CLINTONVILLE, Wis. — A Catholic priest was charged with arranging a hotel rendezvous with a 14-year-old-grl for sex. The teenager to whom Father Andrew Showers was charged with making the proposition was fictitious. It was a police sting. The arrest was at the at Pigeon Lake wayside stop in Clintonville. Police went to the park, identified Showers’ vehicle, blocked off exits, and conducted what they called “a high-risk traffic stop.” The arrest was on Sunday. The criminal complaint took three days to put together, partly because the arrest was in Waupaca County and the proposition was made apparently from Madison 130 miles away. The criminal complaint said a Clintonville police officer had posed as “Abby” on the online messaging platform Reddit on a section called Fox Valle Blowjobs. These details are itemized in the criminal complaint: Showers explained to Abby he was vacationing at Baileys Harbor in Door County. Showers offered an explicit photo of himself and asked for one in return. He asked Abbey about her sexual history, her favorite position ton and how she orgasmed. The two made plans to meet for sex. He promised to bring sushi for the rendezvous. This exchange was over six days. When arrested, according to the complaint, Showers had a male-arousal enhancement pill and a passkey for a $118-a-night room at the Cobblestone Inn in Clintonville. He was taken 30 miles to the county hail in Waupaca.

Frey. Our thoughts should be with the victims, not gender orientation. Two of the wounded childen died.

MINNEAPOLIS — Mayor Jacob Frey cautioned that hatefulness against transexual people has no place in our society. At a news conference at Annunciation school, where 17 persons were shot at morning prayers by a trans woman, Frey said:

ROCHESTER, Minn. — All after-school activities in the five Rochester Catholic schools were cancelled to support students and others deal emotionally with the mass shooting at a Minneapolis church school. Said Tina Monosmith, president of the Rochester schools: “In moments of sorrow and uncertainty, we lean on our faith for strength and consolation.” She quoted from Pslams in the Old Testament: “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”  In the meantime students were kept indoors. The system has 1,400 students.

Earlier: Church school shooter ID’d as 23 years old

Earlier: Two school children shot dead at worship service

MINNEAPOLIS — A shooter who fired dozens of bullets into a Catholic school prayer service and killed two children and injured 14 others was 23-year-old Robin Westman, Police Chief Brian O’Hara confirmed. Westman shot herself to death outside the church Circumstances suggest that the attack was methodically premeditated. Three weapons were found — a rifle, a shotgun and a pistol. The weapons had all been recently purchased and done so legally by Westman, the chief said. Also bespeaking premeditation was a manifesto that was pre-programmed to go live on You Tube simultaneous to the attack. Other fragmentary information that surfaced early in the investigation:

> Westman was believed to be a former student at the Annunciation parish school. The school has 375 students through eighth grade. The two students who died were 8 and 10 years old. Three adults at the Mass were wounded.

> Westman’s mother served as secretary at the Church school and church until she retired in 2021.

> The mother went to court in 2019 to change Westman’s first name legally from Robert to Robin to reflect gender preference. Westman was 17 at the time. Her name change was approved.

Westman. Dead by her own hand at Annunciation church school.

> The You Tube manifesto was taken down at police request soon after the shooting. Police Chief O’Hara said investigators were examining the manifesto and other social media posts for possible motives. Chief Ohara said some passages appear in a Balto-Slavic language, perhaps Russian, but mostly were in English.

> > In Washington the Trump-appointed FBI director Kash Patel said he regarded  the shooting as “domestic terrorism and hate crime targeting Catholics.” It was unclear whether Patel was speculating, guessing or had evidence.

> Westman left a social media trail of photos and videos of weapons and bullets and long diary entries. There appear to be depictions of explosive devices scrawled with violent language. Some entries contain descriptions of children being killed. One video showed what appeared to be a sketch of the Annunciation sanctuary drawn from memory.

Earlier: Two school children shot dead at worship service

Empty stands for now The Winona State Warriors open their 2025 home football season September 6 as host to Bemidji State.  Before then the Warriors’ season opener will be elsewhere. On Thursday they play UM-Duluth at the new NFL Viking training facility in the Minneapolis suburb of Eagan. It will be the first collegiate game ever played at the venue.  Kick-off: 7 p.m. Image: Steve Lunde

MINNEAPOLIS — A shooter armed with three guns fired into the chapel at a Catholic school, killing two children and injuring perhaps a dozen others at a morning Mass before classes. The shots were fired from outside through a stained-glass window, according to an early reports from the scene. The shooter was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The shooting was at the Annunciation Church school in a leafy south Minneapolis residential neighborhood.

WINONA, Minn. – A storage unit renter found a fresh padlock, not his, on the unit door. After using a bolt cutter to remove the lock, the man discovered disarray inside and items missing. This was about 9:30 a.m. in rhe1100 block East Wabasha Street. The man told police it would take a while to figure out all of what was missing.

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 39 emergency medical calls plus 14 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, August 26: 4 medical call plus 1 fire call.

> Monday, August 25: 4 medical calls plus 3 fire call.

> Sunday, August 24: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Saturday, August 23: 8 medical calls plus 1 fire calls.

> Friday, August 22: 9 medical call plus 1 fire call.

> Thursday, August 21: 3 medical calls plus 2 fire calls

> Wednesday, August 20: 5 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 58 calls

A bolt-cutter will do. Homeless people take occasional albeit unauthorized housing in a salvage yard where 44 rusted and decommissioned semi-trailers are parked just west of downtown. Padlocks are easily cut.  Image: Steve Lunde

The unsheltered find their options

WINONA, Minn. — Winona has two emergency lodging facilities operated by Catholic Charities on the Near East Side and The Edge church downtown, but some itinerants seek their own shelter. Largely unnoticed is a sprawling salvage yard between Second Street and the Union Pacific rail yard. The unfenced site has 44 semi-trailers, two truck tractors and six cars, all junked and awaiting junkyard demolition. Also refuges for the homeless are empty residential garages in alleys around town. So too are condemned and vacant houses. And also, commercial storage units These are especially attractive in winter and can be somewhat comfy with blankets and space heaters. There is an occasional trackside encampment in woods along the river near Homer. Pup tents have shown up at Levee Park and Latsch Island despite a city ordinance against camping. When asked by police to move along, the folks pull up stakes and look elsewhere.

Earlier: Name released in storage garage death

Earlier: Homeless pair cited for Latsch Island camp

Earlier: Storage yard fire hits scuttled truck trailer

Earlier: Homeless refuge: Rusted-out truck’s sleeper cab

Earlier: Squatter loses overnight space in truck trailer

Earlier: Baked beans an assault weapon at Levee Park

WINONA, Minn. — A Winona man was arrested hiding under blankets in an upstairs bedroom at a notorious flophouse on Mankato Avenue. Police said Willie Terrell Chambers, age 33, had made a fuss while officers were in the house serving a warrant on another resident. Officers said they heard Chambers in the living room: He was yelling at the keeper of the house for letting police in. Chambers repeatedly berated the man, calling him stupid, pounding his fists on a table, and threatening to assault him, police said. As officers were leaving with the subject of the arrest warrant in custody, they heard shrieks and screams inside. Through a crack in the door, officers observed an assault and re-entered. After a brief search they found Chambers hiding upstairs. He was booked at jail for:

> Domestic assault.

> False imprisonment.

> Fleeing police.

The arrest was about 9:30 p.m. Police later learned that Chambers was free bail on an unrelated theft charge for which he had skipped a court date. The man originally being sought on the arrest warrant, Christopher Wayne James Swinger, age 49, also was taken jail and processed for skipping a court date on an unrelated trespassing charge.

KELLOGG, Minn.  — A Michigan trucker was killed when his semi-trailer rig overturned on State Highway 42, which connects Kellogg with Interstate 90 at Eyota. The long-haul driver, Craig Alan Goring, 52, of North Branch, was alone in the cab. Apparently, he died instantly, first-responders said. The two-lane highway was blocked four hours both directions. The crash was just before noon 4-1/2 miles southwest of Kellogg. Goring was northbound toward Kellogg. The tractor unit was a 2006 International.

BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. — An attorney for a Jackson County sheriff’s deputy said he will ask that a charge against the deputy for a fatal on-duty shooting be dismissed.  The dismissal motion will be filed at a hearing next week. The deputy, Stan Edington, has said he fired shots at a teen-age driver who had been stopped after a chase and who, Edington thought, was backing up at high speed and had run down a fellow officer.

Earlier: Charge filed against deputy in teen’s death

TEN SLEEP, Wyo. — A Minnesota adventurer missing a month in the high Big Horn Range wildnerness was found dead underneath a ledge. It appeared that Grant Gardner, 38, of Lakeville, had slipped in the dark coming off 13,000-foot Cloud Peak. On Tuesday a professional climbing team noticed a slight reflection in the distance  that looked to be from a backpack but left because dark was approaching. The next morning the team returned and found the body.

Earlier: Obstacles face hunt for lost Minnesota climber

Earlier: Wyoming update: Minnesota climber still missing

Earlier: Minnesota climber lost on 13,000-foot

Classy dorm alternative. Winona State’s Alumni House, on leafy Wabasha Street a block from campus, is being retrofitted for student housing to help address a shortage of dorm space. Image: Steve Lunde

Still called Alumni House but repurposed

WINONA, Minn. – Winona State plans cjnvert Alumni House, which provided overnight accommodations for university guests, will be  converted into a mini-dorm. The yellow corner house, a block from campus, will house seven senior-level students. This arrangement, said campus housing chief Sarah Olcott, is helping ease a shortage of dorm space for rebounding enrollment. For fall the university has 2,022 students in dorms whose capacity had been 1,940. This time the Alumni House is one small part of the temporary situation for a problem that may ease in the spring, when housing needs typically dip with mid-year graduations and other attrition. Many years ago, when the university last had a housing shortage, some two-student dorm rooms were re-equipped with a bunk bed to cram in three students. This time the Alumni House is one small part of the temporary situation.

NOTE: This article has been revised from the original to correct an error.

Earlier: WSU’s new freshman numbers up 12%

LEWISTON, Minn. — Two meth-crazed gamers who had started out at the Prior Lake casino ended up 120 miles away lost deep in the woods of central Winona County. They were arrested after a farmer saw their car plowing through his hayfield. The farmer walked through the hay to the car, which had stopped. Inside, he said, were two men. They were disoriented, apparently on drugs, and had no idea where they were or how they got there, the farmer said. He told the men to stay put while he left to call for help — and the Winona police dispatcher. When deputies arrived, the car was gone. They followed wheel tracks through the hay into the woods. Deputies located car, both men still inside. Arrested were:

> David Kirk Rosburg, 60, of Fort Dodge, Iowa. He was charged with impaired driving, violent threats, and drug possession for 20 grams of meth.

> Jared Jacob Olness-Jones, age 28, of Oakdale, a west St. Paul suburb. He was charged with drug possession for 8-1/2 grams.

This was about 7:30 in the 22000 block of Wild Wood Road between Peterson Creek and Jones Valley. Deputies said a meth-inhaling device was in the car, as well as by-prescription-only meds. Deputies quoted Olness-Jones that Rosburg trapped him in the car and threatened to harm him if tried getting out. The car, it turned out, had been reported stolen earlier from the casino at Prior Lake, which is in the south Minneapolis exurbs. The car’s owner, as much as deputies could determine, had been at the casino with Rosburg and Olness-Jones. That was hours earlier.

Rosburg. At the wheel of stolen car.

Olness-Jones. Claimed being a captive.

MINNEAPOLIS — A judge has refused to block a lawsuit against the gun manufacturer Glock for devices that convert a semiautomatic handgun into a machine gun with the flip of a switch. Gock had wanted he suit dismissed. Hennepin County Judge Christian Sande said no. Glock had argued unsuccessfully that that the gun clause in the U.S. Constitution permits it to manufacture, market and sell the conversion switches, as well as to equip guns from the factory with the switches. Minnesota’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, called the ruling a “major victory.” He had argued that the Minnesota Deceptive Trades Act forbids harmful devices and holds producers liable. Judge Sande’s ruling allows Ellison’s case against Glock to move forward in the courts.

Verbatim

Ellison: “Gklock has turned s blind eye again and again to the carnage in recent years connected to tiny ‘switch’ devices that can easily convert the company’s semi-automatic handguns into fully-automatic machine guns. Glock has known about this problem for a decade and has done nothing. We’re not asking Glock to stop selling handguns. We’re asking Glock to change its designs so they cannot be converted into illegal machine guns.”

MANKATO, Minn. — Two children perished in an early morning upstairs apartment fire in a Mankato house. An adult woman was airlifted 80 miles to a Minneapolis hospital. Authorities deferred releasing the names of the victims until family could be informed. An adult man and a third child escaped unhurt, as did people in a downstairs unit. Fire crews responded about 2 p.m. Not until dawn was the fire fully extinguished. The cause weas not determined immediately.

House converted to rentals. At 233 Bradley Street in the south-central Lincoln Park neighborhood.

WYATTVILLE, Minn. — A motorcyclist went in to the borrow pit on Interstate 90 when her wind-whipped bandanna fell over her eyes. She was unhurt. This was at the Rushford exit about 9 p.m. Deputies were notified about the accident, but the driver and cycle were gone when they arrived. Located later, the woman said that she was fine and that she had tipped the bike intentionally to restore the bandanna.