Cops: Overdose victim paid $15,000 for drugs
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A Rochester man has been arrested for the death of another man on Christmas Eve due to fentanyl toxicity. Clifton Dejohn Hubbert, age 43, was arrested after a search of his home yielded cocaine and fentanyl., investigators said. He admitted supplying drugs regularly to the victim, according to the criminal complaint. Investigators said that significant communication between Hubbert and the victim. was about drug transactions. Some 100 transactions totaled $15,000 over the course of a year, investigators said.
Hubbert. Charge: Third-degree murder.
Updates planned at Hastings, Red Wing dams
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Army Corps awarded a $12.8 million contract to the giant Kramer construction company of Plain, Wisconsin, to upgrade the infrastructure at two Mississippi River dams. The projects will improve the kevels that secure tow boats navigating upstream through the locks. The projects:
> Hastings: Lock and Dam 2.
> Red Wing: Lock and Dam 3.
Construction is scheduled for next winter’s hiatus when river traffic is shut down due to ice.
Raucous disturbance rousts Valley View tenants
WINONA, Minn. — The city police dispatcher was overwhelmed with calls from the 130-unit Valley View Tower apartments downtown. It was 4:20 a.m., and it seemed just about everybody was wakened and alarmed by racket and yelling in the lobby. When police arrived, they weren’t surprised to find Kayla Mae Gile, age 34, st this point outside but still flailing and yelling.. Thye said she was making no sense, which has been the case with Gile in a recent series of disturbances around town. She calmed down for police and didn’t resist arrest. At Valley View Tower the residents went back to bed to try resuming their sleep.
Valley View Tower. Twelve-story apartment building at 145 East Fourth Street.
Gile. Episode logged at jail as disturbing the peace. Police suspected drugs.
Kwik Trip parking lot not a place to nap
WINONA, Minn. — Something seemed awry to police about a car at the Kwik Trip on Cottonwood Drive on the Far West End. The driver was slumped asleep over the steering wheel. An officer awakened Matthew Paul King, age 26, of Winona. In the process the officer noticed plastic baggy between King’s right leg and the center console. Inside was 11.1 grams of what field-tested as meth. This was about 10:45 p.m. King was taken to jail.
College scores
Softball: UW-LaCrosse and Milwaukee Engineering (postponed)
Softball: UW-LaCrosse and Milwaukee Engineering (doubleheader) (postponed)
Softball: Viterbo and Grace (cancelled)
(Softball: Viterbo and Grace (doubleheader) (cancelled)
Heavy device falls off cell tower; nobody in way
SHELBY Wis. — A heavy metal gizmo fell 200 feet off a cell tower and thudded into a backyard in in the south suburb of LaCrosse. No one was hurt. The Homeowner, Mark, Bell, was both alarmed and amused. He calculated that the device reached 77 mph by the time it reached the ground. “Nobody ever told us to put hon ardhats,” he said. A crew for the company,Vertical Bridge, which owns the tower, was up there doing maintenance.
Tower owner. The company, based in Delray Beach Florida, operates 6,900 cell towers nationwide. It’s not known for promot public relations and ignored queries from Bell and news reporters.
Suborbital, yes. Heavy nonetheless.
Rain turning to ice on thorny bushes
Late morning in East Burns Valley. The tree tops are turning white at higher bluff elevations. Image: Andy Frank
News summary at mid-week: April 1, 2026
GOVERNANCE: New plan to squeeze Trump: A general strike
GOVERNANCE: U.S. House insists on new ICE funds
CRIME: A crime: Man’s nose broken at No Kings rally
CRIME: Husband charged in poisoned lasagna scheme
CRIME: Lewiston man stabbed in domestic quarrel
CRIME: Cops: Pair blocks medics in a crisis call
CRIME: Syringes, odd behavior prompt West End arrest
CRME: Drug charges pending for driver who hit curb
CRME: Repairs after St. Stan’s copper theft: $20,000
CAMPUS: From ashes: Lutherans plan to rebuild WSU center
ACCIDENT: Freight cars jump rails on CN mainline
Car drops off bluff-side parking lot, crashes
WINONA, Minn. — A driver missed a driveway ramp out of the Super Eight motel and rolled down a steep embankment into a U.S. Highway 61 ditch. The driver was unhurt, police said. He also was drunk: A breathalyzer showed his blood-alcohol at 0.23% — roughly three times the legal impairment threshold. Michael Allen Mandt, age 51, of Stacy, which is north of St. Paul, was charged with drunken driving. Police had been called about 11:20 p.m. by utility workers who heard a car crashing through trees down an access street and then farther down to U.S. 61. Police found Mandt climbing the embankment back to the motel. They said he smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot and watery eyes, and slurred speech. Field sobriety exercises confirmed impairment, police said.
College scores
Lacrosse (women): UW-River Falls 17, UW-LaCrosse 10
Softball: Saint Mary’s and St. Catherine (postponed)
Softball: Viterbo 18, Waldorf 3
Softball: Dakota Community 11, Rochester Community 2
Minnesota prep
Baseball: Winona Cotter Ramblers 6, Dover-Eyota Eagles 4
Softball: Caledonia Warriors 5, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 1
Softball: Caledonia Warriors 12, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 0
Staked and ready for Ronco to turn soil
Bulldozers any day now. Site is ready for construction of Ronco Engineering’s new home at Winona’s Riverbend Technology Park. The site is next to the Companion Animal Care Center. At the tip of the park is the historic KWNO radio tower and also the municipal sewage plant. These are on the Shive Creek outlet from Lake Winona to the Mississippi River. Image: Kevin O’Reilly
Lewiston man stabbed in domestic quarrel
LEWISTON, Minn. — A Lewiston man took stab wounds, apparently from a scissors wielded by a live-in woman friend. Although bloodied, the man, age 36, declined medical attention, Winona County deputies said. This was about 9:50 p.m. in an apartment at 300 Benson Drive North in Lewiston. Deputies said the woman, Shelby Lynn-Marie Finley, 30. admitted to the stabbing. She was charged not only with domestic assault but also assault with a dangerous weapon. Deputies had been called by a second woman, who said she came across the couple arguing in the hallway. When deputies arrived, the couple had retreated inside their apartment.
Police seek post-hole digger thief
WINONA, Minn. – An employee who works for MPSystems out of Iowa reported his work vehicle was broken into while parked in the 1050 block of East Fourth Street. A $2,000 gas-powered post hole digger was stolen. Damaged were the vehicle’s cabinet locks.
A crime: Man’s nose broken at No Kings rally
BLOOMINGTON Minn. — A right-wing activist from St. Cloud, who traveled to a No Kings rally in Bloomington, apparently armed for battle, has been charged with assault. The man, who goes by the moniker “Zac X,” punched a man who objected to him photographing his young son. The incident was rare for No Kings events, whose anti-Trump organizers nationwide stressed the protests as family-friendly and non-violent. This, according to the criminal complaint, is what happened at Bloomington:
Zak X, wearing a bullet-proof vest, was live-streaming his activities as a counter-protester. At one point he pointed his camera at a child. The child’s father pushed X’s phone away. Zac X punched father and fractured his nose. The father was taken to a hospital, where it was determined he needed surgery. Zac X himself had bleeding knuckles. Arriving at the disturbance, police discovered that Zac X had a chemical irritant spray with him. Under his sweatshirt. he was wearing a bullet proof vest. Police searched his vehicle and found a loaded airsoft gun, projectile packages, a black face mask, and gloves with reinforced in knuckle and fingers.
Before filing their criminal complaint, Hennepin County investigators found Zac X’s live-streamed video online. Their account about the video: The victim advanced on Zac X and swung at X’s camera phone. Zac X went into a fighting stance with full body rotation and punched at the victim. Zac X had space behind him to retreat before throwing his punch.
Zac X. Charge: Third-degree assault and committing a crime while wearing a bullet-proof vest. Both are felonies. He had driven 40 miles from St. Cloud to video-record his objection to the No Kings anti-Trump event.
Back again
Zac X, age 36, is no stranger as a counter-protester at anti-Trump events. In December he was charged with assault at a demonstration outside the Whipple federal building near Bloomington. The Whipple building was the command post for Trump’s military occupation of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Allegedly Zac X punched a protester in an act of political violence.
Behind the Zax X persona
Zak X has a radical right-wing presence out of St. Cloud, which is the heart of Minnesota’s ultra-conservative MN-6 Congressional district. He claims 14,000 online followers. No, his original name isn’t Zac X. He was christened Zachary Allen Stumpf at birth. In 2024, at age 34, he petitioned Stearns County Judge William Cashman for a name change. As Zac X he posts regularly on Facebook. In December, before going to an anti-Trump event as a counter-protester he posted: “We’re going in on a dangerous mission today!” On a crowd-funding site Zac X has identified himself for “protesting and exposing Somalians in St Cloud.”
Zac X. Formerly known as Zachary Allen Stumpf. Reigning at his St Cloud keyboard.
Emergency, fire crews make 51 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 33 emergency medical calls plus 18 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, March 31: 5 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Monday, March 30: 5 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Sunday, March 29: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Saturday, March 28: 5 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Friday, March 27: 6 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Thursday, March 26: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Wednesday, March 25: 2 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 54 calls
College scores
Baseball: Winona State 20, Concordia of St. Paul 8
Baseball: Concordia of St. Paul x4 Winona State 0
Baseball: UW-Eau Claire 5, Saint Mary’s 3
Baseball: Saint Mary’s7, UW-Eau Claire 0
Minnesota prep
Softball: Spring Grove Lions 8, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura Cardinals 2
Softball: Caledonia Warriors 28, Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 0
Drug charges pending for driver who hit curb
WINONA, Minn. — Police arrested a Winona woman they found slumped over the steering wheel of a car that had struck a curb in the Maplewood neighborhood on the Far West End. In the car, police said, were:
> 11.5 grams of suspected marijuana in baggies.
> 24.3 grams of suspected cocaine in baggies.
> Needles, a scale, burned spoons.
The woman’s pupils were pinpoints, officers aid. Dana Marie Salisbury age 58, was charged with sale of a controlled substance, possession of an open cannabis container in a vehicle, and obstructing the legal process. Officers said Salisbury refused instructions to get out of the car. They had to open the door and remove her physically. On the passenger seat, officers said, was a grocery bag with baggies of a white powdery substance. The incident was about 7:20 p.m. near Kraemer Drive and Drury Court. Salisbury was taken to the hospital for a biological sample. The sample was sent to the state crime lab to determine if a an impaired driving charge was warranted.
Guilty plea in school bus sex case
WINONA, Minn. — A Rushford school bus driver pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to a female student at the end of his afternoon run of the day. Timothy Wilkemeyer, age 53, admitted to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct so long as the charge was reduced from the third degree. The girl was 17. Sentencing on the plea deal was scheduled for May. Wilkemeyer could be sentenced to sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $20,000. The incident, in 2016, was on the Winona side of the Fillmore county line.
Hail hits Winona; thunder activates alarms
WINONA, Minn. — A brief thunder storm swept through Winona County just after dawn and pummeled scattered areas with pea-size hail. There were no immediate reports of damage. Police, however, took numerous false reports of break-ins from thunder-activated alarm systems.
Notable journalism
Malcolm Ferguson (The New Republic, May 15, 2025): “Pam Bondi Picke Quite the Day to Dump Trump Media Stock”
Rachel Mergen (Winona Daily News, March 27, 2026): “Brothers Lead the Way in Winona Cannabis Industry”
Kristen Zoellner (Fillmore County Journal, March 23, 2026): “Fountain Terminates Public Works Director”
New plan to squeeze Trump: A general strike
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The organizers of the huge No Kings rallies on Saturday , which have been the largest in U.S. history, are laying plans for an encore. Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, called for a nationwide general strike to send a protest message to President Trump:
“On May 1, on May Day, we are saying, ‘No business as usual. No work. No school. No shopping.’ We’re going to show up and say we’re putting workers over billionaires and kings.”
Levin was in St. Paul for the weekend’s No Kings Day 3.0 rally, which drew 100,000 protesters. Nationwide 3,100 local No Kings event had 8 million people. General strikes have been effective political tools abroad, but Levin cited a January general strike Minnesota as a model for May Day. The Minnesota strike helped force Trump to retreat from his brutal military-style occupation of Minneapolis and St. Paul:
“The next major national action of this movement is not just going to be another protest. It is a tactical escalation… It is an economic show of force, inspired by Minnesota’s own day of truth and action. We are going to build on that courage, that sacrifice that Minnesota residents showed during their day of action in January to demonstrate that regular people are the greatest threat to fascism in this country.”
History’s lessons: By scholar Peter Rachleff of Macalester College.
College scores
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 7, Dubuque 5
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 5, Dubuque 2
Repairs after St. Stan’s copper theft: $20,000
WINONA, Minn. — A thief cut into a ground-level air-conditioning unit at St. Stanislaus Basilica and stole $200 worth of copper. Although the copper was a small amount, damage to the eight-foot tall chiller was extensive. Experts estimated repairs could be $20,000. The theft was discovered about 11:15 a. m. There was no surveillance camera. This was in the gentrifying East Fourth Street neighborhood.
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