WINONA, Minn. – As usual at 3:30 a.m. the 150 block of West Fifth Street didn’t have much traffic. Also as usual, people were trying to sleep. No wonder the cops got calls about blaring music from a parked car. Officers found Alejandro Zamora, 21, of Pine Island, in the vehicle. He dialed down the volume. Also, officers said, he displayed signs of inebriation: Alcohol-baited body odor, bloodshot and watery eyes, and slurred speech. At jail Zamora’s blood was tested with a breathalyzer and showed 0.08% alcohol. He had been legally drunk at the wheel. And was so charged.

WINONA, Minn. – After stopping a car without headlights about 1 a.m., a police officer smelled alcohol on the driver. One thing led to led to another. Looking into the driver’s eyes: Bloodshot, the officer said. Trying to understand what the driver was saying: His speech was slurred. Watching his balance and dexterity: Unsteady and awkward.  Checking his breath for blood-alcohol level: The breathalyzer read 0.15%, almost twice what the law regards as inebriated impairment. Tanner Joseph Lozenski, 23, of Winona, was charged with drunken driving.

Facing Highway 61. Construction is proceeding on the relocated Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership.  The site is on a former back parking lot at Winona Mall. Service facilities will be combined with those of Sugar Loaf Ford next door. Both dealerships are in the Puetz family. Image: Steve Lunde

Earlier: Chrysler dealership foresees doubling showroom

Earlier: Shopping around for cars? Soon a shorter drive

Earlier: Ford dealership to expand Winona acreage

ALTURA, Minn. — An Altura driver fumbled through roadside sobriety tests after a speeding stop on County Road 27, a back route between Altura and Rollingstone.  The arresting officer said that Oscar Miguel Rivera Silva, 35, had blood-shot eyes and couldn’t walk straight. This was about 9:36 p.m. Silva was taken 17 miles to the to the Winona County jail where a urine sample was taken for an impairment check. Charges were pending results of chemical evaluation at the state crime lab.

WINONA, Minn. – According to the husband, she threw a glass jar at him. According to the wife, he grabbed and choked her. She barely could breathe, she told police. There was a witness who said that Antoine Kenyetta Poole, age 50, was the primary offender. Police agreed and arrested Poole and took him to jail. This was about 12:15 p.m. in the 500 block of Kerry Drive on the Far West End.

Poole. Booked for causing harm by strangulation.

WINONA, Minn. – The average price for a house in Winona County was $261,600 last year, up 30%. The startling number was n the annual report of Bob Bambenek, county recorde, who logs transactions. There were 553 sales, about the same as 2023 but down from 753 the year before.

Earlier: Winona home sales in December 2024

Earlier: Winona County home sales in December 2024

Earlier: Winona County commercial sales December 2024

PICKWICK, Minn. — Failing to signal for a turn on U.S. Highway 61 had far more consequences for a Winona driver and his Wisconsin buddy than a mere traffic citation. The deputy who made the stop learned right away from records that the passenger, Reginald Michael Henry, 37, of Oshkosh, was wanted on a warrant from Wisconsin. Later, in custody 14 miles up the road in Winona, Henry was found with one gram of meth. So he was charged also with introducing contraband into the jail. Meanwhile, back at the traffic stop near the County Road 7 exit to Pickwick, the deputy had run a records check on the driver, Griffin Hall Foster, 33, of Winona. It turned out that that a judge had ordered an ignition cut-off device on Foster’s car because of an impaired-driving record. The deputy called a tow truck to take Foster’s car away. And Foster called a friend to please pick him up.  Then, it being a cold night, the deputy and Foster sat waiting in the squad car. After the friend drove off with Foster, the deputy spotted a container on the floorboard under where Foster had been sitting. Inside was 1.5 ounces of cocaine. Rather than give chase to find Foster — who knows where he was by then —  the deputy went back to the jailhouse and drafted a request for the county attorney to get Foster back before the judge to explain himself.

Henry.  A deputy reported finding a small quantity of meth in a traffic stop. A companion, who was driving is being sought for cocaine.

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver was tested for drugs after exhibiting symptoms in a traffic stop on the Far East Side. Police said that Joseph Kenneth Taylor, 46, didn’t seem right – his pupils failing to tighen to a flashlight and his skin all clammy. He was arrested with a charge pending results from a toxicology test. The stop was about 11:50 p.m. at Fourth and St. Charles streets for a non-illuminated auto license plate.

Basketball (men): MSU-Moorhead 71, Winona State 57

Basketball (women): Winona State 58, MSU-Moorhead 48

Hockey (men): Saint Mary’s 4, Augsburg 0

Hockey (women): Augsburg 3, Saint Mary’s 1

Softball:  Luther of Decorah 11, Rochster Community 2

OSSEO, Wis.  –- A police chase ended when the speeding car crashed inti a semi-trailer in an Osseo parking lot. The driver, Darnell P. Davism 22, of South Elgin, Illinois, was rushed to the hospital with sustainable injuries. Deputies stood by in the emergency room, then took Davis to 18 miles to the Trempealeau County jail in Whitehall. The chase began about 9:50 p.m. on Interstate 94. Police clocked a sedan going too fast west toward St. Paul and gave pursuit.  The sedan took Exit 88. The deputy pulled up behind and got out. The vehicle burned rubber accelerating to get away. The driver turned screeching into a business parking lot and lost control. The deputy and an Osseo police officer gave medical aid and called an ambulance. At jail it was discovered that arrest warrants were out for Davis. Inside his car, police said, was a firearm. As a convicted felon, Davis  was prohibited from having a gun.

Davis. Hit accelerator onto Exit 88 into Osseo. Then the crash.

ATLANTA, Ga. – A Texas man filed a lawsuit for injuries in the Delta airplane crash Monday at Toronto. Andres Pereira of Austin said he suffered head, neck and back injuries. The suit describes hanging upside down inside the plane with jet fuel leaking on him, then falling on his head after unstrapping his seat belt. The suit, filed in federal, court, was the first from the crash. Of 80 people on the plane, 27 were hospitalized, some released almost immediately, some after a couple  days.

Earlier: Delta: Crash pilots qualified, experienced

Earlier: Litigators for Delta passengers reviewing crash

WINONA, Minn. — After receiving a complaint about a driver weaving across lanes on Highway 61 through town, police located he vehicle — still weaving erratically — and made a stop. This was about 7:50 p.m. at Fourth and Winona streets. Police said the driver, James Chauncey Vondrasek, 82, of Winona, smelled of alcohol with his eyes and speech suggesting impairment. He didn’t redeem himself in roadside sobriety tests. Then, police said, he blew 0.19% in a blood-alcohol test — roughly 2-1/2 times the legal impairment level.

WYATTVILLE, Minn.–  A rural Stone Bridge Drive woman reported $18,000 had been charged wrongfully to her credit card. Her good news: The credit card company was eating the loss. She told Winona County deputies the card itself wasn’t stolen. The charges included purchases in Yuma, Arizona, for fast food and computer gear.

GOODVIEW, Minn. – A Rochester driver was injured when his car crossed into the median on four-lane U.S. Highway 61. Johannes Wolfgang Rinnhofer, 29, was taken to the Winona hospital with non-life threatening injuries. He was southbound into Winona in a 2015 Suburu Impreza. He was not belted, Goodview police said. This was at the Harry’s Lane intersection about 4:50 p.m.

Investigation progress. The Canadian aviation safety agency said it expects to issue a preliminary report on what caused the crash at the Toronto airport last week. Everyone aboard survived the crash of the 16-year-plane. Image: Transportation Safety Bord of Canada

Airline responds to scurrilous online chatter

ATANTLA, Ga. – The two-person cockpit crew of the CRJ900 passenger plane that crashed Monday at Toronto was well trained and experienced in wintry landings, Delta Airlines said. The Atlanta-based airline made the defensive statement in response to social media chatter disparaging the crew. Delta made these points:

> Pilot. Hired in October 2007. Was a pilot training and flight safety trainer.

> Co-pilot. Hired in in 2024 and completed flight training in April. She exceeded mandatory federal standards set for pilots.

The airline chose not to name of either the pilot or co-pilot nor did it say which of them was in control when the plane hit the ground hard, caught a wingtip on the runway, and rolled on its side, both wings and tail fins in flames.

Earlier: Litigators for Delta passengers reviewing crash

Earlier: “Black box” recovered from Delta wreckage

Earlier: Delta sends $30,000 to each crash victim

Earlier: Circumstances: The MSP-Toronto plane