Driver rolls past stop sign, nicked for drunkenness
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver whose blood-alcohol level tested at 0.13%was charged with drunken driving. Berlynn Senetazanh Xayaosa, age 19, was stopped about 1:25 a.m. at Huff and Sanborn streets for ignoring a stop sign, He showed symptoms of impairment and failed roadside sobriety tests, the officer said. The blood-alcohol test, later at the police station, was more than 1-1/2 times beyond the allowable max.
Yes, she had been drinking and was driving, but
WINONA, Minn. – A Lewiston teenager wasn’t legally drunk but smelled like it and acted like it, police said. Kersten Judith Ann Peaslee, 19, had been stopped for a traffic issue about 12:40 a.m. in Winona’s Third Street bar district. The officer said Peaslee admitted drinking. Also her eyes were bloodshot and watery and she failed sobriety exercises, the officer said. At jail, however, her blood-alcohol tested only as 0.03%, less than half the legal threshold for impairment. She was charged with underage consumption. Peaslee had been stopped at Third and Center streets.
End of the road: De-licensed boozing driver
WINONA, Minn. – A police officer on patrol recognized Jonathon Allan Burbach driving despite his driver license being revoked. In the stop, the officer said he found a more serious issue: Burbach reeked of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot and watery, and his words were slurred. Also he admitted to having been drinking. A blood-alcohol check showed 0.16% — double the legal threshold for impairment. This was about 12:35 a.m at Sarnia and Franklin streets. Burbach, age 37, of Winona, was charged as driving while drunk – plus driving unlicensed.
Wisconsin prep
Baseball: Fall Creek Crickets 9, Eleva-Strum Cardinals 5
How they voted: Trump budget /3
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House voted 216-214 to add $5.7 trillion to the federal debt over 10 years to cover revenue losses from tax cuts that President Trump has promised high-roller elites. The Trump plan has been wending through the legislative process for weeks. In broad terms there are five options:
> Increase the national debt from the current $36 trillion to $42 trillion.
> Decrease taxes for wealthy Americans and corporations, as Trump promised these elites in his presidential campaign. The cuts would average $61,090 for the top 1% of taxpayers and $252,300 for the top one-10th of 1 percent.
> Cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs, which benefit wide swaths of the U.S. population.
> Raise tariffs for revenue, although economists see this as foolhardy because higher tariffs would so damage the economy as to be counterproductive.
> Downsize or eliminate federal agencies, as Trump aide Elon Musk has been working to do by finding efficiencies, but the reductions in public services are problematic with voters. Further, the Trump-Musk cuts are being challenged in the courts as reckless and illegal and also unconstitutional as executive branch over-reaches.
Here is how members of the Minnesota and Wisconsin delegations voted:
For more debt
> Tom Emmer, R-Mn6 (north suburbs)
> Brad Finstad, R-Mn1 (south)
> Michelle Fischbach, R-Mn7 (rural west)
> Pete Stauber, R-Mn 8 (Iron Range)
> Tony Wied, R-Wi8 (DePere)
—
> Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wi5 (Clyman)
> Glen Grothman, R-Wi6 (Campbellsport)
> Bryan Steil, R-Wi1 (Janesville)
> Tom Tiffany, R-Wi7 (Hazelburst)
> Derrick Van Orden, R-Wi3 (Prairie du Chien)
Against
> Angie Craig, D-Mn-2 (south suburbs)
> Betty McCollum, D-Mn4 (St. Paul)
> Kelly Morrison, D-Mn3 (west suburbs)
> Ilhan Omar, D-Mn5 (Minneapolis)
—
> Gwen Moore, D-Wi4 (Milwaukee)
> Mark Pocan, D-Wi2 (Madison)
Earlier: How they voted: Trump budget /2
Is nowhere safe? Not even in jail?
WINONA, Minn. – Jailers say a man already in jail for assault with a dangerous weapon, precipitated another violent incident — this time n jail. As jailers pieced information together: Kasius Jehmier Starks, age 22, of Winona, approached a fellow inmate from behind and punched him in the head. Jailers had no idea what provoked the attack. The victim had a reddened bruise but didn’t require medication. The incident was the second in a week involving inmates. For the new incident Starks was charged with assault.
Starks. Had been in jail six days into a conviction, this also for violence.
More Trump budget whacks for Upper Mississippi
ST.PAUL, Minn. — The Army Corps, which maintains navigation on the Upper Mississippi, has been caught in the sweeping Trump budget slashing. The Corps canceled a public outreach meeting in Guttenberg, Iowa, for a new wildlife conservation project at South Ferry Slough. The district office in St. Paul explained merely: “Travel restrictions.” Although hardly a major budget item, he cuts were from issued from the top of the Army chain-of-command under Trump appointee Pete Hegseth as U.S. secretary of defense and directed by Trump sidekick Elon Musk in the name of government efficiency. The cancellation was out of character for the Army Corps. For decades the Corps has cultivated strong community relations with public hearings, open houses and informational programs up and down the Mississippi – all low-cost endeavors for goodwill by showing citizens their tax dollars at work. The Corps said it hoped the $11 million South Ferry Slough project itself would survive further cuts. The contract has been awarded already.
Earlier: River wildlife project starting near Guttenberg
Earlier: Trump target: Winona headquarters of Wildlife Refuge
This tale begins with dog in peril in Mississippi
DRESBACH, Minn. – The Winona County sheriff’s dive-rescue team fetched a man who paddled a kayak out on the Mississippi River at Dresbach to rescue his run-away dog. The man was fine. The dog, meanwhile, turned up happy and wagging its tail. The man had grabbed a beached kayak, which wasn’t his, to catch the dog, The dog, however, was out of sight by then. Sheriff’ s officers were called by a Dresbach man who had witnessed his kayak being paddled off by a stranger. This man had no idea about the dog out on the river and possibly in peril. This all began about 6:10 p.m. In the end, this tale has a happy outcome for everybody.
Fastenal stock up, down in Trump chaos
WINONA, Minn. – President Trump’s chaotic, ever-shifting and poorly explained tariff attacks on almost every nation continued wreaking havoc on financial markets worldwide. Not unaffected has been Winona- based Fastenal, a construction supplies distributor. Fastenal stock on the New York Stock Exchange dropped to $73.56 at mid-day before rising to $72.29 when the exchange closed for the day. All this was roughly was in a range 20% below the company’s 2-week high.
> 52-week high: $84.88.
> Friday: $75.42.
> Monday: $72.16.
> Tuesday: $71.20.
> Wednesday: $76.47.
> Thursday: $75.79.
The whipsaw on Thursday:
Opening price: $76.47.
Low at 12:30 p.m.: $73.56.
Close: $75.79.
Despite stock market uncertaintes, Fastenal’s governing board declared a quarterly dividend of 44 cents a share on Thursday. The board also named Sheryl Lisowski as interim chief financial officer. She will continue also as a vice president. Her new salary was not announced. Fastenal vice presidents are paid $174,000 to $310,000.
Fastenal investors
Fastenal has been a favorite of local Winona investors, some of whom bought in at $9 a share when the company went public in 1987. The ownership, however, is 84% with far-away institutional investors. A total of 21 of investors together have a majority stake in the company with 50% ownership.
R.I.P. Paul Breza
WINONA, Minn. – A funeral Mass for Father Paul Breza, who was legendary in the Winona Polish community, will be at his long-time home church, St. Stan’s Basilica. Time: Tuesday at 2 p.m. Visitation: 11 a.m. to 2 pm. before the service. The bishop, Robert Barron of Rchester, will lead the service. Burial will be at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Winona. Breza, age 87, died peacefully at Valley View Healthcare in Houston on. He had been in special care several weeks. In recent years he was less able physically and mourned losing his ability to work hard.
Verbatim
Bishop Barron: ” Father Breza served the Diocese of Winona-Rochester with great distinction over the course of many years. He had a special reverence for his Polish heritage and for preserving sacred art and statuary. He was a much beloved figure in our diocese and will be sorely missed.”
Earlier: Father Breza never forgot his Kashubian roots
Details: McCormick Funeral Home
1937-2025
Author at WSU on post-rape empowerment
WINONA, Minn. – A Rochester author whose focus is surviving rape will speak Wednesday at Winna State University. Danielle Leukam says she has taken back her power and she hopes to empower other women to do the same. Time: 6 p.m. at the Kryzsko Ballroom. Her story begins with a home invasion in which she was held at gunpoint and raped repeatedly for five hours while her 3-year-old son slept in the next room. Her career is a nurse, but the trauma led her to become also an author and public speaker.
Leukam. This among her books. Published 2021 by Simon & Schuster. 258 pages. $22 hardbound, $20 soft.
Criminal allegation: $15 million in fake Insurance billings
MINNEAPOLIS – An Eden Prairie couple has been charged with defrauding Medicare, Medicaid and other insurers of $15 million with false claims for neurofeedback therapy. The criminal charges were filed in federal court against Gabriel Luthor, 39, and Elizabeth Christine Brown, 42. According to the complaint, they operated Golden Victory Medical out of Las Vegas with clinics in Florida, Kansas Nevada and Oklahoma. This was over a period beginning in 2018. The acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Lisa Kirkpatrick, said Luthor and Brown submitted hundreds of thousands of false claims to insurers, many of which were paid, for total losses exceeding $15 million. The fraud was discovered because medical billing codes didn’t make sense, she said. Kirkpatrick said that accomplices may be charged also.
Legit therapy?
Neurofeedback therapy is a nonintrusive treatment that uses electrical pulses to shift patient’s brain activity into desired patterns. The concept goes back to 1898. The effectiveness remains debated in medical literature.
Living well
The court documents said that Luthor and Brown lived lavishly: Their 9,000-square-foot home in the southwest Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie had an indoor basketball court, a dry sauna, a four-car garage and eight bathrooms.
Golden Victory Medical advertised itself broadly as offering “high-quality, empathetic, personalized healthcare” and specifically “behavioral health medication management, psychiatric and psychological testing and evaluation, therapy, neurofeedback therapy.” Address: 2870 South Maryland Parkway, Suite 200, jn Las Vegas.
Morning fog lifting from Gilmore Valley
Within the hour, the sky will be blue and bright from creekside upstream from Saint Mary’s University. Image: Steve Lunde
Winds have sucked up surface moisture
Image: Minesota Natural Resources Department
Especially vulnerable to grass, timber and crop fires are southwest Minnesota counties, the state outdoors agency reported..Fire danger moderate in southeast counties.
How much booze? Driver’s recollection varies
WINONA, Minn. – A Chatfield driver who was stopped for going 45 mph in a 35 zone turned out, police said, to be drunk and was taken to jail. Justin Thomas Perkins, age 52, refused blood-alcohol tests, but officers said his impairment was obvious: Slurred speech, bloodshot and watery eyes, and failure in a series of roadside sobriety tests. The speeding stop was about 12:30 a.m. at Mankato Avenue and Sarnia Street. The arresting officer said that Perkins first admitted to one beer and one shot in the previous 30 minutes. Later he remembered four beers and three shots, the officer said.
That beer at Zaza’s must be on steroids
WINONA, Minn. – A Wisconsin driver was charged with impairment at the wheel after a traffic stop on the West Side. Police quoted Hannah Lynne Hlaban, 20, of Kaukauna, that she had one beer at the college bar Zaza’s on Huff Street. That didn’t seem right considering her odor of alcohol and bloodshot and watery eyes, the officer said. Hlaban failed sobriety tests on the spot. She blew a blood-alcohol breath test at 0.14%, the officer said. At jail she still was at 0.13%. State law says impairment begins at 0:08%. The traffic stop was about 12:15 a.m. near the railroad tracks at Belleview and Sioux.
News summary at mid-week: April 9, 2025
REMEMBRANCE: Father Breza never forgot his Kashubian roots
COMMERCE: Fastenal climbs from cellar in Trump reversal
RIVER: Smaller vessels, fewer visitors to Winona
POLITICS: A portfolio from Winona’s “Hands Off”
CRIME: Lots of blood when car overturns in factory zone
Wisconsin prep
Softball: Fall. Creek Crickets 13, Acadia Raiders 4
College scores
Baseball: MSU Mankato 15, Winona State 6
Baseball: Winona State 6, MSU Mankato 5
Baseball: Augsburg 7, Saint Mary’s 2
Baseball: Saint Mary’s q2, Augsburg 7
Softball: MSU Mankato 4, Winona State 2
Softball: Winona State 4, MSU Mankato 2
Softball: Saint Mary’s 6, UW-LaCrosse 5
Softball: Saint Mary’s 10, UW-LaCrosse 3
Grass fire near Whitewater campground
ELBA, Minn. – Altura firefighters extinguished a small grass fire at the Lost Arrow campground near the Elba gateway to Whitewater State Park. This was about 5 p.m. Sheriff’s deputies and St. Charles police provided traffic control on County Road 74.
Fire whips acreage, destroys farm outbuilding
PINE ISLAND, Minn. – A grass fire over several acres southwest of Pine Island destroyed an outbuilding at a farm before firefighters arrived. This was about 4:30 p.m. There were no injuries. Pine Island firefighters blamed a controlled burn in a barrel that got out of hand in the 56100 block of 265th Avenue.
Fastenal climbs from cellar in Trump reversal
WINONA, Minn. – Investors returned in cautious numbers to Fastenal, pushing shares to a four-day high of $76.83 at 1:33 p.m. when President Trump reversed himself and toned down tariff hikes that precipitated a global panic. For the day the hometown Winona company Fastenal closed at $76.47. on the New York Stock Exchange.
> 52-week high: $84.88.
> Friday: $75.42.
> Monday: $72.16.
> Tuesday: $71.20.
> Wednesday: $76.47.
Investors were desperate for any sign that Ttump was backing off the massive tariffs he imposed Thursday night. For five days he stood by his new tariffs as essential to punish other nations for what he proclaimed was ganging up on the United States with unfair practices.
Global relations by ultimatum
Economists were confounded. Trade policies normally are subject to going negotiations – a course that Trump abandoned with sudden tariff increases of 25% to 134%. It was a my-way or no-way ultimatum to the world. Then at 1:33 p.m. he surrendered. He announced a 90-day pause — except for China, which he kept at 134% for retaliating with a reciprocal mega-tariffs against U.S. goods. Why Trump’s sudden reversal? He was spooked when Japan withdrew new financing for U.S. projects and debt, which analysts said would have pushed the world to the brink of Depression on a 1930s scale Also, U.S. business executives hammered Trump on the phone all weekend about supply-line disasters, corporate meltdowns and massive joblessness. He was mindful too, although not admitting it, about 1,400 citizen street rallies over the weekend against a broad range of his unpopular initiatives. His polls were nose-diving. The respected Quinnipiac Poll found growing disapproval of the Trump presidency – unusual for a new president in the so-called “honeymoon period.” The percentage seeing Trump’s tariffs as hurting the U.S. economy was 62% .Trump also was beseeched behind closed doors members of Congress whose constituents were increasingly alarmed over what was going on.
Trump data, stats, lies
In rolling back his new tariffs, Trump saved face by calling it “a 90-day pause.” He claimed he needed time to work out lower tariffs wity 76 capitulating nations. Yes, he peated: “76” had begged him not to keep the new tariffs: “They’re kissing my ass, begging me” to cut them a deal. It smacked of his blustery vulgarity as a distracting rhetorical trick. He did not list the 76 countries, and aides told news reporters thar it was none of the public’s business. In short, whether Trump was fudging the number or outright lying was unclear. Analysts agreed, however, that Trump’s tariff crisis still had more chapters to go but nonetheless had further undermined the U.S. reputation as a reliable and honest ally and player internationally.
Verbatim
Quinnipiac University poll: “Voters more than 3 to 1 see Trump’s tariffs hurting U.S. economy in the short term but less bearish on long-term impact, The biggest economic worry tight now? Voters across the board say higher prices.”
Austin woman posed as dead mom for pension money
MINNEAPOLIS. — An Austin woman pleaded guilty to stealing Social Security benefits that were intended for her dead mother. Mavious Redmond, age 55, began the fraud when her mother died in 1999. In all she collected $360.000. U.S. District Court before Judge Nancy Brasel put sentencing off until late spring. The chief federal prosecutor for Minnesota, Lisa Kirkpatrick, called the fraud deliberate. Last June, for example, Redmond personally visited a Social Security field office, posed as her mother, and submitted a form using her mother’s name, date of birth, and Social Security number. Redmond revisited the office a few days later and submitted documentation with the forged signature. During the period of the fraud, Redmond lived in California, Georgia, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Redmond. Addresses over the years in California, Georgia, Indiana, Wisconsin.
Police leaders commend Kingsbury murder investigators
WINONA, Minn. – The Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association honored Winona Police Chief Tom Wiliams and his team for distihguished leadership and resilience in the complex Maddi Kingsbury murder case . Their work was relentless beginning with Kingsbury’s disappearance in March 2023 through her killer’s conviction 20 months later, the association said. Honored in addition to Williams:
> Adam Brommerich, sergeant.
> Angie Evans, investigator.
> Allan Johnson, evidence manager.
> Derek Lanning, investigator.
> Andy Mohan, investigator.
> Anita Sobotta, investigator.
Williams. On Winona police force since 1987, chief since 2020.
Emergency, fire crews make 42 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 31 emergency medical calls plus 14 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, April81: 1 medical call plus 1 fire call.
> Monday, April 7: 5 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Sunday, April 6: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Saturday, April 5: 13 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Friday, April 4: 1 medical call plus 2 fire calls.
> Thursday, April 3: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Wednesday, April 2: 3 medical calls plus 2 fire call3.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 55 calls
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