House moves ahead to ban Big Tech secrecy
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Giant tech companies have suffered a setback in their tactics to bypass local opposition to hyper-scale data centers in and around small towns. The Elections Finance and Government Operations Committee of the Minnesota House unanimously passed a bill to prohibit non-disclosure agreements. Big Tech companies have used DNAs to silence county and municipal leaders from sharing details about these proposed plants with the public. The bill’s co-sponsors, Emma Greenman, D-Minneapolis, and Drew Roach, R-Farmington, said the public deserves to know everything that local elected officials are told about these plants being built in their backyards, especially lifestyle and environmental impact.
Murder verdict: Fritz mentally ill at time
LACROSSE, Wis. — An insanity plea worked for Zachary Fritz, who was charged with killing his wife — 60 stab wounds — in their suburban Shelby home. Judge Elliott Levine ruled that Fritz was mentally ill at the time. Fritz is now headed to institutional care rather than prison. After the verdict his attomey, Christopher Zachar, told reporters that the case was “tragic” and “awful” — a situation in which “nobody wins.”
Sheriff: Thief caught after eluding manhunt
DURAND, Wis. — A rural man called the sheriff that his trail cam showed a likely house burglar wandering in the Chippewa River Bottoms north of Durand. The guy was wearing the caller’s stolen clothes and carrying his stolen rifle, the caller said. A few hours later Pepin County deputies arrested Kyle J. Smith, age 39, at a Durand establishment. This was after a four-hour manhunt in the dense, rough and dangerous Bottoms with drones and sniffer hounds. Smith was charged with burglary, illegal possession of a firearm as a felon, and bail jumping. Sheriff Joel Wener said that at least three properties had been forcibly entered. The sheriff asked everyone who owns property in the Bottoms to check their premises and security cameras.
Smith. In Pepin County jail.
Emergency, fire crews make 60 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 40 emergency medical calls plus 20 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, March 10: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Monday, March 9: 4 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Sunday, March 8: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Saturday, March 7: 6 medical calls plus 6 fire calls.
> Friday, March 6: 9 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.
> Thursday, Marvh 5: 6 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Wednesday, Marh 4: 5 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 47 calls
Oil leaks from idled nuclear plant on Mississippi
Twenty miles downstream. Yellow booms are in place at Elk River to encircle any oil that might escape from containment booms at the on-premises discharge canal at Monticello. This is at the State Highway 101 bridge over ghe Mississippi River near Babcock Park in Elk River. Image: Josh Moni
Xcel: No radioactivity reached river
MONTECLLO, Minn. — The giant utility Xcel Energy admitted “mineral oil” leaked from its aging Monticello nuclear plant on Mississippi River but didn’t reach the river proper. Xcel quoted the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the leak didn’t involve radioactive material and did not constitute a nuclear safety concern. The plant, built in 1971, is 120 miles upstream, from Winona. Xcel also operates a riverside nuclear plant near Red Wing, built in 1973 and 60 miles upstream from Winona. Xcel has a history of not reporting accidents ayt its facilities. This time Xcel notified authorities and issued a public statement the enxt day.
River proximity. The Monticello plant uses water to cool nuclear generators, then discharges the water into Mississippi. Working properly, the process releases no radioactivity into the river.
What went wrong
Xcel’s account: The Monticello had been shut down since February 20 for scheduled maintenance. While testing equipment, operators identified low oil levels in a motor that circulates cooling water through the plant. A component that keeps lubricating oil separate from the cooling water had failed, allowing the oil and water to mix. A bout 200 gallons of oil leaked before the motor was shut down but not before oil entered the plant’s discharge canal, which e connects to the Mississippi River. No oil reached the river itself. Containment and absorbent materials were et up in the discharge canal to capture the oil. The booms and absorbent materials were removed ahead of a winter storm expected this weekend to prevent any dislodged from high winds. Contractors monitored both the river and the canal on plant property.
Homeless woman faces dual theft charges
WINONA, Minn. — Surveillance video at the West End Sinclair gas station, off combined U.S. Highway 14 and 61, showed a woman smashing a large andscape stone through the plate-glass entrance. Responding to an automatic alarm, police found the intruder had left. A few blocks away, at Pelzer and Wabasha steeets, police found and arrested Geneva Alea Malronado, age 33 and homeless. She had entered the store, which was closed, and taken a jug of Minute Maid pink lemonade and a pack of cigarettes, police said. Her large lands ape stone had come the McDonald’s fast-food parking lot down the street, police said. This was about 1:40 a.m. Malronado was arrested for burglary. Earlier, about 10;15 p.m. Maldonado had been cited at the Kwik Tirp at Huff and Sarnia streets for consuming food and drink and refusing to pay. That citation was for theft.
College scores
Baseball: Eckerd 11, Winona State 4
Softball: Winona State 6, Bloomfield 4
Softball: Winona State 5, Florida Tech 4
Tennis (women): Winona State and West Chester
Federal border agency denies mistreating traveler
CHICAGO — The U.S. Homeland Security Department denied a claim by a traveler that she was detained at O’Hare International Airport and held two days before being released 150 miles away in Wisconsin. “Blatantly FALSE,” said a Homeland sSecurity pokesperson in all caps. The written Homeland Seciurty response to news media queries:
“Sunny Naqvi, arrived at O’Hare at 10:21 a.m. on March 5, 2026. CBP officers referred her to Secondary, for additional inspection based on law enforcement checks and conducted a baggage exam. Ms. Naqvi departed CBP within 90 minutes of her arrival to the United States. Ms. Naqvi was not taken into custody or transferred to ICE for detention.”
Television station WMTV asked for copies of surveillance footage from O’Hare to resolve inconsistent between the Navqi and the Homeland Security accounts. The request was denied.
Five O’Hare detentions
Naqvi and five colleagues, — two other U.S. citizens and three individuals with green card work permits — were detained at the airport by federal immigration agents for their “recent travel history” after returning from Istanbul. Not knowing what had befallen her, Naqvi’s family panicked and called authorities. Thirty hours later, the family receive a call from Naqvu 150 miles away in Wisconsin. She claimed having been e in federal custody all the time tand ransported to Wisconsin.
Cops bust Latsch island beach party
WINONA, Minn. — Police disrupted a teen-age booze party across the Mississippi River on Latsch Island Two boys, age 17 and 16, were cited for under-age consumption. Others were sent packing and their parents informed. This was about 9 p.m. Being spring break, it wasn’t a school night.
LaCrosse murder trial: Fritz mentally culpable?
LACROSSE, Wis. — Final arguments in the five-day Zachary Fritz murder trial hinged on whether mental illness factored into the death of his wife. with 60 stab wounds The issue for Judge Elliott Levine is whether Futz goes to prison, perhaps for life, or to a psychiatric facility. Fritz is accused of killing his wife in their Shelby residence in 2024. A forensic psychiatrist, Dileep Borra, testified that Fritz does not have bipolar disorder. His defense attorney countered with bodycam footage and medical records that Fritz suffers a mental condition that he kept secret even from his family. His attorney pointed also to a 2009 domestic abuse verdict that found Fritz and not guilty by reason of a mental disease.
Earlier: Trial ahead for husband in horrid LaCrosse death
Earlier: Criminal complaint details fatal bloody assault
Notable journalism
Lee Hendrix (Big River magazine, March-April 2026): “Tumblin’ Dice on the River: The Rise and Fall of Riverboat Gambling”
Vanesse Kjeldsen (WMTV, March 9, 2026): “Dodge County Sheriff Denies Report of U.S. Citizen Being Held in Detention Center”
Rachel Mergen (Winona Daily News, March 9, 2026): “First Phase of Trempealeau’s James Reed Park Nears Completion after Years of Planning”
College scores
Fatal car-pedestrian crash near Black River Falls
BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. — A pedestrian was struck b a car ad killed after dark in nearby Brockway. The victim’s name was withheld by Jackson County Sheriff Duane Waldera until family could be reached. The pedestrian was walking in the lane of traffic in dark clothing, deputies said. They reported the driver stayed at the scene and was cooperative. This was about 8 p.m. on State Highway 54 between Red Iron Road and Mission Road.
Assault charge follows hassle over bin of photos
WINONA, Minn. — Winona man was arrested several hours after a former girlfriend reported he barged uninvited into her apartment and scared her to death. This was about 4:05 p.m. in the 650 block of West Wabasha Street. Four hours later police located the man’s car in parking lot on U.S. Highway 61 and arrested 47-year-old Henry Clay Minter Lamkin. He was booked on burglary and assault charges. The woman, age 37, described Lamkin s a former partner. She gave police this account:
> Lamkin called and texted multiple times that he found a storage bin of photographs he wanted to return. Arrangements were made for him to drop off the bin outside her apartment door and leave
> After he arrived she waited several minutes to be sure he indeed had gone, but when she opened the door he was standing there with the bin of photos.
> She tried to shut the door, but he forced his way in. She feared for her safety.
> He placed the bin on the couch and picked up her cellphone, which also was on the couch, and began to leave. She told him to give her the phone, but he didn’t, saying would pay her for it, and drove away.
Winona’s never-dying love affair with Bub’s
WINONA, Minn. — Like a cat’s nine lives, the historic Winona-brewed Bub’s beer is being resurrected again — or at least the name. This time of the owners of the downtown bar Market Street Tap are taking over the Fourth Street bar and eatery that had borne the namesake Bub’s Brewing Company since 1992 but which closed in August. Now Market Street Tap partners Brandon Cook and Erika Voss have acquired a liquor license to re-open the establishment next door to the historic Exchange Building on Fourth Street. They’ll keep the name that Winonans love to pronounce as “boobs,” not “bubs.” Some lingual scholars, however, however, claim that “boob’ is a corruption of the Germanic “boop” which they say is probably how Peter Bub called himself when he arrived as in Winona in 1879 as a Bavarian immigrant after a brief sojourn at a Milwaukee brewery. “Boob” or “boops,” you won’t change the minds of any latter-day Winonans. Bub’s it forever will be.
Thumbnail: Winona’s signature beer
> 1856: Immigrant brewer Jacob Weisbrod established a brewery in East Burns Valley, outside the recently established river town of Winona. To be sure, Weisbrod was the second Winona brewer, not the first, but the demand for his lager was strong. “It’s the grain,” he said.
> 1862: Weisbrod relocated to the foot Sugar Loaf mound, a navigational landmark for Mississippi River. Steamboats. This was before the mound was quarried, which left the current naked pinnacle, Limestone caverns under the Sugar Loaf mound were perfect for keeping beer cool.
> 1872: The brewery burned down in A replacement, bigger and better, was built. It still stands, albeit with other tennants recent years.
> 1879: Weisbroad hired a young Bavarian immigrant, Peter Bub, as brewmeister. Bub took over when Wisbroad died of typhoid. Bub’s Brewing Company came into being and lasted more than 100 years.
> 1979: Bub’s closed, driven out of business by giant corporate ate beer brands from Milwaukee and St. Louis. It was a sad moment for Winona fans.
> 1992: Local financiers revived the Bub’s name for a bar at 65 East Fourth Street with a hearty menu of entrees. Its popularity faded in time. The place poured its final tap last August — until now with the new owners.
Classic abel. Plus 4%.
Coopered and cooling. In Sugar Loaf cavern.
Reined up. For tavern deliveries all around Winona and neighboring counties.
Latter-day tenant. Brewery’s silhouette still here but repurposed.
Minnesota-Missouri train corridor pondered
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The pro-rail lobbying group All Aboard Minesota is pushing the state to seek federal funds to study possibilities for a 220-mile passenger train corridor between St. Paul and Kansas City. The route would follow Interstate35 on current Union Pacific rights-of-way and connect these cities:
> Twin Cities, population 3.7 million.
> Des Moines, 740,000.
> Kansas City, 2.2 million.
The line also could be extended to Texas, said All Board spokesperson Brian Nelson. The immediate goal, he said, is for the Minnesota Transportation Department to apply for Federal Railroad Administration money for passenger corridor development. The proposed Kansas City trains would include Minnesota depots in Northfield, Faribault, Owatonna, and Albert Lea. The St. Paul and Albert Lea city councils already have signed on. Historically the now-defunct Chicago Great Western ran trains long the route with a side line swinging through Rochester.
Fallen flag. Anyone remember the Chicago Great Western’s passenger service to Rochester?
Proposed route
Perhaps Rochester again? Like olden days, the city could again bea possible sideline on proposed St. Paul-Kansas City rail route. Rochester or not, currently there’s no way to avoid overnight transfers at Amtrak’ s Chicago hub for Minnesota rail travelers to the Gulf Coast or West Coast and intermittent points.
LaCrosse Democrats: GOP not playing by rules
LACROSSE, Wis.—rLa Crosse County Democrats have leveled campaign violation chatges aganst the county‘s Republican Party and County Board candidate Robert Haines. The Democrats called both were campaign violations. The complaints went to the Wisconsin Ethics Commission. The allegaions:
> $500 off the books to Haines before he registered his campaign
> $3,500 to seven county board candidates, including Haines, by giving money directly to them rather than to their campaign committees. Listed as recipients: Kevin Decker, Josh Dirks, Jeff Fimreite, Ken Johnson, Chris Muller, Jack Pogreba.
Verbatim
Wyatt Molling, Democratic chair: “This is about transparency and ensuring that everyone plays by the same rules. If the Democratic Party wants to give money to local candidates, we dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ to make sure we’re following the law.”
Detainee claims fed agents tried “disappearing” her
JUNEAU, Wis. — The family of a Skokie, Illinois, woman wants some answers:
> Why did federal agents detain her at the O’Hare airport in Chicago on March 5 as she deplaned from a flight from Turkey?
> Why did the agents then take her to an ICE detention center a few miles away in Broadview?
> Then why — days later, as the woman claims — did the agents drive her 150 miles into Wisconsin and dump her on the doorstep of a county jail with a dead phone and no way to get home?
The attorney for the woman, 28-year-old Sundras “Sunny” Naqvi, a U.S. citizen, said she walked to a nearby 24/7 gas station and caught a ride from a stranger to a hotel, where her family picked her up. The attorney, Robert Held, now is calling on the U.S. Homeland Security Department, which runs border control sub-agencies, to explain itself. About Naqvi’s report that she was transported to the Dodge County jail in Juneau, the sheriff says the jail log has no record of a female inmate from ICE being admitted or released. In an interview with WMTV in Madison. Naqvi’s attorney said: “It’s very troubling what’s going on, The government has lost credibility.” The saga suggests a possibility that border agents at O’Hare messed up in arresting Naqvi and, recognizing their error, attempted a cover-up by erasing or doctoring records and by disappearing her to Wisconsin. The situation is complicated the fact that the Dodge County has long-standing partnership as Wisconsin’s only jail to accept ICE detainees.
Naqvi. A U.S. citizen who had been in Torkey. Arrested by border agents at Chicago airport and then, she claims, was “disappeared”
Notable journalism
Brock Bergey (KTTC, March 4, 2026): “Waiting for Answers: KTTC’s Continued Push for Metro Surge Costs from Public Officials”
Parker Forsell (Big River magazine, March-April 2026): “The Contentious Beginnings of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway”
Liz Sawyer with Sarah Nelson (Minnesota Star Tribune, March 8, 2026): “Federal Agents Lied About Why They hey Shot Venezuelan Man in Minneapolis”
College scores
Baseball: Ashland 12, Winona State 3
Softball: Indianapolis 2, Winona State 1
Softball: Saint Mary’s 8, Pacific Lutheran 0
Softball: Huntingdon 7, Saint Mary’s 6
Tennis (women): East Stroudsburg 7, Winona State 0
Winoma Health adds Cotter to off-site child care
WINONA, Minn. — Winona Health plans to expand off-site clinician visits to the 1,100-student Cotter Schools campus in September. Winona Health already schedules such visits at four Winona public schools and serves about 300 students a year for primary and behavioral services. Space has been set aside at Cotter’s Nett Recreation Center for appointments. Parents can schedule appointments and choose whether to attend. Children are more in their comfort zones at school than in a clinic setting and don’t lose half-days going to the Winona Health clinic itself, a spokesperson said. Appointments are billed to parents’ insurance. Reports are accessible to parents online.
Existing remote sites
> Winona High School, enrollment 850.
> Winona Middle School, 660.
> Jefferson Elementary School, 320.
> Winona Area Learning Center, 90,
Cotter, a private Catholic school, becomes fifth remote site for Winona Health appointments
Mayo bookkeepers: Record 2025 revenue
ROCHESTER, Minn. — ‘Twas a very good year for Mayo. The Clinic’s year-end 2025 report shows significant revenue growth to $21.5 billion — up more than $1.5 billion from the year before. The increase offset an increase in expenses.
Measles in Minnesota: 12 new cases
ST. PAUL, Minn. —Already in the first two months of 2026, health officials have confirmed 12 cases of measles in Minnesota. All were in Anoka, Hennepin and Wright counties and associated with domestic and international travel. Measles, which can be fatal, once was nearly eradiated in the United States. The disease spreads quickly among unvaccinated people. Nationally 1,136 cases have been conformed so far this year. A Trump ICE detention center in Texas has been quarantined for an outbreak.
A Winhawk portrait: The Steines
An eventful family year. Brittney Steine is the head gymnastics coach at Winona High School and the district’s current Teacher of the Year. Husband Travis was just named chief football coach. Their household’s favorite color with sons sons Quinten and Treven is Winhawk orange. Image: John Casper
News summary at mid-week: March 7, 2026
WAR: Pump prices zoom after Trump’s Iran attack
WAR: Johnson: Iran war wrong, so too Finstad
WAR: On all-out war on Iran: Finstad stands by Trump
GOVERNANCE: Walz on tax projections: Cheery yet cautious
GOVERANCE: How they voted: On stopping Iran war /1
CONSTRUCTION: Aiming skyward: Lewiston firehall takes form
ARCHITECTURE: Schlitz Hotel: What’s happened to the neighborhood
CRIME: Nurse to prison for lying she was raped
CRIME: Foot-dragging alleged in probe into pets’ deaths
CRIME: Handgun report leads to assault charge
CRIME: Police make drug arrest in alley garage
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