ICU patient turns mega-violent at hospital
WINONA, Minn. — A patient at the Winona hospital’s intensive-care unit left a trail of destruction — with damage estimated at $50,000 — and stormed down a stairwell into the street. This was about 5:20 a.m. There were no injuries. Damage would have been worse had not a hospital security officer wrestled a fire extinguisher from the man as he attempted to foam up the ICU unit. The man continued his rampage on his way out, knocking over every ICU computer monitor. A heart-beat monitor was also smashed. Police found the man outside and took him into custody. He was Kyle Thomas Abraham Snyder, age 38. Snyder was known well to police as a troubled member of the Winona homeless community. Police had been dealing with him almost daily, mostly for alcohol-related incidents. Snyder had been hospitalized at the recommendation of social workers who declared he was unable to care for himself. Over the past few days he had walked out five times. Each time he was located quickly and returned. Snyder also was disruptive in the emergency room four days earlier, police said. He threatened to grab a doctor and throw her out the window. He begged her to call police so he could grab an officer’s gun and kill her.
Snyder. Charged with violent threats, felony damage to property.
Notable journalism
Ruth Conniff (Wisconsin Examiner, October 15, 2019): “ICE Raids and a Battle over Arcadia School Bus Route”
Gabriel Hathaway (Winona Post, July 8, 2026): “Winona County Hears Pushback to Library Cuts”
Tim Hundt (Vernon Reporter, July 7, 2026): “Viroqua Mayor and Viroqua Skylighters Issue Apology for July Fourth Event that Included Simulated Machine Gun Fire”
Car into guardrail; driver from Washington injured
DAKOTA, Minn. — A traveler was injured when he struck a guardrail at the Interstate 90 interchange where Highways 14 and 61 converge from Winona. Brian Fitzgerald Jackson, age 62, of Peshastin, Washington, suffered non-life threatening injuries. This was about 10 p.m. Jackson was taken seven miles to a LaCrosse hospital. He was driving east toward Wisconsin in a 1998 Subaru Forrester. First-responders from Dakota said he was belted and his airbag deployed.
Three bodies recovered from Lake Pepin
PEPIN, Wis. — Three bodies have been recovered from Lake Pepin, where a pontoon pleasure craft with six persons aboard capsized overnight. Three of the victims were rescued from the water within an hour. Searchers took most of Sunday to locate and retrieve the bodies of the other three victims. An armada of rescue boats, helicopters and drones from 10 agencies on both the Wisconsin and Minnesota sides of the lake were mobilized for the search. Authorities declined to release the names of the victims or where they were from. Wabasha County Sheriff Curt Struwe confirmed that one survivor was hospitalized. The other two survivors didn’t require medical attention, he said.
Mississippi River barge array. Each barge is 95 feet long. Piloting is from a towering wheelhouse atop the pusher towboat.
Pontoon boat. Rentals available at dozens of marinas on the Upper Mississippi. Some have tiny cabins for sleeping. Some vacationers camp on beaches.
The three recovered bodies were taken to St. Paul for autopsies by the Minnesota state medical examiner. The U.S. Coast Guard, which licenses commercial watercraft on the Mississippi River, including Lake Pepin, was expected to lead an investigation. Among many questions:
> Did the pontoon boat ram a consist pf barges traversing the lake ahead of a pusher towboat. Some barge consists are 500 feet long. Barge arrays typically move at 5 to 8 mph on the lake.
> Or did the pontoon boat ram the barges?
> Or was turgid wake from the towboat’s twin screws a factor?
> Was the towboat crew, at the rear of the barges, aware of what happened? Pusher tows, some with 6,000-horseppower diesel engines, drown out ambient noise.
> What were lake conditions? Lake Pepin can range from placid in light breezes to turbulent in storms. Also: Small craft are especially vulnerable to wakes from other vessels, such as from twin-screw towbars.
ICE confirms Arcadia deportation operation
ARCADIA, Wis. — Three people were arrested during Trump deportation operation Thursday in Arcadia. The arrests were confirmed by the Immigration and Enforcement agency only when pressed by news media queries. The Arcadia arrests were part of an ICE surge in Wisconsin that, according to scattered reports, netted 57 immigrant arrests. The Arcadia arrests came to the public only after Facebook posting by the citizen group Ice Out Coulee. Video showed ICE agents in the city. Their vests bore the letters HSI, short for Homeland Security investigator, which is the parent federal organization of ICE. The Trump administration has shifted away from references to ICE after early 2026 operations that discedited the organization for brutality and murders in Minneapolis, St. Paul and other cities with anti-Trump leanings. The new lower profile doesn’t mean a retreat from Trump’s goal of 1 million deportations of dark-skin immigrants this year.
South Milwaukee protest. Immigrant sympathizers marched over the weekend to protest to ICE incursions into Wisconsin. It’s known there were at least 57 arrests statewide Last week. Image: Isiah Holmes
Arcadia: What we know and don’t know
About the Arcadia operation, the ICE shift into low profile left many unanswered questions:
> Is three the accurate number of Arcadia arrests? ICE has nada credibility because of patten of self-serving deceptions and lies. Local grapevines in Arcadia a suggest more than three.
> From which country did the Arcadia detainees originate? In the past ICE has used false pretenses of criminality to make arrests.
> Did ICE have judicial warrants to make arrests? Most of the thousands of ICE nationwide in early 2026 operations were without proper warrants.
> Where were the Arcadia detainees taken? Were families informed? ICE has a cruel pattern of speeding detainees through sham process to expedite shipping detainees out of the country without judicial review.
Motorcyclist crashes west of Wabasha
DUMFRIES, Minn. — A Minneapolis biker was injured when he left the roadway and crashed where State Highway 60 from Wabasha drops down for the first time to the Zumbro River. Ryan Scott Fatturi, age 37, was airlifted to a Rochester hospital. Medically he was described in sustainable condition. He was alone on the 2011 Suzuki GSX-R600. The accident was at County Road 81. He was helmeted, said Wabasha County deputies. The accident was about 5:35 p.m.
Mabel biker hurt in Wabasha County crash
WEST ALBANY, Minn. — A Mabel man was injured when his motorcycle and a pickup truck collided from opposite directions near this Zumbro River village Robert Wayne Thompson, 68, was taken 32 miles to the Lake City hospital. First-responders from Wabasha reported Thompson’s condition as less than life threatening. The accident was about 2 p.m. on State Highway 60 at County Road 13. Thompson was heading west toward Zumbro Falls on a Harley Davidson. The other vehicle, eastbound toward Wabasha, was driven by John Steven Kingsley, 64, of Zumbro Falls. Neither he nor his passenger, Jeannie Elizabeth Kingsley, 65, of Zumbro Falls, was hurt. They were in a 2021 Ford F150.
R.I.P.: Fred Naas
WINONA, Minn. — Frederick M. Naas, who built the Winona Agency into dominance in the local insurance business, died at home at age 89. After retiring from the insurance business jn 1989, Naas joined Winona State as the university’s comptroller. He was born in Winona but left to study business and economics at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. After college he returned to Winona to work at the Clark & Clark insurance agency. Eventually he moved into ownership and expanded the company dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s as the Winona Agency.. His civic involvement included the Winona Planning Commission, the Winona Port Authority, the Winona General Hospital Association, the Winona Industrial Development Association, the Chamber of Commerce, and United Way,
Details: Fawcett-Junker Funeral Home
1937-2026
News summary at week’s end: July 11, 2026
RIVER: Pepin boaters missing in pontoon wreck
TERRORISM: Trump agents to Arcadia on deportation mission
TERRORISM: Viroqua bigwigs mum on who did deed
AVIATION: Downed plane near Utica under guard
ACCIDENT: Man in horse-drawn buggy hurt in collision
ACCIDENT: Van overturns on I-90; injured to Winona
CELEBRATION: Promoting County Fair from elevated perch
PUZZLE: Can you outsmart this katydid? Look closely
Earlier: News summary at week’s end: July 8, 2026
Pepin boaters missing in pontoon wreck
PEPIN, Wis. — Three boaters were rescued and three were missing after their pontoon boat capsized after dark on Lake Pepin off Deer Island. First reports said the boat collided with barges in transit through the Mississippi River main navigation channel through the 22-mile lake. Police dispatchers in Pepin County, Wisconsin, and Wabasha County, Minnesota, received emergency calls about 10:45 p.m.: People in the water and screaming. This was within 15 minutes of the accident. Three boaters were found clinging to the capsized pontoon boat and werec pulled from the water. One person reportedly was injured. The survivors said three fellow boaters were missing. A massive search with watercraft was expanded immediately. Helicopters and drones cwere aclled in. The accident was off the Wisconsin shoe of the lake near the landmark YMCA Deer Island youth camp. This is on a seven-mile stretch between the village sof s Stockholm and Pepin. Pepin County Sheriff Joel Wener confirmed that no campers from the YMCA camp were involved.
Mile Marker 771. Site of accident. On the naturally occurring lake that was formed prehistorically by water backing up the Mississippi River behind the delta formed by sediment from Wisconsin’s Chippewa River. The lake is 22 miles long. At two miles across, it’s the widest navigable portion of the Mississippi River’s 2,350-mile flow to the Gulf of Mexico. The lake’s depth averages 20 feet, although there are pockets as deep as 60 feet. Off Deer Island, where accident occurred, the depth is 16 to 18 feet. The lake is popular for sail-boating out of Lake City on the Minnesota side and Pepin on the Wisconsin side.
Pontoon boat safety
Pontoon boats with outboard motors are available for rent at numerous marinas. The slow-moving vessels are popular for family outings. Drivers must be 25 years old. It takes 15 minutes to fill out a rental agreement and depart with a full tank of gas. A copy of state boating laws is under the steering helm for reference.
Car into guardrail; driver from Washington injured
DAKOTA, Minn. — A traveler was injured when he struck a guardrail at the Interstate 90 interchange where Highways 14 and 61 converge from Winona. Brian Fitzgerald Jackson, age 62, of Peshastin, Washington, suffered non-life threatening injuries. This was about 10 p.m. Jackson was taken seven miles to a LaCrosse hospital. He was driving east toward Wisconsin in a 1998 Subaru Forrester. First-responders from Dakota said he was belted and his airbag deployed.
Man in horse-drawn buggy hurt in collision
LANESBOTO, Minn. — A Harmony man who had driven a horse-drawn buggy 14 miles to Lanesboro was injured in a collision with a motor car. Harvey J Hershberger, age 74, was taken 24 miles to a Rochester hospital. His injuries were described as sustainable. The accident occurred about 6:20 p.m. on U.S. Highway 16 through Lanesboro at Sheridan Street West. The car was a 2015 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Richard James Horihan, 76, of Lanesboro. He was unhurt. Alcohol was suspected, local police reported the State Patrol.
Can you outsmart this katydid? Look closely
> Up close.
Masters of camouflage. Like all kaydids, this tiny baby is attracted to plants in the carrot family, like Queen Anne’s lace. They often lay their eggs on the flower stem. Katydids are nontoxic to people and pets and don’t do any significant plant damage, so you can just enjoy them if you are lucky enough to see one in your yard. Images: Andy Frank
Tractor overturns, killing Utica man
UTICA, Minn. — A man mowing roadside grass was killed when his tractor overtured. Dean Frank Nuszloch, 74, of Utica, died apparently instantly. This was about 3 p.m. northeast of Utica on County Road 33 near Lang Drive.
Wisconsin boating safety stops net 25 DWIs
MADISON, Wis. — Game wardens issued 25 citations for intoxicated boatsmanship statewide over the Fourth of July weekend, the Natural Resources Department reported. In all the wardens made 1,700 safety stops.
Van overturns on I-90; injured to Winona hospital
WILSON, Min.— A van with nine persons aboard left Interstate 90 at the Winona exit and overturned. The driver and five passengers were taken seven miles downhill on State Highway 43 to the Winona hospital. None of the injuries was life-threatening, said first-responders. The accident was about 7:40 a.m. on the eastbound lanes toward Wisconsin. Speeds of 70 mph are allowed in the area. Pavement was dry. To the hospital:
> Dhavalkumar Bharatkuma Doshi, 44, of South Elgin, Illinois, the driver of the 2026 Mercedes Sprinter.
> A boy,13, of Aurora, Illinois, whose name was not released by authorities.
> A boy, 11, of Aurora.
> A boy, 11, of Aurora, the only passenger who wasn’t belted.
> A girl, 10, of Aurora.
Injured but not needful of hospital attention:
> Krunal Doshi, 35, of Carol Stream, Illinois.
> A boy, 11, of Aurora,.
Uninjured:
> Syed Muhammed Muhammed, 48, of Aurora.
> Axay Doshi, 37, of Aurora.
Biker into guardrail out of Lanesboro
LANESBORO, Minn. — A motorcyclist lost control on a dangerously curvy section of U.S. Highway 16 near Inspiration Point and hit a guardrail. Nolan Braeden Kubat, 20, of Owatonna, was taken 44 miles to a Rochester hospital. Kubat was helmeted and his injuries appeared non-life threatening, Fillmore County deputies said. Pavement was dry. The accident was about 4:30 p.m. Kubat was riding a 2025 Kawasaki EX500 sports bike and heading southwest toward Preston.
Downed plane near Utica under guard
UTICA, Minn. — A sentry was posted overnight to secure the site of a light plane that crashed Thursday evening in western Winona County. The pilot, Glenn Edward Jackson, age 61, of Byron, 40 miles away, survived and was recovering at a Rochester hospital. Jackson had taken off from the Rochester airport. Unclear was whether Jackson was out for evening pleasure whirls or had a farther destination to the east. The National Transportation Safety Board asked Winona County authorities to protect the site until its investigators arrive.
Stylishly stubby. The Glasair I RG, assembled from a kit, is popular with amateur fliers. Kits cost about $17,000 with150-horsepower Lycoming engine.
Viroqua bigwigs mum on who did deed
VIROQUA, Wis. — The mayor and two sponsors of a fireworks show apologized at a news conference for a terrorizing gun scare at a Fourth of July event. They were silent, however, on key questions:
> Who were the men who terrorized the crowd with what looked lIke a machine gun attack from a Jeep running around the fairgrounds track.
> Would criminal charges be pursued for terroristic threats.
Surely Mayor Krista Browne knew who rigged up the olive green WWW2-style Jeep and mounted the 50-calibre machine gun on the roof to simulate an armed attack. Also surely knowledgeable — but also silent on key questions — were two of Viroqua’s community elite, Dane Piper and Dean Hoff. They joined Mayor Browne in front of city hall for the news conference. Piper and Hoff are leaders of the Viroqua Skylighters, the club that sponsors the annual fireworks show. Also conspiring in the silence on key issues was Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson, who is in a position to make arrests and recommend criminal charges to Angela Palmer-Fisher, the county prosecutor. Palmer-Fisher also could fire charges tyrears on her own authority. Sheriff Torgerson tack has been to praise Mayor Browne for calming community concern by “quickly reaching out” to get the facts:
“I do think the mayor handled it well and met with everyone involved.”
The fact, however, that the episode remains unresolved — except for assurances that it won’t happen again. At the the news conference Mayor Browne acknowledged public alarm. Her emphasis, however, was: No harm done. She said the weapon only looked and sounded real, that the flames from the machine gun barrel were merely propane and the sounds all fake. She stressed that the episode was not part of the evening’s scheduled fireworks agenda. Her words:
“Unfortunately, last Saturday the event did not go according to plan. And for that we are all sorry. The Jeep vehicle was approved to be on site for the event. However, the driving and firing were not approved, nor were they appropriate in this community celebration, especially unplanned and unannounced.”
In effect, the mayor said: “Lessons learned, It won’t happen again” Even so, feelings around rown were less charitable. The word “coverup” rolled off people’s tongues. Said the chair of the of the county Public Safey Committee, Frank Easterday,
“It’s just a little bit scary if you don’t know what’s going on, There’s so much of that crap going on these days.”
One man at the episode described the Jeep’s machine gun as deliberate and aimed directly at people waiting for the fireworks display:
“My family was sitting right there, and it did at one point quit directly at my family and the families in the other areas. It was firing the entire time it was going around the track.”
Among critics was David Strudthoff of the county Board of Supervisors, a former school administrator:
“If somebody comes into a school and pulls out a gun,. it’s a squirt gun, but no — it looks like the real thing. Does that change the rules? If you walk into somewhere and it looks like you have an actual gun, even though the reality is a little pellet gun or a squirt gun, too bad. Does the law change now, or if this person did, or shrink the threat. The law doesn’t change just because you had a plastic gun versus a real one. You still were scaring people, so how’s that really any different than this? So people were scared. They perceived it as the real deal. So how did they get off walking away with a smile, and the rest of us in there, you scared the shit out of people. You know what, I don’t get the dichotomy.”
On City Hall doorstep. Mayor Krista Browne with fireworks organizers Dane Piper and Dan Hoff of Viroqua Skylighters. Body language spraks volumes.
Circling fairgrounds track. Four perpetrators: Two at dashboard, two on rear bumper at machine gun trigger.
Browne. In frst term as mayio. Up for re-election in 2028.
Torgerson. In first term as sheriff. Up for re-election in November.
Palmer-Fisher. In first term as county attorney. Up for re-election in 2028.
Notable journalism
This Winona Journal accOut draws heavily on:
Tim Hundt (Vernon Reporter, July 7, 2026): “Viroqua Mayor and Viroqua Skylighters Issue Apology for July Fourth Event that Included Machine Gun Fire”
Strudthoff’s word “dichotomy” echoed in town chatter. Folks were mindful of an arrest of a man jn in June fpr brandishing an air rifle at a work crew just outside town. The 43-old man, a citizen but aot of the local elite was angry about a construction project. He was afrested and went before a judge.
Midnight car wreck at Peterson junction
PETERSON, Minn. — A Rushford driver was injured when she collided with a guardrail near the U.S. Highway 16 outlet into Peterson. Amber Marie Spece, age 36, was taken 26 miles to the Winona hospital. Fillmore County deputies assessed her injuries as sustainable. The crash was just after midnight. Deputies suspected alcohol was a factor. Spece was driving a 2015 Toyota Corolla west toward Lanesboro. She was not belted but her airbag deployed, deputies said.
Trump agents to Arcadia on deportation mission
ARCADIA, Wis. — Federal deportation agents swept \through Hispanic neighborhoods in this Trempealeau community of 4,800. According to citizen posts on social media, “multiple individuals” were abducted. Police Chief Nic Scholl said he had not received even a courtesy call that Immigration Control and Enforcement agents would be operating in the city. Arcadia and nearby Independence have substantial Hispanic populations attracted to jobs at Ashley furniture factories and in the local chicken industry and on dairy farms. The 2020 U.S. census lists 2,400 people of Hispanic lineage in Arcadia, roughly two-thirds of the population. The ICE agents were described in online posts as numbering about a dozen. The posts said they were in unmarked vehicles, as is the agency’s usual practice. Where detainees were taken was unclear. Newly hired Sheriff Erica Koxlien, who runs the Trempealeau County jail 12 miles from Arcadia in Whitehall, declined to respond to news media inquiries. The usual ICE practice is to take detainees to local jails if the agency has a detention contract. The agency also holds detainees giant facilities like the Whipple federal building at Fort Snelling in Minnesota, 70 miles from Arcadia, and at Juneau. Wisconsin, 160 miles from Arcadia. Detainees usually are held incognito, then shipped to another country and dumped.
How Mexican is Arcadia? The menu at Restaurante Mexicano Santa Fe, like many establishments, is in Spanish. Gringos are welcome.
Racist Trump pogrom
Raids to round up immigrants are part of the massive Trump pogrom for racial cleansing. Trump’s close White House aide for the project, white nationalist Stephen Miller, has a goal to deport 1 million immigrants a year. Targeted are people of black and brown skin.
Pilot survives crash landing near Utica
UTICA, Minn. — The pilot of a kit-built small airplane was injured when he crash-landed adjacent to cornfields six miles south of Utica in western Winona Cunty. There was no fire. The pilot, who was alone, climbed out of the plane and waited for help. Winona County deputies quoted him about an engine problem on the single-propeller craft. Deputies didn’t release the man’s name at the scene but said he was 62 years old. Medics from Lewiston took him 30 miles to a Rochester hospital for his head injuries to be evaluated. The crash was about 6:50 p.m. near County Road 33 south of Utica and County Road 6 west of Fremont. The plane, a Glasair I, is a two-seater with retractable landing gear.
Into grove of trees. At remote crossroads. Airframe appears intact. Image: Winona County sheriff
Glasair I RG. China-owned Glasair, whose plant is in Arlington, Washington, has sold about 3,000 kits. Assembly time advertised as 1,000 to 1,200 hours. Promoted as “one of the quicker, easier, high-performance home-builts on the market.” First flown in 1979.
Specs: Wingspan 24 feet. Empty weight 1,300 pounds. Fuel capacity 61 gallons.
Performance: Max speed 240 mph. Cruising 110 mph. Range 680 miles. Ceiling 19,000 feet.
Promoting County Fair from elevated perch
Do you hear the crow? The hoppity-hop? The oink? The moo? The Fair winds up Sunday in St. Charles.
News summary at mid-week: July 8, 2026
AVIATION: Report: Fatal ultra-light crash occurred in tight turn
COLLEGES: Major WSU funding bypassed by 2026 Legislature
CRIME: Probe active into Viroqua armed Jeep scare
CRIME: New interlopers evicted from Broadway house, jailed
CRME: Cops bust squatters from Broadway house
CRIME: “Gotta go?” Not at Gabryck Park, Garvin Heights
CRIME: 80 mph chase: Walmart cart a casualty
CRIME: Free-riders’ train trip ends in Winona
FIRE: Lightning ignites West Side attic fire
REMEMBRANCE: R.I.P.: Jerry Varner
Report: Fatal ultra-light crash occurred in tight turn
WINONA, Minn. — Federal aviation inspectors found no red flags were apparent before an ultra-light hobby plane crashed and killed at the pilot at the Winona airport 2-1/2 weeks ago. The pilot, Wayne Ledebuhghr, had bolted a new wing on his Australian-designed T-Lite and was on a test flight, according to to the inspectors. Ledebuhr was landing and had shifted his weight to steer the 200-pound craft. It was a small right correction followed by a 90-degree turn left. The right wingtip caught the ground. The aircraft tumbled. The details were from witnesses and an inspection of the wreckage. The report was what the National Transportation Safety Board calls a “30-day prelim.” The Board’s usual practice I to keep an accident file open a full year before classifying it as conclusive. The preliminary report says that Ledebuhr was making his third test flight of the day with the new fabric wing. The wing, a replacement for a two-year-old unit, was designed for easier hangar storage and hauling around. A friend who helped Ledebuhr attach the new wing said it was bolted firmly in place.
Windsport T-Lite tricycle. In same colors as Ledebuhr’s original wing.
Crash-free 46 years
The last crash at the Winona airport was in June 1980. Two persons were injured seriously. Their high-wing, single propeller Cessna 172 had just taken off on a clear day. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed mechanical failure.
Earlier: Parachute device not activated in fatal crash
Earlier: R.I.P.: Wayne Ledebuhr
Earlier: Cause of fatal Winona plane crash still unknown
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