Basketball (men): Wayne State of Nebraska 68, Winona Sate 63

Basketball (men): Calvin 58, UW-LaCrosse 57

Basketball (men): Rochester Community 87, Gogebic Commnnity 63

Basketball (women): St. Scholastica 77, Saint Mary’s 66

Basketball (women): Wayne State of Nebraska 66, Winona Sate 63

Basketball (women): St. Scholastica 64, Saint Mary’s 52

Basketball (women): UW-LaCrosse 62, Loras 56

Hockey (men): Saint Mary’s 2, Concordia of Moorhead 2

Hockey (women): Saint Mary’s 6, Concordia of Moorhead 4

WINONA, Minn. – A backyard recreational fire leaped its bounds and set 3,000 square feet of tall grass ablaze off the Oak Park Court cul-de-sac up Burns Valley. By the time firefighters arrived, the homeowner already had watered down the fire with a garden hose. As a precaution, firefighters wetted down a hillside of tall grass that had been under threat.

WINONA, Minn. – A neighbor called police about water flowing out through the siding of a supposedly abandoned house next door. A water man had burst inside.  After the water was turned off, police discovered a broken window and evidence that a squatter had been living in the house. The squatter was gone. This was in the 50 block of East Wabasha Street. Police were notified about 5:20 p.m.

CANNON FALLS, Minn. – The body of a missing Cannon Falls man was recovered from the Cannon River. Christopher Dobson, age 60, had been missing six days.  He had gone walking his dog in the woods behind his home. The dog returned alone, wet and shivering. Goodhue County Sheriff Marty Kelly said body was in five feet of water.

Earlier: Cannon Falls man missing out walking dog

LAMOILLE, Minn. — A 17-year-old girl who was found walking along Highway 61 in the afternoon told deputies she had been abducted and eventually thrown out of a car. She had a cut on her head, deputies said. This was about 1:45 p.m. near the Green Terrace trailer court 13 miles south of Winona. The girl was vague on what happened except that she had been picked up in the morning at the Hidden Valley trailer court in Minnesota City on Winona’s north end and driven around all day. She said she didn’t know her abductors. The sheeriff’s  office categorized the case as a kidnapping and assigned an investigator.

WINONA, Minn. – With loads of alcohol smells coming from his car during a traffic stop, police decided that the driver, Eric Alan Brabbit, 60, of Winona, should try a bank of field sobriety tests. He fumbled and failed. That. plus his bloodshot and watery eyes and slurred speech, led to his arrest. At jail Brabbit refused a test for a blood-alcohol. He was booked anyway for drunken driving based on the evidence observed by the the arresting officer. The traffic stop was about 12:40 a.am. at Fifth and Cummings streets.

WINONA, Minn. –- Vandals squirted ketchup on a garage door on the East End and also two cars parked nearby. There also were salvos of mayonnaise and other condiments. There didn’t appear to be any political or social messages, police said. They chalked up the incidents to random vandalism. They didn’t locate any surveillance cameras in the area. The attacks were overnight in the 350 block of East Wabasha Street. Police were called about 10:30 a.m. The ketchup was already dried and caked on the white garage door.

WINONA, Minn. – For the third time police ticketed a couple whose camp trailer was parked on a city street with a power cable stretched across the sidewalk – a safety violation of city ordinances. Jeremy John Brandes, 51, and Ashley Nichole Thelen, 37, were cited as habitual violators. Neighbors had complained for the first time last week. Then, and also after a second round of neighbor complaints, police suggested resources for alternate parking and power – but the camper remained and also the power cable across the sidewalk. Police were unsure why Brendes and Thelen hadn’t relocated the camper except possibly that one their mothers lived at the address from which camper’s power  was being drawn at no cost them. This latest call, to the 950 block of East Broadway, was about 9:30 a.m.

Festive holiday train. The 1,000-foot train has a 14-car consist of rail cars, each with lights and holiday decorations.

CPKC train making stops with hobo entertainers

WINONA, Minn. – The Canadian Pacific’s annal holiday train, now bearing CPKC livery, will up the Mississippi shoreline Monday with its boxcar concerts and seasonal cheer. The schedule:

Lone Bellow band. The Nashville-based trio known for transcendent harmonies and raucous live shows. Its albums include “Then Came the Morning” and “Walk into a Storm.”

Tiera Kennedy. The Alabama-born singer-songwriter debuted her self-titled “Tiera” and has followed with the country love song “Found It In You” and “Gentleman” and “Alabama Nights.”

Charity donations

The Canadian Pacific encourages food donations at its local stops. At Winona the food goes to Winona Volunteer Services. Since CP’s first holiday train in 1999, $24.3 million and 5.3 million pounds of food have gone to local food banks in 150 stops throughout the transcontinental rail system. There actually are two look-alike  CP holidays trains on separate routes through the holidays days with rotating boxcar performers.

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. – A man from the Rochester suburb of Stewartville was shot several times and wounded fatally in this northwest Twin Cities community. Ramone Rashawn Blue, 23, died at a hospital. A companion also was shot but survived. Police were at a loss to explain the shooting, which occurred about 2 p.m. in the 8000 block of Brooklyn Boulevard.

Blue. Found near death in street. Later died.

WINONA, Minn. – To say the least, Terry Allen Oldham was borderline tipsy when he showed up at the Winona jail to pick up a friend who was eligible for release. The dispatcher in the police station lobby smelled booze right away. An officer arrived and confirmed that Oldham had driven to the jail. Indeed, his car keys were in his pocket. Also he wasn’t quite sober. His blood-alcohol tested at 0.08% — at the threshold for impaired driving. Oldham was booked for driving drunk. In the meantime, the dispatcher was checking records routinely and discovered that Oldham’s driving license had been revoked. The upshot of all this 1:55 a.m. drama: Oldham went to jail. His already-jailed friend needed to call anther buddy to pick himself up and taken home.

Oldham. In double trouble arriving at jail to pickup buddy who was being released.

Surfing Santas. This office Christmas tree  is bedecked with flamingos and surfboards. Image: Steve Lunde

Basketball (men): Winona State 72, Augustana of Sioux Falls 55

Basketball (men): Central Lakes of Brain=nard 84, Rochester Community 74

Basketball (women): Winona State 65, Augustana of Sioux Falls 45

Hockey (women): Saint Mary’s 5, Concordia of Moorhead 1

Hockey (women): Concordia of Moorhead 2, Saint Mary’s 1

Holiday hearth. The six stockings are real, but all else is an illusion in this Winona office. Thank you, Clement Charles Moore. “And to all a good-night.”  Image Steve Lunde.

WINONA, Minn. – An East Side resident told police that her house hd been entered and cash and credit cards taken — and, curiously, a deck of cards. The theft was during a nine-day period over Thanksgiving, police were told. The victim wasn’t sure how much cash was taken. Police were called about 1:25 p.m. This was in the 500 block of East Belleview. There were no signs of forced entry. police said.

BYRON, Minn. — The embattled Byron school superintendent, Mike Neubeck, resigned effective in June. A School Bord announcement said: “Neubeck’s decision provides the Byron School District with the necessary time and opportunity to hire a new superintendent.” The Board thanked Neubeck for “his leadership and significant contributions. A timeline to search for a new superintendent was not announced.

Earlier: Budget woes beset Byron schools chief

Earlier: Byron voters: No to school tax increase

WINONA, Minn. – Police smelled alcohol through the open window of a LaCrescent man’s car during a traffic stop and eventually arrested him as a drunken driver. Zachary Roman Zolondek, age 34, had been stopped at Broadway and Walnut streets on the West Side. His eyes were red, his speech slurred, his balance uneven, and his blood-alcohol at 0.12%, officers said. Any reading more than 0.08% is impairment under Minnesota law. Zolondek admitted to “a couple drinks,” police said. The arrest was about 1:30. a.m.

STODDARD Wis. – A Michigan driver was arrested and booked for possessing meth after her car crashed into a fire hydrant in a residential area. Nobody was injured in the 12 a.m. accident. Deputies arrested Cynthia Sue Ostrander, 58, of Clay, Michigan. She was released on $2,500 bail as soon as the Vernon City judge in Viroqua opened up in the morning. Deputies said that Ostrander jumped a curb in the 300 block of State Highway 35 and struck the hydrant.

Ostrander. From Clay northeast of Detroit on Lake St. Clair.