WINONA, Minn. – A Rochester driver suspected of impairment was arrested in in a West End  speeding stop. The 17-year-old male failed roadside sobriety tests, the arresting deputy said. His bood was drawn for the state crime lab to pin down the cause of his  unsteadiness. This was a about 1:20 a.m. in the 1800 block of Service Drive. A female passenger, Kali Jade DiSalvo, 18, also of Rochester, was ticketed for under-age consumption.

Baseball: UW-Whitewater 13, Sant Mary’s 0

Softball: Winona State 13, Concordia of St. Paul 3

Softball: Winona State 10, Concordia of St. Paul 1

LEWISTON, Minn. – Two Minneapolis men escaped injury when a semi-truck overturned on Interstate 90 and hit their van, which was parked on shoulder. This was  between the Lewiston and Rushford exits. The semi driver, Ricky Larry Harwood, 38, of Birch Run, Michigan, was taken 14 miles to the Winona hospital. His injuries were described by state troopers as non-life threatening. The accident was about 8 p.m. in the westbound lanes toward Rochester. In the parked 2003 Ford Econoline were Juan Daniel Cabrera Lopez, 28, and Christian F. Zhiminacela, 29. Harwood was driving a 2022 Peterbilt semi.

FARGO, N.D. – The once-powerful state Senator Ray Holmberg, now 81 and shackled in jail irons and an orange jail jumpsuit, appeared before a before federal judge for sentencing. Ten years, pronounced Judge Daniel Hovland. The judge called Holmberg’s character “egregious and despicable” said he viewed Holmberg still as a threat to underage boys. The sentencing hearing went on seven hours, including victim statements and an apology Holmberg in the end. Holmberg was elected to the state Senate in 1976. He resigned in 2022 as a disturbing sexual history emerged. In a plea agreement, Holmberg acknowledged that he made repeated trips to the Czech Republic for commercial sex with adolescent boys. He was a frequent fkier with sex jaunts to 30 U.S. states and to Canada, Puerto Rico and Norway. Some trips related also to his job as a Grand Forks school high school counselor. Prosecutors said Holmberg traveled at least 14 times from 2011 to 2021 to Prague and admitted to massage services at brothels. He claimed, however, not to know for certain how old the boys were. Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl said Holmberg had assaulted “the dignity of many young boys.”

A sordid sampler

Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl said that Holmberg posed online in 2012 and 2013 as a teenage boy looking for circumcised teens. He misled and manipulated a 16-year-old Canadian boy into sending him explicit photos, she said. The full story of the relationship is unclear because the boy later committed suicide “There is  no doubt Holmberg’s conduct contributed to his struggles,” she said. In nnother case, she said, Holmberg brought a University of North Dakota student to the university president’s suite at the campus hockey arena and claimed he had  access some of the most influential people in the state,  including the university president, the governor and members of Congress. The expectation was sex, she said.

Holmberg. At age 78 in 2021. Now in failing health.

Jail mug. Later in 2021 after grand jury indictment.

STOCKTON, Minn. – A Stockton man was arrested at his Hickory Lane trailer house and charged with sexually assaulting his 11-year-old stepdaughter. Arrested was Nicholas zScott Burth, age 32. The girl told deputies that assaults had been over an extended period. She notified deputies in the morning.  After an investigation Burth was arrested.

Burth. Booked sbout 5 p.m.

Checking out the belfry. On East Broadway at 265 Lafayette Street. Although the church was built later, congregation to has roots in 1856. Image: Winona Fire Department

Lots of excitement but no injuries at St. Paul’s

WINONA, Minn. – Firefighters ventilated light smoke that filled St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on the West Side. The cause was an overheating motor on a blower for the church organ. A janitor traced the smoke and disconnected the blower before firefighters arrived. There were no injuries. This was about 11 a.m. Aside from smoke, the solid stone structure was undamaged. Actually there was no fire – just an unhappy blower and lots of smoke.

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 39 emergency medical calls plus 10 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, March 25: no medical calls plus 1 fire call.

> Monday, March 24: 5 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Sunday, March 23: 8 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Saturday, March 22: 8 medical calls plus no fire calls.

> Friday, March 21: 8 medical call plus 2 fire calls.

> Thursday, March 20: 6 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

> Wednesday, March 19: 4 medical call plus 2 fire calsl.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 55 calls

ROCHESTER, Minn. – A couple thousand households in a southeast neighborhood lost power for about an hour. A Rchester Public Utilities crew couldn’t figure out why – until a surveillance video showed a racoon exiting a transformer. The critter had his brush with high voltage and rambled out unharmed. This was about 3 a.m.

Smile. “You’re on candid camera.” A raccoon’s safe exit. Image: Rochester Public Utilities

CHICAGO – The rail passenger service Amtrak shut down its ballyhooed Borealis service through Winona after inspectors found 70 passenger cars so rusting as be dangerous. People were transferred instead to buses for the 400-mile Chicago-St. Paul trip. Some other day-train routes out of Amtrak’s Chicago hub also were shut down. Federal inspectors found serious corrosion in 61 coaches and nine café cars in Amtrak’s fleet of single-level Horizon cars. This equipment was built 35 or so years ago. In all Amtrak owns only 104 Horizon cars from which to assemble Borealis and other Chicago-based consists. Unaffected were long-distance trains like the Empire Builder through Winona to the West Coast. Long-distance trains to Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angles have a different kind of equipment — double-deck Superliner cars, mostly sleepers.

Earlier Borealis ridership at six months: 100,000

Earlier: Borealis day trains begin new corridor trips

Borealis engines. Idle in Chicago while their usual cars are quarantined for corrosion.

New service, old equipment. Amtrak heralded Borealis as a new service 10 months ago but failed to mention the equipment was 33 to 35 years old. The Horizon passenger cars have been refurbished over and over and looked spiffy but were corroding where it didn’t show.

Baseball: Winona State 17,Mount Mercy 10

Baseball: Mount Mercy 4, Winona State 3

Baseball: Saint Mary’s and UW-Superior, postponed

Baseball: Saint Mary’s and UW-Superior, postponed (doubleheader)

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Walz is changing work-place rules for state employees. Effective in June, 50% of scheduled hours must be at the work site – not at a home office. During the 2021 CoVid crisis, many state employees, as well as employees in the private sector, were encouraged to work from home if possible. But now, he said, CoVid has abated. Said Walz: “Having more state employees in the office means that collaboration can happen more quickly and state agencies can build strong organizational cultures more easily.” There will be exceptions, he acknowledged. Advantages to working from have been many:

> Reducing disease contagion.

> Eliminating none-productive “windshield time” commuting.

> Easing daycare expenses and hassle for parents.

> Reducing auto emissions that contribute pollution and global warming.

> Allowing employee to save on auto insurance.

> Fewer accidents, especially at heavy commuting times.

Walz noted that 60% of state employees already work all their time in-office.

WABASHA, Minn. — A Rochester man, Raymond T. Duque, was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison for child endangerment in a case in which a child found a shotgun in a van and shot a 6-year-old playmate accidentally. The boy survived the June 2024 incident, which was in Elgin in western Wabasha County. The boy’s injuries: A gunshot wound to his right hip and a barrel burn to the left forearm. Duque, age 42, was charged with negligent storage of a firearm that permitted child access. Duque also was charged with possession of a firearm despite a court order related to earlier sexual misconduct. Judge Christopher Neisen issued the sentence. A woman charged in the case, Nicole McGee, 34, the boy’s mother, awaits sentencing. The criminal complaint in the shooting laid out these details:

> Duque and McGee arrived at Duque’s sister’s home in Elgin for dinner and to spend the night. They left the van unlocked and told the children to go play in a nearby park.

> Unbeknown to Duque and McGee, two children — a 9-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy — entered the van. The 6-year-old boy followed them in.

> As Duque and McGee were eating inside the house, they heard a loud pop. The girl ran into house and said something was wrong with the 6-year-old.

> McGee went to the van and found the boy in the front seat with a gunshot wound.

> The firearm, a 12-gauge shotgun, had been between the driver’s seat and the center console. Duque told police the gun was not his and had been put in his vehicle by a friend. He claimed he did not load the gun, that it was loaded when it was given to him.

> McGee had different version. She told deputies tyat the gun was Duque’s and had “always been there.” Asked if the kids knew the gun was in the vehicle she was sure they did.

Earlier: Dad held on $100,000 bail for shotgun incident

Earlier: Parental negligence charged in Elgin child shooting

Earlier: Child shot, wounded in Elgin incident

Duque. Lived in Elgin, population 150,  at the time.

Image: Minnesota Transportation Department

Five-month project. Heavily traveled U.S. 14 between Winona and Stockton will be closed to through traffic from June to October. The project: To Improve drainage and widen shoulders. The detour will be nine miles via State Highway 23 through Minnesota City and Goodview. The Stockton Hill route is five miles

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 8, Union of New York 0

MINNEAPOLIS – A federal judge reversed her decision to release former state Senator Justin Eichorn from jail. Originaly the judge said she trusted Eichorn to move to halfway house to await further proceedings. But then the prosecutors came back with new evidence and osecutors called Eichorn a  “an experienced operator” in lining up minors for sex and “a real risk that he would attempt to victimize other minors in the community.” U.S. Magistrate Judge Shannon Elkins agreed. The judge ordered Eichorn to the Sherburne County jail in Elk River, which houses federal prisoners pending trial. No halfway house for the former senator, she said. The new evidence included several fresh assertions:

> Personal devices. From jail after being arrested, Eichorn phoned an aide in his hometown, 180 miles away, to rush to his St. Paul apartment, where he lived alone when the Legislature was in session. She was instructed to retrieve a laptop computer and an iPhone before police arrived with a search warrant. The devices were thought to contain incriminating communications, the prosecutors told the judge.

> Guns. The prosecutors said Eichorn lied about possessing a gun. In the apartment, police found a gun with ammunition, the prosecutors said. In he bag too was an iPhhne, a computer memory card, and several of Eichorn’s Senate business card,. The iPhone appeared to have been reset to its factory settings to erase all its content.

> Timeline. Eichorn had criminal intent. He left the Capitol after the day’s Senate session recessed and drove directly to disreputable sex rendezvous area a mile from the Mall of America in the Bloomington suburb. The arrest was at 5:46 p.m.

Earlier: Ex-Senator Eichorn’ wife wants out

Earlier: Eichorn fallout: Walz to order special election

Earlier: Minnesota Senate expunges every trace Eichorn

Earlier: Judge frees Eichorn but with severe limits

54-foot girders. Steel beams outline the all-glass foyer for the 700-seat Masterpiece Hall due to open before the end of the year.  The venue is next to the 1899 Winona library on Fifth Street. Image: Steve Lunde

Earlier: Composing a masterpiece: Topping the new concert hall