GOODVIEW, Minn. – The theft of $10,000 in brand-name power tools and two vehicles was reported from a building on Industrial Park Road near the airport. The new owner of the property discovered the loss during his first inspection since buying the building in mid-January. Entry was by smashing out a glass door, police said. The address: In the 5700 block on the street where the Thern winch and crane factory  is located. Police began a search for surveillance video from nearby businesses during the 20-day window when the theft occurred. . One clue was a boot print in mud, police said. The missing vehicles were parked inside: Two 2014 Dodge Caravan minivans, one red and one black.

TOMAH, Wis. – A bullet was found in a boys washroom at the Tomah Middle School — less than a week after bullets were found at the high school school, also in a boys washroom. The school district superintendent, Mike Hanson, called police. After a lockdown, a check of video of who was in and out, and interviews, police said there seemed to be no threat. Unsettled was where the bullets came from and why – and whether the incidents, six days apart, were linked. The schools:>

> Tomah High School. Grades 9-12, enrollment: 900.

> Tomah Middle School. Grades 7-8, enrollment: 600.

Call for boycott. Organizers faulted Target, accusing  the giant retailer of abandoning its legacy causes to enrich the commnweal. Said irganzier Nekima Levy Armstrong about Target: “They acted cowardly, and they made the decision to bow down to the Trump administration. We are here today, saying we will not bow down.”

Boycott plan coincides with Black History Month

MINNEAPOLIS – Civil rights activists announced a nationwide boycott of Target 2,000 stores nationwide to protest the company’s plan to phase out its diversity equity and inclusion initiatives. At a rally outside Target’s headquarters in Minneapolis, organizer said to expect demonstratiins at Target stores starting Saturday —  the first day of Black History Month. Nekima Levy Armstrong of Minneapolis, founder of the Racial Justice Network, encouraged Target shopper to go online and buy directl from Target suppliers. She encouraged black-owned hair care brands like The Doux and Camille Rose and the cosmetics brands like  Lip Bar. Levy Armstrong said she was  stunned that Target was backkg off its leadership in building a more diverse society and workforce: “We thought that they would hold the line. We thought that they would continue to stand for the values that we all hold dear. But instead they acted cowardly, and they made the decision to bow down to the Trump administration. Well, we are here today saying we will not bow down. We will not step back, and we will not turn around.” Jaylani Hussein, who heads the Minnesota chapter of the Council on Islamic-American Relations, told demonstrators that Target must be called out: “We here in Minneapolis today, the good people of the state, are saying to our friends all over the country, ‘If you were moved to do something good after the murder of George Floyd, it is time for you to stand up and boycott Target.”

Earlier: Target scraps diversity as business policy

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Lake Winona. Either they chiseled into the ice to be sure it was at least 10 inches thick or these ice-fishers were pressing their luck. The usual guidance: Four inches of clear ice for walking, five for a snowmobile or amall ATV, eight for a side-by-side ATV, and 10 for a small car or SUV. Lake Winona is 38 feet deep at places. Image: Steve Lunde

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Three companies offering timeshare buy-back services have agreed under pressure to quit doing business in Minnesota. Attorney General Keith Ellison said. None of the business were licsened to do business in the the state, All have agreed to refund $269,000 to customers duped into sending paying upfront feesto get unwanted timeshare units off their hands. Upfront charges are llegal in Mjnnesota for debt-settlement services. The settlement involved these timeshare-exit companies: :

> Encore Law, of Knoxville, Tennesssee. although incorporated in Texas.  

> Last Resort Consultiig, of Seymour,Tennessee. .

> Tradebloc, of Dallas, Texas.

Said Ellison: ”I hate to see unethical companies promise help to Minnesotans stuck in costly timeshare contracts, only to rip consumers off again.”

MONEY CREEK, Minn. – A rural woman called deputies and reported the theft of trading cards. She was hesitant, however, about pressing charges and said she would be back in touch next week. The inquiry was from the 31000 block of Highway76. This trading card theft report, about 6:10 p.m., was the latest in recent weeks in Winona and Olmsted counties.

Earlier: Winonan accused of brazen trading card thefts

Earlier: Card shop robbed; ex-worker blamed

Earlier: Winona clerk accused in $13,000 trading card theft

Earlier: Report: $500 Kobe Bryant collector card stolen

Basketball (men): Winona State 86, UM-Duluth 78

Basketball (men): Hamline 82, Saint Mary’s 64

Basketball (men): Rochester Community 78, Anoka Ramsey Community 65

Basketball (women): Winona State 57, UM-Duluth 53

Basketball (women): Hamline 64, Saint Mary’s 38

Hockey (boys): Hastings Raiders 5, Rochester Mayo Spartans 4

WINONA, Minn. – Reports poured into police of parked cars being rummaged through overnight in a West End residential area. A handgun was missing from one vehicle, a phone from another. The incidents were in these blocks:

> 1300 Parks Avenue, reported at 9:46 a.m.

> 500 Ronald Avenue, at 10:41 a.m.

> 450 Kerry Drive, at 11:51 a.m.

> 850 Gilmore Avenue, 1:23 p.m.

> 1400 Heights Boulevard, 4;55 p.m.

Police were treating the incidents as related. A surveillance camera caught a suspect at one vehicle, but he was yet to be identified.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Hunters brought home 170,500 deer this season, about 7% more than the previus year, the state wildlife agency reported. Of these, 27,500 deer were brought down by archers. Although higher, the 2024 totals were off 9% form a five-year average but better than the two previous seasins, which the agency explained was due to rough winters that thinned he herd.

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 32 emergency medical calls plus 13 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, January 28: 6 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

> Monday, January 27: 5 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

> Sunday, January 26: 5 medical calls plus no fire calls.

> Saturday, January 25: 8 medical calls plus 1 fire calls.

> Friday, January 24: 12 medical calls plus no fire calls.

> Thursday, January23: 4 medical calls plus no fire calls.

> Wednesday, January 22: 4 medical call plus no fire calls.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make53 calls

OAK PARK HEIGHTS, Minn. — Two ice fishermen were rescued after their pickup went through the ice in the St. Croix River near the Xcel power plant. Police said the men, ages 24 and 23, jumped before the truck sank and never got wet. This was after dark about 9:20 p.m. The men had been out ice fishing on the river for most of the day and were heading back to a boat launch. Then they heard the ice cracking and making unfriendly noises nder them, they told Bayport police. They jumped out just as  the pickup started slipping under. This was in water believed to be 15 feet deep.

Going under. It’s a 2009 Chevrolet Avalanche. Avalanches weigh 5,700 pounds. Image: Ben Ziertman

End of 100 mph chase. Driver had only bumps and bruises. Crash kitty corner from the white Beedle’s Bar and Restaurant. The tan Centerville townhall and curling hall down the highway on right.  Image: Four Corners bar

Arcadia driver facing multiple charges

ARCADIA, Wis. – A state trooper was stuck by a car and injured albeit not seriously outside an Arcada address where a man had been reported yelling in the street. It seemed at first to be routine welfare check. Fifteen miles later after 100 mph chase, Michael Peterson, 47, of Arcadia, was arrested after crashing inti a post. Peterson was taken the Trempealeau County jail 28 miles away – after a stop at a hospital to be checked ver. The episode began about 5:05p.m. at Blaschko Avenue and Sobotta streets on the Arcadia South End. Officers found Peterson sitting a. car. They said he refused to get out or communicate, then hit the accelerator, striking the trooper, and speeding south out of town up Highway 93 to the ridgetop and then down Tamarack Valley into Centeriville. The chase ended when the driver crashed into a power pole at the four-way stop with U.S. Highway 35. Peterson  was booked for:

> Battery on a law enforcement officer.

> Reckless endangerment safety.

> Flight from a a police officer,

MADISON, Wis. — The former University of Wisconsin-La Crosse chancellor, Joe Gow, sued the UW Board of Regents in what could become a cutting-edge case for free speech and academic freedom — and against just plain nastiness in firing him. The suit was filed in federal court. Gow was removed as chancellor in 2023 for producing and performing in sex videos that encouraged older adults to loosen up and enjoy the bedroom. With his wife, a fellow academic, he demonstrated up close and personal how to do it. The couple also had written books on the subject. He is 65, she 57. All this was under pseudonyms. UW System President Jay Rothman, a Milwaukee lawyer, was scandalized to learn of the extracurricular videos. Rothman claimed that Gow had sullied the university’s reputation. Rothman organize a campaign not only to remove Gow as chancellor but also to deny him the usual professorship afforded to former chancellors, and to deny him a pension.

Gow’s legal case

In the suit Gow claims that a governmental unit, the UW System, denied his constitutional right as a citizen to free expression. Further he claims his academic freedom to pursue unconventional avenues was violated. This is a centuries-old tradition inspired by the fate of the Greek philosopher Socrates, who in 399 B.C. was forced to drink the poison hemlock. Academic freedom also has been inspired by the heresy trial of Italian physicist  Galileo in 1633 A.D. for theorizing that Earth wasn’t flat. A more mundane element in Gow’s case is wrongful dismissal and denial of a tenured professorship, which is standard practice for former college academic officers.

Earlier: Next step for Gow’s free speech battle: The courts

MINNEAPOLIS – The Minneaoplis-based Target retail chain retreated from its long-standing commitment to cultural diversity, equity and inclusion by disavowing its DEI policy. The company announced an end to its “Belonging at the Bullseye” strategy to help lack employees build meaningful careers, to improve the experience of black shoppers and to promote black-owned businesses. The strategy had roots in a decades-old corporate commitment to social good – a tradition pioneered by its corporate predecessor, the Dayton’s department stores . The reversal nos is part of a sudden shift in U.S. retailing toward a white supremacist culture encouraged by newly elected President Donald Trump. Among hold-outs against Trumpian pressure has been Washington state-based Costco, a major Target competitor. Target’s change, within days of Trump’s inauguration, was unexpected. The company has been reporting with pride that half of its 350,00 employees are people of color and more than half are women. But what of its Dayton’s-like leadership for social goods?  It’s not loke social inequities are things of the past in American culture. The company’s recent record, at least until now, also has favored more diverse suppliers, including businesses owned by people of color, women, gays, veterans and people with disabilities. This apparently is gone now too.