WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver whom police said was weaving across center and fog lines was stopped and arrested and charged with impairment at the wheel. Police said Scott Adrian Sabotta, 56, had red and blurred eyes, uneven speech and poor balance.  He failed field sobriety tests, police said. His alcohol-blood tested at 0.14% — almost double the legally allowed rati.. The stop was about 12:30 a.m.

Basketball (men): Winona State 80, Augustana 67

Basketball (women): Winona State 64, Augustana 52

Hockey (men): Saint Mary’s 4, St. Scholastica 2

Hockey (women): Saint Mary’s 2, St. Scholastica 1

Tennis (men): Saint Mary’s 7, Lawrence 2

WINONA, Minn. – When the bartender had seen enough, he told the drunk leave. When he didn’t, the bartender tried to escort him out. The bartender told police that  the drunk then got in his face and threatened to come back with a baseball bat. The bartender said he took the man to the floor and held him down until police arrived. The drunk, age 56, had a small bleeding bruise on his forehead but otherwise seemed OK and wandered off, police said. Neither the bartender nor the drunk wanted to file charges, police said. This was about 4:40 p.m. near Third and Lafayette streets downtown.

WINONA, Minn. – An agent from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation showed up in Winona to check a report on someone trying to sell nude photos of young girls on the internet. With assistance from a Winona County sheriff’s child-porn investigator, the online traffic was traced to a juvenile male. Tye kid said he really didn’t have any photos to sell – just pretended that he did. The good news: The “nick-mick” investigation, as cop call it, dead-ended.

BLUE EARTH, Minn. – Bail was set at $20,000 each for Winnebago Mayor Scott James Robertson and his son Jacob Jon Robertson on criminal charges of illegal marijuana consumption. They had been arrested in drug raids on a green bouse and other properties. Their first court appearance was in Blue Earth, the county seat. Both posted bail and were released.

Earlier:  Marijuana cultivators? Mayor, son arrested

ROLLINGSTONE, Minn. – A Minnesota City man was issued a citation for theft after being seen rifling through cars at an auto repair shop on Main Street the night before. Joseph Andrew Holden, 50, admitted the theft, deputies said. It was $6 in change that was taken from a cup in one of the cars. Holden was recognized by the repair shop owner on surveillance tape.

PILLAGER, Minn.  – A school bus carrying 34 kids to school collided with a van pulling a trailer, injuring both drivers and three students. The drivers were treated  13 miles away at the Staples hospital. The injured children suffered bumps but didn’t require medical attention, police said. The collision was about 8 a.m. The bus was headed west on Highway 210 and turning left across traffic onto Cass County Road 1, police said. Roads were icy. The bus driver was Gordon Peterson, 73, of Cushing. Driving van was Jeremy Lee Trebesch, 43, of Pillager.

LUTSEN, Minn. – The frame and timber Lutsen Lodge had fire code violations in an inspection last summer, State Fire Marshal Daniel Krier said. The lodge was destroyed by fire overnight Monday. The 170-room lodge was vacant on a slow winter night. Kreir said tyatthebseven violations found in July involved the sprinkler system, fire alarm system, fire exit signs and smoke alarms. Four of the seven violations were repaired but follow-up visits had not yet been completed, Krier said. Edward Vanegas, the lodge manager, told Minneapolis television KARE that the violations all had been resolved. By law, hotels are inspected for fire safety every third year.

Earlier: Fire levels Lutsen Resort on North Shore

WABASHA, Minn. – Hundreds of fish, all gizzard shad, have gone belly-up int he Mississippi River at Wabasha and 15 miles upstream in Lake Pepin. Wildlife biologists blame thermal stress. Gizzard shad are among species especially sensitive stress: They can’t take unseasonably warm waters. The first massive fish kill was Saturday at Lake City and the other Friday at Wabasha. The kills were not to be unexpected considering the weather, state Natural Resources Department experts said.

Gizzard shad. Called mud shad some places. Important in ecosystem for consumption of plankton. Also a food source for game fish. Typically 10 inches and two pounds.

WINONA, Minn. – A $1,600 Meta bicycle was reported solen near Fifth Street Liquor on the West Side. The owner described the bike as gray with beige accents. The bike was unlocked. It had been missing as long as two weeks, police were told.

Path of destruction. From live radar and later helicopter and ground survey crews, the National weather Service created this map. Spared were the Madison and Milwaukee population centers.

Farm herds decimated; houses, barns gone

EVANSVILLE, Wis.  – Two tornadoes — one rotating at 135 mph, the other at 110 – tore through southern Wisconsin from colliding storm fronts stretching the Illinois border near Janesville almost to Lake Michigan. Touchdowns were less than a minute in any one place.  Meteorologists had reports of debris being swept 10,000 to 15,000 feet into the the air. Only minorin juries were reported. A motorist was taken to a hospital after his car was pushed off the road. Rescuers found some people with oxygen tanks whose batteries were running low and the electricity being out. Counties activated warming centers for displaced persons. The storms were rare for February. Never had there been a February tornado in the state since records were begun in 1986. This explanation has been extracted from a National Weather Service summary:

Perhaps way, way early. Daffodil buds broke through topsoil six weeks premature.Too early? Although the buds always are welcome sign of spring, gardeners are fretting whether the plants, no matter how hardy, can survive winter blows that surely are still ahead. Image: Steve Lunde

Gymnastics (women): Winona State Triangular: UW-Stout 188.450, Winona State 188.175, Hamline 179.825

WINNEBAGO, Minn.  – Drugs agents swooped into a greenhouse and two properties owned by the mayor of Winnebago and his adult son and arrested them both. Scott James Robertson, 67, and Jacob Jon Robertson, 46, were charged with cultivating marijuana in an operation that, according to criminal complaints, was grossing $360,000. They were booked at the county jail 10 miles away in Blue Earth. Agents counted 240 mature plants. The criminal complaints alleged that the Robertsons had used an enclosed trailer  to shuttle plants between their once-licensed rural greenhouse to a Winnebago address. The in-town property, at 15/17 Main Street, had blacked-out windows. Their license to grow marijuana had lapsed in 2021. Even then, the license limited the Robertsons to relatively few plants with low levels of intoxicating THC content. At the Main Street address, agents reported 55 mature plants. At the greenhouse they reported 185 plants and a five-gallon bucket of seeds.

Transaction detail

An agent with the Albert Lea-based South Central Drug Investigative Unit, Briar Bonin, said a notebook at the greenhouse described rows and strains of marijuana that matched most of the plants that agents found. The notebook also contained financial transaction as recent as January, Bonin said.  Transactions, he said, included  partner profit-splits of $120,000 for a total profit distribution of $360,000. At a third address, 522 First Avenue Southwest in Winnebago, agents reported finding a catalog from Elev8, a cannabis seed supply company. The catalog listed the THC content of various stains. Many strains, said Bonin, were on labels of plants in the Robertsons’ Main Street building. Strains in the catalog listed THC between 29% to 32%. Minnesota law limits THC to 0.3%. For personal recreational use, the law allows only eight plants, of which only four can be mature and flowering.

The investigation

> January 2023: An anonymous tipster told police in Owatonna, two counties away, that marijuana was being grown illegally at the Winnebago greenhouse. The regional drug task force, based n Albert Lea, was notified. That triggered an on-site inspection of the geenhouse by the state Agriculture Department, which regulates marijuana cultivation.

> February 2023: Per protocol, state argiculture inspectors advised the Robertsons that a visit to the greenhouse was planned. Inspectors found no marijuana plants. The greenhouse, however, was under observation: An enclosed truck was seen backing into the greenhouse and being  loaded and then driven into town. Meanwhile drug investigators learned that Scott Robertson owned commercial property at15/17 South Main Street in Winnebago.

January 2024: A deputy sheriff visiting a business adjacent to 15/17 Main Street smelled strong marijuana odor from the Robertson property. Aware that indoor cannabis cultivation requires high power usage for as grow lights, agents examined records of the BENCO Electric co-op for Scott Robertson’s properties. Electrical use suggested active cultivation of a large number of plants.

February 2024: Agents picked up strong marijuana scent in the area of 15/17 South Main Street. The building had obscured windows that blocked light. It was impossible to look inside. With search warrant, several police agencies led by the regional drug task went inside the Main Street address and the greenhouse outside town. The Robertsons were arrested separately and taken to the Faribault County jail.

Hot-house marijuana. Typical plant grown indoors reaches six feet.

PRESTON, Minn. – The investigation into an accident that killed two Amish school children in a buggy wreck has taken 4/1/2 months because of the complexity of the  case, Sheriff John DeGeorge said. The sheriff called a news conference amid growing public concern in Fillmore County about how long the investigation is taking — and also why the twin sisters, both now charged for the wreck, haven’t been arrested. Said DeGeorge: “I appreciate that people are paying attention, but it’s a whole lot tougher to answer if the suspect walks.” Samantha Jo Petersen, 35, has been charged wuth driving while high on  meth and rear-ending the Amish buggy, and then swapping places her sober twin, Sarah Beth Petersen, to take the blame. Sheriff DeGeorge listed a massive quantity of evidence has had to be sorted through, including contradictory accounts from the sisters. So much evidence takes time to acquire and process, DeGeorge said: “If this were to go to trial before we have all this evidence back, we risk losing the case.”

News conference

DeGeorge took reporter questions. In brief:

> Are the Petersen twins nearly identiical: “They’re difficult to tell them apart.”

> The twins had opportunity to concoct a story: “Sarah was on scene a short time before our first deputy arrived. That allowed them to come up with this story where Sarah would take responsibility for this crash and start to mislead this investigation from this very point.”

> What can you tell us about the twins’  records with police run- ins: “When we start digging into who we’re dealing with, yeah, that was something that would have raised our suspicion.,”

> Are the twins remorseful? “I don’t think that’s a question that would be appropriate for me to comment on.”

> Have the twins swapped roles in the past? “Yes.”

> How is the Menno Miller family dealing with the accident, whose four chiden were in the buggy and two of whom died? DeGeorge deferred on answering except that the family was being kept  abreast  of progress in the case: “I want to be respectful of the family.” Miller was not at DeGeorge’s news conference but said in an October interview that the family, in the Amish tradition, wasn’t seeking retribution. Miller: “It’s all about the accepting, but it would make it a little easier if they showed remorse.”

Earlier: Felony lies: Second twin accused in Amish wreck

Earlier: Homicide charged against twin in Amish wreck

STOCKTON, Minn. – A rural Winona man was arrested after a woman reported being pushed into some home garden equipment in a residential garage on Main Street. Deputies arrested Nick Daryl Oevering 37, at another location about 1-1/2 hours later. Oevering was booked into jail on a domestic assault charge about 3:15 p.m. Deputies said the woman had bruises and scrapes but didn’t require medical attention.

Oevering. Held on assaut charge.

ALTURA, Minn. – Winona County deputies were called to the old Altura turkey plant about drug paraphernalia on the premises. Deputies found a meth pipe in an employee shower room and disposed of it. The call was about 11 a.m. The plant has been closed several years.