Dead mayfly goo. From a previous hatch the morning-after on State Highway 43 bridge linking Winona and Wisconsin on a previous hatch. Vulnerable spans at 30-mile intervals are the ways to cross the Mississippi.

A one-day wonder: Hatch, breed, die

WINONA, Minn. — Snowplow drivers are bracing for the cyclical hatch of mayflies in the Mississippi River mud. The mayflies die by the millions after a brief lifespan, only a day. Their carcasses can pile so deep that riverside roads become a traffic hazard. It takes snowplows to clear the way. In the past there have been accidents, some with fatalities, as drivers lose control on mounds of slippery mayfly carcasses. Especially vulnerable are bridges with illuminated traffic lanes that attract mayflies. Until the hatch occurs — nobody is sure exactly when it’ll be —the state Transportation Department is turning off lights on Mississippi River bridges at Red Wing, Wabasha and Winona. An exception is the complex Intestate 90 bridge at Dresbach whose spaghetti ramps and crossovers would be additionally treacherous without lighting. Another exception is the red and green navigation lamps on the underside of bridge decks. These lamps help riverboat captains keep their barge arrays in the navigation channel between abutment piers.

Earlier: Bridge goes dark to discourage mayfly massing

WARRENS, Wis. — A Warrens woman was charged with leaving her children, ages 6 and 5, in the McMullen Park campground and deriving off for who knows how long. A manager at the 1sprawling ,000-acre park found the children wandering lost, confused and shoe-less and looking for home — and called police. The mother’s home, a camper, was found in one of McMullen Park’s 88 widely scattered campsites. Police waited for the mother, Casandra Lamb, age 22, to return. When she did, she explained that she had left the kids to go looking for a fast-food job 13 miles away in Tomah. As best as police could ascertain, she had been gone two hours. She was arrested: The charges:

> Child neglect.

> Intentional child abuse causing harm.

> Improper ventilation for pets in the camper.

The criminal complaint described horrid conditions in the camper: Six 6 to 10 inches of trash and waste covered the floor, counters and beds. One dog and two cats were confined inside. Animal feces were all over, including to the children’s’ beds. No running water. No working toilet. No working shower. The mother blamed the children for the mess and told officers that she told them repeatedly to clean it up. Officers sad the 6-year-old showed them a cut on one arm and told them his mother had been mad at him in the morning and hit him with a metal spatula. Officers located the children’s father, Zechariah Harper. He said he was pleased that the mother was in custody. The children, meanwhile, were taken to live with family members. Lamb was taken to the Monroe County jail 30 miles away in Sparta. The dog and both cats were taken to veterinarian in Sparta.

Lamb. Was living in squalor with kids in camper at lakeside McMullen County Park northwest of Warrens cranberry bogs.

CHATFIELD, Minn. —Two drivers were killed — one from nearby Preston, one from Chicago  — when they collided late Wednesday night just north of Chatfield. Belatedly the State Patol released their names:

> Samuel A Hernandez, age 62, in a 2015 Jeep Cherokee., who died apparently on impact.

: Devon Peri Williams, age 40, in a 2013 Ford Explorer, who died later 24 miles away at a Rochester hospital.

Troopers suspected alcohol was a factor.

Earlier: Fatal collision on wet highway near Chatfield

ONALASKA, Wis. — Online outrage at a podcast from the Onalaska restaurant Angelina’s has been feeding on itself for a week and growing. A protest is being organized for Saturday at 4 p.m. outside Angelini’s. It’s at 4 that Angelini’s opens. Nobody knows the scale the protest will take, but the male sexism of Angelini managers in the podcast has gone viral. It’s drawn 58,000 views so far. Restaurant owner Tony Angelini hasn’t returned news media inquiries about how he’s dealing with the escalating anger or whether he’s asked police to control the situation if it becomes unruly. Angelini suggested in the podcast that he realized he was hitting nerve:

Baseball: Winona Cotter Ramblers 15 St. Cannon Falls Bombers 5

BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. — An Osseo man was jailed on booking charges not only of driving impaired but also doing so with three children in the vehicle.  Also, said the State Patol trooper who made the traffic stop, the children, ages 7, 6 and 4, were unbelted. The trooper said he stopped the vehicle, druven by Jayson Olson, age 40, on Interstate 94 for erratic driving. Olson was headed west toward Osseo 28 miles away. The stop was about 10 p.m. The trooper said Olson had open intoxicants in the vehicle and failed roadside sobriety exercises.

LACROSSE, Wis. — Don’t expect to buy drinks at Tequila’s restaurant near the UW-La Crosse campus or sex pills at the Citgo gas station on State Road. In a unanimous vote the City Council has yanked their licenses. Tequila’s had been convicted four times of serving underage customers since 2023 — plus 12 times since 2021 for letting underage customers into the bar. The Citgo station has had a citation for serving underage customers in September and twice for having prescription-only pills for sexual arousal behind the counter. Both establishments can seek licenses again in June 2027.

STORDEN, Minn. — A worker drowned under three feet of corn collapsing inside a grain bin. Fellow workers couldn’t find him and called the Cottonwood County emergency dispatcher in Windom for help. First-responders dug deeper and found William Quade, age 72, of Storden. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

LEWISTON, Minn. — A deputy sheriff responded to a complaint about a driver all over the road and stopped the vehicle and found the driver drunk. Arrested was Erick James Madison, age 39, of Rochester. The deputy reported an overwhelming odor of alcohol and said Madison had a balance issue when he swiveled out of the vehicle. His speech was slurred, the deputy said. This was about 6:15 p.m. on U.S. Highway 14 in Lewiston near the new fire station. A breath test put Madison’s blood-alcohol ratio at 0.22%, almost triple what’s allowed. Charges included giving a false name.

WINONA, Minn. — Deputies arrested a Pleasant Valley man whose girlfriend reported he choked her to a point she couldn’t breathe. Arrested at his home off County Road 17 near the Bridges Golf Course was 27-year-old Nicholas Robert Quinlan. The girlfriend, who is 28, said an ongoing argument escalated at his house. She said he choked her with both hands and also slapped and struck her. When she tried getting away, she said, he blocked her. She did break out, however, and drove 30 miles to her place in Onalaska. Quinlan then showed up at the Onalaska address and caused a disturbance, she said. She called Onalaska police. By then he was gone. Winona County deputies were advised and went to his Pleasant Valley address and made the arrest. This was about 5:10 p.m. Quinlan was booked on charges of strangulation, causing harm, and false imprisonment.

OSSEO, Wis. — A Kenosha driver was stopped for an unsafe lane change, which led to a bevy of charges including drunk driving. He failed roadside sobriety testing, which was a real problem. The State Patrol trooper who made the stop discovered it was the sixth DWI for 59-year-old Phillipp Schiavior. That wasn’t his only problem: In the vehicle the trooper found:

> An open intoxicant.

> Psilocybin, an illicit drug derived from mushrooms.

> An inoperable court-ordered ignition interlock device to stop impaired driving.

The stop was on Interstate 94 in northern Trempealeau County. For Schiavi this was 26o miles from home. The stop was about 2 p.m.  He was headed west toward St. Paul.

WINONA, Minn. — Anticipating severe weather, the Winona Municipal Band cancelled its premier evening concert of the season at the Lake Park bandshell. Cancelling was a good idea: A large tree fell and blocked a nearby street at Lake Lodge. Trees around Windom Park were knocked down. One tree fell into a house. There were no injuries. Severe rounds of thunderstorms left much of Winona County water-logged — and so too a broad swath across southern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Some locations reported four inches of rain. A few areas had hail.  In Wisconsin the National Weather Service issued a shelter-in-a-safe-place alert for Arcadia and central Trempealeau County townships.

CHATFIELD, Minn. —The State Patol confirmed a fatality in a two-vehicle collision on U.S. Highway 52 outside Chatfield in southern Olmsted County. Until family are notified, the names were not released. The collision occurred on wet pavement about 11:45 p.m. This was near the County Road 7 intersection.

> A Preston man, age 40, driving a 2013 Ford Explorer, was northbound ward Rochester.

> A Chicago man, age 62, driving a 2015 Jeep Cherokee, was southbound into Chatfield.

WINONA, Minn. — A driver, unfamiliar with the steep and dangerous crooks on Garvin Heightts Road, lost control near the base. Desperate to regain control, the driver pressed his emergency brake, which compounded the problem. The vehicle slid sideways through a grove of trees, rolled twice, and stopped finally on its roof in the U.S. Highway 61 ditch at Huff Street. Both occupants were taken to the Winona hospital. Police described their injuries as non-life threatening. A dog in the vehicle survived.This was about 12:45 p.m.

RUSHFORD, Minn.  — The MiEnergy Cooperative asked customers dial down their electricity consumption during an anticipated peak demand period through 6 p.m. MiEnergy’s wholesale supplier, Dairyland Power, has upcharges for high-usage periods, which MiEnergy passes on to customers. The co-op has19,000 customers in southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa.

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota man Vance Boelter has admitted he assassinated Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband last June and tried also to kill State Senator John Hoffman and his wife and their daughter. In all, he pleaded guilty in federal court to murder, stalking, and firearms offenses. The plea was part of a deal negotiated by his attorney and which U.S. Judge John Tunheim accepted. The agreement calls for Boelter to serve two consecutive life sentences in prison plus 40 years. In court Boelter admitted to planning the attacks for years, using people-finder websites to find the home addresses of the lawmakers, and disguising himself as a police officer to get the victims to open the door. Besides federal charges, Boelter faces state charges of first-degree premeditated murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of release.

Earlier: Feds: No death penalty for Hortman assassinations

WINONA, Minn. — A Lewiston man posted $75,000 bail and was released on condition that he not contact the teen-age girl with whom he’s accused having carnal relations. Jack Edward Schott, age 42, was advised at his bail hearing about details in the criminal complaint.

Earlier: Teen sex complaint against Lewiston man

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 25 emergency medical calls plus 18 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, June 9: 4 medical calls plus 3 fire call.

> Monday, June 8: 2 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Sunday, June 7: 5 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Saturday, une 6: 3 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Friday, June 5: 2 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Thursday, June 4: 7 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

> Wednesday, June 3: 2 medical calls plus 6 fire calls.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 49 calls

ST.PAUL, Minn. — Through a spokesperson, Governor Tim Walz called a Congressional committee report that called for him to be investigated for complicity with fraud was “nothing more than a joke.” The 100-page report, released over the weekend by a Trump-controlled committee, was seriously flawed, said Teddy Tschann, the Walz spokesperson:

Swearing allegiance to truth. Walz and Ellison, both Democrats, were summoned before the Republican-controlled U.S. House Oversight Committee about fake claims for federal reimbursements from private entities in Minnesota. The hearing was in March. Now, 3-1/2 months later, the committee issued its recommendations.

Walz repeatedly has noted that several changes have been made over the last few years to address fraud. These changes include a new state Office of Inspector General, which has independent power to investigate fraud.

Earlier: Ellison on Vance charges: “A political stunt”

WINONA, Minn. — The forecasting model that predicted a 101-degree afternoon Tuesday was wrong. Temperatures didn’t get much into the 80s. Consider it a quiet interlude: We’re not out of Harm’s Way. Atmospheric unrest that brewed in South Dakota and Nebraska was heading across southern Minnesota with possible tornadic activity. The first storms were expected Winona County in the late morning or early afternoon. Unknown was how quickly the atmosphere will recover. Muggy air with high dew points could create powerful updrafts that favor rotating supercells. A complicating factor could be an encroaching cold front.

Earlier: Not yet: Repairs delay Winona pool season

WINONA, Minn. — A Winona man called police that his girlfriend punched and clawed him during an argument. Arrested was Cayla Marie Schleich, age 28. The arrest was in the 600 block of Main Street at the apartment from which the man, age 32, had called police. This was about 1 a.m. Officers reported fresh scratch marks on one of the man’s arm and a wound inside the mouth. He didn’t require medical attention. Schleich admitted to the punch, police said.

WINONA, Minn. — A rescue team carried a drunk and unconscious man 80 yards to safety through wooded area near the Mississippi River spillway on Prairie Island. The man was taken six miles to the Winona hospital for possible injuries and his inebriated state. This was about 10:20 p.m. A caller had said only that the man was “behind the spillway.” He was located 50 yards through woods. The rescuers, from the Fire Department, called the station house to drive out with a basket stretcher. Although the man was only 50 yards frm the nearest vehicle access, the rescuers carried rhe stretcher 80 yards out and back to avoid the hazards of negotiating the spillway’s large rip rap in the dark.

Up Witoka way. Ground fog at sunset near the Big Springs cold headwaters of East Burns Valley Creek. Image: Andy Frank