R.I.P.: Jean Leisceter
WINONA, Minn. – Jean E. Leicester, 83, of Winona, a retired education professor a Winona State University, died at Benedictine-Saint Anne nursing home. She was on the faculty 15years.
Details: Fawcett-Junker Funeral Home
1941-2024
Flying from Winona: Options thin from RST and LSE
WINONA, Minn. — Not since the early 1970s has Winona had commercial airline service. With LaCrosse and Rochester each less an bour away on Interstate 90, there was less and less need – especially with RST and LSE’s flight frequency, just about hourly much of day. That changed in an instant with the CoVid pandemic in 2020. Ridership tanked. Airlines severely cut back schedules. Although air travel largely has recovered nationally, not so at mid-market airports like Rochester and LaCrosse. Together the two airports combined today have only 10 flights a day, and only with cramped small-capacity regional planes, and only to two destinations. At best, aviation experts say, a turn-around at RST and LSE will be slow, albeit a recent 8% boarding increase in Rochester. Airlines remain short of pilots after waves of retirements. And with major quality issues at airplane manufacturer Boeing, airlines have backed off expanding their fleets.
Current flights
American: Rochester to Chicago (four daily): 5:51 a.m. 11:34 a.m., 5:31 p.m. and 7:07 p.m.
American: LaCrosse to Chicago (three daily): 6:02a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 2:53 p.m.
Delta: Rochester to Minneapolis (three daily): 5:20 a.m., 12:35 p.m. and 6:11 p.m.
Delta: LaCrosse to Minneapolis: None anymore.
Other airlines have come and gone from RST and LSE markets.. Among them: Frontier, Midwest, Mississippi Valley, North Central, Northwest, and Republic. And yes, Winona had direct service iced briefly from 1951 to 1952, 1969 to 1979, and in 1973.
North Central DC-3. On tarmac at Winona’s Max Conrad Field in an earlier era. Image: Winona Historical Society
Mississippi Valley Airways. Among carriers with on-again, off-agin service to Winona. This flight schedule is from 1973.
College scores
Basketball (men): Winona State 83, Concordia of St. Paul 73
Basketball (men): Elmhurst 82, Saint Mary’s 68
Basketball (women): Concordia of St. Paul 78, Winona State 48
Basketball (women): Hope 68, UW-LaCrosse 65
Hockey(men): Saint Mary’s 4, Lawrence 1
Minnesota prep
Basketball (girls): Northfield Raiders 55, Winona Winhawks 21
Basketball (girls): Caledonia Warriors 50, Winona Cotter Eagles 37
Basketball (girls): St. Charles Saints 55, Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons 37
Basketball (girls): Plainview-Elgin-Millville Bulldogs 82, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 39
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Alma Center Lincoln Hornets 55, Independence Indees 34
Basketball (boys): Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates 82, Alma-Pepin Eagles 57
Basketball (boys): Whitehall Norse 74, Eleva-Strum Cardinals 55
Basketball (boys): Sparta Spartans 95, Arcadia Raiders 54
Basketball (girls): Eleva-Strum Cardinals 57, Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates 38
Basketball (girls): Independence Indees 54, Eau Claire Immanuel Lancers 51
Basketball (girls): Whitehall Norse 64, Blair-Taylor Wildcats 58
Basketball (girls): Whitehall Norse 46,Milwaukee Languages Hawks 28
Basketball (girls): Mauston Golden Eagles 57, Galesville Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Redhawks 9
Basketball (girls): Arcadia Raiders 43, Tomah Timberwolves 27
Pedestrian struck by truck, hobbles on her way
WINONA, Minn. – A pedestrian crossing the Mankato Avenue roundabout to the hospital on foot was struck by a light truck. Brenda Lee Dienger, 62, of Winona, got up and said a knee hurt, but after talking with police, she continued on foot to the hospital, where already head an appointment. Dienger said she had pressed a pedestrian button to start a flasher to alert drivers but it didn’t work. A witness conformed that te flasher wasn’t operating. The truck driver, Nutuam Cody Xiong, 53, of New Ulm, was moving slowly through the tight roundabout and sad he didn’t see Dienger
Police officer to prison for bestiality
FOND DU LAC, Wis. – A Kewaskum police officer assigned to the Kewaskum High School was sentenced to two years in prison for copulation with his golden retriever. Three criminal bestiality counts against Steven Rosales, 35, flowed from an investigation into sex-laced messaging with a high school girl. The exchanges numbered 9,000 over three months. Rosen pleaded guilty in Fond du Lac County Court to bestiality. The high school, 27 miles south of Fond du Lac, has 570 students. Rosales was a seven-year veteran with the Kewaskum Police Department. At the high school he as a resource officer who taught drug awareness classes.
Rosales. Still to be resolved are sexual misconduct charges in emails with a student
Winona’s voter turnout impressively high again
WINONA, Minn. – Winona County voters continued their historically impressive civic tradition in the 2024 presidential election. Chelsi Wilbright, who runs elections. said the county’s turnout was 93% of registered voters. The breakdown:
> 2024: 27,971 of 30,057 (93.0%), including 7,211 absentee and early voters.
> 2020: 27,312 of 29,591 (92.3), including 11,584 absentee and early voters.
> 2016: 26,309 of 28,813 (91.3%), including 2,742 absentee and early voters.
For the White House, Winona County broke 51.4% for Donald Trump and JR Vance. Statewide it was 50.9% for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
Notable precincts
Precinct 1 in Winona’s Third Ward had more turnout than there had been registered voters, said Wilbright. There were 546 election day registrations. Double-checking records, she said, left Winona County among the last in the state to report returns to St. Paul. Also, she explained, the county’s largest precinct, in St. Charles, had an usually large number of write-ins among its 1,935 voters.
An all-nighter
There was a usual delay transporting data from St. Charles, at the far end of the county, to the county seat in Winona for tabulation. That was further complicated bg a combination of the high turnout, new voters registering at the polls, and all the write-ins. “At the close of polls we still had a couple hundred absentee ballots to process,” Wilbright said. Rules would have allowed extending the process to the next day, but the decision was made to soldier through the night. Wilbright’s crew at her county auditor-treasurer office went home finally at 4:20 a.m. – after a day that began at 6 a.m. the day before.
Masterpiece concert hall contours emerging
Looking east on Fifth Street. Temporary aqua facing lines the roof as Biesanz stone climbs the concrete understructure below. Everybody’s asking: Will the $28 million world-class venue be ready by May, as scheduled, for a grand inaugyral concert? Image: Steve Lunde
Emergency, fire crews make 37 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 28 emergency medical calls plus 11 fire calls in recent days:
> Monday, November 25: 6 medical calls plus no fire call.
> Sunday, November 24: 2 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Saturday, November 23: 6 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Friday, November 22: 7 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Thursday, November 21: 2 medical calls plus 4 fire call.
> Wednesday, November 20: 5 medical calls 3 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 46 calls
Indiana bank buys Minnesota’s Bremer
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Say good-bye to Bremer Bank. The 80-year-old Minnesota fixture has been acquired by Indiana-based Old National Bank. A joint announcement called the deal a merger, but more accurately Bremer is being subsumed. When signage will change was not announced. Approval of the sale from federal regulators is pending. Bremer’s governing board had put the bank on the market for sale. The offer from Old National gives Bremer an 11% share in Old National, which now will have $77 billion in assets. Bremer had $16 billion
Bremer Trust
The Otto Bremer Trust, which owns the bank is a. major philanthropic influence in the region. The Trust will be unaffected by the Old National deal, the banks’ announcement said. The Trust wards $47 million in local grants annually.
Bremer locations
In LaCrosse Onalaska, Rochester, St. Charles, Stewartville, Winona. Total 34 in Minnesota, 14 in North Dakota, and three in Wisconsin.
Wilson horse arena fire: The view from Winona
WINONA, Minn. – As a massive fire ravaged the Minnesota Equestrian Center last week, volunteers from the local Wilson Fire Department called other help from other agencies in a mutual aid agreement. More than an 100 firefighters were soon on scene. Here is a detailed summary report from the perspective of the Winona Fire Department:
“Winona Fire Department was dispatched to the above location. This is a mutual aid request from Wilson Fire Department, for a fire at the Minnesota Equestrian Center.
“We are initially requested to respond with a water tender. Wilson Fire Department then requests we respond with an engine and a ladder truck. Eventually Wilson Fire Department requests additional personnel from Winona Fire Department. At that point a page for off-duty Winona Fire personnel is made.
“On scene- there is a large wind driven fire in the north end of the Minnesota Equestrian Center. The fire has spread to several areas of a horse stable, living quarters and gift shop. With potential to spread to a massive horse arena that is all attached to the areas that are on fire upon our arrival.
“While on scene- Winona Fire personnel shuttle water, establish a water tender fill station, operate an engine, perform interior and exterior firefighting, operate an elevated water stream from an aerial device, perform ventilation and several other fireground duties.
“Once the fire is deemed “under control” by Wilson Fire command- Winona Fire Department units and personnel clear the scene.”
Minnesota prep
Basketball (girls): Dover-Eyota Eagles 62, Chatfield Gophers 50
Basketball (girls): Houston Hurricanes 73, LeRoy-Ostrander Cardinals 42
Math oddity: One beer = 0.16% blood alcohol
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver told the traffic officer that he had had one beer. But his blood-alcohol tested at 0.16% outside his car on St. Charles Street and still 0.16% at the station house. Anything more than 0.08% is problematic. Too, said the officer, the driver’s eyes were bloodshot and watery and his body oozed of the odor of alcohol. Nathan Mathew Madsen 43, was booked for drunken driving. This was about 1:20 a.m.
Madsen. One little beer can do you.
Albert Lea caps liquor, tobacco sex shops
ALBERT LEA, Minn. – The Albert Lea City Council acted to slow the growing number of adult-oriented businesses. Permits for liquor stores was capped at 10, of tobacco shops at four, and sexual-oriented shops at one. Still at issue was possibly limiting the number of tobacco shops further. Supporters testified to public health danger among underage users.
Minnesotan Ken Martin as U.S. Democratic chief?
ST. PAUL, Minn. — – The Minnesota Democratic Party chair Ken Martin, who’s led the state party more than a decade, threw his hat in the ring to run the Democratic National Committee. Although Democrats took a bruising nationally in the 2024 election, Martin pointed to the party’s dominance in Minnesota. He called Minnesota “the last of the ‘Blue Wall’ states still standing.” Matin has been state party chair since 2011. Now in his sixth term, Martin is the the longest-serving chair in the state party’s 75-year history. On his watch the party has become a fundraising and organizing model for other states. The party also has maintained dominance in statewide offices. Martin’s record on these campaigns is 25-0. As national Democratic chairman he would succeed Jamie Harrison of South Carolina, who is not seeking another term.
National role
Martin, age 51, has been involved with the party at high levels. In 2017 he was elected president of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, which made him also vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. In 2021 Martin was unanimously re-elected president of the state chairs association. Martin has emphasized, however, that he’s not a “D.C, insider.” He also generally avoids specifics on political issues: “For me it doesn’t really matter where I stand on any of that. My job is to make sure that we are winning elections.” He’s sees the party chair’s role more as a technician than an ideologue: “The key for a successful party chair is to get all of those various ideological wings of your party to work together.”
Political biography
Before becoming chair of the Minnesota Democratic Party, Martin worked on various campaigns. These include Governor Mark Dayton campaign in 2010 and earlier the presidential campaigns of John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000. He holds a 1996 degree in political science and history from the University of Kansas. At graduation he was honored for campus involvement for student issues and for the greater good. Martin actually had started in politics earlier. In 1990 he was as an intern for Minnesota U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone’s campaign and later interned in the Senate for Wellstone. In 1992 Martin organized college campuses throughout the South for the Clinton-Gore campaign. After college, he was field director for the Kansas Democratic Party. In 1998, he moved back to his home state as field director for the Minnesota Democratic Party.
Lobbying
Working with the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, Martin led an effort on behalf of the building trades to pass prevailing wage ordinances with local governments throughout Minnesota. In 2008 he led the campaign that passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution. Martin later was executive director of the WIN Minnesota donor collaborative to develop, fund and direct independent expenditures during the 2010 election cycle. After the election, Martin to led a recount effort for Mark Dayton, who became Minnesota’s first Democratic governor in 24 years.
Door to door. Martin wasn’t too busy as state Democratic chair to go door-knocking for the 2024 Harris-Walz ticket.
Verbatim
Martin: “We need to reconnect our ideas, which we know are popular in red, blue and purple states. My motto is build to win, build to expand, build to last. Politics is not a sport. We just can’t pat ourselves on the back and then head home to lick our wounds for the next four years, because when the Trump agenda fails Americans as it most certainly will, they need to know that we have their back together.”
Plea deal: Hixton stabber admits to deed
BLACK RVER FALLS, Wis. — A Hixton man accused in a home invasion and stabbing in October pleaded guilty to a downward-adjusted charge. Anthony Sylvester IV, age 33, originally was charged with attempted homicide but pleaded guilty to only having caused reckless injury. Jackson County Judge Anna Becker scheduled sentencing for February. Sylvester broke into a Hixton home brandishing a firearm and then grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed a person in the house.
Guilty verdict for 2022 Eyota woman’s murder
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A jury found Mustafa Bush, 41, guilty of murdering an Eyota woman around Christmas 2022 and dumping her body down a steep snowy ravine northwest of Rochester. The jury deliberated only four hours. Bush was found guilty of first-degree murder a while committing domestic abuse. The verdict carries a presumptive life sentence. Was Bush guilty of premeditation? No, the jury said. Prosecutor Mark Ostrem asked Judge Douglas Bayley to delay sentencing until the family of the victim, Kimberly Ann Robinson, has time to digest the verdict and prepare sentencing recommendations. Meanwhile, the judge ordered Bush be held without bail.
Earlier: $3 million bail in Rochester murder case
Earlier: Ex-con booked in Eyota woman’s death
Bush. Jury cited a history of domestic abuse.
How Equestrian Center fire went from bad to worse
WINONA, Minn. – This is rhe sequence how firefighters gained control of a stubborn fire that destroyed much of the Minnesota equistruan Center f on Saturday, as gathered from Wilson Fire Chieff Josh Murphy, witnesses, and sources:
> 11:55 a.m. Wilson volunteer firefighters were called to a barn fireat theEquestrian Center on Gilmore Valley Road, not far from the station house at the Interstate 90 interchange into Winona. The caller reported that everyone was out of the building. The department has no resident firefighters, relying instead on 25 on-call volunteers. The department has two fire trucks, a bus and a heavy-duty pickup, all in distinctive yellow livery.
> The Wilson crew found the front barn in the structure fully engulfed. An attached residence for he manager’s family was heavily involved in fire.
> The Wilson crew recognized the magnitude of fire in the large complex of barns and show arenas, all interconnected through breezeways and corridors.
> Additional personnel and water tenders were requested from Ridgeway, eight miles away; Winona, 10 miles; Goodview, 11 miles; and Lewiston, 14 miles.
> The first barn at the front of the complex was fully engulfed. An attached residence, home to the manager and his family, was mostly gone.
> Firefighters focused fjrst on the burning barn to the show arena to stop the fire’s spread.
> Once the fire in the breezeway was dampened down, they began an interior attack in the arena to keep the fire back.
> More backup was requested. This included more units from Winna and also from St. Charles, 21 miles away.
> Firefighters responded by aiming streams of water from aerial fire apparatus.
> Additional water tenders were requested from Rushford, 13 mles away, and from Kellogg, 34 miles.
> An excavator was called to remove the breezeway from the arena to minimize the spread. The excavator arrived, the breezeway was removed, and the debris was pushed burning debris away from the arena.
> The Hy-Vee grocery store in Winona dispatched a delivery truck with relief food and drink.
> Fire crews remained on scene several hours, seeking out and extinguishing hot spots and monitoring the connected barns and the main arena for hidden hot spots.
> A fire watch was maintained throughout the night.
> An agent from the state fire marshal arrived to investigate the the cause of the fire. Initial indicatios were s that the fire was not of suspicious origin.
There were no injuries to fire personnel or the public, but two horses and a cat died in the fire.
Murphy. Wilson fire chief.
Ominous plume. As first crew was arriving. Image: Wilson Fire Department
Water shortage
Fire crews pumped 120,000 gallons of water on the fire. Tanker operators made 50 round trips to water sources to haul water to the scene. The fire was the largest in memory for miles around. Nearly 100 personnel worked more than eight hours, not countng overnight monitoring pf remnants.
El Patron — a second Mexican eatery to be hit
WINONA, Minn. – A thief at the Mexican restaurant El Patron overnight didn’t find any cash but ripped out the entire cash register at the check-out desk and left with it. The burglary was discovered when the day crew reported for work about 9:20 a.m. The burglary was the same night as a break-in at Mango’s, another Mexican restaurant, a few blocks away. Investigators were checking into a possible connection, said police spokesperson Nick Quimby. He asked news reporters not to share details about how access was gained at El Patron lest the thief be tipped about much police have figured out.
Earlier: Burglar flees Mango’s just in time
Overnight burglary. 1415 West Service Drive.
Airport warehouse burgled: One crook? A team?
WINONA, Minn. – A warehouse near the airport was entered overnight through an unsecured door and $4,700 of goods were stolen. Police were told seven large screen televisions and a couple drills were missing. The burglary was in the 200 block of Patenaude Drive on the airport loop off Theurer Boulevard. Police were called about 8:35 a.m.
Campus threat at Luther College: “Kill 80%”
DECORAH, Iowa — A student at Luther College was arrested for an Instagram threat to “kill 80% of the students at Luther.” The college has 1,400 students. Police learned of the threat abut 1:30 a.m. and arrested Peter Bumba, 20, a music education major from Illinois. Police checked Bumba’s room and vehicle but found no weapons. Bumba was booked on a felony charge.
Bumba. Police say he admitted to threat.
Child dies of Highway 14 car crash injuries
EYOTA, Minn. –An 8-year-old Rochester girl died from injuries in a two-car collision Wednesday on Highway 14 west of Eyota. She had heen in the intensive care unit at a Rochester hospital.
Burglar flees Mango’s just in time
WINONA, Minn. – A burglar broke into the Mexican restaurant Mango’s and took $500. Police responded to an alarm about 2:20 a.m. Suspecting that whoever broke a window for access was still inside, police established a perimeter and called in a sniffer dog for assistance. The burglar was gon.e. So too was $500 from a cash register. Police reviewed surveillance video with Mango’s opener in hope of identifying the thief.
Mango’s. 408 Highway 14 West.
Tricky fire damages East End garage
Detached garage. Firefighters forced open a service door on a burning home garage in the 700 block of East Third Street. Just inside they found an accelerant, which they pulled out, and then knocked down he flames with a hand hose. They used foam against flames that had climbed into a loft. The call came in about 11:15 p.m. Image: Winona Fire Department
WELCOME
The worthiest goal of journalism is to promote intelligent citizen involvement. Such is our goal with Winona Journal. We focus on local issues so you can go about your daily activities with confidence that you can be a genuine and valued part of informed public dialogue on the kind of community we’re building.
Although Winona-centric, we are attentive also to regional issues. Our community doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
You will find opinion here. We quote and paraphrase with attribution so you know the source and can assess ideas and thoughts. Sometimes you will find our commentary but always clearly labeled.
As journalists we are committed to accuracy but not perfect. Please let us know if you spot an error, whether substantive or even just a dumb typo. We’ll get errors squared away promptly.
We’re glad you’re with us.