TROY, Minn. – Teenagers were caught unbolting a stop sign on Old Fort Road but fled in a light-color pickup truck when a passerby showed up. A couple bolts were undone, but the sign was left dangling. Deputies notified the township to fix the sign.

Basketball (girls): LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 74, Mayer Lutheran Crusaders 37

Tucson penitentiary entrance. Visitation to inmates normally is weekends, Mondays and federal holidays from 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays  to 8 p.m. Inmates allowed four hours a month.

Warden remans mum on Chauvin’s survival prospects

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Tucson federal prison has been closed to visitors following the stabbing of high-profile of Minnesota Derek Chauvin. Weekends, especially holidays, have a high number visits.  Chauvin, meanwhile, was in a hospital being treated for stab wounds inflicted by another inmate. Visitations are “suspended until further notice,” the warden said. The prison has declined to release details of the attack on Chauvin and not even identified hm officially for reasons of “inmate privacy.” His ouinds were deecrbed by witnesses as serious, but his condition afte surgery at a nearby trauma enter were not released.

Prison clinic

On-site health services include sick call, dental care, physical exams, chronic care, medication, HIV testing, and eyeglasses. Emergency medical care is available 24 hours a day.

Earlier: Attorney general on Chauvin stabbing: “Sad”

Earlier: Ex-Minneapolis cop Chauvin stabbed at Arizona prison

WINONA, Minn. — A teen-age driver from Fountain City, in Winona on a shopping trip, was charged with inattentive driving after sideswiping  a car she was overtaking on four-lane East Broadway Street. She didn’t stop. “Why?” asked the officer. The young woman explained that she was in a hurry to get to Target. Damage to the two cars was only cosmetic.

WINONA, Minn. – Vandals tipped over a porta potty at Levee Park, apparently overnight, and left their grafitti signature. The potty was righted with no apparent mechanical damage, police said.

‘Tis the season. To hang the holly. Bronk’s garden store at Mankato Avenue and Sarnia Steet has replaced autumn’s mums with December’s holiday trees and wreaths. Soon there will be tree stands on every corner. Image: Steve Lunde

ZUMBROTA, Mn; — A van carrying five people overturned on U.S. Highway 52 south of Zumbrota. Everyone was belted. No one was seriously injured, but all were taken 20 miles to a Rochester hospital to be checked over. The accident was about 1:10 p.m. on a four-lane divided section. At the wheel was Noel Joyce Ness, 37, of  St. Joseph. In the vehicle, also from St. Joseph, were Jared Thomas-Lyle Truman, 40; Candice Penelope Guches, 14; Kaylee Joyce Ness, 14; and Trenton James Guches, 10. Police had no explanation immediately for the crash. Pavement was dry. The travelers were headed north toward the Twin Cities.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who prosecuted killer-cop Derek Chauvin, confirmed that Chauvin had been stabbed in prison in Arizona. “I am sad to hear that Derek Chauvin was the target of violence,” Ellison said. “He was duly convicted of his crimes and, like any incarcerated individual, he should be able to serve his sentence without fear of retaliation or violence.” Chauvin’s injuries were described as serious by sources within the prison,  but neither the hospital nor the prison has released details on the wounds or Chauvin’s prospects for rocovery.

Earlier: Ex-Minneapolis cop Chauvin stabbed at Arizona prison

Chauvin. Mug shot at  Arizona prison.

WINONA Minn. – A Rochester driver backed into a parked vehicle, got out to inspect the damage, and drove off. So said a witness who called police and described the hit-and-run vehicle. This was about 1:45 a.m. in the 100 block of Market Street. Police stopped the driver, Gilbert Larue Jordan, 49, who admitted to having downed two beers.  He didn’t do well in field sobriety tests. His blood-alcohol level tested at 0.08%. He was charged with  leaving the scene of an accident and alcohol-impaired driving.

Jordan. Witness reported he hit other car, drove off.

WINONA, Minn. – Sharon Renae Decker, 73, of Winona, a licensed practical nurse in pediatrics for 20 years, died at St. Anne’s nursing home. She was a church organist 60 years. She played her first full church service at age 12. She also played harp.

Details: Hoff Funeral Home

1949-2023

WINONA, Minn. – The officer who stopped Gabriella Katarina Hawke, 19, of Winona, for speeding — 42 mph in a 30 zone – realized when she lowered her window that more than a heavy foot on the pedal was involved.  The officer said the car’s interior was heavily sweet with marijuana.  Yes, Hawke admitted she had been puffing, albeit from a bong, she noted, and drinking. Her breath smelled of alcohol, the officer said. Also, he said, her pupils were dilated. This was about 11:40 p.m. at Fourth and Kansas streets on the East Side. Specific charges were pending the completion of blood tests from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension lab.

Basketball (girls): Dover-Eyota Eagles 66, Albert Lea Tigers 31

Basketball (girls): Chatfield Gophers 54, Lanesboro Burros 38

Basketball (girls): Rochester Marshall Rockets 49, Plainview-Elgin-Millville Bulldogs 45

Basketball (girls): Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars 67, Houston Hurricanes 38

Basketball (girls): Jordan Hubmen and Jaguars 55, LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 48

Basketball (girls): Rochester Mayo Spartans 73, St. Louis Park Orioles 45

Basketball (girls): Jordan Hubmen and Jaguars 55, LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 48

No place for a boat. Deep in roadside borrow pit. Image: Vernon County sheriff

What stop sign? Now smithereens

VIOLA, Wis. – Two vehicles, one hauling a boat on a trailer, crashed at a rural intersection. Although wreckage was a tangled mees, no one was injured. This was about 5:45 p.m. west of Viola. Deputies said that Kolebe Charles Ferguson-McCoy, 18, of Viola, was westbound toward Viroqua on State Highway 56. John Andrew Werthwein, 56, of Soldiers Grove was traveling south on County Road S, entered the intersection, and collided with Ferguson-McCoy’s vehicle and boat, deputies said.. Collateral damage: A traffic sign and a stop sign.

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man put $600 down for a used car online and was given an address to pick up the car and pay the rest to the seller, another $600, on the spot. At the address the man found a vacant house – and no car. The scam was reported to police about 2:50 p.m. The owner of the Facebook Marketplace account to which the man had sent $600 told police that he had been hacked and that somebody else was controlling the account. Police sought a subpoena for details on the Venmo money transfer software that was used.

TUCSON, Ariz. —   A fellow inmate stabbed and seriously wounded former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, according to a source inside the Tucson federal prison. Chauvin was serving a sentence  for choking George Floyd to death in Minneapolis in 2021, sparking racial unrest nationally. Floyd was black, Chauvin white. In Tucson the prison confirmed that a stabbing had occurred but declined to release the victim’s name.  Prison guards had attempted life-saving measures, according to the prison’s terse statement in response to news media queries. The original source said that Chauvin, 47, was sent to a hospital. The source said that no other inmates or prison staff were injured. The situation was described as “quickly contained.”

Aerial and interior views. Located 10 miles southeast of downtown Tucson.

Prison profile

The U.S. Penitentiary nn Tucson opened in 2005 to accommodate 1,500 high-security male inmates. Typically the prison has a population of 1,000. The 640-acre campus includes a minimum-security satellite facility with inmates who are assigned tasks prison-wide because of staff shortages. Weapons have been a problem over the years. In 2009 several inmates were hospitalized after fights with improvised weapons Also in 2009 an inmate was caught with a plastic shank fashioned from his prison chair. A subsequent search of the kitchen found weapons, drug paraphernalia, and other contraband.

Earlier: U.S. Supreme Court won’t take Chauvin appeal

Earlier: Killer-cop Chauvin appeals to U.S. Supreme Court

Earlier: U.S. Supreme Court next for Chauvin murder appeal?

Earlier: Chauvin loses appeal in George Floyd murder

Earlier: Chauvin update: $9 million to brutality victims

Earlier: Overzealous cop Chauvin to Arizona prison

Earlier: More prison for killer-cop Chauvin

Earlier: Judge OK’s Chauvin plea deal in civil case

Earlier; Ex-cop Chauvin yields in civil rights case

Earlier: Prison time for Chauvin: 22-1/2 years

Nary a merchant open. They may as well nave rolled up the  sidewalks on this the busiest retailing day  of the year. Meanwhile, parking lots and aisles at Big Box stores on Winona’s peripheries were packed.  Online business mercantilists were staffed fully at phone banks and fulfillment centers. Image: Steve Lunde

WINONA, Minn. – Police kicked in an apartment door after seeing through a window that a man was wielding a knife at a woman trying to get out. Once inside, police said, they ordered Travis Dean Boettcher, 33, to the floor. When he refused, they forced him down, cuffed him, and took him away. This was about 1 a.m. Officers had been called to the address by a neighbor reporting thuds, doors slamming, and a man and a woman arguing. A man refused a police request to open the door but shouted that he was alone and all was fine. Meanwhile, the police report said, another officer outside saw Boettcher through a window holding a large knife and was plainly agitated. The officer said he then saw a woman grab a bag and attempt to leave.  Boettcher stepped in front of her, she stepped back momentarily, and Boettcher grabbed her hair with his left hand and pushed her away in the chest, the report said.   While this was going, according the report, Boettcher was holding the knife in his other hand.  Fearing for the woman ‘s safety, the officer at the window radioed officers at the door. They broke in and forced Boettcher to the floor. After he was subdued, officers saw a knife also on the floor. Boettcher refused respond to officers’ questions. Meanwhile, the woman was crying uncontrollably and, seemingly confused, provided little detail on the episode. Boettcher was booked for domestic assault, assault with a weapon, and false Imprisonment.

Boettcher. From Winona. Arrest was at an apartment inside a residence in the 250 block of East King Street.

WINONA Minn.  – Asked by police whether he had sideswiped another car a few blocks back, Jon Robert Warnke, 46, of Winona, said he had heard something but didn’t think much about it. And, yes, he kept on going.  The officer said Warnke’s eyes were blurry and his speech slurred, and he tested drunk with his blood at nine parts alcohol to 1,000 parts blood. In the accident a car struck a parked vehicle, whose driver gave chase and called police. By then the time police arrived, the pursued driver had parked at 650 East Sanborn Street and been confronted the other driver. She described him s as irritated. He went inside. When police arrived, he came out. The officer took accounts from both drivers and charged Warnke for hit-and-run. He also was charged with an elevated count of drunken driving, this not being his first offense. This all was about 6:50 p.m. Damage to the vehicles was slight.