PRESTON, Minn. – A former Spring Valley woman was charged with vehicular homicide for the death of two Amish children whose horse-drawn buggy was rear-ended. Named in the criminal complaint was Samantha Jo Petersen, 35. The collision was September 25. It’s taken four months for investigators to sort through confounding if not bizarre facts in the case. These included suspicions that Samantha Jo Petersen had talked her identical twin sister into swapping clothes at the scene and taking responsibility for the wreck to protect her from charges of driving high on drugs. Meanwhile it’s reported around the Fillmore County Courthouse that criminal charges were being drafted also against he twin, Sarah Beth Petersen. The look-alike sisters lived together in Spring Valley at the time of the wreck. They since have relocated 60 miles away to Kellogg in Wabasha County.

Earlier: Outpouring of love for Amish children in fatal wreck

Earlier:  Victims’ names released in fatal buggy-car crash

Earlier: Two killed when car strikes Amish buggy

LACROSSE, Wis. — A LaCrosse man accused of shooting and killing his stepfather in mid-January pleaded not guilty. Alan Fry, 41, had been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and felony possession of a firearm. Police said that Fry and his stepfather, Brady L. Fredrickson, age 61, had been arguing and that Fry pulled a gun to settle things. This was January 18 at Fry’s mother’s house in the 1200 block of Farnam Street. Although uninjured in the encounter, Fry went to a hospital emergency room where was arrested. At the new hearing the judge ordered that Fry continue to be held in jail unless he can come up with $750,000 bail.

Fry. Next step in judicial process: Trial.

PULASKI, Wis. – A Pulaski teenager entered a plea that neither confirmed nor denied that he triggered an explosion that burned at least 17 high-schoolers at a homecoming bonfire at night in the woods 1-1/2 years ago. The “no contest” plea puts Sam Armstrong, age 18, at the mercy of the court for sentencing. Judges can take such pleas as equivalent to guilty for sentencing purposes. In proposing a plea deal, Armstrong said he would accept five years of probation and six months in jail. The criminal charge says that Armstrong, 17 at the time, threw a barrel of gasoline and diesel into the fire. The explosion burned at least 17 revelers. Many were hospitalized 20 miles away in Green Bay and some at  Level 1 burn centers in Milwaukee and Madison. To investigators Armstrong said he hadn’t realized the barrel would explode as it did. Others hsd been fueling the bonfire with wood and naively  he just wanted to upgrade the spectacle.

Armstrong. Explosion was at drunken high school homecoming bonfire. The event was unsanctioned by the school.

Tennis (women): Winona Sate 9, UW-Stevens Point 0

WESTBY, Wis. – A Westby man was arrested for a hit-and-run accident in which a woman was struck and seriously injured while out for an evening walk in a residential neighborhood. Charged with causing great bodily harm was Mitchell L. McKittrick, age 22. Police said McKittrick was driving a four-wheeler that stuck the woman.

Earlier: Pedestrian run down by UTV, abandoned

WILLMAR, Minn. – A police officer, responding to a downtown altercation, shot and wounded a man reportedly coming at him with a knife. The officer, whose name was not released immediately, told superiors that he was interviewing a man who had called 911 that he was being attacked when, suddenly, the other nan charged out of a doorway wielding a knife. The officer said he ordered the man to halt and backed fof. The man, he said, kept coming. The officer fired. Although wounded, the man fled. The officer and others tackled him a block away. They administered first-aid until an ambulance arrived. The man was taken the Willmar hospital, a Trauma Level 3 facility, then transferred 60 miles to a more comprehensive care center in St. Cloud. This incident was about 8:10 a.m. near Fourth Street Southwest and Litchfield Avenue Southwest. The area was cordoned off for the rest of the day until independent investigates arrived from St. Paul, as is routine in police shootings.

Note: This was a separate incident from the death of a man January 29 in Willmar after being disabled by a stun-gun fired by a Kandiyohi County deputy: Willmar man dies after taser shot by police

MADISON, Wis.  – A proposal to implant equal rights in the Wisconsin state constitution will be introduced in the Legislature. The amendment specifically would ban discrimination based on sex, gender identity, race, color and sexual orientation The sponsors, Lori Palmar, D-Oshkosh, and Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, noted that Wisconsin ratified the federal Equal Rights Amendment in 1972 but never added it to the state constitution. “It is past time,” said Palmari. A similar initiative failed in the Republican-controlled Legislature last year. The amendment needs to pass two sessions of the Legislature, then go to a public vote.

WESTBY, Wis. – A Minnesota woman visiting in Westy was hit, apparently by a UTV recreational vehicle, and left seriously injured on a Westby residential street. Police found Emily R. Helseth, 36, of White Bear Lake, unconscious after an anonymous caller reported a woman in a snowbank on Bakkedal Avenue. She looked to have been beaten up, the caller said. This was about 3:30 a.m. Helseth was taken to the Viroqua hospital, then 34 miles to a Level 2 trauma center in La Crosse. Her condition was described as serious but stable. Police were unsure when the hit-and-run accident occurred or how long she laid injured in the street. Helseth, friends said, had been out for a walk.

WINONA, Minn. — After a house party got of hand in the Winona State University neighborhood, the host retrieved an AK-47 military-style rifle from a backroom. Waving the weapon, he told belligerents that he had meant business when he told them to leave. Meanwhile, a woman called police. When officers arrived, about a dozen people were milling around. Some were still fighting in the yard outside.  Others had dispersed. The host, Mario Brainnard Davis, 21, told officers the AK-47 was unloaded and that he meant only to scare people into leaving. Things had gotten out of control, he explained. Police found the AK-47 where Davis said he had put it away. Yes, police said, the weapon was not loaded. This was about 3:40 a.m. in a rented house in the 450 block of Center Street. Police said it was obvious that the party had gone wild: Furniture was smashed, a window was broken, and items were in great disarray. Police interviewed 13 hangers-on for details of what happened. In the end, and even though it had been Davis’ house and party, they arrested him for over-reacting when he pulled thenAK-47, loaded or not, and took him to jail.

Davis. Booked for assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to cause harm. Also threatening violence.

UTICA, Minn. — Deputies traced a hit-and-run vehicle to a Utica address and cited a woman who said she couldn’t remember sideswiping another car or even how she got home. Nichole Suzann Jonsgaard, 32, of Utica, admitted she had been drinking but she had no idea how much, deputies said. This was four hours after the accident. The accident had been nearby at Highway 14 and County Road 33 about 7:30 p.m. A motorist said he was halted at stop sign when a woman driving another car swung wide and sideswiped his car. There were no injuries. Deputies who cited Jonsgaard said damage to both cars matched. The citation: Leaving the scene of an accident.

Basketball (boys): Elroy Royall Panthers 66, Blair-Taylor Tigers 53

Basketball (boys): Fall Creek Crickets 74, Melrose-Mindoro Mustangs 38

Basketball (girls): Fall Creek Crickets 71, Melrose-Mindoro Mustangs 35

Basketball (girls): Elroy Royall Panthers 58, Blair-Taylor Tigers 35

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona woman was charged with drunken driving after a traffic stop for weaving and almost hitting a curb. A field breath tests showed that the blood-alcohol level of Lucille Helen McMartin, 59, was 0.8%, which is at the state-defined threshold for impairment. The arrest was about 9:15 p.m. at Highway 43 and Homer Road on the Far East End.

Basketball (men): Winona State 68, Sioux Falls 61

Basketball (women): Winona State 68, Sioux Falls 59

Gymnastics (women): UW-Whitewater 190. 550, Winona State 187.950

Hockey (women): Saint Mary’s 5, Saint Benedict 1

Tennis (men): Loras 6, Saint Mary’s 3

Tennis (men): UW-LaCrosse 9, St. Norbert 0