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
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): West Salem Panthers 71, Galesville Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Red Hawks 66
Basketball (boys): Arcadia Raiders 69, Durand-Arkansaw Panthers 53
Basketball (boys): Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates 73, Independence Indees 41
Basketball (girls): West Salem Panthers 75, Galesville Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Red Hawks 13
Drunken-driving arrest after dark in Lewiston
LEWISTON, Minn. – A driver was stopped in Lewiston for speeding and, after his blood-alcohol level registered at 0.18%, was booked for drunken driving. Arrested was Kelly Timothy Ostlund, age 34. He gave a rural address. The alcohol level in his system was more than twice what’s allowed. Because it wasn’t Ostlund’s first DWI arrest, the charge was elevated above a minimal misdemeanor. The traffic stop was about 6:30 p.m. at County 25 and First Street on the East End of Lewiston. Police said Ostlund smelled of alcohol, had blood-shot eyes, and bad balance.
xOstlund. His second DWI arrest.
10 years prison for magazine sales deceit
Storefront in Kansas. One of many fronts in a magazine subscription scheme that preyed on elderly people for 20 years.
Fraud aimed at elderly largest in history
MINNEAPOLIS – The mastermind of a massive telemarketing scheme that bilked pensioners out of $335 million for phony magazine subscriptions is going to prison. Russell Rahm, 54, of Olathe, Kansas, was sentenced to 10 years. Rahm also was ordered to pay $110 million restitution to victims. The sentence was issued by Minnesota-based federal Judge John Tunheim despite a plea from Rahm’s attorney for home confinement because he’s paralyzed from a 2019 stroke. The judge said no, calling Rahm the most prominent of 60 co-conspirators in the scheme that ran 20-some years. The prison sentence rejected a statement from a former federal prisons official supporting home confinement, noting the possibility of Rahm being abused in prison because his post-stroke incapacitation.
Case profile
The prosecution of Rahm stemmed from a 2016 lawsuit by the Minnesota attorney general against a Fridley man who ran a Rahm subsidiary. The man was among 60 co-conspirators in what turned outto be the largest fraud conspiracy against elderly people in U.S. history. Agents at call centers, mostly]in Florida, phoned victims and followed scripts about an existing magazine subscription that supposedly was set to auto-renew. As many as 10 of the phony companies charged as much as $1,000 a month to victims’ credit cards. About 183,000 victims were duped out of $335 million. All 60-some defendants, including Rahm, pleaded guilty.
Rahm profile
The chief federal prosecutor, Harry Jacobs, said Rahm made himself rich by perpetrating the fraud. Jacobs said that Rahm lived in a fancy house; drove expensive cars; had a luxury vacation home on Lake of the Ozarks, where he raced powerboats; and had “all the trappings of wealth, all of which was built on proceeds of this fraud scheme.”
Swindker leading the high life. Dockside between heats on the powerboat circuit.
Powerboat racing. Rahm’s Wake Effects on Lake of the Ozarks in his sybaritic glory before an incapacitating stroke and the federal indictment that unraveled his crooked magazine subscription network.
Thursday to be National Day of Mourning
WASHINGTON — President Biden declared Thursday a National Day of Mourning — the day of President Carter’s funeral. Much of the federal government will be dark. Postal deliveries will be suspended except for packages that include emergency supplies.
Winona home sales in December 2024
WINONA, Minn. – Among residential property sales logged by Bob Bambenek, county recorder, in December:
212 West Fifth: Halleck to River Tides, $500,000. NOTE: This address has been corrected from the original post.
103 West Broadway: Rader to Bergler, $475,000.
706 Johnson Street: Rydlund to Roen, $338,500.
26275 Gilmore Ridge Road: Rothering to Thompson, $330,000.
1191 Gilmore Valley Road: Shuck to Blohowiak, $300,000.
Earlier: Winona home sales in November 2024
Winona County home sales in December 2024
WINONA, Minn. – Among residential property sales outside Winona logged by Bob Bambenek, county recorder, in December:
Altura: 1229 Whitetail Drive: Ball to Heim, $415,000.
Lewiston: 24478 Almon Drive: Bartram to Borum, $695,000.
Lewiston: 210 Country Club Drive: Mayer Estate to Sauer, $300,000
St. Charles: 1600 Bluff Avenue: Fast to Kellner, $443,000.
St. Charles: 129 Penn Drive: Kessler to Calvario/Rogers, $339,000.
St. Charles: 118 Circle Drive: Montgomery (Loftus) to Meyer, $323,000.
Winona County commercial sales December 2024
WINONA, Minn. – Among commercial property sales in Winona County logged by Bob Bambenek, county recorder, in December: None exceeding $1 million.
Earlier: Winona County commercial property sales in November 2024
$3.2 million grants to local food producers
ST..PAUL, Minn. – Federal infrastrastrucure grants totaling $3.2 million have been awarded food-supply operations in southeast Minnesota in Albert Lea, Caledonia and Rushford:
> Sno Pac Foods. In Caledonia. $1.6 million for a new cold storage system for more efficient processing and storage.
> Green Acres Milling, In Albert Lea. $1.5 million for new cleaning and kilning equipment to for oat processing to help meet the growing market for non-GMO, and allergen-free oats.
> Featherstone Farm. In Rushford. $250,535 for warehouses and walk-in coolers to wash, dry and pack salad crops in returnable plastic containers.
The programs are being administered by the state Agriculture Department with funds from the Biden administration’s Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program. The goal: To diversify agricultural markets and to create revenue streams for small and mid-sized producers.
Triple murder update: Suspect’s car found
NEW LISBON, Wis. – FBI agents and U.S. marshals have joined the search for a New Lisbon man accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend and two young teen-age girls. New Lisbon Police Chief Kyle Walker confirmed the expanded manhunt. The bodies were found December 30, the day the shootings occurred. Two days later, Walker said, a car belonging to the suspect Virgil Thew, was found abandoned a mile northwest of town. Chief Walker, who has been guarded in releasing information about the case, didn’t explain why he delayed five days to report that the vehicle had been found. The vehicle was near Orange Road and McEwen Road — not far from Interstate 90. Details have been surfacing from other sources about the victim. Thew’s girlfriend was Elizabeth Kolba, age 33. The girls were friends. One was Skyla Ane Chevelle Sorenson, 13, who attended Meadow View Middle School in Sparta. The other was Alexandria J. Taylor, 12, who attended the New Lisbon Junior Senior High School.
Earlier: New Lisbon murder suspect thought long gone
Earlier: First-degree murder charges filed in three deaths
Earlier: Cops: All victims of New Lisbon slayings female
Earlier: New Lisbon triple homicide timeline taking form
Victims
Elizbeth Kolba
Skyla Sorenson
Alexandria Taylor
Woman: He pushed me down, head-butted me
GOODVIEW, Minn. – Deputies arrested a man at a Goodview address after a.911 call about a domestic struggle. Arrested was Daniel Reece Pahl, 40. According to a woman at the address, Pahl pushed her off a bed, held her down on the floor, and head-butted her several times. This was about 11 p.m. in the 1400 block of 49th Avenue. The woman didn’t require hospitalization, police said.
Minnesota prep
Wisconsin prep
Cops: Too much beer, also cocktail in car
WINONA, Minn. – A Wabasha County couple was arrested, he for driving drunk, she for a cocktail next to the passenger seat. Police stopped the car at Gilmore Avenue and Cummings Street near the high school. John Lucas Donaldson, 40, of Pepin, admitted to two or hree beers at dinner at a restaurant. His blood alcohol tested at 0.14%, po;ice said. That’s nearly double what’s considered safe to drive. The officer then noticed a mixed drink in a pocket in a passenger door. Katje Marie Schultz, 24, of Wabasha, was charged with having an open container of alcohol in a vehicle. The stop was about 8 p.m. for wide turns and lane violations, police said.
Donaldson. Unfortunate end to dinner downtown.
LaCrosse airport’s plan to bring Delta back
LACROSSE, Wis. — The La Crosse airport’s governing board is seeking $250,000 in county funds to lure Delta Airlines into resuming flights to Minneapolis. Jeffrey Trip, airport director, said the funds would guarantee a minimum number of boardings during a one-year or two-year start-up period. Delta dropped LSE a station in 2023 because of a pilot shortage. At one time, before CoVid, Delta was the dominant LaCrosse carrier with hourly flights to its MSP hub some times of day and for a while a daily flight to Detroit. With only American Airlines now offering LSE service — and only three flights a day, all to Chicago, LSE boardings are off 60%, Trip saod. People instead are driving to Minneapolis to catch planes, he said. .
Federal courts to de-racify Minneapolis policing
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council voted 12-0 to accept federal court supervision of reforms of police practices. Acceptance of the consent decree closes another chapter in the wake of the 2020 police killing of a black man, George Floyd, by white police officers. The 171-page agreement specific reforms to ban race, gender and ethnicity as factors in using force. The slaying of Geore Floyd triggered national racial unrest and prompted a U.S. Justice Department investigation that found long-standing and systematic racusm in Minneapolis policing.
Earlier: Chauvin update: $9 million to brutality victims
Earlier: Prison time for Chauvin: 22-1/2 years
Earlier: Woes mount for cops in George Floyd death
Earlier: Earlier: Jury: George Floyd cop guilty on all counts
Car tussle: Woman says nose broken
FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. – Buffalo County deputies arrested a Fountain City man on a complaint that he injured a woman 1-1/2 weeks ago in LaCrosse. The woman’s nose and a finger were broken. This occurred during a heated argument in a moving car on West Avenue in LaCrosse on December 27, according to a court document. It was late night and both were intoxicated, the document said. The woman needed treatment at a LaCrosse hospital. After his arrest in Fountain City, Quentin M. Holder, 27, was transported to LaCrosse, where he was charged with a with a single felony count of substantial battery. He posted $1,000 bail and went home.
Mayor, accused of slapping child, resigns
CANTON, Minn; — Canton’s mayor resigned amid changes that he was excessive with corporal punishment on an 8-year-old boy in his custody for a weekend in October. The case against Joshua Darin Nordsving is pending in Fillmore County court. Said Nordsving: “I do not want current issues from my personal life to reflect badly on the City of Canton.” The City Council appointed Kristy Ziegler to succeed Nordsving as mayor. She holds an at-large seat on the Council.
Pre-dawn Rochester fire dislocates 13 tenants
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Thirteen people escaped a fire that badly damaged a two-story apartment building in southeast Rochester. When firefighters arrived about 4:45 a.m., flames were roaring and heavy smoke billowing from upstairs windows. There were no injuries. The dislocated tenants, including children, were relocated by the Red Cross, which provided them interim blankets and personal care kits — and a stuffed animal toy for each child. This was at 897 16th Avenue Southeast.
Falcon Landing Apartments. Wood frame structure. Fire cause not determined immediately. Image: Rochester Fire Department
Notable journalism
Matt M. Johnson (Finance and Commerce newspage: Mach 20,2020): “Winona’s Main Square Success Spawns Second Phase”
John Lyons (Big River magazine, January-February 2025): “Neonics: Where Are he Mayflies?
Zech Sindt (Fillmore County Journal, December 23, 2024): “Justice for Madeline: Fravel Gets Life; Family Launches Foundation to Fight Domestic Violence”
Pickup rolls on I-90; driver bruised but OK
STEWARTVILLE, Minn. – An Austin driver escaped serious jury when his pickup truck left Interstate 90 near the Stewartville-Rochester exit and rolled. Christopher Paul Gilmer, 53, was taken to a Rochester hospital with non-life threatening injuries. This was about 3:20 p.m. Gilman was wearing a seatbelt, the State Patrol reported. He was traveling east in a 2019 Nissan Titan.
Dog freed from trap of its own leash
WINONA, Minn. – Firefighters were called to rescue a dog that seemed impossibly tangled up its own coated-wire leash. The leash was painfully tight around the dog’s torso. Firefighters used a bolt cutter to sever the leash where the tangle began. Once free, the dog wagged its tail. The frantic owner was relieved. This was about 1:50 p.m. un the 400 block of East Broadway.
Minnesota abortions up 16% in new report
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The number of abortions performed legally in Minnesota in 2023 was 14,124, according to a new state Health Department report mandated by the Legislature. The total, for 2023, was 16% more than the year before. Eighty percent of the women were from Minnesota. From restrictive neighboring states:
> Wisconsin: 896.
> North Dakota: 825.
> Iowa: 520.
> South Dakota: 394.
The 26-page report was delivered to legislators as they began their 2025 session. Abbreviated lists from the report:
Largest providers
> Planned Parenthood: 7,533.
> Whole Women’s Health: 1,664.
> Just the Pill: 1,317.
> Red River Women’s Clinic: 1,072.
Home of patients per southeast county
> Olmsted: 304
> Winona: 75.
> Goodhue: 68.
> Mower: 55.
> Houston: 28.
> Wabasha: 24.
> Fillmore: 15.
Providers, (names concealed)
> Physician JJ: 1,281.
> Physician DA: 1.,209
> Physician CC: 1,026.
> Physician CY: 1,008.
In all, 176 Minnesota physicians performed abortions, most only one or two.
Location
> Clinic: 11,848.
> Out-patent: 105.
> Doctor office: 56.
> In-patient: 26.
> Ambulatory: 20
> Other: 2,096.
Patient marital status
> Unmarried: 19,130.
> Married: 3,254.
> Unspecified: 1,880.
Patient age
>Younger than 15: 67.
> 15 to 17: 629.
> 18 to 19: 1,812.
> 20 to 24: 7,281.
> 25 to 29: 3,581.
> 30 to 34: 4,982.
> 35 to 39: 1,939.
> Older 4han 40: 72.
Estimated gestational age
> Less than 9 weeks: 17,982.
> 9 to10 weeks: 3,291.
> 11 to 12 weeks: 1,190.
> 13 to 15 weeks: 1,192.
> 16 to 20 weeks: 756.
> 21 to 24 weeks: 374.
> 25 to 30 weeks: 3.
> 31 to 36 weeks: Zero.
> 37 weeks or more: Zero.
> Unreported: 366.
Education
> Eighth grade or less: 105.
> Some high school: 1,2o3
> High school graduate: 3,850.
> Some college: 4,127.
> College graduate: 1,685.
> Graduate level: 4761.
> Unreported: 2,683.
Ethnicity and race
White: 11,185
(of Hispanic origin: 3,274)
Black: 6,440
Asian: 1,408
American Indian; 894
Many unreported
Earlier: Data on Minnesota as magnet for abortion
Earlier: How they voted: Minnesota abortion reform / 2
Chill grip holds tight: No go for so cold
WINONA, Minn. – A frigid Arctic weather system has stalled over Canada and isn’t going anywhere for a while. Southern Minnesota and neighboring Wisconsin and Iowa counties will be in for at least four more days of the cold , the National Weather Service said. Winds from north will be as much as 15 mph with temperatures to zero degrees and lower overnight. The chill feel perhaps will be 15 below zero. Highs Monday through Wednesday were forecast in the upper teens, then the mid-20s.
Winona Ice Park open for scaling, rappeling
WINONA, Minn. – Most cascades are frozen solid and taking climbers at the city’s bluff-top ice park. The Parks Department warned, however, to avoid roped-off areas where ice is still being created.
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