WINONA, Minn. – A driver took out a sign going into the exit lane at the Taco Bell on the West End, then kept on going. This caught a sheriff’s deputy’s eye. Also, oddly, the driver’s trunk lid was flopping up and down. The deputy gave chase, although the pursued driver stayed within the speed limit, Too, the driver perhaps wasn’t seeing the deputy’s flashers because trunk lid was blocking the rear view. In any event, a mile later, up U.S. Hghway14 at the entrance to Saint Mary’s University, the driver stopped. Yes, she admitted tthe made wrong-way turn into Taco Bell and also banging into a sign somewhere– but she wasn’t sure where – yes, she said, it may have been at Taco Bell. And yes, she also admitted she had been drinking, the deputy said. Jaiden Caprice Thompson, 19, of the south Chicago suburb of Hazel Crest, was taken to jail. Her blood-alcohol tested 0.16% — double the legal threshold for impairment.

Thompson. Multiple charges: Drunken driving, under-age consumption, leaving an accident scene.

This is lascivious?Corrupting? A page from “The Rainbow Parade,” a 32-page illustrated book that the publisher, Penguin Random House, describes as “a sweet and celebratory story” of a two-mom family’s first time at Pride event.”  Retails at $20.

Superintendent: “Inappropriate” for 5-year-olds

ROCHESTER, Minn. – The superintendent of Rochester schools, Kent Pekel, removed a book “The Rainbow Parade” from the Franklin Elementary School after a prudish parent objected to the book. Pekel defended his decision because of a drawing of a street scene in which two men in a crowd are naked. “I do not believe that image, like the nudity, is an appropriate one to make available to children as young as kindergarten and first grade in our schools.” He noted too that he founda reference to BDSM culture – shorthand for bondage dominance, ubmission and masochism in what he inter0retted as a man in a dog collar beiig led around by a chain. Pekel’s decision came despite a 9-1 vote by the school district review committee to keep the book on the shelves and also despite a 2024 Minnesota statute against book bans. he statue is unambiguous: Libraries, including school libraries, “must not ban, remove, or otherwise restrict access to a book or other material based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas, or opinions it conveys.” The School Board stood by Pekel’s decision, which he said had been had been vetted by legal counsel and upheld.

Pekel. Sees shades of sado-masochism.

Basketball (men): Winona State 80, Bemidji State 64

Basketball (men): Carleton 75, Saint Mary’s 70

Basketball (men): W-LaCrosse 84, UW-Stevens Point 83

Basketball (men): Rochester Community 61, St Cloud Tech 58

Basketball (women): Winona State 75, Bemidji State 57

Basketball (women): Saint Mary’s 75, Carleton 39

Basketball (women): W-LaCrosse 64, UW-Stevens Point 59

Basketball (women): Rochester Community 84, St Cloud Tech 46

Hockey men): Gustavus Adolphus 5, Saint Mary’s 1

Basketball (boys): Fall Creek Crickets 62, Black River Falls Tigers 42

Basketball (boys): LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 56, St. Croix. Central Panthers 47

Basketball (boys): Blair-Taylor 71, DeSoto Pirates 65

Basketball (girls): LaCrosse Central RiverHawks 49, Fall Creek Crickets 44

Basketball (boys): Blair-Taylor 0, DeSoto Pirates 0 (first half)

GALESVILLE, Wis. – Two tree-trimmers were killed when the aerial boom supporting their basket tipped on a slight slope and crashed. Both men were dead when first-responders arrived. The men’s names were not released immediately by Trempealeau County Sheriff Brett Semingson until kin could be informed. The accident was west of town about 11:15 a.m. at 21123 West Emerson Lane.

Coated in firefighter’s frozen spray. But still sizzling and smoking. Image: Pine Island Fire Department

Mere seconds to spare, driver escapes cab

PINE ISLAND, Minn. – A long-distance driver suffered only minor injuries when his Peterbilt tractor erupted in flames north of Pine Isand on U.S. Highway 52. The Peterbilt was destroyed. Three cars strapped on the double-deck carrier-trailer were scorched and seriously damaged. These were the cars nearest the blazing tractor. Other cars on the carrier appeared salvageable. This was about 11:15 p.m. The 30-year driver was treated at the scene and didn’t require hospitalization.

How to go about it. Possibilities being explored.  Removal will come first. Later a design phase and, years away, a replacement phase. immediately downstream is the dam, which unleashed tons  of sediment and  phosphorous, nitrogen and other contaminants when  breached in June

Obstacle is river contamination from debris

MANKATO, Minn. – Demotion has begun on the 230-foot bridge just upstream from the Rapidan Dam that a flood took out in June. The bridge remained standing, but its concrete pillars were structurally damaged and rendered unsafe. Removing bridge is no small task The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is concerned that contamination from sediment, phosphorus and nitrogen from the dam’s collapse could be worsened by ripping out the bridge. At issue is water downstream at Mankato and the Minnesota River to Minneapolis. Water clarity this fall still hasn’t returned to normal since the dam break. The bridge demolition now under way is tackling only what can be trucked away. Engineers and environmentalists are at work on phasing later stages. The project, estimate at $18 million,  is expected to take years. Meanwhile, barricades at the bridge block County Road 9, which once was sone of the busiest rural commuter roads in the state. Without the bridge, farmers are detour as much two hours to cross the Blue Earth River.

Earlier: Flood-ruined Rapidan dam, bridge to be razed

Earlier: New Rapidan jeopardy: County Road 9 bridge

Earlier: Mankato dam fails as flood finds work-around

PEPIN Wis. — A Pepin man died apparently outright when he was thrown from his overturning vehicle. Christopher M. Noel, 29, was dead when they arrived, deputies said. The accident was about 5 a.m. on Big Hill Road northeast of Pepin. He was not wearing a seatbelt, deputies said. The vehicle went off the road, hit an embankment, and rolled, deputies said. Noel was alone, deputies said. Speed and alcohol were believed to have contributed to the crash.

Basketball (men): Winona State 80, UM-Crookston 80 64

Basketball (women): UM-Crookston 80, Winona State 79

Hockey (men): Gustavus Adolphus Saint Mary’s 1

(more….)

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was charged with bolting old and invalid plates on a used car he bought a couple weeks earlier. Police said that Bryer Gerald Gebhardt, 29, admitted he wanted to avoid paying the state fee to register his ownership. The stop occurred, police said, because Gebhardt had failed to yield to a pedestrian. This was about1 0 p.m. at Fifth and Hamilton streets. The officer discovered right away that the plates had expired in July and no longer matched any vehicle in state records. Besides the charge of avoiding the state registration fee, Gebhardt as cited for driving without a license and without insurance.

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona nan was arrested on suspicion of impaired driving after a traffic stop during which police said he admitted imbibing. Arrested was Andrew Mason Foss, 61. He declined to be tested for his blood-alcohol level, which itself resulted in an additional charge. The arresting officer based the arrest in part on impairment symptoms, including blood-shot and watery eyes. Also, the officer said Foss was unable to walk straight or touch his nose in roadside sobriety tests. The traffic stop was about 10:30 p.m. at Broadway and Market streets for driving dark without headlights and taillights.

ST. CHARLES, Minn. — A driver whose parked car had just been plowed jnto by another car jotted down the other car’s license number as it drove off. A sheriff’s deputy in the neighborhood used the number to track the vehicle and made a house call in the 1200 block of 195th Avenue southeast of St. Charles. Arrested was Isaiah Lynn Davidson, 24. The deputy said Davidson admitted the obvious: The front end of car was seriously messed up. The deputy said Davidson exhibited poor balance, blood-shot and watery eyes, and unsteady balance. A breath test showed the alcohol in his system at 0.20% –12 points into the legal impairment zine. The incident was at Good Sport bar abut 5:30 p.m.

Davidson. Charges include leaving the scene.

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was stopped driving after dark without headlights and then arrested for drunken driving. The arresting officer said the strong odor of alcohol was coming from inside the car as he talked with the driver, Erlyn Francisco Martinez-Burgalin, 39. Also the man’s eyes weren’t right and he mumbled, the officer said. This was about 10:45 p.m. at Fifth and Vine streets on the East Side. At the jailhouse Martinez-Burgalin’s blood-alcohol level tested at 0.13%, more than 1-1/2 times more than allowed.

ELGIN, Minn. — Mayor Tim Boardman, who was battling leukenia, died two months after being elected to his second term. He was 50. Friends and family called him gregarious with a knack for public service. Elgin, population 1,200, is in eastern Olmsted County between Eyota and Plainview.

Tim Boardman. 1975-2025.

WINONA, Minn. – After 13 years Eric Schoh is leaving Winona State University as athletic director. During tenure Schoh has changed the face of Winona State athletics. This includes new turf and a state-of-the-art video board at the campus football stadium. At age 56 he is joining Georgia-based Shaw Sports Turf and Mammoth Sports Construction as Upper Midwest director of turf field construction projects. He said he will be working out of Winona. His physical legacy also includes renovations of McCown and Talbot gyms and a new gymnastics practice facility and locker rooms. Schoh said he is proud of the scholarship of Winona State teams. Grades average 3.43 on a 4.0 scale, better than the university’s 3.28 overall.  He noted that the graduation rate is78%, first in the Northern Sun conference and 22nd out of 316 institutions in the NCAA Division II. His accomplishments also include:

> Three NCAA regional championships.

> Eight Northern Sun team championships.

>Three Northern Sun tournament team championships

> 15 individual national champions.

> 47 individual conference champions.

> Under Armor athletic director of the year in 2015.

> Regional gymnastics administrator of the year in 2023.

Schoh. Resignation effective in March, National search planned for successor.

Shriner swarm. Shriners in their signature red fezzess with black tassles are famous for entertaining parade antics in tiny butt-dragging motorized carts. Performances raise money for the lodge’s network of children’s rehabilitation hospitals.

Liability suit: Shriner lodge called negligent

MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota chapter of the Shriners has been sued for the death of a lodge leader in a test drive of a motorized mini-cart before the LaCrescent Applefest parade in August. The widow of Ryan Colligan said he was neither trained to drive the tiny stunt cart nor issued a helmet. Ryan, age 45, reportedly hit the brake in a trial run and crashed. The suit seeks a proforma $50,000 minimum but leaves it to a jury to determine a settlement. Colligan recently had been elected as potentate to lead the Osman Shrine lodge. His regular job was environmental services supervisor at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. It should have have been obvious, the suit alleges, that Colligan at 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds had a high center of gravity that made maneuvering the cart problematic. The suit notes that Shriners nationwide have since begun requiring safety headgear

MAUSTON, Wis. – Bail was set at $5 million for the man accused shooting and killing his girlfriend and two e9en-age girls in New Lisbon. In setting bail, Judge Stacy Smith noted that Virgil Thew had previous criminal convictions and was no stranger to jail or a state orison cell. The cnvictions mostly were for burglaries going back t when he was 16. One judge along the way called Thew a habitual criminal. Last week Thew was charged with the New Lisbon murders. More charges were added after his arrest on Thursday:

> Hiding a corpse.

>Possessing a firearm illegally.

> Stealing an automobile.

> Driving a vehicle without consent.

> Obstructing an officer.

At the bail hearing Juneau County prosecutor Kenneth Hamm asked for the $5 million bail: “This is a very serious crime,” Hamm said. “Very significant cash is appropriate.” Asked by the judge whether he had a comment about Hamm’s $5 million recommendation, Thew said no. He had no attorney at the hearing. The proceedings lasted 10 minutes. Thew looked haggard and worn out. He was in an orange jail jumpsuit. He was shackled at wrists and waist. The judge advised Thew of his options for legal representation. These included being assigned a public defender.

Earlier: New Lisbon murder suspect captured

STEWARTVILLE, Minn. – A Stewartville woman was injured critically when ejected from her car in a single-vehicle crash on a backroad east of Stewartville. Olmsted County deputies, without explanation, didn’t release the woman’s name but said she was 22 years old. She was taken 12 miles to a Rochester hospital. The accident was about 2 a.m. in the 5200 block of County Road 139.

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver, stopped by police for a bad headlight, smelled so much of alcohol that the officer put him through roadside sobriety tests.  Preajon Frederic Branch, 23, failed to demonstrate normal balance and dexterity. A breath check found his blood at 0.09% alcohol — roughy15% into the impaired zone. This was about 1:05 a.m. at Center and King streets. He was charged with drunken driving.