WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man turned suicidal while being booked into jail for a hit-and-run accident. He was rushed to hospital for evaluation. At the hospital, police left Jace Jeffrey Eggert, age 21, on a 72-hour hold. For Eggert it had been a rough night. Police took a call just before midnight that a GMC pickup had struck several parked cars near Third and Market streets in the downtown bar district and driven off. Officers followed a path of leaking fluid for eight blocks to the Winona State neighborhood. Up on a boulevard, police found the truck disabled and abandoned. This was about 1 a.m. Nobody was around but then, as they were preparing to tow te vehicle, police said, Eggert appeared from nowhere. Officers said he admitted to what had happened and took “full responsibility.” Police quoted him:

“I’m going to be honest with you. I’m as drunk as fuck right now and I don’t know what’s going on. All I know is that I’m as drunk as fuck. I should go to jail.”

On site, near and Center and Sabasha streets, Eggert’s blood-alcohol tested as 0.17% —twice the legal intoxication threshold.  At jail, police said, as they began a second verification blood test, Eggert ripped off a neckpiece and began cutting himself with a jagged edge. He said he wanted to die, officers said. He was subdued and taken to the hospital emergency room. A doctor ordered a blood draw. Results could take several days from the state crime lab.

New fuel tanks. The only way to replace underground petro tanks is to dig them out. Even without pumps, the Kwik Trip shop itself in St. Charles remained open — if you could find parking place. No, the Kwik Trip shopping playlist loops weren’t endlessly playing Louis Prima Orchestra’s beeping and bopping “Yes We Don’t Have No Bananas Today.” Glazers and Cheese Mountain pizzas also were in stock. Image: Steve Lunde

Where things went wrong. The Pavilion was built to support events at Memorial Park. Known mostly for the largest chicken barbecue pit on the continent. Eighteen-hundred pieces of chicken can be grilled at one time.

Cops fuzzy on arrest details, investigation status

ARCADIA, Wis. — A person suspected of wielding a machete at a brawl overnight at the Memorial Park pavilion has been arrested, Police Chef Nick Scholl confirmed. Scholl said more arrests were possible. The brawl reportedly involved 20 to 30 persons about 1 o’clock. Police were too busy with injured persons to make arrets in the spot. Ambulances took the injured to the emergency room at the Whitehall hospital. The one arrest was about 10:35 a.m., reportedly at an Arcadia residence. Scholl didn’t identify the individual publicly, nor did he state the charge in which he was booked. Withholding such information from the public is  contrary to usual policing policies. Nether the Arcadia jail nor the Trempealeau County  jail publishes lists of detainees, also contrary to usual policing practices.

Earlier: Four injured in Arcadia free-for-all

ELK RIVER, Minn. — The Sherburne County sheriff is hopping mad at a claim of maltreatment of high-profile inmate Vance Boelter at his Elk River jail. Last week Boelter told a judge he had been subjected to day and night indignities since being jail since June 15 for political assassination attacks. “He is not in a hotel,” said Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott to news reporter Joe Nelson. “He’s in jail, where a person belongs when they commit the heinous crimes he is accused of committing.” Boelter has been charged with killing State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounding State Senator John Hoffman and his wife. In court Boelter said the lights in his cell never go off and that he has been unable to sleep for two weeks. Brott disputed the sleep deprivation claim. Security cameras, he said, show Boelter “resting peacefully with his eyes closed” for seven straight hours the two night before his court appearance. At the same time, the sheriff acknowledged the lights are on 24-7 so jailers can see that inmates are OK. About the incessant jailhouse racket of which Boelter complained, the sheriff said that jails have heavy metal doors that make noise when they are opened and shut. He called Boelter’s cell spotlessly clean and said that his mattress has a pillow and that he has access to a phone and a shower. Boelter has not missed any meals, the sheriff said.

Earlier: Boelter’s jail conditions sound like a gulag

HOLMEN, Wis. ­— ­Responding to a call about an unresponsive man at a Holmen house, police found the man dead and determined it was a homicide. Without explanation Homen Police Chief Shane Collins declined to release the victim’s name. The chief also declined to release information about how the victim died. It was known, however, that police were called to a $450,000 split-level home against the bluffs at 815 Granum Street. The chief said there was no known threat to public safety. Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was being drafted for a Winona man.

Homicide home.  Police were called about 5:40 a.m. about an unresponsive man at the address.

ARCADIA, Wis. — Four persons were rushed 15 miles to the Whitehall hospital from a.brawl involving perhaps 30 combatants at the pavilion in the expansive Wanek Memorial Park on the Southside. No police oatrols were in the area but officers were dispatched the park in response to 911 calls about 1:10 a.m. Police Chief Nick Scholl said the injuries didn’t appear serious. Witnesses told police that one combatant had a machete. The person had left by the time officers arrived. It was unclear whether the weapon was a samurai-type sword or a jungle-clearing tool or something lesser

Earlier: Arcadia struggles with police staffing crisis

CRIME: Boelter’s jail conditions sound like a gulag

REMEMBRANCE: Hundreds queue at Capitol to pay respects

CRIME: Charges: Child sexual abuse for eight years

CRIME: Doctor-sculptor accused of indecent teen contact

CRIME: Gulp, gulp: “Shooters” lead to DWI stop

ENVIRONMENT: Tornados at low end of severity scale

ENVIRONMENT: Bedazzling: Jewelweed shows off its name

GOVERNANCE: How they voted: Trump budget /5

COLLEGES: Free expression trial set for ex-UW chancellor

LEWISTON: Facelifted tank, with Old Glory no less

Earlier: News summary at mid-week June 25, 2025

Pride is back. The Lewiston project was overdue. The tank was sun-faded and corroding, its underbelly mocked with black fungal colonies. Image: Steve Lunde

LEWISTON, Minn. —After sandblasting and a snazzy two-color paint job, the Lewiston standpipe gleams like new. A five-man crew from J.R. Stelzer, a Nebraska tank servicing company, has finished its work. Look carefully: No, those aren’t ants but a pair of daring Stelzer tank-techs descending the foremost leg at the end of their shift. Their coatings typically last 25 years. Such external maintenance typically costs $190,000. Properly maintained tanks have useful lives of 120 years, sometimes more. The tank refitting was connected only tangentially  to June 2023  contamination .

Earlier: Lewiston water expected to be declared safe soon

Earlier: Contaminaion feared in Lewiston water

ELBA, Minn_{. —} The state Natural Resources Department closed some Whitewater State Park trails due to flooding from recent storms:

> Trout Run Creek Trail.

> Coyote Point Trail river crossing.

> Dakota and Valley Trail intersection.

ALTURA, Minn.  — An Altura driver was charged with drunken driving on State Highway 248 downhill toward Rollingstone. The arresting deputy said that Omar Itehua Tzomeaxtle, 28, admitted to four drinks. His blood-alcohol at the stop, near Bear Creek Drive, was 0.08% — at the don’t-be-driving cut-off. This was about 11:45 p.m.  Asked for his driver’s license, Tzomeaxtle showed the deputy a Mexico-issued document that’s not recognized for driving in Minnesota. This deputy said he stopped the car for going 63 mph in a 45 zone coming out of Altura. The man didn’t do well on field sobriety tests, the deputy said. Plus said the deputy, Tzomeaxtle smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot and watery eyes.

MADISON, Wis. — A five-day jury trial has been scheduled for the case against University of Wisconsin regents by UW-La Crosse’s former chancellor Joe Gow.  The issue is Gow’ s sideline as a pornography hy producer. The trial will begin June 22 in federal court in Madison — unless an out-of-court agreement is reached in the intervening 12 months. Short of a settlement, U.S. Judge William Conley ordered pretrial conferences to begin June 9.  Gow claims he was unjustly fired for producing online pornography with his wife and other adult actors. Gow argues that the pornography was his personal freedom of expression and that the regents violated his First Amendment rights by firing him. He is represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Regents are represented by state attorneys Rachel Bachhuber and Brian Keenan.

Earlier: Gow to court with torch for cademic freedom

Conley. One of two federal judges for western Wisconsin, besides two magistrate judges. Named to the court in 2009 by President Barack Obama.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The man accused of assassination attacks on two Minnesota legislators told a judge he is being kept in jail conditions that are so miserable that he hasn’t been able to sleep. At a scheduled hearing, Vance Boelter asked for a delay in proceedings. His words: “I haven’t slept in 12 to 14 days.” U.S. Judge Douglas Micko granted a seven-day continuance. The U.S. prosecutor didn’t object. Said Boelter to the judge: “I appreciate the motion to extend this so I can get some sleep.” At the hearing, at the federal building in St, Paul, Boelter was escorted into a courtroom packed with news reporters. No cameras were allowed. Boelter was wearing a green suicide safety smock designed to prevent inmates from hanging themselves. He didn’t appear to be wearing any clothing underneath. Boelter professed to the judge he’s not suicidal. Since his arrest Boelter has been held at the Sherburne County jail in Elk Ruver. Boelter’s public defender, Manvir Atwal, said that lights been kept on 24/7, that Boelter has only a mat for lying down and with no pillow, that doors are slamming constantly, that an inmate next to him is spreading feces, and that an anti-suicide garment is unbearably restrictive. Said the attorney: “I cannot do my job in the conditions he’s currently in.” Atwal said she had asked the jail keeper to move Boelter to a segregation cell and that he be taken off suicide watch so he can wear a normal jail uniform and undergarments. More comfortable condition, she said, might help him sleep and help him communicate with her. The chief jailer, Patrick  Carr, has not responded to her requests, Atwal said. Whether the jail conditions have been at the instruction of federal prosecutors was unclear. The chief prosecutor, however, acknowledged having communicated with the jail.

NOTE: This article has been reviseed to correct  errors.

Earlier: Hortman mourning: Flags to remain half staff

Earlier: $5 million bail in Minnesota assassinations

Earlier: Minnesota assassin suspect in custody

Earlier: Massive Minnesota manhunt for assassin

Earlier: Key Minnesota legislator, husband assassinated

Elk River cell block. 732-inmate capacity. Holds prisoners from near and far.

Poignant gesture. The Hortman family’s golden retriever Ginger also was the assassin’s victims. She was euthanized because of wounds. Some mourners brought their dogs to the Capitol as they paid their respects. Image: Nicole Neri

A North Star moment of remembrance

LACROSSE, Wis. ­— Federal storm surveyors returned field visits with conclusions that tornados on June 25 were mild. All were EF-0 or EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with winds less than 100 mph. The six level EF scale goes to EF-05 for winds of more than 200 mph. There were no deaths nor injuries of which the National Weather Service was aware.

Minnesota

Yucatan (Houston County): EF-1. On ground 6.5 miles.  Max width 75 yards. 100 mph. Ripped off barn. Trees damaged.

Zumbro Falls (Wabasha County): Northeast of Zumbro Falls. EF-1. On ground 0.9 miles. Max width 150 yards. Peak winds 100 mph. Ripped roof off mobile home. Heavily damaged a barn. Damaged trees. Overturned farm machinery.

Hartland (Freeborn County): EF-1. On ground 3.8 miles. Max width: 25 yards.  Peak winds 105 mph.  power poles were knocked over. Mostly across farm fields.

Hokah (Houston County): South of Hokah. On ground   EF-0. N ground 0.1 miles. Max width: 20 yards. Peak winds 75 mph. Likely developed over rural wooded areas. Dissipated as it moved over County Road 20. Damage limited to trees.

Lake City (Wabasha County):  South of Lake City. EF-0. On ground 2.7 miles. Width 20 yards. Peak winds 50 mph. Trees damaged.

Nodine (Winona County): Near Interstate 90 on Nodine Grade. EF=0. On ground 1.1 miles. Max width 25 yards. Peak winds 70 mph.  Tore limbs from trees.

WINONA, Minn. – An excavator struck a gas line  on the Huff Street artery. The hiss was audible. Police blocked traffic between Broadway and Wabasha streets while Xcel utility crews crimped off the ruptured line and installed a bypass. This was about 8:35 a.m. Firefighters set up four monitoring stations for the entire block until they felt it safe to clear the scene.

EAGAN, Minn. — Richard John Sovinec, a retired music prof at Winona State University, died at age 91. Music was a central part of his life starting at an early age. This included playing in the Chicago Boys Club Band, which his father directed. He earned degrees in music from Northwestern University, then served two years in a U.S. Army band. Later, he taught music in Chicago-area high schools for seven years and completed a doctorate in music composition at Northwestern. At Winona State he taught music theory, history and woodwind performance for 26 years. He chaired the Music Department off and kn. In retirement, he returned to music composition, in addition to his hobbies of repairing collectable cameras and cuckoo clocks and reading history.

_Detail: Klecatsky Funeral Home

1934-2025

WINONA, Minn. — Police received a report of erratic driving at Lake Park and soon spotted the car on Franklin Street. Something was plainly amiss: The driver was up and down —10 mph, then 15, then slower again. The driver must have been blurring lane lanes. He was all over the street. Stopped, Kevin Eugene Hareldson, age 37, of Winona, told the officer he had downed a couple scooters. He didn’t detail what comprised his choice of the shooter’s contents.    Typically a shooter is a pricey bar drink in a shot glass of potent mix of premium brands. Each shooter is taken down the hatch at in a single gulp for a quick, quick high. Hareldson’s blood was tested roadside at 0.36% alcohol – unusual high at 4-1/2 times morethan  for driving legally. This was about 8:20 p.m. A few minutes later at jail the level had climbed to 0.39%. He was locked up.

Hareldson. Cops confirm poor driving behavior, make arrest.

Unanticipated skylight. A sunny sky showed itself through a barn roof the morning after severe winds, perhaps a funnel cloud, roared through the Yucatan area west of Houston. The house was spared. The family’s two horses were grazing the next morning as nothing happened.

RACINE, Minn. — A Byron motorcyclist died when he lost control on wet pavement three miles south of Racine. Mower County deputies said that Kenneth Edward Tlougan, 62, was trying to avoid colliding with a minivan that was in the process of turning. This was about 2:40 p.m. at U.S. Highway 63 and State Highway 16, Tlougan was on a vintage 1981 Suzuki MC. No one in the minivan was injured: Corryn Phoenix Besse, 18, of Byron, the driver, and Melissa Lorene Besse, 46, of Byron, a passenger.

In the woods.  Raindrops bead up like jewels on the leaves of this plant. Later in summer it will produce small yellow or deep orange flowers that look like snapdragons. These small cigar-shape seed pods explode on touch and have earned it the name touch-me-not.

The driver leaps from the door sill of his stalled car to a kayaker who paddled out on a flooded Holmen street to help. Ths at Ryan Street and Starlite Drive. Storm sewers all around LaCrosse were overwhelmed with run-off from extreme storms.  Image: Holmen Fire Department