STOCKTON, Minn. – A woman was charged with domestic assault for an attack at the Hickory Lane trailer court. Stormie Barbara Grenier, age 32, was accused of gabbing a man with whom she shared the unit and hitting and choking him. Deputies were summoned about 10:20 p.m. They said that the man, age 36, still bore red marks on his neck and fresh scratches.

Grenier. Strangulation among charges.

NELSON, Wis. – A transcon freight train crashed into a truck at the double-track Burlington Northern mainline crossing. Buffalo County Sheriff Michael Osmond had no immediate information on injuries. Blocked was the U.S. Highway 25 route connecting Wisconsin and Minnesota – and the only bridge over the Mississippi River for 60 miles between Winona and Red Wing. The accident was about 8:45 a.m.  The rail crossing, into central Nelson, has flashing red lights and drop-down gates that are activated as trains approach. Trains typically roar at 72 mph through Nelson. The route follows the Mississippi between St. Paul and LaCrosse and on to Chicago and Texas. The route is not used by any passenger trains.

Earlier: Train misses car stuck between double tracks

Truck remnants pressed into locomotive nose. Image: Buffalo County sheriff

WINONA, Minn. – Police arrested a Winona man who reportedly had beaten a live-in girlfriend and taken away her phone as she attempted to call police for help. This was about 11:50 a.m. at an apartment in the 400 block of Main Street. Although the call for help was interrupted, a police dispatcher traced the location Police found the man on foot nearby. Rowan Francis Brandon, age 18, admitted to pushing the woman onto a bed but denied hitting her. He said, however, that he noticed her nose was bleeding but didn’t know why. Both told police there had been an argument over fidelity issues, which blew up as she was vacuuming while was trying to watch television. Besides the bloody nose, police said there were red marks on her neck and fresh scratches on her arms and bruises around an eye.

Brandon. Charges: Assault instilling fear, interference with emergency call.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. – A Milwaukee judge, targeted by President Trump as non-compliant with his immigrant deportation pogrom, is fighting back.   Judge Hannah Dugan filed a motion in federal court to dismiss Trump’s case against her for barring his deportation agents out from her courtroom. Dugan claims the agents were disrupting state sovereignty in violation of the10th Amendment. The amendment literally guarantees separation of powers between the federal and state governments. Dugan’s court is part of the Wisconsin state court system. Trump  has accused her of obstructing federal agents. Dugan says she is entitled to judicial immunity for official acts and cannot be prosecuted or convicted.

Earlier: Trump wins indictment against Milwaukee judge

TAYLOR, Wis. – A motorcyclist died from injuries suffered in a crash on a curvy section of a county road south of Taylor, Jackson County Sheriff Duane Waldera reported belatedly. The victim was Gary Lien, age 67, of Taylor. The accident was Friday evening on County Road N near Beck Road. Lien was flown to a hospital, where he died. He was not believed to be wearing a helmet, Waldera said.

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 35 emergency medical calls plus 9 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, May 13: 4 medical call plus 5 fire call

> Monday, May 12: 9 medical calls plus no fire calls.

> Sunday, May 11: 6 medical calls plus no fire calls.

> Saturday, May 10: 3 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

> Friday, May 9: 3 medical call plus 1 fire call.

> Thursday, May 8: 3 medical calls plus 2 fire calls

> Wednesday, May 7: 7 medical calls plus no fire calls.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 60 calls

LEWISTON, Minn. – Deputies arrested a Lewiston man on an assault complaint. Jason Thomas Peshon, age 51, was accused of hitting and punching his companion at a house they shared in the100 block Lindner Street. The injured person, a 50-year-old woman, didn’t require medical attention, deputies said.

Peshon. Booked for intentional assault.

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A federal grand jury indicted a Milwaukee judge who dared to interfere with federal agents who were poised to barge into her courtroom and arrest a witness testifying in his own defense in an unrelated local case. It was the second such case in the nation in which Trump deportation agents had attempted to sweep into a local courtroom. The Milwaukee grand jury that indicted Judge Dugan had been convened on instructions from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at the behest of President Trump. Trump has zero tolerance for any and all local resistance to his deportation crusade that so far has rounded up 40,000 immigrants. It was a Mexican citizen who Judge Hannah Dugan was shielding inside her courtroom. When Dugan was arrested, Bondi said: “If you are harboring a fugitive, we don’t care who you are, if you are helping hide anyone who is illegally in this country, we will come after you and we will prosecute you. We will find you.” Bondi’s argument was that deportation agents don’t need a judge-signed warrant to arrest immigrants. It’s a dubious  argument, according to constitutional scholars, because it has been used to deny due process. The two-page indictment accuses Judge Dugan of confronting the Trump agents and telling them they needed a judicial warrant to conduct their operation. It also accused the judge of directing the undocumented immigrant and his lawyer to exit through a separate door to sidestep federal agents. If convicted, Judge Dugan could face six years in prison or $350,000 in fines. Dugan’s attorney, Craig Mastantuono, said the judge maintains her innocence: “Judge Dugan looks forward to being vindicated.”

Earlier: State Court throws Milwaukee judge off the bench

Earlier: Arrested Milwaukee judge is cast as Trump victim

Earlier: Thousands take to street backing Milwaukee judge

Earlier: Fellow judge on Dugan arrest: Trump bullying

Earlier: Wisconsin judge arrested for thwarting federal agents

About grand juries

Grand juries are secret citizen panels that hear a prosecutor’s evidence to bring a charge. The person being accused has no opportunity to respond and often doesn’t even know he or she is being investigated. In short, grand juries are a governmental tool to generate evidence for a case that otherwise is weak. Once indicted, the accused person has a right to trial by a regular jury of peers and can present a defense. An indictment is not a verdict but rather a citizen finding that a charge should be filed. Grand juries can be abused by government to harass political enemies. The announcement of an indictment also can be misused as a publicity weapon to discredit a targeted person in the public’s eye.

NOTE: Minnesota and some other states require grand juries to evaluate evidence before a first-degree murder charge is filed. This a double safeguard against flimsy governmental prosecutions.

GOODVIEW, Minn.  – Firefighters rescued a swimmer suffering an ankle injury from a deep drop from a rope swinging out over the Airport Lake swimming hole. The swimmer managed to get to shore but was unable, with possibly a broken ankle, to scale the 25-foot embankment for help. Firefighters rigged a rope and hoisted the swimmer up in basket. Once on top, the swimmer was strapped to a cot for a six-mie ambulance trip to the Winona hospital.

Airport Lake profile

The old gravel pit is off Theurer Boulevard in front of he Winona airport terminal. It’s a favorite for fishing and swimming, notable especially for a rope hanging from a sturdy oak. It’s an adrenaline surge to hang onto a knot and swing out and let go 25 feet into the water. The 12-acre pit was dug in 1890 for gravel to build the Winona & Southwestern Railroad to Rollingstone and onward 112 miles to Iowa. The railroad went belly-up up two years later. The gravel pit  filled with ground water and was named Airport Lake after the airport was built a couple generations later.

HIXTON, Wis. – State criminal investigators have assumed control of a police-involved shooting outside Hixton early Monday after a police chase. The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation confirmed that the victim was alive but in critical condition at a hospital and that a deputy sheriff had been placed on administrative leave. The state agency also confirmed that no officers were wounded. The usual criminal investigative unit in Jackson County would be the sheriff’s office under Duane Waldera, but the state took control rather than have a local agency investigating itself. Also: The state has tools and know-how not available in mostly rural areas. Jackson County population 21,000.  Hixton population 450.

Earlier: Deputy shoots fleeing motorist at Hixton

CALEDONIA, Minn. — A Brownsville man was charged with four felonies in the stabbing of his father on a Hokah street outside the family roofing business. The charges against Nicholas Daniel McCabe, age 24: Attempted murder and three counts of assault. Houston County Judge Carmaine Sturino set bail at $500,000. The criminal complaint alleges that McCabe  stabbed his father repeatedly wth a scissors. Police subdued McCabe with a stun gun and took him to the county jail 13 miles away n Caledonia. The father, Daniel McCabe, meanwhile, was recovering from a collapsed lung and massive losses of blood.

Earlier: Roofing contractor stabbed in intrafamily attack

McCabe. Age 24. Attack on father in broad daylight outside McCabe Roofing and Siding in Hokah.

On an Amish farm in central Winona County on an early spring afternoon. Mama is solid for hauling buggies and farm chores. The kid, well, let’s call him spindly and barely stable. Image: Andy Frank

Softball: Alma-Pepin Eagles 7, Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates 5

Triumphal return. One of Winona High’s adapted bowling coaches, Shannon Bechly, shares hugs amid classmate congratulations.

Mini-convoy arrives with bolice escort

WINONA, Minn. – A police escort led the Winona High School adapted bowling team buses into town and a royal welcome. The team had won two titles at the state tournament Brooklyn Park:

Cognitive Impairment Division. Beckett Bergstrom, Malachi Kelly, Jasen Kosidowski-Jaskola and Rebecca Schneider scored 1,743 to edge out the Zimmerman Thunder from Sherburne County and the Mankato East Cougars.

Physical Impairment Division. Easton Gudmundson, Alex Windley-Daoust, Ailayah Mueller and Julian Winn scored 1,792 to beat Oakdale Tartan Titans from Washington County.

Individual medals were earned bb Winona‘s Gudmundson, Windley-Daoust, Mueller, Kelly and Bergstrom.

Earlier: Adapted bowling now a Winona High sport

Cute,finishing  touch. A. bowling pin wired to a police cruiser grill – just ahead of the bowlers’ lead bus into town.

WINONA, Minn. – A Houston driver, whose revoked driving license had been reinstated only two days earlier, was arrested and charged again with drunken =driving. Olivia Ann Thomas, 23, was stopped near Huff and Mark streets after an officer saw her steer up and over a curb. This was about 12:55 p.m. The officer said her odor of alcohol was overwhelming. Also, her eyes were watery and bloodshot and her speech slurred, and she failed two field sobriety exercises before refusing to take other three. Informed she was under arsted, Thomas told the officer: “No I’m not.” She didn’t resist, however. At jail her blood-alcohol tested as 0.16% — twice the allowable limit.

Thomas. Not her first rodeo. She had lost her driver’s license in December for drunk-driving. The license had been reinstated May 10. The new arrest was May 12.

WINONA, Minn. – Police found an elderly woman walking barefoot in her pajamas near St. Mary’s Cemetery. From previous experience the officers  recognized her as a dementia victim. This was about 9:30 a.m.They took her home on McNally Drive, across busy Homer Road.

HOKAH, Minn. – The St. Peter’s Catholic School went into lockdown after police converged at nearby McCabe Roofing in response to a stabbing. One man was stabbed, police said. The victim, Daniel McCabe, age 55, was taken 12 miles to a La Crosse hospital in critical condition. He suffered multiple stab wounds and a collapsed left lung, first-responders said. He lost a lot of blood but was conscious. This was about 7:30 a.m. The Hokah police chief, Kaylie Inglett, was driving her children to school whe she saw one man astraddle the other with a sharp instrument. Because of the children car, she didn’t intervene but activated her siren and radioed for help. Taken into custody was Nicholas McCabe, 24, the victim’s son. He told police he was bipolar and not taking his medication.

WINONA, Minn. – A Peterson driver was charged with drunken driving after a deputy gave chase at 81 mph on on County Road 12 near Trinity Lutheran Church. Francisco Sanchez Cuaquehua, 31, failed field sobriety tests, the arresting deputy said. A breathalyzer showed his blood at 0.16% alcohol, twice what’s allowed.  Records show a previous drun-driving arrest also.