission to the Union. Image: Steve Lunde

Earlier; At WSU they missed the memo

Earlier: New flag: Coming soon to a flagpole near you

Wedgewood Cove. Promotes itself as the ritziest place in Albert Lea to golf, dine and, yes, even marry. No written policy, however, on gay weddings. Recent club practice appears unfriendly to renting for drag queen performances.

Gay Pride event moves fund-raiser to museum

ALBERT LEA, Minn.  – In an apparent homophobic reversal, the management at Wedgewood Cove Golf Club cancelled a drag show that had been scheduled as part of Pride Month in June. The drag show organizers quickly moved the event to the Freeborn Historical Museum as an alternate venue. The Wedgewood Club  has declined to explain its decision against the drag show. A source who declined to be identified for an interview confirmed there had been “pushback” against the event. As word spread about the Wedgewood Cove action, so did criticism. City Council member Sherri Rasmussen called the action another wrong not-welcome-here message to make gay people feel they don’t belong.

Earlier: Moralists on LaCrosse drag venue: Protect the kids

Earlier: Owatonna Pride event: Good time had by all anyway

Earlier; Mayor to Owatonna gays: I’m sorry

Earlier: Earlier: Message to mayor after homophobic comments: Resign

Yesteryear’s colors. Winona State crews raised the wrong state flag on every pole on campus Saturday. Elsewhere in town the new North Star flag was waving on its inaugural day as the official state symbol.  This slip-up was outside the Kane cafeteria, which bears the name of retired Army colonel  Jack Kane, a long-time university vice president of student affairs and facilities  Image: Steve Lunde

Earlier: New flag: Coming soon to a flag pole near you

DUNCAN, Okla. — The National Rural Water Association declared that Rochester has the best-tasting drinking water in Minnesota. Thirty-one local water utilities in the state were considered. The Oklahoma-based NRWA judging panel was comprised of water experts The association, a non-profit, provides training, support and promotion for water and wastewater professionals in small cities and rural communities. The Rochester Public Utilities serves 41,000 businesses and households in 60 square miles.

Classy for its place and time. First house by a settler in Minnesota Territory south of St. Paul.

HOMER, Minn. – Seasonal guided historical tours resume Friday at the 1850 Bunnell House in Homer. The architecturally distinctive Steamboat Gothic house was built by frontier riverman Willard Bunnell. Since 1972 the house has been on the National Register of Historic Places. The Winona Historical Society maintains the house as a museum. Admission $3 to $5. Address: 36106 Old Homer Road. Tours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:

> May 17 and 18.

> June 14 and 15.

> July 19 and 20.

> August 2 and 3.

> September 20 and 21.

Baseball: Saint Mary’s 19, Saint John’s 4

Baseball: St. Olaf 11, Saint Mary’s 9

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 17, UW-Oshkosh 9

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 8, UW-Stevens Point 1

Softball: UW-Oshkosh 4, UW-LaCrosse 2

Baseball: LaCrossse Central RiverHawks 4, Holmen Vikings 2

Softball: Tomah Tinberwolves 8, LaCrossse Central RiverHawks 0

MADISON, Wis.  – The University of Wisconsin’s chancellor, Jennifer Mnookin, has bought time to ease campus tensions over the university’s connections with Israel’s war on Palestinian Gaza. Mnookin announced that negotiations with Students for Justice in Palestine have concluded with protesters agreeing to take down a tent encampment on campus and not disrupt graduation ceremonies. In exchange, Mnookin promised to arrange a meeting between student protest leaders and the university’s corporately separate arm, which controls the endowment investments. Investments that support Israeli aggression have been a protest target. Mnookin noted, however, that the university doesn’t have “direct control” over how the endowment is invested. In other negotiated points, the university agreed to:

> Review projects, opportunities, study abroad programs and internships that engage with people and places impacted by war.

> Consult with Palestinian members of the campus community.

> Invite at least one scholar from a Palestinian university each of the next three years.

> Hire a staff member to support students affected by war, violence and displacement.

Verbatim

Mnookin: “This has been a difficult period for our campus, our nation and the world. We want to be clear that UW-Madison supports peaceful student protest, fully respects the First Amendment, and has done so throughout this year. We appreciate that the encampment, named by SJP the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, although in violation of Chapter 18, was motivated by understandably passionate feelings about the devastation in Gaza, and was a source of community for many participants.”

Mnookin. Madison campus chancellor since 2022. A legal scholar. Earlier at UCLA law school.

Earlier: Amid Gaza crises elsewhere, local colleges copasetic

Earlier: Gaza tensions ease at UM; tents coming down

Earlier: UM cops break up “tent city” Gaza protest

Earlier: Truce after riot police tear out UW-Madison protest

STOCKTON, Minn. – A Houston truck driver was airlifted 34 miles to a LaCrosse hospital after his Peterbilt and a semi-trailer went of control on the west-bound lane heading down Stockton Hill. Jordan Patrick Kleist, 23, was trapped in the cab. First-responders had to cut him out. He was conscious throughout, Winona County deputies said. An ambulance took Kleist to the Stockton Hill summit where the med-evac helicopter landed. In LaCrosse, Kliest was reported in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries. The accident was about 9 a.m. Kleist’s truck and trailer were on their sides on the east lane on the steep edge off U.S. Highway 14. Although a busy road, no other vehicle was struck. NOTE: This corrects some details in an earlier account

Earlier: Tanker overturns near Stockton; driver hurt

PRESTON, Minn. –Fillmore County Airport’s new $950,000 terminal can be a rest stop beacon for general aviation, manager Pam Schroeder said at a grand opening ceremony. With new services, including transportation into Preston four miles away, the airport is an alternative to other fields within 30 miles, Schroeder said. She called the terminal a revenue-generator. Travelers with kids can drive to town to keep them entertained bowling. In bad weather, there’s a hotel with a pool, she noted.

Preston airport. New terminal funded partly by the 2021 Biden national infrastructure bill.

WINONA, Minn. — The Winona Post reviewed hundreds of Winona County drunken-driving cases from 2023 to determine whether the county’s chief prosecutor, Karin Sonneman, goes lightly on local Big Shots. Reporter Gabriel Hathaway, who conducted the exhaustive study, found no evidence of favoritism. Hathaway’s investigative journalism was prompted by the arrest of City Council member George Borzyskowski in November. Sonneman dropped two DWI charges against Borzskowski. Then in February the city’s community development director, Lucy McMartin, was arrested for drunken driving. Sonneman dropped that charge too. Both Borzyskowski and McMartin tested for blood alcohol in the range of 0.08% to 0.09% — barely into the state-defined level of inebriation. Hathaway found 12 similar barely drunk cases, these all involving ordinary blokes and gals. Those charges were also dropped, which suggests an evenness – not favoritism – in Sonneman’s judgment calls. The only exceptions, Hathaway noted, had aggravating complications, like test refusal, property damage, or drug possession. Hathaway noted in footnote-like detail that two other somewhat similar cases were still in process with hearings and trials. In three other cases, Hathaway said, there were convictions on one DWI charge while a second DWI charge was dropped. Generally when a DWI charge was dropped, as with Borzyskowski ad McMartin, it was in exchange for a guilty plea to a lesser charge like reckless driving.

Earlier: Prosecutor goes easy on drunk City Councilman

Earlier: City Councilman Borzyskowski drunk at the wheel

STOCKON, Minn. – A trucker, age 27, was pinned inside his cab when the truck and semi-trailer rolled over on Stockton Hill. A med-evac helicopter was called from LaCrosse 34 miles away while first-responders cut the driver from the wreckage. The accident was about 9 a.m. The tanker reportedly was hauling liquid animal feed. Highway 14 between Stockton and Winna, a busy cmmuter route, was closed  two hours. Traffic was detoured on County Road 23 to  Minnesoita City.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minnesota State Patrol crackdown on distracted driving yielded 5,400 citations for hands-free cell phone calling. The crackdown, in April, involved 278 policing agencies statewide. The project director, Mike Hanson, expressed alarm that the citations totaled 2,000 more than a year earlier. A couple side notes: In St. Paul, Hanson noted, two drivers were cited twice the same day. Another driver was ticketed two times within three days.

Baseball: St. Olaf 11, Saint Mary’s 1

Baseball: UW-Stevens Point 3, UW-LaCrosse 0

Softball: UW-LaCrosse 5, UW-Stout 0

Softball: UW-Stevens Point 9, UW-LaCrosse 3

Baseball: Elk Mound Mounders 9, Mondovi Buffaloes 0

Baseball: Hlolk\men Vikings 5, LaCrosse Logan Rangers 4

Soccer (girls): LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 7, Sparta Spartans 0

Soccer (girls): Onalaska Hilltoppers 3, Holmen Vikings 0