College scores
Basketball (men): Winona State 90, Michigan Tech 78
Basketball (men): Illinois-Chicago 117, Saint Mary’s 59
Basketball (women): Winona State 70, Truman State 64
Basketball (women): Saint Mary’s 51, Cornell of Iowa 47
Football: Minot State 56, Winona State 23
Hockey (men): Saint Mary’s 3, Hamline 1
Minnesota prep
Football: Stewartville Tigers 33, Albany Huskies 20
Hockey (girls): Rochester Century/Rochester Marshall 3, St. Paul Two Rivers Riverteers 2
Soccer (boys): Minneapolis South Tigers 5, Rochester Ice Hawks 4
Driver dies in fiery wreck at Mondovi bridge
AT Buffalo River. On Eau Claire Street bridge in far northern Buffalo County. Image: Mondovi Fire Department
Fire quickly extinguished but too late
MONDOVI, Wis. – The body of a Mondovi man was recovered from his burning car after a crash at the Buffalo River bridge south of town. Dead was Clifford Ford, age 49. Police Chief David Shapiro said Ford’s car was southbound on Eau Claire Street out of town. The vehicle left the roadway and hit the the Buffalo River Bridge. The vehicle was engulfed in flames when first-responders arrived. This was about 9:30 p.m.
Driver’s blood lab-tested after roll-over
WINONA Minn. – A Wabasha driver was injured when her car overturned on the tight U.S Highway 14 curve on Stockton Hill at Seminary Drive. Shannon Marie Mustain, 42, was treated at the Winona hospital for minor injuries. The accident was about 8:35 p.m. Deputies found Mustain on foot near the wreckage. They said she smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech, and failed sobriety tests. She refused a blood alcohol draw, but a judge’s warrant was obtained for a sample anyway. The blood was shipped to the state crime lab for analysis.
Pickup strikes parked cars; hit-run arrest follows
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver was arrested after driving off after hitting a parked car, which was propelled by the impact into a second parked car, police said. When confronted, Ryan Todd Looney, 33, acknowledged the crash. He also was drunk, police said. His blood-alcohol tested as 0.17%. Then they double-checked. It was up to 0.18%. Anything more than 0.08% is verboten. The accident was about 6:55 p.m. in the 450 block of West Wabasha Street. There were no injuries. A witness had jotted down the license number on Looney’s Ford F150 pickup, police said.
.
Looney. Citizen saw crash, got plate number.
Kwik Trip installs dual-style e-charge “pumps”
WEST SALEM, Wis. – After prototype experiments with electric charging stations for new cars, Kwik Trip has settled on a style with outlets for both the Combined Charging Standard and the North American Charging Standard. The first of the new dispensers have been installed at a location off Interstate 90 at West Salem. Scott Zietlow, Kwik Trip president, said the chargers offer 150 kilowatts per dispenser when four vehicles are plugged in or 400 kilowatts for a single vehicle.
E-car era ahead. Dispensers for both CCS and NACS vehicles. The branding label: KwikCharge.
Flash event: Tattooing for little creatures
WINONA, Minn. – At a day-long flash event — no appointment needed — the Red Wing Tattoo studio raised money for the Winona Area Humane Society. Piercers offered custom designs, including animals but also the “I Love Mom” sort, for $100. Manager Casey Morason, who goes by Chel-C M, said the goal was to support a good cause and have an impact on the community.
“Space Case the Piercer,” as he calls himself. Out front at 161 East Third Street. The shop moved to Winona 20 years ago.
Thief steals repairman’s tools
WINONA, Minn. – A tradesman reported $1,500 in tools stolen from his truck as he worked inside a house in the 450 block of East Wabasha Street. It happened between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., he said. Missing were batteries, drills, a nailer and a toolbox, he said. The truck was unlocked. Police said they would watch pawn shops for the easily fenced tools.
Locomotive impales car at St. Charles crossing
ST. CHARLES, Minn. — A Canadian Pacific freight train struck a car at a St. Charles rail crossing and pushed the vehicle through the west end of town on its cattle guard. The driver was taken 27 miles to a Rochester hospital. The man’s condition was not known immediately. This was about 10 a.m. The impact was on West 11th Street at County Road 126. The lead engine of mile-long tanker train came to a halt four blocks later on the other end of the Winona County fairgrounds. The train had originated in Winona and was headed west toward Rochester.
Impaled on locomotive. First-responders extricated the driver from wreckage. Image; Bill Spitzer
Flocking for turkey: Hormel’s Give-back gift
Traffic control. Two-hundred yellow-clad volunteers helped distribute free turkeys from the hometown company Hormel. Some 3,500 cars wound back around fairgrounds for the one-per household giveaway. Another 1,500 of Hormel’s Jennie-O brand frozen turkeys went to food shelves in nearby Grand Meadow, Hayfield, LeRoy, Lyle, Owatonna, Racine and even to Rochester 40 miles away.
Police: Driver’s memory fuzzy?
WINONA, Minn. – To Haylee Jo Miskowic, 24, she had had “a little bit” to drink. To police her blood tested as 0.24% and 0.26% alcohol — triple what’s permissible for driving. She was arrested. This was about 1:20 a.m. near downtown at Second and Walnut streets. Miskowic had been weaving and missed a stop sign, police said. Once stopped, they said, she smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot and watery eyes and slurred speech.
Miskowic. Stopped after bar closing time.
DWI arrest: A tale ef beer and boxing
WINONA, Minn. – Police said that a St. Charles man admitted during a traffic stop to having downed three beers while watching the televised Mike Tyson fight. Blake Paul Eggert, 26, showed signs impairment, police said. He was arrested. The traffic stop was about 12:05 a.m. at Broadway and Walnut streets. Eggert’s blood-alcohol level was checked twice and registered 0.09% and 0.10% — both exceeding the legal impairment threshold.
A perfect confluence: You had to be there
Moon ring. Upper atmospheric conditions were perfect just before midnight to produce a halo effect around the full Beaver Moon. An added bonus: The brilliant planet Jupiter is off to the left, enclosed by the lunar ring. Image: Andy Frank
College scores
Basketball (men): Rochester Community 73, North Dakota Science 64
Basketball (women): Winona State 62, Maryville 60
Basketball (women): UW-LaCr9sse 73, Bethel 57
Basketball (women): Rochester Community 66, North Dakota Science 53
Hockey (women): Sant Mary’s 6, Hamline 1
Hockey (women): Hamline 3, Sant Mary’s 0
Volleyball (women): St. Cloud State 3, Winona State 0
Volleyball (women): Rochester Community 3, Harrisburg Community 0
Volleyball (women): Rochester Community 3, Raritan Valley 0
Minnesota prep
Football: Staples-Motley Cardinals 36, Chatfield Gophers 24
Wisconsin prep
Football: Green Bay Notre Dame 41, LaCrossse Logan Rangers 21
Football: Racine St. Catherine’s 12. LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 6
Goal: No Thanksgiving hunger around Austin
AUSTIN, Minn – Austin-based Hormel Foods is donatihg 3,500 turkeys to the Hometown Food Security Project to help relieve food insecurity in Mower County. The give-away, on Saturday at the fairgrounds, is called the “Hometown Turkey Takeover.” Another 1,500 of Hormel’s Jennie-O turkeys are going to other local organizations also to reduce food insecurity.
Free turkeys. Hormel’s hometown gifting.
Winter heating woes? Help may be on way
ST PAUL, Minn. – A renewed federal grant has been awarded to Minnesota to help needy folks grid for winter cold. The grant to the state Energy Assistance Program is for $112 million for income-eligible homeowners and renters. Governor Tim Walz said last year’s grant went to 43,000 households.
Abuse cited at Rochester elder-care home
ROCHESTER, Minn. – A senior living facility, Willows & Waters, first disciplined and then fired two aides for resident abuse. The incident was in September but showed up only now in a state Health Department report. One staff member wrapped a metal chain around two residents while a cohort recorded the incident and posted the video on Facebook. They called it a joke but admitted when confronted that it looked bad. State investigators were not amused. They called it a Level 3 abuse that caused harm albeit not serious injury. Willows & Waters officials noted to investigators that the two chained residents were smiling and laughing all the while. A family member was less charitable and told investigators: “You don’t joke with that.”
Facility profile
Willows & Waters Is a $6,000 a month state-licensed assisted living facility. Secluded at the end of forested cul-de-sac at707 Upper Meadow Lane Northwest. Apartments all on single floor.
Laxness? Election judge accused of irregularities
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — The head election judge in tiny Badoura Township has been charged with allowing 11 people to vote even though they weren’t registered. Felony counts against Timothy Michael Scouton, age 64, were filed in Park Rapids, the county seat. A fellow election judge had reported that Scouton allowed new voters to sign the back of a book rather than filling out registration forms. Hubbard County Judge Robert Tiffany released Scouton his own recognizance Friday. A hearing was scheduled for January. Punishment for election irregularities can be as much as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Township profile
Badoura Township, southeast of Park Rapids, is about as rural as townships come. It has 101 residents in its 36 square miles. As a township it also is a precinct with its own voting place. It is one of 28 townships in Hubbard County, population 21,000. This is 100 miles north of St. Cloud near the Leech Lake Reservation.
Smithfield fined for Minnesota child labor abuse
ST.PAUL, Minn. — The giant Smithfield pork processor has agreed to pay $2 million for child labor violations at its St. James plant in southwest Minnesota. The state labor agency said Smithfield had employed at least 11 children, ages 14 to 17, contrary to child protection laws. All 11 performed potentially dangerous work, the Minnesota Labor and Industry Department said. The $2 million administrative penalty is the largest in the history of child labor enforcement. Smithfield, based Virginia, did not admit liability under the settlement, claiming that all 11 children had dlied about their ages. Even so, the company agreed not to let it happen again.
Verbatim
Nicole Blissenbach, state labor commissioner: “The agreement sends a strong message to employers, including in the meat-processing industry, that child labor violations will not be tolerated in Minnesota.”
Smithfield profile
Although headquartered in Virginia, Smithfield has been owned by Shuanghui Group of China since 2013. The acquisition made Shanghui the largest overseas owner of U.S. farmland. Besides owning 500 U.S. farms, Smithfield contracts with 2,000 independent farms to raise pigs. The company is the largest pork producer globally with butchering operations also in Britain, Germany, Mexico, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Annual revenue exceeds $14 billion. Brands include Eckrich, Farmland, Morrell, Nathan’s and Healthy Ones.
Butchering industry abuse
Upton Sinclair’s 1906 book “The Jungle,” on horrific meat-packing industry exploitation of immigrants, led to federal laws to reform the industry. Were Sinclair still alive, he would have enough for a new chapter. Among recent exploitation in the butchering industry:
> Packers Saniation of Kieler in southwest Wisconsin, a slaughterhouse cleaning service, paid fines of $1.5 million for hiring 100-plus children in dangerous jobs at 13 sites across the country.
> Fayette Janitorial, a Tennessee-based sanitation company, paid $165,000 for hiring two dozen children to clean dangerous meat-processing facilities in Iowa and Virginia.
> Mar-Jac Poultry paid $165,000 after a 16-year-old boy died working in a Mississippi processing plant.
> Tony Downs, a meat processor, paid $100,00 for hiring children as young as 13 at its Madelia plant, west of Mankato.
Upton Sinclair. His classic story is about the abuse of impoverished Lithuanian immigrants in he Chicago meat-packing industry in the early 1900s. The abuses turned readers’ stomachs and led to legal reforms requiring sanitation in the industry.
Other upshots
The book also hastened new child labor restrictions. In 1933, the book became a target of Nazi book-burning because of Sinclair’s socialist perspective and criticsm of big industry. “The Jungle” remains widely read as a classic in American literature and journalism and as testament to the societal value of free speech.
Only if it goes like this all winter
WINONA, Minn. – It seems the police had 100% compliance with the alternate-side overnight parking rule the first night it was in effect. No citations were issued.
Holtans retiring, Winona jewelry shop closing
WINONA, Minn. – Some 41 years after Quinn and Rosalie Holtan moved the family jewelry store from Whitehall to Winona, they’re retiring. The store, a Third Street fixture, is for sale. A going-out-of-business sale is in progress. The Holtans said it’s time to focus more on family and grandchildren. The closing leaves only Morgan’s, just down the street, as Winona’s only jewelry store with bench masters. Meanwhile, 40 miles away in Wisconsin, the original family shop remains as J&M Holtans gun shop.
Fine jewelry and gifts. Inventory all for sale. At 105 East Third Street.
Burning car sparks Sparta grass fire
Driver missing. When Sparta first-responders arrived at a car wreck, the vehicle was engulfed in flames and had started a grass fire. The driver was not around. The crash was about 2:20 a.m. across the Canadian Pacific mainline across from the Interstate 90 rest stop. The grass fire was extinguished within an hour. Image: Sparta Fire Department
Mini-hospital to be built in Chippewa Falls
Opening 2026. Plan is for an inpatient, basic lab and radiology services as well as a clinic.
City of 14,000 now seven months without hospital
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. – Wausau-based Aspirus Health has plans to build a hospital in Chippewa Falls, which has been without local emergency and inpatient services since the HSHS chain shut down its St. Joseph’s Hospital in March. The Aspirus chief executive, Matt Heywood, said construction would require18 months. A site has been chosen on the east side off U.S. Highway 29, he said. Heywood said the facility would fill a geographic service gap west of existing Aspirus facilities in Stanley, 25 miles away, and Medford, 67 miles way. Aspirus, a nonprofit health system, has 14,000 employees in 18 hospitals and more than 130 outpatient locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula.
Earlier: Healthcare gap: A new Chippewa Falls hospital?
Earlier: Gundersen ponders Chippewa Valley healthcare void
Earlier: Filling Chippewa Valley’s healthcare gap
Earlier: Company closing Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls hospitals
Now shuttered. St. Joseph’s Hospital vacant since financially strained Ililinois chain HSHS pulled the plug on its Wisconsin outposts.
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.