College scores
Basketball (men): Gustavus Adolphus 85, Saint Mary’s 65
Basketball (men): UW-LaCrossse 84, UW-Stout 77
Basketball (women): Gustavus Adolphus 71, Saint Mary’s 41
Basketball (women): UW-Stout 77, UW-LaCrosse 69
Minnesota prep
Basketball (girls): Austin Packers 85, Winona Winhawks 47
Hockey (girls): Winona Winhawks 2, Hudson Raiders 2 (overtime)
Family violence report leads to felony case
WINONA, Minn. – A rural man was jailed on a complaint that he beat his 73-year-old father and threatened his 72-year-old mother. Michael Thomas Schneider, 45, was arrested at the family home in the 23000 block of East Burns Valley Road. This was about 12:25 p.m. Because of previous convictions, some for violent behavior, including an assault on a police officer. Schneider was charged with domestic assault at a felony level.
Schneider. Shares parents’ address.
WSU’s head football coach mantle to Curtin
WINONA, Minn. – Why spend time, energy and money on a national search for a new football coach when the perfect candidate is already on the payroll. Such is the reasoning of Winona State University’s athletic director, Eric Schoh. He announced that Brian Curtin, an assistant coach, would replace Brian Bergstrom, who resigned last week to return to South Dakota State. Curtin was named interim head coach immediately. But now, a mere week later, the title “interim” is gone. Curtin is now head coach. His salary: $100,500. He had been special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach. Schoh praised Curtin for providing stability on the coaching staff and helping lead the Warriors to eight Northern Sun championships.
Earlier: How team learned of WSU coach’s departure
Curtin profile
Curtin played football at Winona State and was a member of the 1993 Northern Sun conference championship team. That squad went 7-4 overall and 5-1 in conference play to earn the only NAIA Playoff bid in Winona State history. The Warriors repeated as NSIC Champions in 1994, posting a 7-3-1 overall record and 5-0-1n the conference.
Body found near Elba; no foul play suspected
ELBA, Minn. – A 67-year-old man was found dead in his house after a handyman reported that he didn’t answer his door and that mail was piling up. Deputies who entered the house said the man, his body decomposing, had been dead several days. An autopsy was ordered but foul play was not suspected, an investigator said. The discovery was about midday just outside of town in the 1100 block of Fairwater Drive.
Only casualty in blufftop roll-over: Bloody nose
WINONA, Minn. – Except for a bloody nose, a Winona woman escaped injury when her car slid off the top sweeping curve up the bluffs on East Garvin Heights Road. Yhe car verturned twice and landed upside down. The woman crawled out and called a friend to pick her up. This was about 8:30 a.m. When police arrived, nobody was around. They were concerned about blood on the driver airbag. They traced the car’s registration to the owner’s address. Besides her bruised nose and a few bumps, the 28-year-old woman told officers that she was fine and didn’t require medical treatment. Police said she had been wearing a seat belt.
Day 2 of House boycott: Brief session
ST.PAUL, Minn. – House Republicans started the second day of the 2025 legislative session by declaring they had a quorum but not taking a count. The fact, though, was that without the boycotting Democrats, only 67 House members were in attendance. A quorum requires 68. The session was brief. Approved were a few non-partisan staff appointments. Meanwhile, next door to the Capitol, the Supreme Court received petitions from House Democrats and Secretary if State Steve Simon that the Republicans should be declared out of order for conducting business without any Democrats present.
Emergency, fire crews make 58 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 39 emergency medical calls plus 19 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, January 14: 10 medical calls plus 2 fire call.
> Monday, January 13: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire call.
> Sunday, January 12: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Saturday, January 11: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Friday, January 10: 3 medical calls plus zero fire calls.
> Thursday, January 9: 6 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Wednesday, January 8: 4 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 78 calls
Minor injury in Winona apartment fire
Lakeview Manor. Blaze confined to single apartment. A tenant in a burning unit on Sarnia Street across from Lake Park was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. This was about 2:30 a.m. in the 450 block of East Sarnia. Image: Winona Fire Department
Gay view on Rochester school’s book ban
ROCHESTER, Minn. — The group Rochester Pride, which sponsors an annual Pride even, says the book “The Rainbow Parade” never should have been banned from Franklin Elementary School. The group said that the ban is doing more harm than good. “We believe that this decision will ultimately be detrimental to the very students you seek to protect, particularly those who identify as LGBTQIA+ or have family members who do,” a public letter said. “It sends a message that LGBTQIA+ representation is acceptable only when it conforms to specific, narrow standards deemed ‘appropriate’ by a single individual, effectively silencing certain voices and experience..” The book was removed by Superintendent Kent Pekel after a single parent complained that a first-grader brought the book home.
Neilson. A children’s author and filmmaker. Her other works include “Can I Give You a Squish.” A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Now at an animation studio in Portland, Oregon.
Story line and theme. One day in June, Mommy, Mama, and Emily take the train into the city to watch the Rainbow Parade. The three of them love how all the people in the street are so loud, proud, and colorful, but when Mama suggests they join the parade, Emily feels nervous. Standing on the sidewalk is one thing, but walking in the parade? Surely that takes something special. It’s an experience reminds readers that sometimes pride takes practice and there’s no one way to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Judge: Contested House race goes to Democrat
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – A judge upheld the election of State Representative Brad Tabke by 14 votes even though 21 ballots somehow were lost before being counted. The decision confirms Tabke, a four-term representative from Shakopee, as a member of the Democratic caucus in the evenly divided House. The ruling came from Scott County Judge Tracy Perzel. The judge reviewed testimony from six voters whose ballot were lost and concluded that Tabke’s challenger, Republican Aaron Paul, could not have garnered enough votes mathematically to have won.
Missing ballots
A post-election canvass of 22,000 ballots in Scott County discovered that 21 absentee ballots had not been tabulated. Likely, said the canvassers, there was no skullduggery. Conclusion: The ballots were mistakenly disposed of while still in their secrecy envelopes although after being removed from their signature envelopes.
Tabke. Back to Capitol from south Minneapolis suburban House District 54-A.
Combative Walmart woman finally repressed, jailed
WINONA, Minn. – A drunken woman was arrested, finally, after resisting and attacking police officers who were trying to escort her to her boyfriend’s car to be driven home. This according to the police write-up of the incident. Officers had been called to Walmart about 4:30 p.m. for a woman who had planted herself at the service desk. She was obviously intoxicated, officers said, citing her blood-shot eyes and slurred speech. Officers phoned the boyfriend who drove right over. Together they got the woman standing. But outside the door, she assured a fighting stance, clenched her fists, and broke away to return inside. She kicked one officer in a chin. Then a backup police unit arrived. The officers managed to cuff the woman but only after she got in a few more kicks. Rather than letting the boyfriend take her home, police took Maria Consuelo Calvillo, 55, to jail.
Calvillo. Charges include assaulting police and being in Walmart illegally. She had been banned earlier as unwanted on the premises.
GOP pretends to have quorum: Full speed ahead
ST.PAUL, Minn. – Like business as usual, House Republicans ignored a boycott by every Democrat member and proceeded without a quorum to elect leadership and announce committee assignments for the four-month 2025 session. Whether the proceedings were legal was unclear. Secretary of State Steve Simon, in his ministerial role as convener for the first day of the new session, had declared a quorum was lacking and graveled business immediately to a halt. As soon as Simon departed, Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, took the floor and a asked for a rollc all to establish a quorum Without headcount, a quorum was declared. And the Republicans proceeded to elect Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, as House speaker.
Quorum requirement
It’s highly usual for one party to proceed going-it-alone and damn-them-Democrats. When the Democrat House speaker-designate, Melissa Hortman got word of what was happening, she promised an appeal to the state Supreme Court to declare it all null and void. The quorum issue is a bit tricky. Usual parliamentary procedure is specifies that a majority of members must be present for business to be conducted. The House, however is 67-67 between the two parties, which means quorum would require 68 members present. No Democrats were there. The GOP had only 67.
The back story
So why the boycott? Democrats said The GOP had gone back on its word on an agreement to share powerto aoidg a 67-67 gridlock along party lines. In response, the Democrats — every one of them — stayed away. About the Republican-only proceedings, Democrats called it brazen, short-sighted and illegal. They authorized their communications director, Matt Roznowski, to issue a public statement: “Everything that has happened after Secretary Simon adjourned today’s session is a sham.”
Demuth. Will her speakership survive a Supreme Coury challenge?
Niska. Called for quorum to be declared by acclamation.
Prison ends for cop in George Floyd death
ELKTON Ohio – One of the Minneapolis police officers in prison for the 2020 death of George Floyd is being released from the Elkton federal prison. Alexander Kueng, age 30, had served three years. The low-security prison, south of Youngstown, houses 1,300 inmates, of whom 300 are in a prison work camp. The most severe sentence in the Floyd case was against Derek Chauvin. He is serving 23 years in a Texas prison.
Kueng. Complicit in Floyd murder.
Democrats stage boycott in St. Paul power struggle
ST. PAUL, Minn. – When Republicans showed up for the opening session the 2025 House, they were alone. Not a single Democrat was in the House chamber for the swearing-in ceremony. The Democrats had arranged their own ceremony secretly the night before. Thus began a Democratic boycott designed to preclude any proceedings for lack of a quorum. It was the latest and most dramatic power play since the November election. The election had ended with a 67-67 House split. Who would be House speaker? Who would control House committees? Who would control the House agenda? The two parties squabbled, then came up with a power-sharing arrangement. Meanwhile, the Republicans were organizing a lawsuit to disqualify a newly elected Democrat for not living in his distrct. They won the suit, giving themselves a one-vote House majority. They cancelled the power-sharing agreement. A special election is pending to choose a legislator from the disputed district,but the election is a couple weeks away. If a Democrat wins the special election, the House already would have been locked into a governing Republican majority. Meanwhile, to address the GOP switcher-roo on power-sharing, Democrats, furious at what they saw as a double-cross, arranged for a friendly retired Hennepin County judge, Kevin Burke, to conduct a swearing-in ceremony for hem at an undisclosed location outside the Capitol.
Earlier: Appeal promised in contested House race
What’s a quorum?
Usually a quorum is a majority. In the 134-member Minnesota House that would be 68. Because Republicans hold only a 67-66 majority, they’re one member short. In his role as convener of the House, Secretary of State Scott opened the session at the mandated 12 noon, which normally would be followed by Simon excusing himself from the chamber and allowing legislators to proceed with their business. It didn’t happen. Simon a Democrat, ruled that a quorum wasn’t present and brought everything to a halt. For how long? A day? A week? Longer? Who knows.
Cattle truck overturns in downtown Lansing
En route to slaughterhouse. At the 90-degree corner off the Mississippi River bridge. Image: Allamakee County sheriff
Two animals die; others OK, driver too
LANSING, Iowa – A semi-rig packed with Wisconsin cattle overturned coming off the Black Hawk bridge into town. Deputies said the driver escaped serious injury. Of 75 cattle in the trailer, two died. The others were herded onto other vehicles. This was about 10:30 a.m.
Appeal of Fravel murder conviction begins
WINONA, Minn. — The state’s chief public defender, Cathryn Middlebrook, has begun an appeal process on behalf of Adam Fravel of Winona, who was convicted in November of murdering Maddi Kingsbury. The appeal will go to the Minnesota Supreme Court. This is a routine process in all first-degree murder convictions. The Court looks for procedural errors in the trial and could order a new trial. This happens rarely. Middlebrook began the appeal process by asking Winona Judge Nancy Buytendorp, who presided in the case, for documents and exhibits from the trial.
Forestry victims from eastern Wisconsin
GALESVILLE, Minn. – The tree-trimmers who died near Galesvlile on Saturday were brothers from eastern Wisconsin, Sheriff Brett Semingson confirmed. They were Douglas Poss, 63, of Menomonie Falls, a Milwaukee suburb, and Ryan Poss, 61, of Winnecon, near Oshkosh. Their basket crashed from the tree tops when a supporting mechanism slipped on a slope.
Police thwart suicide off Main Channel bridge
WINONA, Minn. – Police grabbed a 17-year-old boy who was threatening a suicidal leap from the interstate bridge to Wisconsin. The boy was taken uninjured to the hospital for mental evaluation. This was about 2 p.m. Police had been alerted to the situation by the boy’s family. They said the boy left home upset and said he was going to the bridge to kill himself. As police were converging on the bridge, a Fire Department rescue team arrived at the foot of Washington Street and donned cold-water suits and prepared to launch a rescue vessel into the river. At that moment, police on the bridge radioed that the suicidal boy was on a cot and being loaded into an ambulance.
Senators settle on political power-sharing
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The temporarily tied Minnesota Senate struck a power-sharing agreement on the eve of the start of the 2925 session of the Legislature. Democrats had a 34-32 majority after the November election That changed with the death of Senator Kari Dziedzic, D-Minneapolis, two weeks ago. The Senate suddenly split suddenly 33-32. Until Democrats have 34 votes again, they’ve agreed to split control with Republicans holding equal power on committees and sharing control of the Senate floor. “The temporary 33-33 tie in the Senate posed unique challenges for the body and required a unique solution,” said Democratic Senate Leader Erin Murphy. The split-power arrangement mirrors what Democrats and Republicans have worked out in the near-evenly split House. Insiders say, however, that the House agreement may be doomed with more complex layers of issues
Ice-slick road a factor in Winona crash
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver was injured when her car slid off new snow and ice on U.S. Highway 61 at the Black Horse cross street south of town. Maurella Louise Cunningham, 55, was taken to the Winona hospital. The State Patro reported her injuries were non-life threatening. The accident was about 10 a.m. Cunningham was in a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe heading toward LaCrosse.
Bad night for wrecks on Minnesota roads
ST. PAUL, Minn. – State troopers responded to more than crashes statewide due to snow and ice overnight. From midnight Saturday to 8:30 a.m. there were 188 crashes with damage and 25 with injuries. There also were 85 vehicles off the road, 10 vehicle spin-outs, and three jack-knifed semis.
Massive Brice Prairie fire at Strupp Trucking
ONALASKA, Wis. – Fore destroyed the Strupp trucking, heavy equipment and excavating company facility on Brice Prairie. No one was injured, but the fire was so fierce it took 100,000 gallons of water to put down. Onalaska firefighters responded to the fire, on County Road XX, about 3:36 a.m. Flames and billowing black smoke were ripping skyward. The Onalaska crew called for help from fire departments in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, La Crosse, Shelby and West Salem. Crews were still moppnig up nine hours later. There was no question that the structure was a total loss.
Geared up to battle inferno. Inferno at North 6200 County Road XX, an Onalaska address. Image: Onalaska Fire Department
Bird flu now in third southeast Minnesota county
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Wildly contagious bird flu has been identified in a backyard flock in Olmsted County. The state Health Department was not specific about the location. The mandated procedure is to slaughter flocks immediately to minimize the spread. Past waves of the disease have wiped millions of turkeys and chickens and devastated the U.S. poultry industry. The biggest Minnesota outbreak in the current wave was in a commercial turkey operation near Litchfield. Some 223,000 turkeys were euthanized. The largest 2024 outbreak, also near Litchfield, involved nearly 1.4 million chickens. The disease is a global issue. It’s transmitted through droppings from migrating birds. Migrant flocks, including Canada geese, have in fact been decimated. Even with those losses, it doesn’t many droppings to contaminate a commercial or backyard flock. Southeast Minnesota outbraks so far in 2024 included a backyard flock in Houston County and a commercial turkey operation in Fillmore County with 28,000 sickened birds.
Global issue. Migratory flyways honor no national borders nor other human constructs like the Western, Eastern, Northern or Southern hemispheres. Image: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Bird flu profile
The disease has made trans-species transfers to cattle but is rare among humans. Human cases have been only with farm workers who handle chickens. The major human impact has been financial. Diminished commercial flocks drive up prices for poultry products including also eggs. As a precaution, people are encouraged to cook bird products and eggs thoroughly.
New award to retired SMU sports publicist
WINONA, Minn. – The voice of Saint Mary’s athletics about as long as. anyone can remember, Danny Nadeau, has been awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Intercollegiate Athletics Communications association. Nadeau retired this fall after 29 years at as sports information director. He was inducted into the Saint Mary’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2021. He also held a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Award. His work included the league’s Player of the Week selection committee. Nadeau retired early due to a degenerative eye disease that he battled his wbole career.
Nadeau. A Saint Mary’s grad and career sports information director.
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