WINONA, Minn. – When a police officer stopped a car driven by Ashley Marie Sanford, 40, of Winona, he said he was overwhelmed bv her odor of alcohol. He asked how much she had been drinking. “Enough,” she said. Sanford was charged with drunken driving. This was about 9:05 p.m. in the 200 block of East Third Street. The officer said Sanford refused a blood-alcohol test but the signs of impairment were multiple. These included field sobriety tests for balance and dexterity. Also, the officer said, she had been driving erratically and almost struck another vehicle.

ELBA, Minn. – A woman camper at Whitewater State Park called the sheriff’s office about a suspicious man after dark. She told the responding deputy that she had said hello to the man as walked by, at which point he stopped and stared, then walked on. She said she was uncomfortable. The deputy couldn’t find the man, whom the woman described as six feet tall and of medium build  The woman packed up and left to spend the night elsewhere.

NODINE, Minn. – Two Spring Valley motorists were injured when their vehicle struck a deer on Interstate 90 and ended in a ditch. Charles Darrell Carruth, 74, the driver, and Melanie Kathleen Carruth, 63, suffered non-life threatening injuries and were taken 18 miles to a LaCrosse hospital, Winona County deputies said. The accident was about 7:10 p.m. The Carruths were westbound toward Rochester in a 2021 Hyundai Palisade and nearing the crest of Four Mile Grade. They were wearing seatbelts, first-responders said. Airbags deployed.

WINONA, Minn. –  A woman called police from her locked bathroom that her boyfriend had kicked her on her spine. When officers arrived at the apartment, in the 350 block of East Sanborn Street, the woman said she was scared – that from inside the bathroom she could hear windows and a chandelier being smashed. This was about 6:15 p.m. By then the man was gone. Later  boyfriend called the woman and and said he had returned home. Officers went to his addresss and arrested Aaron Thomas Swedberg, age 36.

Swedberg. Booked for domestic assault.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Wisconsin man was released on $500,000 bail after being charged as a big-bucks sex-trafficker for a now-retired executive with the Abercrombie & Fitch clothier chain. James Jacobson, 71, of Rice Lake, walked out of federal court in St. Paul after posting the bail It was believed that Jacobson would return 100 miles away to his retirement home outside Rice Lake in Wisconsin. There was a simultaneous arraignment in West Palm Beach, Florida, of the former Abercrombie executive Michael Jefferies. He was released on $100 million bail. Jefferies’ partner Matthew Smith also was arraigned in West Palm Beach on the same charges but was detained – no bail allowed — because the judge regarded him as a flight risk because he carries both U.S. and British passports. All three defendants — Jacobson in Wisconsin and Jefferies and Smith in Florida — will be arraigned a second time in the Eastern District of New York at a later date, said Breon Peace the main New York-based federal prosecutor in tee case.

Jacobson. At St. Paul courthouse for arraignment.

Earlier: Wisconsin man snared in Abercrombie & Fitch sex ring

Fifth weekly installment. Dots on the new map from the state Natural Resources Department mark state parks.

Earlier: The deep autumn colors descend downward

WINONA, Minn. – Police arrested a man who reportedly had been swinging a sword recklessly and scaring people in the flop-house in the block of 400 Mankato Avenue. Police were told that Christopher Wayne James Swinger, 49, was angry that a drill that belonged to him had been stolen. He picked up a three-foot sword and shouted that everyone around him would “be dead.” One person said the sword missed him by inches. Another fled outside. All kinds of things were knocked over. This was about 1:55 p.m. When police arrived, Swinger came out and surrendered without incident.

School lockdown. At Washington-Kosciusko School, on Mankato Avenue a block from the flophouse, Principal Justin Hanson ordered a lockdown until police could calm the sword incident. The school has 280 pupils from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade.

WINONA, Minn. – When a police officer approached a Winona man wanted on an arrest warrant, the guy looked the officer in the eye from the front lawn, turned around and scurried inside the house. Police protocol would have permitted the officer to pursue the man, even booting down the door, but the officer chose instead to mail a citation to Troy Adair Spann, 57, for feeing an officer. It was a judgment call and a smart one, said Deputy Police Chief Jay Rasmussen: “We’ll pick him up another day.” The incident was in the 700 block of East Fifth Street about11:20 a.m. The arrest warrant was for failure to appear in court on a drug charge.

. PAUL, Minn. – Some time, perhaps going back to to the 2022 gubernatorial campaign, somebody painted “Walz Failed” in giant block letters on a rooftop air-conditioning unit at the at the governor’s mansion. Not visible from street level, nobody noticed until a television news crew spotted it unexpectedly en route to another news story. Suddenly, with Governor Tim Walz now a vice-presidential candidate, the graffiti was national news. Ironically the Walz family had moved out in the summer of 2023 so major renovations could begin. The State Patrol transferred its security down the street to the Walzes temporary residence. The message “Walz Fails” was part of Republican Scott Jensen’s campaign mantra against Walz, a Democrat, in 2022. Jensen was critical of how Walz handled the CoVid pandemic and the race riots after the police slaying of George Floyd. The Jensen campaign was marked by oddly exuberant tactics by Matt Birk, an ex-professional football player.

Earlier: Walz to be in need of temp housing

Mansion marred. Who? When? Why?

Mansion profile

The Minnesota Governor’s Manion was designed as the private home of lumberman and lawyer Horace Hills He purchased 1-1/2 acres on fashionable Summit Avenue for $7,000 and built the residence for $50,000. The house originally was was 14,700 square feet with 20 rooms, nine fireplaces, nine bedrooms,10 bathrooms and two porches. It later was enlarged to 16,000 square feet. The stone and brick house was designed by prominent Minneapolis architect William Channing Whitney. The mansion was donated to the State of Minnesota in 1965 and became the residence of governors. By the 2020s the mechanical systems were not only  outdated but in bad repair. A rehabilitation was budgeted at $7 million but soon swelled  to $13 million.

RICE LAKE, Wis. — FBI agents swept into Rice Lake and arrested a man accused of international sex trafficking related to hep lifestyle retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. Taken into custody was 71-year-old James Jacobson. Simultaneously in Miami, former Abercrombie chef executive Michael Jefferies and his partner Matthew Smith also were arrested. According to the indictments, Jacobson traveled widely, including abroad, to recruit, interview and hire well-toned and muscular young men for “sex events” for Jefferies and Smith. Details in the federal indictments are sordid: After “tryouts” with Jacobso., candidates would be submitted to Jefferies and Smith to make final selections and approve transportation to events.  Some events were in the Hamptons on Long Island and at hotels in England, France, Italy, Morocco and Saint Barthelemy in the. Caribbean. Many events were in New York City, where the flagship Abercrombie store was located. Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for Eastern New York, said victims were led to believe that participating would mean modeling opportunities and, conversely, that not complying could harm their careers. The FBI said that 15 victims, one as young as19, have come forward and that more are expected. The prostitution enterprise, according to the indictment, spanned seven years between December 2008 and March 2015 with a combination of force, fraud and coercion. In Rice Lake, population 9,000, in northern Wisconsin, Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said he did not believe that any victims were local.

Jacobson. Taken to federal holding facility in St. Paul for arraignment.

Sheriff: “A normal person”

Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald described Jacobson as “a normal person.” The arrest was a big shock. About Jacobson, the sheriff said: “He’s been at fundraisers, at church functions, at different things” The surprise was that he was living “in our backyard.” The FBI enlisted Fitzgerald and his deputies to assist in the arrest, which was without incident. Said the sheriff: “It doesn’t matter much money, how powerful you think you are, if you do wrong, you’ll get caught.”

Hometown boy

Jacobson grew up in Rice Lake and graduated from Rice Lake High School. Most of his f his adult life was in New York. He moved back to Rice Lake five years ago. Around town he’s known personally as Jim or Jamie. In the sex trafficking operation, says the indictment, it was Jim Jake, Mrs. Cook or Todd.

WINONA, Minn. – Police kept eyes peeled for a truck whose driver was wanted for a stabbing at a Wisconsin truck stop but to no avail. The driver had fled a West Salem truck stop, heading west, it was thought, on Interstate 90. Deputies in Winona County were alerted to watch for the hard-to-miss  red rig with a white trailer. They watched I-90 and U.S. Highway 61 – the main routes out of Wisconsin into Minnesota.

Earlier: Trucker’s neck, chest slashed in knife attack

Volleyball (girls): Hayfield Vikings 3, Rochester Schaeffer Liohs 0

Volleyball (girls):  Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms 3, Spring Valley Kingsland Knights 0

Volleyball (girls): LeRoy-Ostrander Cardinals 3, Glenville-Emmons Wolverines 0

Volleyball (girls): Houston Hurricanes 3, Lyle-Pacelli Athletics 1

I-90 truck stop. Incident at Kwik Trip Store 2048. At 341 Jefferson Street East at West Salem.

West Salem police launch dragnet for assailant

WEST SALEM, Wis.  – A long-distance trucker was knifed  at an Interstate 90  Kwik Trop truck stop east of LaCrosse at West Salem. Police said the trucker took substantial but non-life-threatening cuts to his neck and chest. He was taken to a hospital emergency room and later released. Police said the assailant, also a long-distance driver, fled in a red and white semi. Police agencies across Wisconsin and Minnesota were asked to look for the truck. The attack was about 7 p.m. at a Kwik Trip fueling station. Police were stymied to explain the attack. As police understand it, neither driver knew each other.

MELROSE, Wis. – A driver was pinned fatally inside a car that crashed into a large grain truck south of Melrose. A passenger, also trapped in the car, was airlifted to a hospital. The crash was about 6:50 p.m. on U.S. Highway 108.  Jackson County Sheriff Duane Waldera, who has a record of withholding information from the public, declined without explanation to release the name of the victims.

But some fall glory remains. In the scenic bluff park overlooking town and the Root River bike trail. Images: Andy Frank

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Bullet fired close range in chest

Privately owned mini-rooms. Across Huff Street from Winona State University. The high-rise WSU dorm Sheehan Hall is down the block. Other on-campus dorms are immediately across the street.

WINONA, Minn. – The criminal complaint in an apartment shooting early Thursday near Winona State University details a frenzied drunken confrontation with threats and dares. Also, according to the complaint, the shooter, Cole Robert Cameron, age 27, was jacked up on alcohol. After his arrest Cameron’s blood-alcohol level was tested at 0.20% — 2-1/2 times the legal level for intoxication. The complaint says the victim also was drunk, The complaint, signed by police Sergeant Adam Brommerich, cites first-hand statements from Cameron, the victim and a witness, as well as doorbell video and cell phone audio:

> Cameron and another adult male were arguing in the third-floor hallway at the Studios on Huff apartment building off Huff Street on the 300 block of West Howard Street.

> Cameron went into his apartment and returned to the hallway with a black 9mm Baretta handgun.

> Cameron yelled at the other man that he was going to pump “you full of lead.”

> Cameron said: “Get back” and “Get away from me! Do you want to get shot?”

> The witness attempted to get the other man to return to his own apartment, but the guy stayed in the hall.

> The witness returned to his own apartment and started recording the altercation on his phone.

> Cameron yelled at the other man: “It’s loaded, hollow points! Go back to your apartment now!”

> Seconds later Cameron told the victim: “Two hollow-points loaded for your chest right now, you know that? Go back to your apartment, now! Do it or I’ll fucking shoot you!”

> Cameron walked backward down the hall, his right arm extended, still pointing the Baretta toward victim: “Do you want me to pull the trigger?” The other man responded: “Pull it.” Immediately a single gunshot was fired.

> The victim, himself extremely intoxicated, stumbled down the hall with a cell phone in his hand.

> A motion-activated Ring camera missed the actual shooting. When the video resumed, the victim was lying on the floor moving slightly and moaning.

> The witness left his own apartment and went back into the hallway and saw Cameron standing over the victim.

> Police were dispatched at 4:21 a.m. They had been called that a man had been shot.

> The witness told Cameron to put the gun away, that police were on the way.

> The witness attempted to provide medical aid.

> Cameron went to his own apartment. A short time later emerged from the apartment without the gun.

> When police arrived, Cameron and the witness were leaning over the victim, who was lying on his right side on the floor with a single gunshot to the chest.

> Without being asked, Cameron told officers: “I shot him.”

> The witness pointed officers to Cameron’s apartment: “The firearm is in his room.”

> Officers obtained a warrant to search Cameron’s apartment. The loaded Beretta handgun was on a kitchen counter.

> Officers also found three handgun magazines and boxes of ammunition. Later the officers determined that Cameron received a permit two weeks earlier to buy the gun.

> The victim was taken by ambulance to the Winona hospital. Because his condition was severe, he was airlifted 30 miles to a higher-level trauma center in La Crosse for surgery. Fourteen hours later he was still unconscious, but his condition had stabilized.

Earlier: Winona shooting victim hangs on to life

Cameron. Booked for first-degree assault and intentional discharge of a firearm.  He also had been charged with assault two weeks earlier in ab unrelated encounter.

Spartan one-room units. Rent $400 to $600 monthly. Size ranges from 140 to 300 square feet. Tenants include budget-conscious Winona State students who forsake more expensive on-campus housing and meal plans.

MANKATO, Minn. — The prosecution in the Adam Favel murder trial added detail to the picture that jurors are forming about the day that Maddi Kingsbury disappeared. A Winona police sergeant, Steven Rysted, had been one of the first officers at duplex that Fravel sand Kingsbury shared. Rysted testified that he photographed mud on tye driver’s door handle on Kingsbury’s blue minivan in the driveway. Prosecutor Phil Prokopowicz didn’t respond with any extrapolation about the mud, at least not at the moment, but the police theory is that Fravel drove the minivan with Kingsbury’s body to a remote dirt trail in Fillmore County and disposed of the body. Left hanging was whether the mud might match soil where Kingsbury’s body was found 10-1/2 weeks later. Her disappearance was at the end of March, a wet season. Asked by Fravel’s defense attorney whether he had photographed the mud on the door handle, Rysted said he might have. No pictures were entered in the court record, however.

Defense: Why no mud tests? Vomit tests?

Fravel’s defense attorney, Zach Bauer, also asked Rysted if he had seen vomit on the back porch of the Fravel-Kingsbury duplex, as a fellow officer testified earlier that she had observed. Rysted responded that he had not. Bauer’s cross-examination fit an emerging defense that police were lax in the early investigation: Why wasn’t a sample the mud taken for testing? Why wasn’t the vomit sampled for DNA testing?

Why a mid-day change of shoes?

The prosecution also introduced information that Fravel had changed his shoes during the day, implying the first pair was muddied been during the day. Ring-camera video, introduced  during Rysted’s testimony,  showed Fravel in white New Balance shoes in the morning, different shoes later. The prosecution also noted tlat ring-camera video showed Fravel wearing a red bomber hat with ear flaps and a white jacket, although Prokopowicz’s  point wasn’t immediately clear.

.Earlier: Fravel trial /5: A visual journey of the duplex

Soccer (women): Winona State 2, Southwest Minnesota State 1

Soccer (women): UW-LaCrosse 2, Carleton 2

Soccer (women): Madison 2, Rochester Community 1

LEWISTON, Minn. – A Lewiston man was arrested outside his wrecked car in a ditch on the Old U.S. Highway 30 downstream from Lewiston. The driver, Jose Javier Macuixtle-Sanchez, 22, had minor injuries, police said.  He was taken to jail after a breath test showed his blood-alcohol level at 0.18% — more than twice the legal max. The crash was at the intersection of Rolling Hills Road and Dutchman’s Crossing Drive.  This was about 9:25 a.m.

Macuixtle-Sanchez. Crash at backroad crossing.

ST. CHARLES, Minn. – An Illinois driver was injured when her car struck a deer two miles east of the Interstate 90 exit to the St. Charles and Chatfield. Danielle Rose Mueller, 34, of South Beloit, was taken 27 miles to a Rochester hospital. Her injuries were described as non-life threatening. A passenger, Ryan D Mueller, 26, of South Beloit, was unhurt. They were heading west toward Rochester in a 2022 Subaru Ascent. This was about 9:15 p.m.

Dropping a hook. For perhaps the last time this season from the Lake Winona fishing on Huff Stret. The fall afternoon was lovely with thermometers dancing into the  70s Image: Steve Lunde

GLENVILLE, Minn.  – A St. Charles man was injured when his motorcycle left U.S. Highway 62 on Glenville’s North Side near the Canadian Pacific rail  crossing. Robert Allen Markwardt, 6o, was treated seven miles away at the Albert Lea hospital for sustainable injuries. Alcohol was involved, police said. The accident was about 5:20 p.m. Neither Markwardt nor a passenger, Monica Jean Fairchild, 6o, of Lyle, was wearing a helmet, police said. They were on a 2007 Harley Davidson heading south into Glenville.