College scores
Baseball: Winona State 9, Northern State of South Dakota 7
Baseball: Northern State of South Dakota 12, Winona State 5
Baseball: Dubuque 13, Saint Mary’s 3
Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 14, Western New England 12
Softball: Missouri Southern 3, Winona State 2
Softball: Missouri Southern 1, Winona State 0
Tennis (women): Saint Mary’s 8, UM-Morris 1
Minnesota prep
Basketball (girls): Alexandria Cardinals 69, Stewartville Tigers 44
Basketball (girls): Goodhue Wildcats 70, Mountain Iron-Buhl 65
Pedestrian struck unconscious, badly hurt
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona woman was injured gravely when she was hit by a motorist while she was walking across Mankato Avenue. First-responders picked her up unconsconscious where she landed – on the Canadian Pacific mainline railroad tracks. This was just beyond Howard Street. Elizabeth Carol Ressie, 41, was taken to a LaCrosse Level 2 trauma center in critical condition. The impact had flung Ressie over the hood of the vehicle. She dropped ti the pavemetg under the wheels and was dragged onto the tracks. Surveillance video showed that Ressie was hit while in a painted crosswalk, police said. The accident was about 10 p.m. The driver, also from Winona, also 41, was not charged pending further developments and blood tests. Police said the driver smelled of alcohol, but a field breath test showed a low and legally acceptable blood-alcohol level of 0.017%. The driver said, however, that she was taking prescription medication. She also acknowledged having had marijuana, police said. Her blood was drawn to test for drugs. Test rests could take several days, police said.
Ressie. Fighting for her life at Gundersen hospital.
Hood scoops and Hemis: Going, going, gone
Dealership lineup. These Dodge Charger and Challenger muscle cars, fresh off the assembly line, are the last of their gas-guzzling generation. This at the Chrysler Winona dealership on Huff Street in Winona, some even in the retro slime lime of the 1970s. Coming as 2025 models: Electric power trains. Image: Steve Lunde
New breed on way: Believe it or not, battery-powered
WINONA, Minn. – Dutch automaker Stellantis,which has owned the Dodge brand since 2020, has leaked photos of its next generation Challenger, Charger and also Chrysler Airflow sedans. The top models still will be hot cars – some at 1,000 horsepower — but battery-powered. Also, some six-cylinder gas-fueled versions are expected too, a few souped up but alas no 389-cubic inch V8s or 440s either.
Slick-skinned update. An assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario, is being retooled.
Pedestrian hit, injured on Mankato Avenue
WINONA, Minn. – A pedestrian was struck by a car and injured crossing a sidewalk at a round-about entry to the East End shopping district. Lisa Louise Hamilton Clark, 51 of Gilbert, Arizona, was taken to the nearby Winona hospital. Her injuries were described as sustainable. Christopher Lee Cessna, 39, of Winona, was driving a 2014 Chrysler 300, whose airbag was deployed by the impact. He was unhurt. The accident was about 4 p.m. on the Mankato Avenue round-about at Frontenac Avenue.
Meth left in Winona hotel room: Whose?
WINONA, Minn. – A pouch suspected of holding meth was found in a guest hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express. Police were unable to trace the pouch to a source immediately. The discovery was reported about 2: 15 p.m. The hotel, at1100 Homer Road , is high-range for Winonawith rack tariff starting about $160 a night.
Commercial shipping resumes on Upper Mississippi
First tug-and-barge array. Parked with its empty barges across from Dick’s Marina at the portal to Winona’s fleeting harbor. Image: Steve Lunde
First to Winona this time: Frequent visitor M.V. Pfeffer
WINONA, Minn. – The first tow-and-barge array of the new shipping season slipped into the Winona fleeting harbor. On arrival, the river vessel Phillip M. Pfeffer set anchor until it could be positioned to take on grain and turn round for a trip back downriver with a revenue load. The Pfeffer was among a half dozen tows queued 24 miles downriver at the Dresbach dam Friday night when the lock opened after a winter of repairs. Next en route to Winona was the Trempealeau dam’s lock. Other vessels in the first batch through the locks plowed against the current past Winona to ports farther upriver.
Earlier: First barge of spring due perhaps next weekend
Pfeffer profile
The Pfeffer, part of the Ingram Barge Company fleet, is no stranger to Winona. It has been pushing barges on the Upper Mississippi since 1982, albeit originally christened as the Agamemmon. The Pfeffer is a twin-screw pusher with 6,100 horsepower. Its corporate homeport: Nashville, Tennessee, on the Cumberland River.
Woman hiker reports deviant stranger at Perrot bluff
TREMPEALEAU, Wis. – A woman told rangers at Perrot State Park thar she was approached by a stranger who made suggestive comments on the Brady’s Bluff hiking trail. She said she fled unharmed. Trempealeau County deputies, park rangers and game wardens were unable to locate the man. They asked for public assistance. The incident was between 5:30 and 7 p.m. on Friday The man was described as in his 40s wearing a gray sweatshirt with green letters, and having a scruffy beard. Police found several possibly related “strange items” but didn’t elaborate.
Brady’s Bluff. At the north end of the 1,300-acre park facing up the Mississippi River toward Winona. The trail is three-mile loop, a moderately challengig route that typically takes 1-1/2 hours. Popular with hikers and bird-watchers.
Notable journalism
JoAnn Frank (Big River Magazine, March-April 2024): “Onalaska: Creating a New Lake”
Julie Nelson (Coulee Region Women, February-March 2024): “Around the World and Back”
Alex Sietz-Wald (NBC, February 23, 2024): “A New Orleans Magician Says a Democratic Operative Paid Him to Make Fake Biden Robocall”
Missing woman’s cause of death elusive
ROCHESTER, Minn. – AN autopsy confirmed that a body found in southeast Rochester two days earlier was that Alice Dobmeier, 34, who went missing March 3. Cause of death was not determined. The autopsy report said there were no signs of trauma. In a corollary statement, police urged anyone struggling with personal issues to connect with community outreach specialists at the Drug and Alcohol Response Team or the Police Assisted Recovery program.
Earlier: Woman found dead in Rochester culvert
Bar district assault reported; victim recalls little
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was found injured on a sidewalk near the Market Street Tap a little after closing time. The man, age 38, had a cut under one eye, police said. He was taken by ambulance to the Winona hospital. The man told police that he didn’t recall being assaulted and didn’t know whether he had ben robbed. The first officer on the scene had been hailed down a couple blocks away and told there had been an assault.
A confluence of madness
Shamrocks and basketballs. This is the latest seasonal dress-up on Kelly and Mike Beckman’s roadside oak near Houston on U.S. 16. Yes, St. Patrick’s Day approaches. And so do all those basketball finales. Their jigsaw decorations are along the Root River.
With low snowpack, upstream dam outflows throttled
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Army Corps of Engineers water managers began adjusting outflow from its Mississippi headwaters dams in Minnesota downward to compensate for the lack of winter snowpack. The goal: Keep the lakes at normal summer operating levels.
> Cross Lake (Crosslake): At elevation 1,228 feet and outflow at 30 cubic feet per second — the minimum authorized outflow.
> Gull Lake (Brainerd): At 1,193 feet with outflow at20 cubic feet per second — the minimum authorized outflow.
> Lake Winnibigoshish (Grand Rapids): At 1,297 feet with outflow at 350 cubic feet r\per second — subject to further reductions.
>Leech Lake (Federal Dam): At 1,294 feet with outflow at 266 cubic feet er second — subject to further reductions.
> Pokegama Lake (Grand Rapids): At 1,273 feet with outflow at 970 cubic feet per second — subject tp further reductions.
> Sandy Lake (McGregor): At 1,214 feet with outflow at 20 cubic feet per second – the minimum authorized outflow.
Hello, Whitewater: Minnesota bears roaming south
PLAINVIEW, Minn. – Traffic in Carley State Park in the Whitewater River headwaters has picked up since a bear sighting Match 6. People want a peek. The bear was the farthest south post-hibernation sighting of the year. The state wildlife agency has been tracking a gradual bear repopulation of western and southern countries, which once were bear habitats. Since the 1900s, however, bears have mostly in northeast counties – although some have wandered back from the Northwoods and down the Minnesota River valley from the Dakotas into the Twin Cities. In Wiscosin there have been sightings as far as south as Pfifer Valley nea Fountain City.
2023 sightings. Red marks the sites. The black bear subspecies is small — 120 to 300 pounds. No grizzlies in these parts.
A treat with pancakes. Outside a Denny’s restaurant in the northwest Minneapolis suburb Rogers last year.
Bear tracking. The state Natural Resources Department has creaeed an app and asked for pubic help to locate bear migrations. DNR report form.
What to do in a bear encounter
> Never run. A bear is faster than you.
> Quietly move away and leave the area.
> If a black bear approaches you, make yourself look big, make loud noises, clap your hands, and continue to back away.
Earlier: Golfers retreat after spotting bear on fairway
Earlier: Latest southeast Minnesota bear sighting
Earlier: Beekeeper’s buddy Bruce the Bear savors honey
Earlier: Distressed bear claws Gull Lake vacationer
Earlier: Do dumpster-diving mama bears risk cubs’ health?
Earlier: Fine for shooting bear in backyard: $1,500
Earlier: Bear crashes through glass, attacks couple
Earlier: A big black dog? May be a bear
College scores
Baseball: Northern State of South Dakota 11, Winona State 2
Baseball: Winona State 9, Northern State of South Dakota 7
Baseball: Aurora 18, Saint Mary’s 4
Baseball: Wheaton 9, Saint Mary’s 3
Softball: Pittsburg State 6, Winona Sate 5
Softball: Pittsburg State 5, Winona Sate 4
Softball: Hartford 6, UW-LaCrosse 2
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 19, St. Catherine 7
Minnesota prep
Basketball (girls): Rochester Lourdes Eagles 45, New London-Spicer Wildcats 38
Arcadia man arrested, facing extradition
WINONA, Minn. – A Wisconsin fugitive leaped out a bedroom window when Winona police showed up at the front door with an arrest warrant. Brandon Dean Ottum, 38, of Arcadia, didn’t get far. Police found him in a backyard and cuffed him without further resistance. This was about 1:40 p.m in the 50 block of West Broadway.
Ottum. Wanted back in Wisconsin on drug charge.
Woman found dead in Rochester culvert
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Police found a woman’s body deep inside a culvert in southeast Rochester and suspected it was that of a woman missing almost two weeks. Items belonging to Alice Dobmeier, 34, were next to the body, police said. Officers found no indications of foul and assured the public that the likelihood of a marauding murderer was remote. An autopsy was ordered. The body was in a culvert by a retention pond on 25th Street East off Broadway Avenue South.
Her blood-alcohol at 0.10%, driver arrested
WINONA, Minn. — A Wisconsin driver was arrested and charged with drunken driving. Police said Morgan Nichole Kammel,19, West Salem, had been stopped for a signal violation but officers soon suspected she was less than sober. She smelled of alcohol, they said, adding that her movements were slow and lethargic and that she slurred her words. Also: She admitted to drinking and blew 0.10% in a field test of her blood-alcohol content. Minnesota law says any reading exceeding 0.08% constitutes impairment. The stop was about 1:05 a.m. at Fifth and Hamilton streets.
R.I.P.: Willard Prigge
LEWISTON, Minn. – Willard “Bill” Reuben Prigge, 85, who lived in the Silo area north of Lewiston, died in a traffic accident outside his home.He grew up attending country school through the eighth grade across the road from the farm he later built up. He was in the U.S. Army in Germany during the Berlin Crisis. On return he began farming near Silo and later acquired adjoining farms.
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
1937-2023
Truck parked at hotel burns up, destroyed
Only a hulk remains. The semi-truck rig was engulfed when firefighters arrived at the Beet Western hotel is southwest Rochester about 10:15 p.m. No one was around. No one was injured. The fire was confined to the truck. The fire was believed to have started in the engine compartment. Image: Rochester Fire Department
College scores
Baseball: Rowan 5, UW-LaCrosse 4
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 9, Salve Regina 1
Softball: Eastern Connecticut 8, UW-LaCrosse 2
Tennis (men): Ohio Northern 7, UW-LaCrosse 2
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Lake City Tigers 80, Cannon Falls Bombers 46
Basketball (girls): Rochester Lourdes Eagles 56, Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers 38
Basketball (girls): Benillde-Matgaret’s Red Knights 73, Stewartville Tigers 42
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Mineral Point Pointers 62, LaCrosse Aquinas BluGolds 61
Port Authority OKs $1 million for riverfront land
Acquisition in light green. Off Second Street and bounded by Kansas and Liberty streets and the Mississipipi River. Current Fish & Wildlife supply depot immediately to left. Winona Marina docks at far right.
Way cleared for Fish & Wildlife visitor center
WINONA, Minn. – The Port Authority voted to buy riverfront property at the old Michael’s Lighting factory for $1 million. The Authority has been acting as a middleman for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to acquire the two-acre site. The Fish & Wildlife Service plans to build a 6,000-square-foot building for its regional headquarters and a visitor center. The purchase also is a furtherance of the proposed Riverfront Trail walking and biking path project down the riverfront to the Far East End. The city already has a $7 million state commitment for the trail, mostly for a foot bridge over the Winona Marina entrance.
Contentious deal
The Port Authority is empowered to use public funds for property acquisitions that can be expected to generate economic activity. The acquisition of the Michael’s Lighting property, however, has raised eyebrows. The Michael’s property, being acquired for the $1 million is, is valued on tax rolls at only $440,000. To be sure, there also are appraisals at $800,000 — but still less than $1 million. Supporters of the deal say the Riverfront Trail will be a tourism magnet. Also, the deal keeps the U.S. Fish & Wildlife regional office in Winona. The office been in the downtown Exchange Building.
Port Authority members
City manager Chad Ubl is executive secretary. Appointed by the mayor with six-year terms:
> George Borzykskowsi,. City Council member. Term expires 2026
> Michael Cichanowski. Term Expires 2028.
> Ernest Gomez. Term expires Monday.
> Michael Hansen.Term expires Monday.
> Dana Johnson. Term expires 2028.
> Laurie Lucas. Term expires 2028
> Steve Young. City Council member. Term expires 2026
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