Motorcyclist crashes, hurt near Iowa border
RENO, Minn. — An Iowa biker was injured when he lost control and overturned just inside the Minnesota border. Kevin Russell Hagen, 71, of Cedar Falls, was taken 30 miles to a LaCrosse hospital with sustainable injuries. He was helmeted, said first-responders. Hagen was southbound toward Iowa on Minnesota Highway 26. He was driving a 2023 Kawasaki KLX300D
One-car Cannon Falls rollover injures driver
CANNON GFALLS, Minn. — A Rochester driver, alone in his car, was injured albeit not seriously when he rolled into a ditch on U.S. Highwav 52. Mateol Lee Johnson, 26, was taken by ambulance to the Cannon Falls hospital. The accident was about 4:05 p.m. near the Cannon Falls-Northfield exit. Johnson was heading north on the divided four-lane highway in a 2010 Chevy Equinox.
Winona murderer Favel loses final appeal
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Supreme Court affirmed the convictions of Winona murderer Adam Fravel. His trial was fair, the Cout ruled. Fravel, now 32 years old, was convicted in 2024 for the death Maddi Kingsbury, the mother of their two children. He is serving a life sentence.
Jury in Ettrick road-rage killing: Guilty
WHTEHALL, Wis. — A jury found a rural Melrose man guilty for the 2024 shooting death an unsuspecting motorist driving home between Galesville and Ettrick. Todd Gieck, age 63, claimed the death was accidental. The jury didn’t buy it. The verdict was returned in the third day of a trial scheduled for five days. Compelling evidence included a report by Gieck’s companion at the time that he was “amped up, perceived an insult from the passing motorist, gave chase, and shot the man through the car window. The victim, Kyle Dahl , 36, a family man from Ettrick, died within hours at a Trauma Level 1 hospital 30 miles away in LaCrosse. The jury found Gieck guilty on three counts:
> First-degree reckless homicide with a dangerous weapon.
> Discharge of a firearm at a vehicle
> Possession of a firearm by a felon.
Trempealeau County’s judge, Rian Radtke, delayed sentencing to August. Gieck could go to prison for 65 years. He then would be 138 years old.
Earlier: Melrose man’s murder trial set for 2026
Earlier: Judge recuses from Ettrick murder case
Earlier: Charges filed in Ettrick drive-by fatality
Earlier: Murder charges prepared against Melrose man
Earlier: Official: Name released in Ettrick highway murder
Earlier: Cops jail suspect in drive-by Ettrick fatality
Earlier: Village abuzz about homicide down the road
Earlier: Authorities mostly mum on Ettrick mystery death
Earlier: Cops jail suspect in drive-by Ettrick fatality
Earlier: Earlier: Authorities mostly mum on Ettrick mystery death
Confederacy presence still on for Iowa fair
DECORAH, Iowa — The Georgia band Confederate Railroad remains on the grandstand program for the Winneshiek County Fair. This is despite objections to implicit loyalty in the band’s logo and name to the 1861 treason of Southern break-away states to preserve slavery. The show, set for a Saturday night in July, is a $20 add-on to $90 tickets for full week passes to the fairgrounds. Parking is free.
All country line-up. Nashville singers Travis Denning and Kayley Green and, yes, Confederate Railroad. The band’s logo, which has been disruptive, doesn’t appear in promotional posters for the fair.
Finstad still avoiding news reporters, townhalls
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Congressman Brad Finstad, who has avoided townhalls and news interviews for months, appears in no mood to change course. When invited by Rochester television station KTTC to a sit-down interview in late March, Finstad’s media aide Jenny Luepke said the congressman was busy but she would check his schedule. Her exact words:
“I’m working to find some time to set this up in the Congressman’s schedule. I’ll circle back once I have a better idea of Representative Finstad’s availability and which location works best.”
Still, a month later, Luepke hasn’t followed through.
Shifting political landscape
In normal times, candidates welcome news coverage. But these aren’t normal times. President Trump’s plummeting popularity has spooked the U.S. House GOP leadership. The party strategists fear that Republican incumbents are vulnerable for being lockstep Trump acolytes. This includes Finstad. The House GOP leadership’s campaign advice to candidates seeking re-election: Avoid townhalls and limit constituent contact to small carefully screened groups that won’t press with inconvenient observations and questions that could make for unfriendly news coverage.
Finstad’s Minnesota Problem
A special problem for Minnesota Republicans is Trump’s Operation Metro Surge last winter. The President’s deportation troops took over city streets, mostly in the Twin Cities but also in Finstad’s backyard MN-1 cities like Rochester, Mankato and Winona. Finstad supported Metro Surge. In the end, public opposition in Minnesota humiliated Trump into calling off his troops. Minnesotans, however, have long memories. Finstad has additional problem largely rural MN-1 — a discordance between his background as a farmer and the growing farm crisis that Trump has created with his tariff war and Iran war. Diesel fuel, essential in farming, has soared to prices never seen before. Soaring too are prices for fertilizers, if available at all, because Trump’s Iran war has cut off essential raw ingredients. Farmers are panicking for the now-or-never planting season for 2026 crops.
KTTC’s invitation
KTTC has no reputation for gotcha journalism. In fact, as a courtesy the station’s invitation to Finstad included sample questions:
> What are you hearing from First District farmers?
> How are you directly being impacted by current economic factors?
> Is additional federal assistance for farmers likely?
> Do you support President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran?
> Are you concern about election implications in November?
To be sure, the actual interview would be in the usual televison news format and be likely to meander conversationally into other issues.
Television market
Candidates generally welcome airtime on local newscasts, especially KTTC as the major station in southern Minnesota’s Congressional District 1. The KTTC signal reaches 11 of MN-1’s 20 counties. The KTTC reach includes these population centers: Rochester, population 123,000; Mankato, 44,000; Winona, 26,000; Austin, 26,000; Owatonna, 26,000; and Albert Lee, 18,000. There are 319,000 people total in the Rochester-Austin-Winona standard metropolitan statistical area, a cohort used by economists and by political analysts.
Chatting in the field. Finstad, the man without headgear, creates photo opps like this to suggest being in touch with constituents. These, however, are closed loops, not a meaningful tapping of public opinion. Images: From Finstad’s online scrapbook .
A roundtable. Finstad at head table with a select group screened as friendly and benign. He provides an updates from Washington. More his talking than listening.
In stride. At the Steele County Fair. A kind of event for 1920s-style politics. Good for kissing babies, not dialogue.
In Lewiston. An invitation-only event at golf club house. No news reporters alerted to attend.
Winona factory visit. In yellow hard hat at Alliant Castings. Although useful to Finstad as a campaign photo, the event was not designed for public dialogue. None occurred.
School bus in six-vehicle crash; no kids aboard
LACROSSE, Wis. — A school bus, with only the driver aboard, plowed into five vehicles on Interstate 90 just inside the Wisconsin state line. In all five persons were injured. First-responders extricated two people from one crushed car. They were taken to a hospital. Tentatively their injuries were deemed non-serious. The accident was about 7:55 a.m. State troopers quoted the bus driver as not seeing commuters backed up where eastbound I-90 narrows to one lane for construction. Clearing wreckage was expected to take five or six hours.
I-90 back-up east of Mississippi bridge. Crash during peak morning commute to LaCrosse from Minnesota Image: Wisconsin Highway Department
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Hoisting, clearing wreckage. The bus was operated by LaCrescent-based Ready Bus Lines. The company’s fleet includes motorcoaches and school buses. Larger school buses have 83 seats. Imaged: Brent Welch
Emergency, fire crews make 41 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 32 emergency medical calls plus 9 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, April 28: Data report delayed.
> Monday, April 27: Data report delayed.
> Sunday, April 26: 8 medical call plus no fire calls.
> Saturday, April 25: 6 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Friday, April 24: 2 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Thursday, April 23: 8 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.
> Wednesday, April 22: 8 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 53 calls
Minnesota prep
Baseball: Mabel-Canton Cougars 4, Spring Grove Lions 0
Softball: Mabel-Canton Cougars 5, Spring Grove Lions 1
Cops hunt driver in “rolling domestic” wreck
HOMER, Minn. — A Winona driver was injured when another driver reportedly forced her off U.S. Highway 61 south of Winona, flipping her vehicle, and driving off. The woman blamed road rage. She was taken to the Winona hospital with a severely fractured hand. With the inured woman’s report, backed up by a witness, Winona County deputies began preparing documents to arrest the other driver, who, it was understood, lives out of state. Deputies said they had evidence of red paint from the hit-and-run car. Deputies pieced together this sequence:
> The woman had a falling out with the man at her place in Winona.
> She drove off to recover belongings at his apartment, believed to be in Wisconsin.
> On Mankato Avenue as she was heading toward the Highway 61 roundabout, he butted his car into hers. Both kept on going.
> Once through the roundabout and heading south on Highway 61 she realized he was on her tail her again, driving erratically behind her, alongside, and in front.
> She tried out-accelerate him while also phoing him to back off.
> The other driver then sideswiped her, forcing her car off the road and into the median. Her vehicle rolled. He drove off.
Walz finale to solons: Act on firearm limits
ST.PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Waz called on legislators to pass new gun restrictions and new fraud-prevention measures. It seemed a tall order with only 20 days left in the 2026 session of the Minnesota Legislature, which is almost evenly between Democrat and Republicans. Nonetheless, the governor made the points a focal in his annual State of the State address. About gun restrictions, Walz paid homage to high-profile shooting deaths in the last year:
> The assassination of House Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.
> Two children at Annunciation Catholic Church and School.
> Two Minnesotans fatally shot by federal immigration agents.
“We gather tonight in the long shadow of all these tragic, transformative losses,” Walz said. The governor’s 40-minute addess was wide-ranging. About the issues writ large, Walz was upbeat:
“The state of our state remains strong. Over the last several months, the world has seen our strength — a strength that comes not from our politics, but from our people.”
He was applauding Minnesotans for their massive resistance to the Trump occupation of the streets with 3,000 armed federal agents in a brutal, often cruel show of force. Minnesotans resisted massively and shamed Trump into withdrawing and also softening his intrusions into other targeted cities. In a tribute to “a Minnesota spirit,” Walz told the story of a man — “Norm.” he called him — who working to reunite families whose loved ones were detained by Trump’s Operation Metro Surge. Norm, the governor said, is trying to help a man who was released from a south Texas detention facility without any way to get home to Minnesota: Norm flew to Texas, rented a car and drove an hour to pick up the total stranger. They flew back to Minnesota together. “Norm embodied the empathy and compassion Minnesotans have for their neighbors,” the governor said.
“This winter has been particularly cold and bitter for so many of our neighbors. But we’re ready to move beyond our season of grief. We’re never gonna forget those that we lost. But neither will we forget what we have found to be true about ourselves and our neighbors — that we are strong. We are resilient. We are generous. We are compassionate, and we’re in this thing together.”
His final State of the State address. Walz recounted his eight years in office. He finishes his second term in January.
Notable journalism
Ryan Faircloth (Minnesota Star Tribune, April 18, 2026): “Lingering Rift with Walz Follows Flanagan into U.S. Senate Racs”
Kali Hanson (KTTC, April 14, 2026): “Family of Missing Winona Woman Organizes Search Party”
Victor Stefanescu (Minnesota Star Tribune, April 10, 2026): “Lawsuit Claims Listeria-Infected Sprouts Grown in Wisconsin Killed Unborn Child”
Rochester ponders beefed-up RCTC sports site
ROCHETER, Minn. — The City Council is weighing prospects for a $55 million project for a bigger, better sports facility at the Rochester Community and Technical College campus along U.S. Highway 14 on the Southeast Side. Currently the college has only a modest athletics program with four men’s and four women’s sports. The evolving concept is a facility for both college and public use. Construction would use state and city revenue, said Deputy City Administrator Aaron Parrish. He emphasized that plans are very, very tentative. An initial step could be a new inflatable fabric dome. Past domes have been costly to maintain. Mold bas been problematic.
Call it Dome 3.0. Like he current dome and a previous dome,, atop the football and soccer turf. RCTC enrollment: 8,000, mostly local commuters, many part-time.
Along County Road 22. 1: New fabric dome. 2: Existing fielfhouse. 3: Expanded fieldhouse. 4: Pickleball court. 5: Vehicle access and drop-off. 6. Improved parking.
Ex-Rochester flier at helm in two-death crash
BROOKLN PARK, Minn. — The pilot of a light plane that crashed near Crystal Airport was a retired Mayo Clinic doctor, authorities said. Joseph Ralph Cass, age 73, died apparently on impact. So did his passenger, Liz Comny, a North Dakota state legislator. Cass spent much of his retirement Up North near the resort town of Nevis. The cause of the crash was not identified immediately. Federal investigators usually issue preliminary conclusions within 30 days.
White nasty over call to quit U.S. Senate bid
MINNEAPOLIS — Ex-basketball pro Royce White shot back at the state Republican Party chair for urging him to drop his campaign for the U.S. Senate following a court order based on domestic assault complaints. About Alex Plechash, the state GOP chair, White called him a “fruitcake” and “clown.” Addressing Plechash, White was blunt:
“The only person in the Minnesota Republican Party who should step aside is you.”
Plechash has been the state Republican leader since 2024. He worked his way up from volunteer precinct duties beginning in 2004. Plechash has held executive roles at Exxon and Oracle. More recently he’s been in finance and investment banking.
Gift site raises $130,000 for Beedle hospital costs
CENTERVILLE, Wis. — Memorial gifts for the late Centerville restaurateur Anne Beedle maxed at the $130,000 goal on a GoFund Me site. The family organized GoFundMe requests to assist with medical bills. Beedle had a popular presence in the Galesville and Trempealeau area. The largest donations ranged from $1,000 to $5,000. She died two weeks ago after falling and suffering brain injuries
On a quiet Monday. Beedles always closed Mondays and Tuesdays.Otherwise serving from 4 or 5 p.m. on.
Earlier: R.I.P.: Anne (Beedle) Dettinger
College scores
Baseball: UM-Crookston 4, Winona State 3
Baseball: St. Olaf 8, Saint Mary’s 3
Baseball: Saint Mary’s 3, St. Olaf 2
Softball: Winona State 9, UM-Duluth 0
Softball: UM-Duluth 9, Winona State 0
Softball: Saint Mary’s 6, Bethel 0
Softball: Saint Mary’s 8, Bethel 0
District 26 Democrats tap Hedin for State Senate
RUSHFORD, Minn. — Expect to see Jack Hedin tooling around southeast Minnesota a lot in coming weeks but no longer in his signature old blue-gray Toyota pickup. The Rushford organic farmer won the Senate District 26 endorsement at a convention of 200 Democrats over the weekend. Although the Toyota has been his calling card as he campaigned for the endorsement. he’s replacing it soon. Even so, speaking at the endorsement convention, he made the 2023 Toyota a metaphor for his candidacy: “Not stylish maybe, but it is mechanically sound. I like to think this is how I am as a candidate.” Hedin, age 59, will be the Democrat on the August primary ballot to succeed Senator Jeremy Miller of Winona, a Republican. Miller is retiring. Hedin, who lives in Winona but farms near Rushford, defeated Michael Todd of Goodview 69% to 30% at the endorsing convention of 200 District 26 Democrats at Rushford High School. In a preliminary vote, two other candidates were eliminated: Lynn Carlson, of Winona and Jon Pieper of Lanesboro. The three defeated candidates all agreed to leave Hedin unchallenged in the August primary.
Hedin. Platform is support for public education and hometown and local businesses, speaking truth to power, not blindly following the party line.
Senate District 26
Has 85,000 people, as does every Minnesota Senate district. Includes most of Winona County, all of Fillmore and Houston counties, and a silver of Mower County.
Goodbye, ol’ ye faithful Toyota
Hedin relied for years on an aging Toyota for heavy farm use. Last fall the transfer case locked up. Over the winter he did a complete rebuild, from flywheel to rear differential plus frame and suspension work and new brakes and tires. There were no dollars left for cosmetics, he said. But he “kept on truckin,’”, as they say, with the original tin, cracked windshield, original carpet and a seat still in place. But not much longer. He has a new flatbed on order. It’s due May 10 as his new campaign truck.
As Democrat for 26-B, Wolf sees age as her plus
RUSHFORD, Minn. — A rematch is in the making to represent southeast Minnesota’s House District 26-B in the Legisture. The District’s Democratic endorsement convention chose Allie Wolf of Spring Valley, age 34, for the August primary election ballot. Veteran incumbent Greg Davids of Preston, age 67, a Republican, is running for reelection. In 2024 Davids defeated Wolf 63% to 36%. Assuming that Wolf and Davids win their August primaries, which seems likely, the general election campaign may shape up as a generational battle:
> Wolf is a Marine veteran from the Afghan war era and a stay-at-home and home-schooling mom.
> Davids is an insurance agent in Preston and the longest-serving Republican in the Minnesota House with 16 albeit non-consecutive terms.
To delegates at the Democratic endorsement convention, Wolf didn’t mention Davids by name but made an oblique reference to him as long in the tooth:
“There has not been a new face representing this district since 1991 —the year I was born. Times are changing. But our values remain. My fellow residents of 26-B deserve a representative who knows what challenges the hard-working families of rural Minnesota face and who will support and fight for them at the Capitol.”
Wolf did high school at Kingsland in Spring Valley. She studied mass communication at Winona State University and holds a computer science degree. She also holds associate degrees from the Defense Language Institute and from Rochester Community and Technical College. In the Marine Corps she trained in linguistics and studied the Pashto language and Afghan culture.
Wolf. Did home-schooling during CoVid pandemic. Over the years she says she’s been both “a full-time working mom and a part-time working mom.”
26-A House hopeful Wilson wins party’s nod
RUSHFORD, Minn. — A Wiscoy farmer in southern Winona County predicted he will flip Minnesota House District 26-A back to Democrats. At the party’s 26-A endorsement convention, Wilson said the District likely be the most contested and consequential House race in the November election. The Winona-centric district had been represented for 38 years by Gene Pelowski, a Democrat. In 2024, with Pelowski retiring, the seat went red. Winona tour boat operator Aaron Repinski, a Republican, won 52% to 47%. The November 2026 election, Wilson said he sees Repinski as vulnerable and 26-A ripe for Democrats to win:
“At this moment, we deserve a champion for affordability. Someone who will fight for Winona County, not just prop up the status quo. That’s why I am running, that’s what this campaign is about.”
Wilson. Sees District 26-A as likely be the most contested and consequential House race in Minnesota. This suggests heavy infusions of funds from the state Democratic and Republican parties in coming months.
The 26-A contest is being closely s\watched statewide as essential for breaking the 67-67 split between Democrats and Republicans in the House. For lack of a clear majority, the 2026 Legislature has deadlocked time and again. At the 26-A endorsement convention, Wilson said:
“With rising housing, child care, health care, and food costs, people are tired of the status quo.”
Wilson noted his focus on affordability, adding that he is committed to championing funding to create 100 affordable housing units in downtown Winona and a child care center in the school system:
“Housing and child care, these are the things that drive up costs for Winonans. These are the things that prevent people from moving to Winona County or staying in Winona County. Housing and child care are an existential issue for Winona County, and because they are, that is what I am committing to doing. I am putting a lot of things on my plate. I’m committing to doing very concrete things. I want people to hold me accountable to that, and I am showing by committing to doing hard things as a candidate.”
What 26-A may cost
Wilson said he has raised $70,000 for the 2026 election. That suggests another record high may be at hand to win the 26-A seat. Here. in rough numbers from legally required campaign finances reports, are average candidate budgets in recent years.
2024: $73,000.
2022: $17,800.
2020: $28,100.
2018: $52,000.
2016: $22,700.
2014: $34,300.
2012: $31,100.
2010: $24,200.
2008: $32,600.
2006: $42,600.
2004: $38,900.
2002: $22,500.
2000: 12,200.
Candidates rely mostly on corporate donations, state party allocations, and individual contributions from well-wishers.
GOP chief to troubled White candidacy : End It
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Former pro-basketball player Royce White should quit his campaign for the U.S. Senate, said the state Republican Party chair. Alex Plechash issued his call to White after a judge issued a restraining order for allegations of wife-beating and other family abuses. White, age 35, is seeking the GOP nomination to succeed Tina Smith, a Democrat, who is retiring from the Senate. Said Plechash:
“Mr. White should immediately suspend his campaign, address the personal and legal matters before him, and stop putting Republican voters and activists in the position of defending the indefensible.”
Plechash noted that the party can’t force anyone out of races. But, he added, candidates “must demonstrate sound judgment, behavioral discipline, and respect for the law.”
Tina Smith Senate seat
Among leaders seeking their party nomination for one of two U.S. Senate seats from Minnesota:
Democrats
> Angie Craig, currently representing MN-2 n U.S. House.
> Peggy Flanagan, currently the state’s lieutenant governor.
Republicans
> Adam Schwarze, former Navy SEAL.
> Michele Tafoya, sports broadcaster.
> Royce White, former NBA player.
Air-gun shots hit windows at East End homes
WINONA, Minn. — Alerted by several calls about broken windows, police found damage at an address in the St. Stanislas Basilica area. Walking the neighborhood, officers found windows broken at three additional homes. Suspected was that pellets were fired from an air gun, possibly several air guns and possibly from a passing car. The broken windows were in both the 600 and 650 blocks of East Fifth Street. The reports were called in about 7:30 a.m.
News summary at week’s end: April 25, 2026
College scores
Baseball: Winona State 9, UM-Crookston 3
Baseball: UM-Crookston 20, Winona State 10
Baseball: Saint Mary’s 6, Adolphus 0
Baseball: Adolphus 7, Saint Mary’s 3
Softball: Winona State 10, Bemidji State 3
Softball: Winona State 15 Bemidji State 2
Softball: St. Benedict 11, Saint Mary’s 3
Softball: St. Benedict 10, Saint Mary’s 2
Cops: Motorist was drunk and “flying low”
HOMER, Minn. — A Wisconsin man was arrested as driving drunk south of Winona at the County Road 15 intersection. Deputies said Caleb Frederick Anderson, age 21, of Reedsburg, had been speeding and smelled of alcohol. Roadside sobriety exercises didn’t hi well. Breath tests on-site and later at jail showed blood-alcohol levels at 0.14%, six points more than allowed. This was about 9:55 p.m.
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