Arraignment coming up in cold-case Iowa homicide
DECORAH, Iowa – A former Iowa man told authorities he would plead not guilty in the 2017 disappearance and death of a teen-age Decorah girl. James Bachmurski, ge65, was expected to make the plea official in an arraignment hearing on Tuesday. Bachmurski had been arrested recently in Georgia and was extradited this week to Decorah. The charge stemmed from a cold case. According to the criminal complaint, 15-year-old Jade Marie Colvin went to Bachmurski’s home on Skyline View Drive in Decorah in March 2017. The two had been messaging electronically for about 20 days, investigators said.
Bachmurski. Charged with second-degree murder.
State senator denies guilt in burgling case
ALEXANDRIA, Minn. – Embattled State Senator Nicole Mitchell pleaded not guilty to burglarizing her stepmother’s house in Alexandria last April. The case is closely watched because Mitchell, a Democrat from the St. Paul suburbs, is critical for the one-vote Democratic majority in the Senate. In entering her plea Mitchell asked explicitly for a jury trial and also a pre-trial conference. Mitchell was caught in the act of breaking into the house but says a strained relationship with her stepmother is an exculpatory factor. Also, she says the theft charge is based on a laptop computer she was taking from the house. The ownership of the laptop, she says is not her stepmother’s.
Earlier: Ethics hearing delayed for State Senator Mitchell
Earlier: Earlier: State Senate leader on fence on Mitchell issue
Earlier: Earlier: Another Democratic call for Mitchell to step down
Earlier: Walz on Mitchell burglary: Now time to resign
Earlier: Senate GOP fails to neuter Mitchell as deciding vote
Earlier: In burglary’s wake, Democrats shun Senator Mitchell
Earlier: Earlier: Hypocrisy redux: Who’s calling kettle black?
Earlier: State Senate sidetrack: The Mitchell mess
Earlier: State senator not sidetracked by burglary charge
Earlier: Senator arraigned for burglary, released
Earlier: Senator’s sentimental explanation for burglary
Storm floods Winona streets, interrupts power
WINONA, Minn. – Street fooding occurred on Huff Street and the Winona East Side from downpours that moved through southeast Minnesota and adjoining Iowa counties beginning about sundown. Water was standing
knee deep at Second Street and Mankato Avenue. The storm sewers couldn’t keep up. A small mud and rock slide blocked Old Homer Road south of Winona about 9:40 p.m. In Lewiston in central Winona County, a tree was blown down on a power line. The Rushford-based MiEnergy co-op, which serves the Lewiston area, said the power outage that lasted until midnight. The outage interfered with television reception of the ballyhooed Donald Trump campaign event in LaCrosse. In Iowa near Charles City, 60 mph winds ripped down four-inch diameter tree limbs.
Four-plus inches. This backyard rain gauge up East Burns Valley near Wilson showed 4.1 inches the morning after the storm. Image: Andy Frank
R.I.P.: Merritt Bebout Sr.
WINONA, Minn. –Merritt Micheal Bebout Sr., age 69, of Winona, a security officer at Winona State University, died of cancer. Earlier he was a campus painter. He was an ordained Pentecostal Church pastor.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1955-2024
Minnesota prep
Football: Winona Winhawks and Inver Grove Heights Simley Spartans, postponed by rain
Volleyball (girls): Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 3, Rushford-Peterson Trojans 2
Wisconsin prep
Football: Melrose-Mindoro Mustangs 4, Necedah Cardinals 0
Football: Arcadia Raiders 12, Whitehall Norse 6, suspended by rain
Need help impregnating? Trump: “OK by me”
LACROSSE, Wis. – Former President Donald Trump continued to soften his hard-right position on reproductive issues, this time in a campaign visit in LaCrosse. Trump said that he could support government coverage of the expense of in-vitro fertilization. It was a a break from categorical opposition to IVF by Republicans in several state legislatures and in Congress. As recently as June, nearly every Senate Republican blocked a bill that would have expanded IVF access through insurance. In LaCrosse, Trump said:
“I’ve been looking at it and what we’re going to do is for people who have been using IVF which is fertilization, we are going to, the government is going to pay for it or we are going to mandate your insurance company to pay for it. It’s going to be great. We’re going to do that.”
The change in Trump’s position was deliberate and rehearsed – not off the cuff. Former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, an avid Trump supporter who played host on the LaCrosse stage, began with a pre-arranged account of her own experience with fertility treatments. Trump welcomed the question and proceeded to enunciate a carefully prepared position. Analysts varied how to characterize it: Nuanced? A shift? A reversal?
Political necessity
Democrats have hammered Trump on his hard line against abortion and, more broadly, women’s reproductive rights through all his 2024 campaign to retake the White House. Trump increasingly has found himself losing support from women voters. He tried without success to sidestep critics by washing his hands of the issue by declaring abortion wasn’t federal issue and deferring legislation to the states. It didn’t work, and the issue continued to haunt his candidacy. This all contrasts with Trump’s statement in a 2016 interview ya women should be punished for abortions. Compounding his problem with women voters has been his three appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court. He has. Lost no opportunity to take credit for his appointees overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized. abortion.
On other issues
Trump said:
> Border security needs tougher leadership but he was vague: “We have to bring back that level of respect and we’re going to do it and we’re not letting the wrong people into our country.”
> His good relationship with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin would have stopped the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He didn’t explain how beyond “returning the country to how it was” under his leadership.
> He would open the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve to oil drilling which he described as panacean to lower fuel costs, lower food costs, and lower interest rates. He said nothing about the mechanics of how this would come to be.
Trump took questions from only three people at the townhall A La Crosse college, identified only as Pete B., said he struggles with expenses as he lives on his own, and dreams of eventually becoming a homeowner – something he said did not seem possible at the moment. Trump responded with sweeping assertions that sidestepped specifics:
“They say you vote with your stomach – I don’t know if you’ve heard it, but it’s a little bit true. Groceries and food have gone up in levels that nobody’s ever seen before. We’re going to become the energy capital of the world. We’re going to pay down our debt and we’re going to reduce your taxes. And your groceries are going to come tumbling down, and your interest rates are going to be tumbling down, and then you’re going to go out and buy your beautiful house.”
At LaCrosse Center. To keep Trump “on message,” which as been a problem, his campaign strategists tried a new format in LaCrosse with a friendly moderator — Tulsi Gabbard, a former member of Congress from Hawaii. Gabbard has been an avid Trump supporter who’s rumored for a Cabinet post if he’s elected.
How the event went
The LaCrosse Center was configured to seat 7,000 and was full. An estimated 500 people milled outside.
Trump was late because his previous campaign stop in Potterville, Michigan, ran over.
Among greeters at the LaCrosse airport: WI-3 Congress member Derrick Van Orden and former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson. Both are Republicans.
The LaCrosse cebter session, billed a as a town-hall meeting lasted 34 minutes –unusually brief for Tump.
At the request of Trump’s security detail, the cruise boat Viking Mississippi, in town for the day with 500 passengers and crew, departed from its dock near the LaCrosse Center earlier than its 5 p.m schedule.
Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, spoke at the Green Bay airport earlier in the day. It was he thought he might catch up Trump to LaCrosse. He didn’t.
The visit was Trump’s first to western Wisconsin this campaign cycle, butut he has camoaigned jn Racine, Waukesha and Green Bay. He was also in Milwaukee for the Republican national convention.
Vulgarity chants in pre-quel
Athough the event was described by Trump’s advance team as a “townhall meeting,” the staging didn’t encourage meaningful dialogue, let alone tough questions. The event was only 34 mutes. There was no sit-down news media access to Trump. The pre-screened crowd was rambunctiously adoring, looking to rally, not query. This was to the dismay of a passenger visiting LaCrosse for day from a river cruise boat. “One thing I heard when I was walking down was people chanting, ‘Say no to the ho,’’ It was a vulgar line from Trump’s persistent demeaning of Kamala Harris, his Democratic rival for the presidency. The riverboat passenger, Lydia Gregory, called the chants disrespectful to women. To a LaCrosse Tribune reporter, Gregory said: “The fish rots from the head down, right? And that’s what happened. When somebody who is in power believes you can say that about women and their opponents — and I understand being against your opponent, that’s absolutely fine — but the absolute misogyny and disrespect that’s going on is just really tough to hear, but that comes from their leader.” About such Trump insults, Harris has chosen not to respond.
Wicked storms coming, then great camp-out days
WINONA, Minn. — A cold front approaching from the west was expected to generate severe weather in southeast Minnesota and adjacent areas this evening. Thunderstorms were forecast until around midnight, possibly with large hail and damaging winds and maybe tornadoes. Downpours may drop an inch of rain, the National Weather Service said. Cooler, drier air will move in behind the cold front on Friday. For Labor Day weekend, expect sunny skies and highs and the upper 70s.
Notable journalism
Brock Bergey (KTTC, August 2, 2024): “Top Policy Priorities for Voters in 2024 Compared to 2020”
Michael Goldberg (Associated Press, August 28, 2024): “Minnesota Officials Vote to Tear Down Dam and Bridge that Nearly Collapsed”
Daniel Strauss and Allison Gordon (CNN, August 27, 2024): “Tim Walz and Kristi Noem Once Had a Warm Working Relationship. Now It’s Gone Ice-Cold”
Fravel: Please bar witnesses as trial gawkers
WINONA, Minn. – The attorney for Adam Fravel wants people who are scheduled to testify in the murder trial against him be kept out of courtroom ahead of their time to take the stand. The request was filed by criminal defense attorney Zachary Bauer. Judge Nancy Buyendrop will consider the motion at a pre-trial conference in September. Among witnesses whom the prosecution plans to call are family and friends of Fravel’s live-in companion Maddi Kingsbury, who was killed in March 2023.
Ultra-light plane hits trees at Strum; pilot hurt
STRUM, Wis. — The pilot of an ultra-light aircraft was injured seriously when he lost power after take-off and crashed into trees. He was airlifted 20 miles to the Eau Claire hospital. The pilot was attempting an emergency landing, witnesses said. The crash was about 11:30 a.m. at the privately owned Viking Flying Club’s airfield, which has a 2,100-foot unpaved turf runway. There are 30-foot trees 350 feet from the runway. Trempealeau County Sheriff Brett Semingson declined without explanation to release the victim’s name.
Minnesota nurses salaries among U.S. top
WASHINGTON – Nurses In Minnesota are among the best paid in the nation, according to newly published U.S. Labor Department data. Registered nurses in the state average $84,000 – in the top 1% nationally. The best-paying state: California at $120,000. The lowest: Mississippi at $61,200.The national average: $79,000. Among Minnesota subsets:
> Nurse anesthetist: $214,000.
> Nurse practitioner: $127,000.
> Nurse midwife: $119,000.
> Physical therapist: $86,900.
>Licensed practical nurse: 541,000.
Around Minneosta
A geographical breakout for registered nurses included St. Cloud, $87,000 average; Bloomington, $86,000; Rochester, $86,000; North Mankato, $89,000; Duluth $79,000.
Neighboring states
Wisconsin, $8,000; Illinois, $82,000; Iowa, $71,000; North Dakota, $74,000; South Dakota, $67,000.
K-9 sniffs way to woman in St. Charles woods
ST. CHARLES, Minn. – A Mapleton woman was found hiding in the woods on the South Side after a lengthy police search. Police had been called mid-afternoon to a domestic complaint in the 1500 block of Church Street. By the time officers arrived, the woman had fled into a wooded area. She was located several hours later by a K-9 police duty dog. This was after St. Charles police requested help from Winona County deputes, four of whom joined the search, as also did Lewiston police. Arrested was Bobbi Jo Marie Perrault, 38, of Mapleton in Blue Earth County but who has lived most recently in Bemidji. It was not until after midnight that she was booked finally at the Winona County jail in Winona. She has a court record around rhe state of assault, drunken driving, and fleeing police.
Perrault. Charges: Burglary, felny assault, damage to property.
Update: No chemical danger from I-90 truck wreck
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Chemicals that leaked in a truck rollover off Interstate 90 south of Rochester Wednesday pose no risk to the public, investigators said. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency listed the cargo as:
> Sodium hydroxide.
> Hydrogen peroxide.
> A chlorite solution.
> A food additive.
> An antifoam.
The list corrected earlier information from the scene that included table salt. New to the list was sodium hydroxide, sometimes called caustic soda or lye — a common ingredient in cleaners and soaps. The driver of the truck managed his way out of the cab right way. He was assessed for medical issues and was not transported to a hospital. The I-90 ramp where the accident occurred remained closed at mid-morning.
Eau Claire woman found dead in homicide
EAU CLAIRE Wis. – An Eau Claire woman was found shot to death at her place near downtown. Michelle Jenkins, 56, had been shot multiple times, police said. It was not immediately clear how long she had been dead. Police were called about 6:30 p.m.to check at a house in yhe 400 residential block of Gilbert Avenue to see if Jenkins was OK – what’s called “a welfare check,” a usually routine police call. State Patrol investigators were called to process the crime scene and collect evidence. An autopsy was ordered. No suspect was identified immediately, police state.
News summary at mid-week: August 28, 2024
GENEROSITY: Big surprise in Lewiston: $1 million gift
ARTS: A water-themed exhibit on checkered U.S. past
POLITICS: Comparison study: 2000 v. 2024 voter issues
POLITICS: Trump in LaCrosee: Ex-Hawaii lawmaker as moderator
POLITICS: Prequel: Needling Trump on kitchen-table issues
WRECK: Hazmat crews scramble to I-90 truck crash
WRECK: Two men in Amish buggy survive auto crash
CRIME: Felon denies charges in Bluff Siding shooting
CRIME: Fleeing man taunts cops: “Catch me if you can”
CRIME: Melrose man pleads not guilty in road-rage homicide
CRIME: Landlord stabbed in bout over drug-dealing
CRIME: Strangulation charged in mano y mano case
CRIME: Late night fight over other women on his phone
RIVER: Mississippi River sheens from 30-gallon dam spill
POLICING: Cops nip Beaver Creek beer bust early
POLICING: Trump’s safety perimeter on LaCrosse riverfront
POLICING: Security beefed up for new Walz status
ENVIRONMENT: Flood-ruined Rapidan dam, bridge to be razed
ENVIRONMENT: Pre-dawn storm wreaks havoc at State Fair
ENVIRONMENT: Brilliant meteor at 36,000 mph 50 miles up
Comparison study: 2000 v. 2024 voter issues
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Voters this year see four priority issues that they also ranked in 2020, according to a data analysis by Brock Bergey of television station KTTC. Bergery compared lists compiled nationally by the non-partisan Pew Research Center. The Pew lists in-ranked order:
Carry-forward issues
> The economy.
> Health care.
> Crime.
>Immigration.
2020
> Economy
> Terrorism
> Money in politics
> Health care
> Education
> Social Security
> Crime
> Immigration
> Illegal drugs
> Budget deficit
2024
> Economy
> Health care
> Supreme Court appointments
> CoVid
> Crime
> Foreign policy
> Gun policy
> Race/ethnic inequality
> Immigration
> Economic inequality
College scores
Soccer (women): Rochester Community 4, Dakota Community 2
Minnesota prep
Tennis (girls): Rochester Mayo Spartans 7, Arden Hills Mounds View 0
Wisconsin prep
Volleyball (girls): LaCrosse Central RiverHawks 2, Fall Creek Crickets 0
Volleyball (girls): Onalaska Hilltoppers 2,Westby Norsemen 0
Volleyball (girls): Holmen Vikings 3, LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 2
Cops. Woman went ape when told to leave house
WINONA, Minn. – Police were called to remove an unwelcome guest from an East Side house, but she didn’t want to go. While one officer was negotiating with her to leave, another officer learned that she was wanted on an arrest warrant from Wisconsin. The woman, Tracy Lynn Hazelton, 53, was told she was under arrest. Police said she began kicking and bit one officer in a leg. Unsure of her mental condition, officers took Hazelton to the Winona hospital. Once cleared medically, she was taken to jail. Meanwhile, officers said, they found illegal drugs in her purse — 1.3 grams of cocaine and 0.3 grams of meth. She was booked for:
> Assaulting officers.
> Obstructing officers.
> Possessing controlled substances.
The whole series of events began about 8:30 p.m. in the 450 residential block of East Fifth Street. The owner had called police that a woman with whom he was breaking up wouldn’t leave his house, He wanted police to get her out. They did.
Hazelton. Multiple charges: Kicking, biting, drugs.
Hazmat crews scramble to I-90 truck crash
ROCHESTER, Minn. – A semi-truck carrying hazardous material crashed off an Interstate 90 exit ramp into Rochester and ended up on its side in a grassy borrow pit and smoking. First-responders sealed the site and re-routed traffic. The driver of the rig climbed out of the wreck on his own, apparently not hurt seriously. The cargo was canisters with legally required placards marked hazardous. Some canisters were leaking. It wasn’t immediately clear whether light smoke from the wreckage was related to the leaks. Early reports said the canisters held sodium chloride, known commonly as table salt, and hydrogen peroxide, used commonly in olden days to cleanse skin wounds. Neither is flammable or hazardous by itself. Whether the salt and peroxide were in solid form or pressurized in a gas or liquid form was not immediately known. The first emergency crews on the scene called for the Rochester Fire Department’s chemical assessment ream. Also notified were the county emergency management director and the state Pollution Control Agency. A 300-foot safety perimeter was set up both directions on the right-of-way. A local alert to GPS-equipped vehicles and cellphones told motorists to keep a distance and upwind. The accident was about 7 p.m. on I-90’s Exit 218 onto northbound U.S. Highway 52 – one of two heavily traveled route into Rochester’s South End and about five miles out. Clean-up crews expected the ramp to be re-opened by midnight. The southbound ramps onto I-90 and the U.S. 52 route southbound to Chatfield were affected only briefly.
What we don’t know
> What caused he accident? Was other traffic in immediate jeopardy?
> Which canisters on board were hazardous? And how hazardous?
> Although the driver escaped serious injury, was he hurt at all?
> How familiar was the driver with the interchange?
> Where did the truck and its cargo originate?
> Where was the truck and its cargo headed?
> Was any ongoing highway construction and repair a factor?
> Was yhe narrowing of the ramp’s lane and a tight meld into Highway 52 a factor? The interchange has a record of frequent accidents.
> What was the source of light smoke from the wreckage?
Big surprise in Lewiston: $1 million gift
LEWISTON, Minn. – The Wanek family of LaCrosse, whose fortune has been made with Ashley Furniture, donated $1 million to The Crossings event center in Lewiston. The gift was a surprise. Ron Wanek, who grew up on a farm near Lewiston, was in town to accept the high school’s distinguished alunmi award. He brought along a $1 million check. Wanek graduated from the Lewiston-Altura High School in 1959.
Ron and Joyce Wanek. Holding the check at the signature red brick schoolhouse at The Crossings.
Founded in 2004. The Crossings is centered on a massive old dairy barn. On the left off County Road 27, alsoowas Fremont Street, leaving south out of Lewiston.
The Crossings profile
The Crossings Center hosts youth, family and community events on Lewiston’s South End. Its summer concert series every Wednesday night attracts hundreds of peole as does wood-fired pizza. It also is site of the Lewiston farmers market. The Crossigs was founded in 2004 ny Brian Prudoehl and Bill Lanik as a nonprofit music ministry to help youth organizations. In 2007, from proceeds of the music ministry, they purchased property in Lewiston to develop as a safe place for area youth. With m mostly volunteer labor and donations, they developed the 18-acre site with a historic dairy barn as the centerpiiece. Also on the property is the Lewiston Veterans Memorial Park and also community gardens, a greenhouse, an orchard, vineyard, and berry patches. Activity areas include a sport court and a fitness and wellness center. The newest addition is an 1894 brick, one-room schoolhouse rescued from the bulldozer and relocated to the property.
Felon denies charges in Bluff Siding shooting
ALMA, Wis. – A Winona man accused in a shooting in March at George’s bar in Bluff Siding, Damien Winn, pleaded not guilty in Buffalo County Court. A pre-trial conference was scheduled for September. Winn, age 40, was charged with:
> Attempted intentional homicide.
> Recklessly endangering safety.
> Possessing a firearm as a felony.
> Carrying a handgun in a bar.
> Endangering safety with a dangerous weapon.
The victim at George’s suffered a life-threatening gunshot wound in his abdomen. He was taken six miles across the river to the Winona hospital. Winn was arrested wandering a street in Winona the next morning.
Earlier: Winona man’s bail at $250,000 for shooting
Earlier: Winona inmate back to Wisconsin to face judge
Winn profile
Winn had lived off and on in Winna for several years. Earlier he lived briefly in Wabasha, and before that in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and Chicago. He has a lengthy court record in Minnesota, which includes assaults, theft, and interference with poolice.
Emergency, fire crews make 55 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 42 emergency medical calls plus 23 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, August 27: 5 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Monday, August 26: 8 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Sunday, August 25: 7 medical calls plus 8 fire calls.
> Saturday, August 24: 6 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Friday, August 23: 3 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Thursday, August 22: 9 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Wednesday, August 21: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calsl.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 50 calls
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