WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 32 emergency medical calls plus 20 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, April 14: 3 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Monday, April 13: 3 medical calls plus 4 fire call.

> Sunday, April 12: 6. medical calls plus 3 fire call.

> Saturday, April 11: 2 medical calls plus 3 fire call.

> Friday, April 10: 7 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Thursday, April 9: 5 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Wednesday, April 8: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

Eariser: Emergency, fire crews make 42 calls

WINONA, Minn. — Investigators are scouting for surveillance video that could yield clues in the disappearance of a homeless woman. As best that police can tell is that Bridget Ann Martinson, age 32, was last seen April 6 on downtown streets. One source placed her near the post office on West Fifth Street. Police have asked anyone who may have seen Martinson to come forward.  Police list the status of the search as ongoing. Meanwhile, Martinson’s family organized independent searches out of Holzinger Lodge at the foot of Winona’s bluffs. A family member told a KTTC reporter that Bridget was known to hike trails alone without a phone. Family and friends also spanned out to downtown where she spent lots of time. Her brother Ricky Jr. said Bridget usually contacted their father every two to three days. Her last known location was April 6. The situation is taking its toll on the family, her brother  said: “We just want to get out there and really get some answers and check some things off.”  He described his sister as “a really nice kind person,” He said she’s had “a rough go at it lately” and  has been experiencing homelessness.

Earlier: Police empty-handed in hunt for missing woman

Baseball: Saint Mary’s JV and Rochester Community

Softball: St. Xavier 22, Viterbo 2

Softball: St. Xavier 7, Viterbo 1

Tennis (men): Macalester 7, Saint Maey’s 0

Volleyball(men): St. Ambrose 3, Viterbo 1

WINONA, Minn. — Volunteer tornado spotters were mobilized overnight in Winona County but saw no tornadoes. Ben Klinger, the county’s emergency management director, noted, however, that there was sporadic hail. Two massive storm cells converged in north central Iowa and adjoining Minnesota counties in the early evening and swept east-northeast across Minnesota into Wisconsin. Tornado touchdowns were believed to have occurred in the Mankato and Lake City areas, 90 miles apart. There were no initial reports of damage.

WINONA, Minn. — Police confirmed that surveillance video has led them to focus their search on the Mississippi River for a missing 73-year-old woman. The video was nesrLevee Park, a few blocks from Patricia Sweningson’s downtown apartment. She went missing March 4. Volunteer divers have spent two weekends searching the river with sonar and other tools. Fire Department personnel are making regular shoreline checks.

Earlier: Police turn to river for missing woman

ROCHESTER, Minn. ­­— Although southern Minnesota’s Catholic bishop has cultivated a cozy relationship with President Trump, Bishop Robert Barron has drawn the line at Trump’s recent online verbiage against Pope Leo. Trump has been “entirely inappropriate and disrespectful,” the bishop said. Trump had bristled online at Leo’s call for Middle East peace and for tolernce toward displaced people. Trump called the Pope “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy.” Barron, by the way, sits on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission. Even so, the bishop said it is the pope’s prerogative to articulate Catholic doctrine.

Barron. Bishop of 20-county Winona-Rochester Diocese since 2022. Some 120,00 registered Catholics in 100 parishes.

Verbatim

Asked at the White whether President Trump planned to apologize, a spokesperson was monosyllabic: “No.”

Part of renewed Trump bid for Nobel Peace Prize ?  Already has been passed over.

Miscalculated religiosity

As messiah. President Trump, who occasionally attempts Christan metaphors as a political tool, always awkwardly, posted an elaborate image of himself as Jesus in the context of American flags, warplanes and weapon-bearing soldiers. Christians saw the post as blasphemy from a man with no religious background and who  was misjudging the effect on Christians, even religious rightists among his political coalition. Panicked, Trump’s Whuie House staff tried explaining that Trump was being portrayed as a white-ed healing doctor, not as a messiah. An alternative response considered quickly by staff, then abandoned: “Can’t you take a joke.” Within hours, there seemed no alternative but to pull down the offensive image. Trump critics cited the episode as further evidence pf the president’s declining judgment. His 80th birthday is in June. On several past occasionos in receng months Trump also has likened himself to a king, complete with  a photoshopped crown.

Softball: Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons 4, Mabel-Canton Cougars 2

Softball: Mabel-Canton Cougars 6, Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons 5

WINONA, Minn. — Police have assigned criminal investigators to the case of a 32-year-old Winona woman reported missing last week. There have been no breaks in the case of Bridget Ann Martinson. She’s been mostly homeless and frequented charity shelters. A scan of court records showed a history of minor skirmishes with the law, as well as convictions for assault, drugs and bail-jumping.\

NOTE: Meanwhile a search for a second Winona woman, Patricia Sweningson, age 73, was continuing. She was last seen March 4.

Earlier: Winona woman missing almost a week

WINONA, Minn. — A 33-year-old Winona man was found dead in a shed at an East Side address known to police as a drug house. This was about 3:15 p.m. Police said several persons were at the address, in the 1050 block of East Fifth Street, when they arrived in response to a phone call. The body was transported to the regional medical examiner in Rochester for an autopsy and toxicology testing. Foul play was not suspected, police said.

Anaxyrus americanus.  The most common toad in Minnesota. Their early spring habitat is in wetlands. Later they show up in urban backyards and just about everywhere. They hatch in huge batches: A female lays as many as 20,000 eggs that become schools of tadpoles, then toads within six weeks. Maturity occurs in two to three years, as with this 3-//2 inch fellow. No, the warts aren’t contagious. But they taste awful.

Sure sounds of spring. This mature toad has emerged from its winter burrow below the frost line and sprung to a residential downspout up East Burns Valley. Mating season is upon us. Meanwhile: Frogs are chorusing in nearby ponds. Image: Andy Frank

RIDGEWAY, Minn.  — Deputies were called about five head cattle being stolen near Ridgeway. The call came into the Winona County police dispatch center about noon. The theft was in the 38000 block of County Road 12, just off Interstate 90 between Nodine and Witoka. Details were not immediately available.

Softball: Saint Mary’s 11, Concordia of Moorhead 0

Softball: Saint Mary’s 7, Concordia of Moorhead 4

Tennis (men): Saint John’s 6, Saint Mary’s 1

Tennis (men): UW-LaCrosse 7, St. Scholastica 0

Tennis (women): Saint Mary’s 4, Saint Benedict 3

Tennis (women): UW-LaCrosse 7, St. Scholastica 0

Also into retirement: The optional chopsticks. At 411 Cottonwood Drive. Opened in 1989 after heavy remodeling of a former drive-through fast-food restaurant. Image: Steve Lunde

WINONA, Minn. — A Winona fixture for 37 years, Golden China, will stir-fry its final lo mein noodles on May 31. The owners are retiring and closing. The notice was posted at the entrance over the weekend, signed by family members Mark, Teresa, Makenie and Martin. Golden Chuna opened 1989 on the Far West End and became a premier yet reasonably priced Winona dining establishment.  Its deep reds decor and a majestic aquarium made Golden China a fashionable place for business lunches and quiet evening meals. The menu was extensive with Cantonese, Szechuan, Hunan, Peking and Shanghai fare. Fortune cookies were the finale.  The business scaled back to a take-out service during the three-year global CoVid public health crisis that began n 2020. It has remained in a carry-out mode since.

MINNESOTA CITY, Minn. — Winona County deputies posted a bulletin for the next shift for a domestic assault arrest. Sought was a Minnesota City man. A woman reported about 6:10 p.m. that she had. been struck. The man, she said, had left. Deputies said the woman had minor injuries that constituted probable cause although not medical attention. The incident was at a Minnesota Street address.

MINNESOTA CITY, Minn. — Deputies arrested a Minnesota City man based on a woman’s report of being assaulted. Deputies were called to the incident at Hidden Valley trailer court but the woman didn’t report an assault. She called deputies back later to augment her complaint. Arrested was Andrew Jacob Bowers, age 46.

ELBA, Minn. — An Elgin woman was injured when her car went into a ditch on a curvy back road south of the Crystal Springs fish hatchery. Mindy Lynn Peel, age 43, was taken 20 miles to a Rochester hospital. She was not believed seriously hurt. Winona County deputies said Peel smelled of alcohol. Her blood-alcohol level was tested at the scene as 0.15%, almost twice the concentration allowed for driving. The accident was in the afternoon near the junction of County Road 37 and County Road 24.

WINONA, Minn. — A western Minnesota man suffered a sustainable shoulder injury when two minivans collided near Saint Mary’s University. Byrce Donald Bostter, 29, of Madelia, was taken three milesto the Winona hospital. The accident was about 12:40 p.m. Unhurt were:

> Mckenna Kathryn Hennager, 21, of Madelia, driver of a 2024 Chrysler Pacifica.

> Maria Ann Sardegna, 57, of Winona, driver of a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country.

The vehicles were both eastbound downhill on U.S. Highway 14 into Winona. They collided at Goodview Road.

WINONA, Minn. — An Eau Claire man was arrested after interfering with medics tending to a passed-out buddy on a sidewalk in the Bar District, police said. Arrested was Mohammad Shimar Simmons, age19, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Police had been called about 12:25 a.m. to the 100 block of West Third Street. Finding the disabled man flat on the sidewalk and obviously intoxicated, they called for an ambulance. As medics worked to revive the man, officers said, Simmons charged at them yelling. They pushed him back to give medics space to do their work. He charged again right  in their faces. He was arrested. At jail Simmons was booked for interference with police and under-age consumption.

Faded and wind-whipped backwards. This St. Charles household keeps its sentiments flying on U.S. Highway14.  Image: Steve Lunde

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