Rash of overnight Valley Oaks car tampering cases
WINONA, Minn. – A lot of people in the upscale Valley Oaks neighborhood woke up to discover their cars had been entered overnight. In one case a credit card was taken and later used to make a purchase at Walmart. Police said they hoped to have a lead from Walmart store video showing who made the purchase. In all the car tampering cases, the vehicles were parked in driveways. All were unlocked. The self-contained Valley Oaks neighborhood has only one access street. Police theorized the thief was on foot or riding a bike. Extra patrols have been assigned to neighborhood. A door-to-door check began for doorbell surveillance video.
> 50 block of Oak Park Court. Missing: Ear phones, valued at $300, backpack, $100.
> 350 block of Valley Oaks Drive. Rummaged through. Nothing missing
> 50 block of Valley Oaks Lane. Rummaged through. Nothing missing.
> 50 block of Rivers Lane. Missing: Credit card.
> 300 block of Valley Oaks Drive. Glovebox latch damaged. Missing: Coins from cupholder.
> 50 block of Oakdakle Lane. Missing: Pocket knife, cargo hold-down straps.
> 50 block of Rivers Court. Missing: Child’s backpack with toys.
> 350 block of Valley Oaks Drive. Keys to the vehicle missing.
Threat of violence disrupts Elgin, Plainview schools
ELGIN, Minn. – Police frisked 250 students at Elgin Junior High School and searched the grounds and lockers after an online threat of violence. No problem was identified, said Plainview Police Chief Jason Timm. The threat was on Snapchat and threatened violence in the afternoon but otherwise was unspecific, the chief said. As a precaution, other schools in the Plainview-Elgin-Millville system also were checked:
> Plainview High (Grades 9-12), 460 students.
> Elgin Elementary (Grades 4-6), 350.
> Plainview Elementary (Grades PK-4), 430.
“These threats cannot be discounted,” Chief Timm said.
Threat epidemic
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension recorded an uptick of Snapchat posts throughout the state at the start of the week. It was the same in Iowa, where several threats were posted, including one at Clear Lake schools.
Flags half-staff in sad memory of 9/11 terrorism
ST. PAUL, Minn. — On the order of Governor Tim Walz, flags at state government facilities will be at half-staff to honor those who died in the 9/11 2001 aerial attacks on New York City and on the Pentagon and also in the crash of a third plane en route for an attack on either the White House or the Capitol. Some 2,977 people died, not counting 19 terrorists who highjacked the planes.
Emergency, fire crews make 46 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 27 emergency medical calls plus 19 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, September 10: 4 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Monday, September 9: 5 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.
> Sunday, September 8: 1 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.
> Saturday, September 7: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Friday, September 6: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Thursday, September 5: 5 medical calls plus 3 fire calsl.
> Wednesday, September 4: 4 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 56 calls
Low water slows Mississippi barge shipping
WASHINGTON – Low water on the Mississippi River has forced shipping companies to operate shorter barge arrays to avoid hanging up on the river bottom at sharp bends. The problem is especially acute south St. Louis, but the shorter arrays also mean fewer barges are moving from Upper Mississippi ports like Winona. The latest Grain Transportation Report from the U.S. Agriculture Department, showed 480,000 tons of grain in transit the last week of August a 17% drop from the previous week. Farmers are caught unable to sell their crops for downriver shipping to oceanic cargo ships on the Gulf Coast. The traditional business model has been shipping by barge. Truck and rail are too expensive
Short array. The Clayton Whorter churns out of the lock near Red Wing with a short assemblage of barges — only 12. Upper Mississippi shipping is most cost-effective with 15 barges, sometimes as many as 17, lashed together.
Downriver bottleneck
Drought in the upper Ohio River Valley has diminished the volumatic flow rate into the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois. The result: The Mississippi is running low all the way to New Orleans.
Rural policing in Goodhue County: Cost up, up, up
RED WING, Minn. – The Goodhue County Board has increased its charge for policing provided to rural towns that don’t have their own police departments. The charge will go to $71 an hour, a 13% hike. Affected are Pine Island, population 3,700; Goodhue, 1,200; Wanamingo, 1,100; Dennison, 200; and Bellechester, 180. The County Board attributed the increase to the cost of new policing technology like body cameras. The Board at first planned an increase to $87 an hour but backed off to resistance from the client communities. Instead: Increase are being phased in over three years. Also: Client communities have an option to reduce the number of deputy hours they buy from the county. Pine Island, as an example, contracts for 18 hours a day for deputy patrols.
Winona County not so
The Winona County sheriff’s office provides policing without any surcharges to outlying communities that don’t have their own police departments. These include Altura, Dakota, Dresbach, Minnesota City, Bodine, Ridgeway, Rollingstone, Stockton, Utica, Wilson, Witoka.
Teen driver accused of under-age consumption
WINONA, Minn. – A Wisconsin driver was stopped for cornering wide and weaving across double center lines and discovered to be drunk, police said. Alixandra Grace Kilpatrick, 18, of Appleton., was charged with under-age consumption after her blood-alcohol tested at 0.16%. Minnesota’s legal max for driving is 0.08%. The arrest was about 1:15 a.m. at Gilmore Avenue and Sioux Street. Police said Kilpatrick’s eyelids were droopy and her eyes bloodshot and watery.
College scores
Tennis (women): UW-River Falls 5, Saint Mary’s 2
Volleyball (women): Winona State 3, Upper Iowa 0
Volleyball (women): Saint Mary’s 3, UW-LaCrosse 2
Volleyball (women): UW-LaCrosse 3, Luther of Iowa 1
Minnesota prep
Soccer (girls): Dover-Eyota 2, St. Charles/Lewiston-Altura 1
Volleyball (girls): Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 3, Winona Cotter Ramblers 1
Volleyball (girls): Dover-Eyota Eagles 3, St. Charles Saints 0
Odd scamming call: Goodview man out $4,000
WINONA, Minn. – A Goodview man reported being scammed out of $4,000-plus by someone pretending to be from the FDA. The man was unclear in talking to police about whether he believed the call was from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or even what FDA may have stood for or why he first took the call seriously. In any event, he did as told and bought:
>Two $500 gift cards from Walmart.
> Three $390 gift cards from Target.
> $2,0000 in bitcoins from a BP gas station kiosk.
He took the call at work in the 1400 East Sanborn Street but the scam had nothing to do with work, police said. The money was his. He notified police about 7:50 p.m.
Study: 36% of Minnesotans living at the edge
WINONA, Minn. – The number of households in financial hardship in Minnesota is far greater than most people realize, according to a new study using 2022 data. The study, funded by United Ways of Minnesota, found more than a third of Minnesota households were in poverty or living paycheck to paycheck. Statewide this was 2.3 million Minnesotans – 36%. These people included both those below the federal poverty level and also others whose income fell short of affording household basics: “We all know these workers, and rely on them every day. They are our healthcare or child-care providers, teachers, long-term care professionals, retail clerks, those who maintain our infrastructure, and many others.” The report, titled “A Study of Financial Hardship,”, called for finding ways to help these households meet basic needs. The data for southeast Minnesota:
Fillmore County: 36% (8,400)
Houston County: 31% (8,000)
Olmsted County: 33% (68,700)
Wabasha County: 30% (9,200)
Winona County: 40% (20,200)
Barely surviving financially. The study examined the extent of asset-limited, income-constrained employed Minnesotans. Their median wage: $15.11 an hour.
Two tickets issued in Fleet Farm theft
WINONA, Minn. – Two out-of-town shoppers were cited for thievery from the Fleet Farm mega-hardware on the East End. The theft was reported to police about 3:40 p.m. Details about the stolen merchandise, including the value, were not expected to be in the police report until the investigating police officer returns from his midweek days off. Cited were:
> Garrett Aaron Sepino, 27, of Faribault.
> Taylor Ann Cake, 20, of Nelson, Wisconsin.
Union to fund State Trooper Roper’s legal costs
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The police union will be paying the legal bills of ex-Minnesota State Patrol trooper Shawn Roper for a fatal crash near Apache Mall in Rochester in May. The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association confirmed that Roper is covered by the union’s legal defense fund. The fund is maintained from member dues. Continuing as Roper’s attorney is Eric Nelson of Bloomington.
Good-bye to summer’s cicadas
Perhaps the last of the season. In a yard up East Burns Valley Road from Winona. Aren’t those eyes and wings and colors amazing? Image: Andy Frank
Target shoplifter makes off with $2,800 haul
WINONA, Minn. – Police were called to the Target retail store on the East End about somebody shoplifting $2,800 in merchandise. Store detectives had video of what they called “a push-out” crime. Their initial report didn’t list what was taken. The theft was reported about 3 p.m. Police said they were tracking down a suspect whom they identified from store video.
Murder update: Chippewa Falls teen legally an adult
WAUSAU, Wis. – A Wisconsin Appeals Court ruled that the teenager charged in the rape and murder of 10-year-old Lily Peters in Chippewa Falls can be tried as an adult. This January, a Chippewa County judge ruled that Lily’s cousin, Carson Peters-Berger, who was 14 at the time, be tried as an adult. The boy’s attorney appealed. A three-judge appellate panel, which sits in Wausau, agreed with the local judge. The panel said the gravity of the crime should not be depreciated by Peters-Berger being tried as a juvenile. Peters-Berger was arrested a few days after Lily’s body was found along a wooded path in April 2022. She had been walking home.
Earlier: Teen seeks juvenile jurisdiction for murder trial
Earlier: Movement afoot to broaden missing child alerts
Earlier: Teen accused in Chippewa Falls rape, murder
Earlier: Chippewa Falls boy blamed killing of 10-year-old girl
Earlier: 10-year-old girl killed in Chippewa Falls
Peters-Berger. Appellate court says teen’s age should not spare him from trial as an adult.
Mabel man arrested after Decorah hospital scare
DECORAH, Iowa – A Minnesota man, John Westby, 70, of Mabel, was arrested for an incident that put the the Winneshiek Medical Center into a lockdown. Police were tipped by Fillmore County authorties in Minnesota that a man from Mabel, 18 miles away, was suicidal in the hospital parking lot and had a gun. This was abut 9:30 a.m. The man was driving away in pickup truck when Dccorah police arrived After several attempts to stop the vehicle, police boxed it on the Highway 52 overpass near Madison Road. Firearms in were confiscated. The arrest itself was without incident. Westby was charged with eluding police and reckless driving. The WinnMed lockdown was for an hour or so.
WSU, SMU listed among 150 Midwest colleges: So?
WINONA, Minn. – Winona State heralded in a press release that it has been listed for the 21st consecutive year among the “Best in the Midwest” by Princeton Review. The Review listed 150 colleges in the region, also including Saint Mary’s, without ranking them. So was Winona State first or the 150th? The same question about Saint Mary’s. To prospective students, Princeton Review said it considers all 150 listed colleges “academically outstanding and well worth consideration.” There was a time when Princeton Review ranked colleges, but the company’s methodology came into disrepute for encouraging unwarranted inferences about any statistical precision. The Review, which has no connection with the prestigious Ivy League Princeton University, now lists the colleges alphabetically and unranked. Prospective students are encouraged to peruse each and every college for one that seems a good personal fit. In effect, Princeton Review has reinvented itself not as a ranking service but only as an aggregator of institutional data, much of it provided by the colleges themselves. Random student comments are included but with no pretense of being statistically representative. For prospective students, the Review is a useful assemblage of information — all in one place — to sort through. As a for-profit company, Princeton Review sells tutoring services to students to help boost their college admission exam scores.
Corporate profile
Princeton Review was founded in 1981 by recent Princeton graduate John Katsman as a tutoring service for college-aspiring sudents.
2012: Acquired by a private equity company, Charlesbank Capital, for $33 million
2014: Acquired by Tutor.com, an IAC subsidiary, for an undisclosed sum.
2023: Tutor.com and Princeton Review were acquired by a Chinese investment group, Primavera Capital, the largest private equity firm in Asia.
Over the years Princeton Review also has had many other corporate parents. Among assets folded into the Princeton Review portfolio over the years were 150 print and digital books acquired from Penguin Random House.
Notable journalism
InSight Crime (July 11, 2024): “U.S. Labels Tren de Aragua Transnational Criminal Threat”
Caden Perry (LaCrosse Tribune, September 10, 2024): “’People Will Travel for It’: Minnesota Cities Prepare for ‘Border-Jumping’ Marijuana Tourists”
Shane Windmeyer (Advocate, August 13, 2009): “Princeton Review’s Approach Is Outdated”
Minnesota prep
Volleyball (girls): Winona Cotter Ramblers 4, Red Wing Wingers 0
Volleyball (girls): Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 3, Austin Packers 2
Driver in I-90 chase jailed in Caledonia
CALEDONIA, Minn. – A LaCrescent man arrested after a wild 74-mile chase in a stolen pickup truck, Matthew Richard Davis, 44, was booked at the Houston County jail. The chase had spanned three counties – Houston to Winona to Olmsted and back to Winona. The other counties acceded to Houston County for primary prosecution because the truck had been stolen in LaCrescent on the Houston County side of the Winona County line. Davis was booked for auto theft and reckless driving.
Davis. Taken first to the WInona jail, then transferred to Caledonia.
Gwen Walz to LaCrosse for debate watch party
LACROSSE, Wis. – Minnesota’s First lady, Gwen Walz, will join LaCrosse Democrats Tuesday night for a watch party for the televised presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Governor Tim Walz, who is Harris’ vice presidential running mate, is spending the day in two major campaign stops – in Arizona and Nevada. The Harris-Trump debate is being carried on most television affiliates and steamed on ABC Live, Disney+ and Hulu. The debate is in Philadelphia.
Historic venue. Near downtown at 1129 La Crosse Street.
Concordia Ballroom profile
The ballroom is in the historic LaCrosse neighborhood known as Goosetown. It was built in 1891 as the centerpiece of the social life of the German immigrant community. The architecturally distinctive structure was designed by the local German-speaking partnership of Gustav Stolze and Hugo Schick.
Gwen Walz. To address LaCrosse Democrats about 7 p.m. local time, ahead of the debate itself. The debate is at 8.
10 years prison for Eau Caire drug dealing
MADISON, Wis. — An Eau Claire man was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for heading up a drug trafficking organization. Judge William Conley issued the sentence against Hector Jimenez-Sosa. “Real damage” resulted, the judge sad. Jimenez-Sosa earlier pleaded guilty. Jimenez-Sosa, age 41, was charged as leading a meth, fentanyl and cocaine trafficking organization. Between August and October 2023, undercover law enforcement agents reported repeated purchasing pills from Jimenez-Sosa and his associates. The criminal complaint said his controlled substances came through the mail from California.
Jimemez- Sosa. Drug sales took place at two workshops he operated.
Cops use spike-strips, pepper gas to end chase
ST. CHARLES, Minn. — The driver of a stolen truck evaded police for 74 miles and refused to give up even after police spike-strips punctured three of his tires. Ordered to exit the disabled truck, the driver refused. Officers fired a marble-like pellet into the truck’s back window and shattered a hole, then lobbed pepper balls into the cab. The driver finally stumbled out. He was arrested. The chase began in LaCrescent about 7:20 a.m. and ended nearly 1-1/2 hours later near St. Charles. The driver, 44-year-old Matthew Richard Davis, of LaCrescent, was taken to jail. The chase began while LaCrescent police were looking for a white Ford pickup that had been reported stolen. The chase was mostly on Interstate 90, at one point with the driver going the way on the divided highway. The pursuing LaCrescent officer notified other agencies to make an interception, but the driver turned around near Eyota, 60 miles from where the chase began, and headed back east toward Wisconsin. The spike strips flattened three tires on the way back — on the second passing of St. Charles — but the driver kept going on the rims until the vehicle just wouldn’t not go any more. The eastbound lanes of I-90, heading toward Wisconsin, were blocked briefly for the police emergency.
Spike strips. Every police vehicle is equipped with a portable rolled-up spike-strip to lay in the path of a pursued vehicle. A punctured tire will stop a vehicle, usually within a few yards..
Rescuers pull empty pontoon boat ashore
WINONA, Minn. – Winona firefighters in their rescue boat intercepted a pontoon pleasure craft free-floating down the Mississippi River. No one was aboard. This was about 9 a.m. The Fire Department rescue crew had been alerted by two callers that a pontoon boat was adrift in the main channel with no one aboard.. Firefighters eventually located the craft’s owner, who said that he had beached the craft overnight at Prairie Island while camping and that it had slipped away
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