Aide accused of unprescribed vaginal exam
MANTORVILLE, Minn. – A male nursing home worker was charged with performing a vaginal examination under the guise of checking for venereal disease. Charged with criminal sexual conduct was Jeffrey Kelvin Klassen, age 61, of Oronoco. The incident was in 2016 at the Fairview Nursing Home in Dodge Center, according to the criminal complaint. The woman was at the nursing home for rehab after surgery. Klassen reportedly insisted on the digital examination. He pronounced she wasn’t infected and left, the woman said.. Years later, when the woman filed a complaint, the nursing home told investigators that it had no record of a screening for venereal diseases during the woman’s stay. Also, said the nursing home, there is no requirement for venereal checks for admission.
Patient to nurse: “Don’t take my vape away”
WINONA, Minn. – A patient at the Winona hospital wasn’t pleased when a nurse caught her vaping and took her vape pen away. The nurse said the woman pushed her against a wall and dumped a tray. Police were called. This was about midnight. The woman was gone by the time police arrived.
News summary at mid-week: December 6, 2023
COMMERCE: Europe group buys Winona music publisher Hal Leonard
RIVER: Leaping carp alarm: Biggest catch yet near Winona
RIVER: River tows: Good-bye ‘til we see you again
RIVER: Army Corps attempts to cut erosion at muck site
CRIME: Rochester synagogue on harassment hit list
SCHOOLS: Mediation ahead for Plainview school rift
CRIME: Chauvin back in prison to mend from stabbing
CRIME: $500,000 bail in LaCrosse apartment homicide
CRIME: 40 years later, DNA identifies missing woman
CRIME: Woman’s arm broken in apartment disturbance
CRIME: Man just released on huffing chargenabbed again
POLITICS: Walz to lead Democratic governors group
POLITICS: Trump’s fake Wisconsin electors fess up
POLITICS: Back to Bismarck: Burgum ends White House bid
GOVERNANCE: Minnesota a step nearer to new state seal
River tows: Good-bye ‘til we see you again
Final passage at Guttenberg: The Marquette company pusher-tow Thomas Erickson and 15 barges pass through Lock and Dam Number 10 on a dreary December day.
Upper Mississippi navigation ends for winter
WINONA, Minn. — The last tow of the 2023 navigation season on the upper reaches of the Mississippi River has gone south for the winer. All locks at dams from Minneapolis to Guttenberg in Iowa – 240 miles — are closed. The Winona fleeting harbor was cleared out last week, except for a few empty barges that will winter in place. The 6,100-horsepwoer Motor Vessel Thomas E. Erickson departed Lock and Dam 10 at Guttenberg southward on Sunday with 15 barges – the last of the season The locks could have remained open later with this year’s unseasonably ice-free December, but the Army Corps needed to close the locks at Hastings, Red Wing, Alma and Dresbach to start major renovations that will take all winter.
College scores
Basketball (men): Saint Mary’s 92, St. Scholastica 80
Basketball (men): UW-LaCrosse 82, Luther of Iowa 51
Basketball (women): St. Scholstica 63, Saint Mary’s 58
Rochester synagogue on harassment hit list
ROCHESTER, Minn. – The B’nai Synagogue in Rochester was among 34 Jewish places of worship and schools targeted statewide with false bomb threats. The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said assaults were coordinated, apparently from a single source. The messages were sent about 3:45 p.m. The wording was identical. Just about simultaneously there were calls to police agencies to scramble to emergencies at schools, including Red Wing High School. There were no emergencies. The state crime bureau said it was working on a possibility that the swat calls were linked to the bomb threats. The threats came at a time of divisiveness worldwide over the intensity of Israeli attacks against Hamas terrorists for a massacre launched from Gaza in October.
B’nai Israel Synagogue. In Rochester.
Minnesota a step nearer to new state seal
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A lot of Minnesotans wanted the state bird – the loon – in a new state seal. And they got it. The State Emblems Redesign Commission has unveiled its recommendation. Now the Legislature will decide whether to accept it. The recommendation of the 13-member commission was unanimous, although Secretary of State Scott Simon, a commission member, noted that fine-tuning may still occur — like removing the 1858 year of statehood and the state motto “LeToile du Nord.” Nobody much in Minnesota has spoken French since the fur trappers back before even territorial times. Also: Should the loon’s right eye be their unusual bright red, which some people , even loon lovers, admit is unsettling. Like pink eye, anyono\e? Blood-shot?
Public input
The commission considered comments on submissions for a state seal submitted online by 6,000 Minnesotans. Still before the commision is recomending a new state flag. The commission received 15,000 comments on a redesign of the flag.
Verbatim
Simon: “We have two more scheduled meetings. That’s it. And although they’re long meetings, and in person, I favor doing as much reasonable winnowing as we can. Because if we go into the next meeting, doing deep dives on 11 things — six flags and five seals — I really fear we’re going to run out of time.”
Walz likes loon
Governor TimWalz sidestepped divisive artistic and cuitural issues about the prooosed state seal. He said he was a fan if the loon. Period.
Fine-tuning ahead. Colors or plain? How many doodads? Any at all? What shape the waves? How many?
Love it? Hate it? Now is the time to weigh in with your state legislators.
What’s in beholder’s eye?
Although a loon is present, the redesign is not without critics:
Pros
> Much proved over cluttery former seal.
> Gone is imagery that exalts white Minnesotans and slights native Americans.
> Gone too is the current seal’s sin ofomission. Among all its mixed messages, somebody forget even a nod to acknowledge that women live here. Have they not ever done anything worth noting? While saying too much, the old seal says too little.
Cons
> The state motto, in French, is obscure and cluttery.
> The year of statehood, 1858, is one element too many for good design.
> So too the outer ring of whatever they’re supposed to represent. And also the inner ring of stars.
> Too many elements: A chaff of grain, the North Star, a line of trees (or are they moutainns? Hills? Bluffs?), and what’s that at the bottom? Oh, water, you say. Looks
Search for missing woman shifts beyond river
BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The search for a missing Black River Falls woman began a third week. Stacy Shramek, 53, disappeared Thanksgiving Day. Her kayak was found overturned on a bank of the Black River pool behind the power-plant dam. Water and infrared drone searches yielded nothing, police said.
Shramek. Five-foot-5 inches, 200 pounds, brown hair, brown eyes.
Eyota crash injures driver; second vehicle a mystery
EYOTA, Minn. – A Lanesboro man was injured in a two-vehicle collision on U.S. Highway 14 at the Eyota roundabout with State Highway 42. Arlyn Vernon Johnson, 85, was taken 16 miles to a Rochester hospital. His injuries were non-life threatening, Olmsted County deputies said. The collision was about 1 p.m. Deputies said the second vehicle got away. All they know is that it was a a pickup probably entering the roundab0ut from from Elgin, Eyota or Plainview. Johnson was driving a 1992 Toyota pickup. He was westbound. toward Rochester. His airbag deployed. Pavement was dry, deputies said.
A playground gun threat at Riverway school?
WINONA, Minn. – Police were called to the Riverway Learning Center that a 12-year-old pupil had made a playground threat about a gun. The pupil denied any threat. Police left it to the school and the parents to resolve the situation. The call to police was about 12:40 p.m. Riverway, a charter school, has a pre-K through 12th grade enrollment ceiling of 130. The school is at 1200 Storrs Pond Road on the Far East End off Old Homer Road.
Trump’s fake Wisconsin electors fess up
MADISON, Wis. – Ten Wisconsin Republicans who posed as fake electors for ex-President Donald Trump say they were duped and have agreed not to do it again. In a settlement of a lawsuit against them, the electors admitted that they had claimed falsely that Trump had carried Wisconsin in the 2020 election and that they knew President Joe Biden had won the state. The settlement ends a $2.4 million lawsuit filed on behalf of Democratic voters. The fake electors agreed to inform federal election officials that their actions were “part of a Trump attempt to improperly overturn the 2020 presidential election results.” Who duped them? Key people they named were Trump aide Kenneth Chesebro and Trump’s attorney in Wisconsin, Jim Troupis. The 10 fake electors agreed to assist the U.S. Department of Justice with its ongoing investigation of Trump false claims and dirty tricks in the 2020 election.
Ex-U.S. House Speaker McCarthy leaving midterm
WASHINGTON – Former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is resigning from Congress at the end of the month. McCarthy, a nine-term Republican from California, said he will not serve out his current term. “It is time to pursue my passion in a new arena,” he said. His departure narrows the already razor-thin GOP majority in the House.
$500,000 bail in LaCrosse apartment homicide
LACROSSE, Wis. – A LaCrosse man, Bryant Q. Smith, 50, was arraigned for the stabbing death of another man overnight at the Stokke Towers public housing high-rise on South Sixth Street, Bail for Smith was set at $500,000 pending completion of prosecution paperwork for first-degree intentional homicide. Police documents at the bail hearing said the victim was stabbed 15 times. Smith was arrested shortly after the stabbing. Police quoted Smith that he acted in self-defense.
Smith. Has previous convictions for battery in Jackson and La Crosse counties.
Glok handgun listed as missing from Utica home
UTICA, Minn. – A 9-millimeter Glok handgun was reported missing from a Utica house, perhaps as early as October although it wasn’t missed until recently. A man told deputies he realized his weapon was missing several weeks after moving out of his parents’ home in the 300 block of Railroad Avenue. When he went back for the gun, it was missing – either stolen or burglarized, he said. A Winona County sheriff’s investigator placed the weapon on a national register of missing weapons.
Emergency, fire crews make 56 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 39 emergency medical calls plus 17 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, December 5: 7 medical calls plus 2 fire calls
> Monday, December 4: 4 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Sunday, December 3: 3: medical calls plu no fire calls.
> Saturday, December 2: 7 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Friday, December 1: 3 medical calls plus 4 calls.
> Thursday, November 30: 7 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Wednesday, November 29: 8 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews 14 calls
Huff Street speeder nicked for drinking
WINONA, Minn. – A St. Cloud driver, Cole Allen Hoops, 27, was stopped after police clocked him too fast at Huff Street and U.S. Highway 61 and then, after he admitted to a couple drinks, tested his blood for alcohol.. At 0.17%, he was way high. There also were other signs of impairment, the officer said: Weepy and bloodshot eyes, mumbled speech, and wobbliness. Hoops spent the night in jail.
R.I.P.: Iris Haake
LEWISTON, Minn. – Iris E. (Heublein) Haake, 93, a career nurse at Mayo Clinic, died home on the family farm near Enterprise After high school she was determined to become a nurse. She attended the St. Mary’s Nursing School in Rochester. She worked at the Mayo Clinic hospital system until her retirement.
A personal memory
“Am forever grateful to Iris as a friend to my mother who at age 85 had moved to the Arches from Spokane and knew hardly anyone here and couldn’t drive anymore. Iris and her swimming pal Marge Wolfe jaunted everywhere with my mom, almost like school girls. It was the Rushford creamery one weekend, the Elba Inn another, then to Harmony to visit the Amish. Then too was a noon concert at Mayo’s Gonda lobby. And lunch at Michael’s. And a first-hand tour and lesson in the glories of Enterprise when it was a thriving stagecoach and mule-skinner stop on Rush Creek on the Minnesota Territorial Trail. Always a new adventure. And sometimes with Iris’ Roy and me along for the ride. These were wonderful people.” – John Vivian, editor
R.I.P.: Gladys Schossow
RUSHFORD, Minn. – Gladys I. Schossow, 92, of Rushford, who was known far and wide for her rolled sugar cookies, died at home on the family farm. She was born in Winona. She was a member of the Lewiston Church of the Brethren.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1925-2023
Cops: Driver slow, jerky after traffic stop; blood drawn
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver, Landon Michael Stutzka, 20, was taken to jail after a police stop for a signal violation that, police said, led to his admission that he had been huffing marijuana 20 or 30 minutes earlier. Also, police said that his eyes were bloodshot, that his movenents were oddly slow and deliberate, and that he failed several field sobriety tests. This was a kitle before midnight at Second and Huff streets.
Wisconsin judge sticks by pro-choice ruling
MADSION Wis. – A Dane County judge reaffirmed her previous ruling that state law permits consensual medical abortions. This was another setback for the abortion ban movement that had reveled since 2022 when the U.S. Supreme Court ended the 60-year-old Roe v. Wade decision that had largely outlawed abortion bans. The Dane County judge, Diane Schlipper, had said in her original ruling that a 1985 Wisconsin law permitting abortions before fetuses can survive outside the womb trumped the abortion ban in a 170-year-old state law. That first Schlipper decision, in July, was challenged quickly by anti-abortion interests. In her new 14-page response Judge Schlipper said the challengers failed to show that she misapplied state law.
College scores
Hockey (women): Saint Mary’s 7, Dubuque 0
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Rochester Marshall Rockets 72, Winona Winhawks 57
Basketball (boys): LaCrescent-Hokah Lancers 72, Winona Cotter Ramblers 57
Basketball (boys): Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 67, Dover-Eyota Eagles 51
Basketball (boys): Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons 66, St. Charles Saints 54
Basketball (girls): Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons 58, St. Charles Saints 49
Hockey (boys): Rochester Lourdes Eagles 6, Winona Winhawks 4
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Galesville-EttrickTrempealeau Red Hawks 65, Tomah Timberwolves 44
Basketball (boys): Cochrane-Fouhtain City Pirates 76, Independence Indees 17
Basketball (girls): Galesville-EttrickTrempealeau Red Hawks 62, Viroqua Blackhawks 29
Basketball (girls): Arcadia Raiders 57, Onalaska Luther Knights 51
Man stabbed fatally at LaCrosse high-rise
LACROSSE, Wis. – A man was stabbed fatally in the 10-story Stokke Tower on the Near South Side. Police declined to release the victim’s name immediately. The man died at a hospital. An autopsy was ordered. The man suffered multiple wounds on his neck and back. Police called the stabbing an isolated incident with no threat to the community. Police were called about 9:30 p.m.
Stokke Tower. 421 South Sixth Street. Operated by LaCrosse Housing Authority. Seventy-one single-bedroom units.
Europe group buys Winona music publisher Hal Leonard
Winona plant to remain. No layoffs, according to Cyprus-base Muse Group, the purchaser. Remaining too will be the iconic brand name “Hal Leonard.”
Deal described as a separate but equal partnership
WINONA, Minn. – The giant Hal Leonard sheet music publish company, founded in Winona in 1947, has been acquired by Muse Group, which is based in the eastern Mediterranean island Cyprus. It’s a multi-million dollar deal, but the scope is hard to establish because companies are privately held and their financial data are tightly held. In the music industry the deal is described as “huge.” In announcing the deal, Muse said it’s more a merger than an acquisition The massive sheet-music printing plant at Winona’s East End technology park, which has 250 employees, employees, will remain in Winona. The Hal Leonard headquarters, which moved to Milwaukee in1986, also will remain in place. So too will the brand name “Hal Leonard.”
Verbatim
Joint Muse-Hal Leonard statement: ““This merger will create more music makers worldwide and will lead to even more advances in music education technology, while also expanding ways creators and rights holders can make their musical works more widely available. The companies have collaborated for 15 years and built trust and mutual respect over that time” and now have the opportunity to take the music industry in new directions.
“Now musicians can look forward to learning more from Hal Leonard’s high-quality arrangements and top-selling content in digitized, interactive formats on Muse platforms. With over 300 million annual visitors and over 40 million accounts on Ultimate Guitar and MuseScore alone, a whole new global audience will discover Hal Leonard’s library. Muse Group will also bring significant creator software and technical innovation to Hal Leonard’s digital offerings.
“In addition to their invaluable licensing and arranging experience, the considerable educational expertise of the Hal Leonard team will provide impetus to further expand Muse Group’s offering to music learners of all skill levels, through both crafted curriculums and pioneering AI-powered tools.”
Hal Leonard profile
Entrepreneurs Hal and Leonard Edstrom wondered in 1947 whether they could expand their modest sideline of mimeographing music for high school bands. They ventured to New York, made contacts on Tin Pan Alley, and came home with contro lof the copyright to “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now.” Other New York music publishers followed and turned to Hal Leonard to sell band arrangements of their songs. It was a brand new industry. Hal Leonard grew not only a high-school band clientele but also expanded through aggressive acquisitions. Among them:
> 1989: Jenson Publications (band, orchestra and choral).
> 1995: Homespun Music (instructional video and audio lessons).
> 2004: Applause Theater and Cinema Books.
> 2006: Amadeus Press, Limelight Editions, and Backbeat Books (music reference guides).
> 2009: Shawnee Press (online music notations).
> 2014: Niteflight (global music publisher).
> 2017: Sheet Music Press (online music retailer), Music Sales Group, and Group3 (tutorials videos),
Hal Leonard also holds exclusive license rights to Disney Music and Universal Music.
Muse Group profile
Muse Group is known mostly for open-source and private software for music notation and audio editing. Muse is headquartered in Limassol in Greek-speaking Cyprus. The company has offices in London and in Kaliningrad, and St. Petersburg in Russia. Among acquisitions:
> 2020: Muse Group was founded. Predecessors included Ultimate Guitar USA (tablature archive), MuseScore (guitar effects app for Apple and Android device), and Audacity (cross-platform, open-source, audio editor )
> 2021: SoftPad (scorewriting app).
> 2023: Hal Leonard (world’s largest sheet music publisher).
Want to perform some an old favorite? You’ll likely need to buy the sheet music from Hal Leonard. The company holds legal ights, for example, to lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent’s “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” Yes, Hal Leonard has been cashing on the tune since Bing Crosby made it a hit in the 1943 namesake movie. Hal Leonard’s copyrights are vast. Think Broadway. Think the Beatles. Think Elvis. Think Taylor Swift.
Through the years
A Winona storefront. On Fourth Street. Founded in n 1947 by brothers Harold “Hal” Edstrom andEverett “Leonard” Edstrom, and fellow musician Roger Busdicker.
.
Milwaukee headquarters. Administative headquarters to Milwaukee in 1996 to facilitate air connecions with cultural centers Los Angeles, Nashville and New York and also London and Europe.
Sells Mark Street plant. To sports paraphernalia manufacturer Wincraft in 2015. At 960 East Mark Street in Winona..
Massive update. Hal Leonard built a 165,000 square foot printing plant, warehouse and distribution centern in 2015. Has a 30-foot tall racknig system, a multi-story raised storage syste,. and 7,000 square feet of office space off a mezzanine . Cost: $18 million All designed as expandable.
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