Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Chippewa Falls McDonell Macks 62, Arcadia Raiders 49
Basketball (boys): Galesville Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Red Hawks 75, Black River Falls Tigers 67
Basketball (boys): Blair-Taylor Wildcats 55, Independence Indees 46
Basketball (boys): Whitehall Norse 71, Augusta Beavers 56
Basketball (boys): Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates 67, Osseo-Fairchild Thunder 59
How team learned of WSU coach’s departure
WINONA, Minn. – Winona State football coach Brian Bergstrom told his team he was leaving in an online Zoom hook-up. With the university’s spring classes not resuming until next week, many players were still away for the holiday break. Bergstrom told them:
“It has been a true honor and a gift from God to be your head football coach. You have become a family. The path had both mountaintops and valleys, but it always had opportunities to grow as a team. Our grit and resilience was motivated by love.”
Bergstrom had been head coach since 2021, succeeding the popular Tom Sawyer, who led the team 25 seasons. His decision to return to South Dakota State was widely seen as a career move from Winona’s status in the NCAA Division II and going to Division I South Dakota State. In an interview with radio station KWSN, he said: “Felt like it was a door God was opening, and we were supposed to walk through.” He noted “a ton of close relationships in Brookings.” He also noted that he is close friend with the new Jackrabbits head coach, Dan Jackson, who urged him to return. Jackson and Bergstrom spent time together on tye South Dakota State coaching staff before Bergstrom took the head coaching job at Winona State.
Teen’s name now shows in murder, rape documents
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – A judge unsealed he name of Carson Peters-Berger in court documents that allege he raped and murdered his 10-year-old cousin when he was 16. Unveiling the name marked the end of 18 months of motions by his attorney to keep the case in juvenile court. Judge Steven Gibbs has denied the defense motions in September. There had been little secret about the boy’s identity. Even the documents referred to him as C.P,B. He is accused in the 2022 death Lily Peters on a wooded path as she was bicycling me from an afternoon with her aunt. Berger has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces life in prison.
Earilier: Murder update: Chippewa Falls teen legally an adult
Earlier: Murder update: Chippewa Falls teen legally an adult
Earlier: Teen seeks juvenile jurisdiction for murder trial
Earlier: Movement afoot to broaden missing child alerts
Earlier: Teen accused in Chippewa Falls rape, murder
Earlier: Chippewa Falls boy blamed killing of 10-year-old girl
Earlier: 10-year-old girl killed in Chippewa Falls
Court: Domestic abuse laws apply to ex’s
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Litchfield man who wanted a domestic abuse charge dropped because he no longer was in the relationship has been told: No. The state Supreme Court ruled that state law, although using the the present verb “is” in one place, was never intended by legislators to exclude abuse charges for prior relationships. Justice Anne McKeig said the Court’s decision was based on o a review of the legislative history going back 30 years, including minutes of Senate and House committee hearings.
WSU readies search for new football coach
WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State University athletic director said the resignation of football coach Brian Bergstrom was a surprise but not unexpected. Said Eric Schoh: “When you hire someone as good as Bergstrom, you know he’s going to be on people’s short list.” Bergstrom had been coach three years. His appointment as defensive coordinator at Division I South Dakota State is expected to be announced Friday in Brookings. Being told by Bergstrom of the move, Shuch moved quickly to organize a national search for a new head coach. In the interim, he put Brian Curtin in charge. Curtin has been with the Winona State program since 1997. Most recently he has been special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach. Curtin played football at Winona State. He was on the 1993 Northern championship team and again in 1994 when the Warriors repeated as conference champions.
Curtin. Now interim head football coach at Winona State.
Penny steps aside from regional Foundation
OWATONNA, Minn. –Former Minnesota Congressman Tim Penny is retiring as president of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, which creates partnerships and issues grants for a wide range of projects. Penny, age 73, has held the post 18 years. The Foundation has put $1 million toward training child-care workers. A partnership with publishers distributes 20,000 books annually to schools, libraries and community organizations. An entrepreneur fund has expanded by $1 million to help small businesses and startups. “Whether visiting breweries, cafes or food trucks, I can proudly say SMIF has played a role in supporting these entrepreneurs,” he said.
Penny. Represented MN-1 in Congress six terms. Earlier in state Senate.
WSU football coach back to Division I SoDak State
BROOKINGS, S.D. – One of the worst kept secrets in Brookings is that new South Dakota State football coach Dan Johnson has hired Brian Bergstrom away from Winona State as defensive coordinator. The announcement will be Friday at a news conference in Brookings, sources said. Reportedly Jackman pitched the job to Bergstrom as a career move – even though he will be an assistant coach. South Dakota State is an NCAA Division I team since 2008. Winona State is in yhe lesser Division II. Bergstrom has been head coach Winona three years. He is no stranger to South Dakota State. He was defensive coordinator for the Jack Rabbits and also coached safeties before moving to Winona.
Earlier: WSU football coach Bergstrom quits
Fretting about Supreme Court? WSU has answers
WINONA, Minn. – Aware of rising pubic concern that the U.S. Supreme Court has been tainted by gifts to justices and politicalization, Winona State political scientist Matt Bosworth is offering a short course to the public on the Court. The course runs Wednesdays at 4 o’clock starting January 29. Tuition: $40. Registration. Bosworth’s academic work is the intersection of judicial process and politics.
News summary at mid-week: January 8, 2025
HEALTH: Minnesota abortions up 16% in new report
REMEMBRANCE: Mondale son to read dad’s Jimmy Carter eulogy
GOVERNANCE: $3.2 million grants to local food producers
GOVERNANCE: Main Square West seeks another rule exception
GOVERNANCE: People must love this state agency
SPORTS: WSU football coach Bergstrom quits
CRIME: Triple murder update: Suspect’s car found
CRIME: Cops put down hotel disturbance, make arrest
CRIME: Car tussle: Woman says nose broken
COMMERCE: Winona home sales in December 2024
AVIATION: LaCrosse airport’s plan to bring Delta back
College scores
Basketball (men): Augsburg 73, Saint Mary’s 64
Basketball (men): UW-Platteville 83, UW-LaCrosse 75
Basketball (men): Riverland 76, Rochester 73
Basketball (women): Saint Mary’s 70, Augsburg 65
Basketball (women): UW-Platteville 63, UW-LaCrosse 60
Minnesota prep
Basketball (girls): New Prague Trojans 59, Rochester Century Panthers 43
Drones buzz Red Wing nuclear plant, also dam
On Mississippi River. Sixty miles upriver from Winona. Operated by Xcel Energy. Two pressurized water nuclear reactors generate 1,076 megawatts of electricity.
Unanswered questions: Toys? Spies? Weapons?
RED WING, Minn. – Security guards at the nuclear power plant called police that drones were swirling and hovering at the plant. It was hard to tell how many because they kept dipping from view and reappearing, said the guards, who counted four, maybe five. This was about 6:30 p.m. When police arrived from Red Wing 12 miles away, two drones still around but then vanished. Drones were also reported, perhaps some of the same ones, at Lock and Dam Number 3 on the nearby on theMississippi River. Whether the drones were camera-equipped or weaponized was not established. Nor was it established from where they were launched and controlled.
Gas leak prompts apartment house evacuation
LACRESCENT, Minn. – An apartment building was evacuated after a gas leak was smelled near the high school. Firefighters found high gas concentrations and called a utility crew from Minnesota Energy. The crew located a malfunctioning furnace in the Fitzgerald Religious Education Center at 1380 Lancer Boulevard. The leak was capped. Everyone returned home.
WSU football coach Bergstrom leaving
WINONA, Minn. – Winona State University football coach Brian Bergstrom resigned after three seasons. There was no immediate explanation from either Bergstrom or the university. The past season was 5-5 in the Northern Sun conference and 5-6 overall. In Bergstrom’s three years as coach, the Warrios went 18-16. He won the Northern Sun championship his first season.
Bergstrom. Age 44. Earlier coached at St. Cloud State and SouthDakota State. Played linebacker at Gustavus Adolphus.
Mondale son to read dad’s Jimmy Carter eulogy
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. – When former President Jimmy Carter was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, at age 91, he asked Walter Mondale to write a eulogy for delivery at his funeral. Mondale, who was Carter’s vice president, agreed. But Carter outlived Mondale, who died in 2021 at age 93. Now one of Mondale’ sons, Ted, will deliver the eulogy that his father wrote. This will be Thursday at the Carter funeral at the National Cathedral. Mondale said the eulogy talks about Carter as a champion nor human rights and civil rights, “He talks about Carter as then a georgia governor in 1971 in his inaugural address, saying, you know, we need to stand up for the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. That was big.” He talks also about Carter as a man of his word, Ted Mondale said.
National Cathedral. A mile from the White House.
Ted Mondale profile
Ted Mondale, noe 67 and now retired in the Minneapolis suburb of Golden Valley, was a member of the Minnesota Senate from 1991 to1997. In 1998 he sought the Democratic nomination for Minnesota governor. He later led an organization to promote regional economic development. He also served a vice president of Minnesota-based United Healthcare. In 1999 he was appointed chair of the Metropolitan Council, which guides planning, transit, wastewater operations, regional parks and affordable housing in a seven-county region.
Recollections. Remembers himself as a geenager in and out of the Carter-Mondale White House. “He wasn’t too important to talk to some 19-year-old kid with kind of long hair,” Mondale recalled in a KARE television interview. He called Carter a kind man.
New Lisbon murder suspect captured
ELROY, Wis. – An ex-con wanted for three homicides in New Lisbon 11 days ago was captured was captured 12 miles away near Elroy. Juneau County Sheriff Andrew Zobal announced the capture of 42-year-old Virgil Thew. Details were not available immediately, but this much was released:
> 11:51 a.m.: The multi-agency police dispatcher in Mauston, the county seat, received a report of a suspicious individual in woods near Elroy.
> 12:18 p.m. A deputy identified the individual as Thew, and arrested him without incident.
The sheriff said that details on the arrest would be forthcoming. He thanked the public for tips on Thew’s whereabouts. Over 11 days there had been citizen 172 tips, he said. Meanwhile, the criminal complaint accusing Thew of three count f of first-degree murder showed these early details on the investigation:
> Thew picked up his stepdaughter, Alexandria Taylor, 12, on December 29 at an address, in neighboring Monroe County.
> Alexandria’s father called police the next day that she had not returned home.
> Skyla Sorenson’s father in New Lisbon reported her also missing and that her online Snapchat account showed location at the Thew house.
> New Lisbon Police Chef Kyle Walker went to the Thew address on West Bridge Street.
> Thew’s mother, for whom he was care-giver, said she had seen the girls together.
> Police broke through multiple locks on a bedroom door. In the bedroom were the bodies of Elizabeth Kolba, 33, who was Thew’s girlfriend and who also lived in the house, and the Tylor and Sorenson girls. All had been shot.
> A man living just out of town on McEwen Road, for whom Thew had done carpentry, reported running across him on the property. He said Thew explained he was looking for his dog.
> The McEwan Road man pointed to where he had seen Thew’s car. In the vehicle police found a key to the bedroom on Bridge Street where the bodies had been found. Also in the car was a 9mm handgun.
> Several sightings of Thew were reported over the next few days, many with his dog.
Elroy profile
Elroy is in southern Juneau Countu on the Baraboo River. Population 1,350. It is 60 miles from LaCrosse to the west and 30 miles from Wisconsin Dells to the east. The Ciutyis in Nausin, 12 miles away. It’s popular for hikers and bicylists along abandoned railroad routes. In Elroy’s heyday the town had major roundhouse service facilities for two major lines from St. Paul — the Milwaukee Road and the Chicago and the Omaha Road.
Thompson Park. The arrest was at the Allen Thompson Memorial Park, a small campig site a mile west of Elroy on U.S. Highway 71. The park has been closed for the season since Labor Day. The park has 13 tenting sites with fire rings, a water pump and toilets.
Teen ticketed for vaping pens at school
WINONA, Minn. – Authorities at the Winona Middle School were tipped that a 14-year-old student had vaping devices. Confronted, the girl surrendered the devices– one loaded with nicotine, another with a psychoactive cannabis derivative. Police were called. The girl was issued a citation as a minor illegally in possession of vaping pens.
People must love this state agency
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The new Minnesota blackout license plates had a “powerful” first year of sales, the state Driver and Vehicle Services Division reported. Sales totaled 256,000. Projections had been only 160,000. The premium plates cost an extra $30 a year, which goes to he self-sustaining DVS division, which receives no state appropriation.
No frills. At a price. A disabled logo is free if eligible.
Among new affinity plates in 2024
Leading pro teams
> Minnesota Vikings: 5,700.
> Minnesota Wild: 2,300.
> Minnesota Twins: 2,000.
> Minnesota Timberwolves: 1,400.
> Minnesota United: 600.
> Minnesota Lynx: 165.
Among collegiate plates
University of Minnesota: 3,900.
Winona State: 61.
Saint Mary’s: 31.
Emergency, fire crews make 78 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 61 emergency medical calls plus 17 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, January 7: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Monday, January 6: 6 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Sunday, January 5: 7 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Saturday, January 4: 7 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Friday, January 3: 8 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Thursday, January 2: 8 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Wednesday, January 1: 6 medical calls plus no fire call.
> Tuesday, December 31: 13 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 43 calls
Kitty couldn’t find litter box in time
WINONA, Minn. – A home owner heard a “pop,” smelled smoke, and called for help. The fire crew could smell the smoke, which led to a power strip under an office desk. The strip was drenched in a liquid, probably cat urine. The crew unplugged the power strip. This was in the 800 block of West Howard Street about 5 a.m.
Daily News fills sports vacancy
WINONA, Minn. – A sports writer at the student Reporter at Minnesota State-Mankato, Emma. Benjamin, has been hired to cover sports for the Winona Daily News. Benjamin’ focus at Mankato was men’s hockey. She’s a 2024 graduate. Benjamin succeeds Andrew Tucker, who left the Daily News after three years to pursue a marketing career. The position was vacant three months. There’s a lot for Benjamin to cover as the paper’s lone sports reporter. At its height the Daily News had three people working sports. Under Lee Enterprises ownership, the staff has been whittled to one.
Benjamin. Played varsity tennis the University of Wisconsin-Stout before transferring to MSU-Mankato.
Man escapes propane explosion in camper
BLAIR, Wis. — A propane tank exploded and set a camper on fire. A person inside got out in time and managed to suppress the flames. He was treated and released eght miles away at the Whitehall hospital. The explosion was about 3:50 a.m. on West Mill Road north of town. A passerby called 911. The camper was a total loss. So was a second camper nearby. The explosion was blamed on a one-pound propane tank next to a space heater.
Cops put down hotel disturbance, make arrest
WINONA, Minn. – Police arrested a Bloomington man after a noisy parking lot ruckus in the Super 8 hotel at the foot of Sugar Loaf. A second man was ticketed for disorderly conduct. This was about midnjght. Police said that Kafren Adalberto Layton, 28, of Bloomington, and Jorge Andres Arinas, 24, of Minneapolis, had arranged to meet at the hotel. Their yelling drew police, who said both were intoxicated Because Layton had driven to the htel, he was arrested for drunken driving. A breath test showed his blood-alcohol level at 0.16% — doublee the state maximm allowed for driving. As his third DWI arrest, the charge was elevated to a felony, police said.
Layton. Three prior drunk-driving convictions.
College scores
Hockey (men): Saint Mary’s 8, Dubuque 1
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Winona Cotter Ramblers 54, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 50
Basketball (boys): Caledonia Warriors 80, St. Charles Saints 64
Basketball (girls): Winona Cotter Ramblers 76, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 29
Basketball (girls): Caledonia Warriors 89, St. Charles Saints 27
Hockey (boys): Rochester Lourdes Eagles 4, Winona Winhawks 0
Hockey (girls): Winona Winhawks 1, Rochester Mayo Spartans 0
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