Winona schools now equipped with Narcan kits
For overdose crises. School nurses Krissy Coudron and Makala Geurink and one of their newly installed nasal Narcan kit at the Winona high school. The kits were installed ahead of fall classes, two at every school, in accordance with a new state law. Injections can reverse an overdose from heroin, fentanyl and prescription opioid medications
College scores
Volleyball (women): Winona State 1, Sioux Falls 0
Minnesota prep
Volleyball (girls): Rochester Marshall Rockets 3, Winona Winhawks 1
Volleyball (girls): Winona Cotter Ramblers 3, Wabasha-Kellogg Falcons 0
Volleyball (girls): LaCrescent-Hokah Lancers 3, Rushford-Peterson Trojans 1
Volleyball (girls): Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 3, Plainview-Elgin-Millville Bulldogs 0
Volleyball (girls): Caledonia Warriors 3, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 0
Volleyball (girls): Chatfield Gophers 3, St. Charles Saints 0
Could mystery mounds be work of ginseng foragers?
ST. CHARLES, Minn. — Deputies were called to signs of suspicious activity out on Century Drive. All they found was patches of overturned soil. Their theory: Gingseng hunters had found fertile soil and dug for the root. Ginseng is a rare plant sought in Asian cultures for medicine and menus — and once was used by indigenous American peoples. It’s included in some diet supplement products, but experts say its value is dubious.
Wisconsin GOP votes to oust election chief
MADISON, Wis. — Republicans who control the Wisconsin Senate, increasingly worried about losing elections, voted to fire the state’s chief elections officer — Meagan Wolfe. She has been the target of GOP conspiracy theories and never-proven claims that she helped rig the 2020 Wisconsin presidential vote against their candidate Donald Trump. The vote against Wolfe was 22-11 along party lines. Wolfe has been in the nonpartisan position since appointed by the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 2018. Responding to the Senate vote to remove her, Wolfe vowed to remain as elections administrator at least through the end of the 2024 election unless a court rules otherwise or the elections commission votes to remove her. She called the Senate vote to remove her “a reaction to not achieving the political outcome they desire.” Indeed, there is doubt whether the Senate has authority to remove Wolfe. Attorney General Josh Kaul, said there is no such authority. Kaul accused GOP senators of attacking the state’s elections.
Wolfe. Is defying Republican action to remove her. Plans to stay in the nonpartisan role through the 2024 general election.
Land Stewards plan come-listen biogas session
LEWISTON, Minn. — Although a Danish company has withdrawn plans for a biogas plant in Winona County, other companies soon may be eyeing the area to tap massive quantities of farm manure to convert to natural gas. Such is the concern of the environmentally driven Land Stewardship Project. The organization has scheduled a program for Monday about perils of manure-digester plants. Time: 6 p.m. at the Lewiston Community Center. The speakers:
> Tim Ahrens, of Altura, a critic of digesters.
> Bethany Erck, a South Dakota farmer with a large-scale digester next door.
> Kim Dupre, an environmentalist expert on digesters.
> Vance Haugen, a Fillmore County farmer who has researched djgesters.
Frac is back: New mine proposed near Utica
UTICA, Minn. – A rural couple petitioned the Winona County Planning Commission to allow frac-sand mining on their pasture land south of Utica. Thomas and Janet Campbell said that sand would be quarried for animal bedding on dairy farms and perhaps local construction. They said the sand would not go toward industrial purposes, which the county banned in a landmark 2016 zoning decision that was upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court. The Campbells said they plan to dig up 30 acres in cycles and restore top soil and reseed before opening up each new section. They promised not to go as deep as ground water. The mine would be along County Road 6, which connects Troy and Fremont. They anticipate three or four truck loads an hour being hauled out of the mine.
Fracking profile
The Campbell proposal once was part of promoter Rick Fick’s proposal for a frac-sand empire in southeast Minnesota. The Frick plan died when the County Board banned frac-sand extraction in 2016 for environmental and human health reasons. The Campbells say their purpose now is strictly agricultural and has nothing to do with Frick’s grand scheme. Frick had planned to sell Minnesota frac sand in huge quantities to the petroleum industry for the controversial practice of deep earth-fracturing to extract oil.
Nearby quarry
Winona County has one frac-sand operation already. It was in existence before the 2016 ban and thus grandfathered. This quarry, the Nisbit Mine, is two miles south of the Campbell property. The Nisbits sell sand primarily for animal bedding and local construction.
R.I.P.: Wayne Hanson
WINONA, Minn. – Wayne Norton Hanson, 87 of Winona who worked in the maintenance at St. Teresa College for 30-plus years, died at Brookdale Senior Living. He graduated in 1953 from Winona High School. For many years he played in Wayne’s Accordion Band at dances around Winona.
Details: Fawcett-Junker Funeral Home
1936-2023
Collision injures driver north of St. Charles
ST. CHARLES, Minn. — A Altura driver was injured when two vehicles collided at a 90-degree intersection near the south entrance to Whitewater State Park from St. Charles. Susan Carol Benedett, 78, suffered sustainable injuries and was taken 31 miles to a Rochester hospital. The collision was about 12:35 a.m. on State Highway 74 at Winona County Road 22. Benedett was driving a 2022 Subaru Outback. The other driver, Sandra Kay Bauter, 76, of Stewartville, in a 2020 Subaru Forester, was unhurt.
Iowa murder fugitive captured near Sleepy Eye
SLEEPY EYE, Minn. — Police closed in on a rural house and captured an Iowa man accused of shooting and killing an Iowa police officer. Kyle Lou Ricke, 43, of Algona, Iowa, surrendered without resistance, said Brown County Sheriff Jason Seidl. The arrest, about 11:50 p.m., was within four hours of the shooting of Algoma police officer Kevin Cram. He died while arresting Ricke on a warrant for violating a restraining order stemming from a domestic complaint. Ricke fled north. Algoma authorities had reason to believe that Ricke drove 110 miles into Minnesota and was at an address southwest of Sleepy Eye. The Minnesota State Patrol, including an air unit, and Brown County deputies and Sleepy Eye police convened on the house. This was in the in the 29000 block of 210th Street in in Leavenworth Township. Ricke was booked at the New Ulm jail for extradition back to Iowa. In Algoma papers were being drawn up for first-degree murder.
Ricke. Accused of fatally shooting an Algoma, Iowa, police officer making an arrest.
Attorney general launches dialogue on worker abuse
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Everybody knows about the corporate abuse of workers by classifying them as “independent contractors” to avoid paying health care, retirement, overtime and even the minimum wage. Attorney General Keith Ellison wants to do something about it. Ellison opened a conference to begin a dialogue on what he called “worker misclassification.” Ellison aims to have a report recommending remedies by next spring. “We’re trying to have a conversation about how to come up with an understanding of this issue,” Ellison said in convening the first meeting. “We’re going to be studying best practices and we’re going to dig into challenges.” Invited were Minnesota legislators and labor force experts. Further meetings are planned monthly, all of them pubic.
Ellison. What to do about “independent contractor” misclasifications.
State university profs OK 10% pay increase
WINONA, Minn. — Faculty at the MinnState university system have approved a contract for 10%-plus pay hikes over two years overwhelmigly. Jenna Chernega of Winona State, president of the statewide Inter-Faculty Organization, said the approval was 98%. Seven universities comprise the MinnState system.
Earlier: Profs’ pending back-to-back pay hikes – 5% and 5.3%
College scores
Soccer (women): St. Catherine 2, Saint Mary’s 0
Minnesota Air Guard’s cargo fleet upgraded
C-130J Super Hercules. Eight have been assigned to at the 133rd Airlift Wing at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. Image: Jon Alderman
Familiar profile outside but new engines, tcchnology
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The U.S. Air Force has assigned eight C-130J turboprop cargo planes to replace older model Hs flown by the Minnesota Air National Guard. Although C-130s have been flown since 1955, the J models are new with updated engines, flight decks and, and other systems. The planes are available to transport cargo and passengers in support of global, domestic and humanitarian missions. Governor Tim Walz called the C-130s “critical assets” during floods, hurricanes and other emergencies. The craft each can transport 92 passengers, 64 airborne troops, 74 litter patients with five medical crew, six pallets, three Humvees, two armored personnel carriers, or one self-propelled howitzer. C-130s can fly 370 mph. Fully loaded the range is 2,300 miles. Their ceiling empty: 33,000 feet.
Iowa police officer killed making routine arrest
ALGOMA, Iowa — A 10-year veteran of the Algoma police force, Kevin Cram, 33, was shot and fatally wounded while making arrest. The assailant fled. In a news release, the department said that Officer Kevin Cram, 33, was on patrol alone about 8 p.m. when he learned that a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Kyle Ricke. Cram knew of a possible location for Ricke and found him and told him he was under arrest. Ricke shot Cram, the statement said. Officer Cram’s body was found by other officers. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Cram. Earlier three years on Nora Springs, Iowa, police force. south of Albert Lea, Minnesota.
Prelude to shooting
Ricke was in court earlier in the day on a harassment charge. Court records show that an ex-girlfriend had complained in August that he had sent 63 messages and also attempted calls to her over and over in a two-hour period. A judge issued a no-contact order. Four days later, the girlfriend said, Ricke resumed contact with text and email messages. Ricke was arrested and admitting to contactingthe girlfriend. This was all in August.
After Narcan dose, Peterson man to hospital
MINIESKA, Minn. — An ambulance crew suspecting an opioid overdose injected a Fillmore County man with the antidote Narcan at a remote farm house on County Road 31. The man, 40 miles from home, was taken to the Winona hospital. Deputies identified the man as James Allen Guenther, 42, of Peterson. A farmer on County Road 31, near Minnieska, had called 911 about a stranger who had walked up from a ravine and knocked at the farmer’s door and said his car had broken. This was about 7:25 p.m. Winona County deputies responded and found Guenther with bloodshot eyes and staggering and apparently under the influence of drugs or alcohol. An ambulance was summoned. After the Narcan dose, Guenther was taken 18 miles to the Winona hospital. Meanwhile, authorities sent a blood sample to a state lab for evaluation.
Gale High ruling: No gay flag, no any flag
GALESVILLE, Wis. – The governing board for Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau Schools backed a high school principal’s decision to remove a gay pride flag from the library. The School Board side-stepped the question of agreeing or not agreeing with a gay-phobis complaint against the flag. In a letter to parents, the Board said it had sought an opinion from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, which said that display the flag required that other flags to be allowed too. It was an issue of fairness and equality, the Association told the Board. The gay pride flag had been put up by a school employee., A student complained.
Major injuries in five-car Fountain City smash-up
Highway 25 blocked. In a 55- mph zone entering Fountain City from the south. Image: Buffalo County sheriff
Two victims air-lifted to LaCrosse trauma center
FOUNTAIN CITY, Wis. — Six people were injured, some seriously, when five vehicles piled up south of Fountain City. Two victims were airlifted 40 miles to a LaCrosse hospital. The others went nine miles to the Winona hospital. Sheriff Michael Osmond declined to release the names of the injured immediately. The accident occurred about 12:15 p.m. on dry pavement. The wreckage blocked Highway 35 for several hours. The highway is the main Wisconsin artery between LaCrosse and the Twin Cities. The State Patrol said a southbound vehicle crossed the centerline and hit an oncoming vehicle head-on. Three other vehicles piled into the colliding vehicles.
Plan scuttled for Lewiston biogas factory
LEWISTON, Minn. — A Danish energy-production company that had scouted Lewiston as a site for a $20 million biogas plant has folded its U.S. operations. Mayor Beth Carlson said that the company, Nature Energy, had realigned its global strategies because prices are declining for renewable natural gas. The Lewiston biogas plant would have trucked tons of manure daily from farms all around Winona County for conversion to natural gas. Since 2022, Nature Energy has been a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch company Shell Oil.
Earlier: Biogas promoters brief Lewiston Council about plant
Verbatim
Jesper Nielsen, business development vice president, Nature Energy: “In line with efforts to deliver maximum value, we consistently review our portfolio projects to ensure the right mix of assets and, when needed, take necessary action to ensure the prudent commercial course is achieve.”
Finstad shows his deep red Trump colors
WASHINGTON — First-term Congress member Brad Finstad has aligned himself with hard-right Republicans in the House who want President Biden impeached. In a Facebook post, Finsted opined that Americans deserve an impeachment query. Why? He didn’t say. Finstad, elected in 2022 from southern Minnesota, has been a die-hard supporter of ex-President Donald Trump, who also wants Biden impeached — this in revenge for losing to Biden in the 2022 election. In his 16 months in Washington, Finstad has toadied consistently to the extremist GOP wing in the House but without engaging in dialogue to explain his positions. Online responses to Finstad’s Facebook were varied. Among them:
> “Thank you, Brad, for your support of a dementia ridden traitor.” This seems to be labeling Biden a traitor but without any supporting evidence about either dementia or seditious treachery.
> “Seriously, Brad, this is an act of revenge and anyone with a brain knows it. You should be ashamed of yourself for supporting this and insulting us and thinking we’ll buy your BS.”
Finstad. A New Ulm farmer. Former Trump appointee as agricultural liaison for Minnesota.
ORC clients express selves in new mural
Mosaic. On exterior wall at 1053 East Mark Street.
Pieces coming together
After classes in abstract art by Miriam Cavanaugh, 37 clients at the Winona Occupational Rehabilitation Center put their lessons into practice. Then their individual works were mounted on an outside wall as a collage. The project was possible through Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council grant. ORC is a nonprofit providing job opportunities for people with disabilities.
Museum performance: The albatross of yore
WINONA, Minn. — A production of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s classic “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” with gallery projections live music, will be performed Friday at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. Winona poet Ken McCullough will be the principal reader. Time: 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $15. The cast and crew: Luke Thering, music director, composer and piano; Rachael Ryan, cello; Hans Heukeshoven, drums and percussion; Bob Stuber and Jim Reineke, sound; Orion McCullough-Smith, projectionist; Judy Myers, director; and Emilio DeGrazia, introduction. Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” written 1798, became an inspiration for generations of sea-faring fiction including “Moby Dick.”
McCullough. Hia words are the first-person recollections of the ancient mariner to anyne who will listen.
Sex crime: Doing it as kids walk by
WINONA, Minn. — Police arrested a man who masturbated regularly on his front porch in the mornings as junior high kids were walking to classes at the Cotter campus. Police had been surveilling the porch for six days before making the arrest. Taken into custody was Kenneth Edwin Gleiter, 67. Police said he admitted to the morning deeds and promised not to do it anymore. He was not jailed but charged with:
> Indecent exposure.
> Sexual misconduct.
> Lewd exhibitionism in the presence of minors.
Police set up their surveillance based on an anonymous tip. After the arrest, police said they talked with administrators at Cotter, who said they were unaware that any students had noticed the front-porch activity. The address, in the 1200 block of West Wabasha Street, is a route for 12- to 15-year-olds to going to school.
Up North they’re covering the flower beds
KOOCHICHING, Minn. — In this hamlet near the Canada border, the season’s first frost arrived overnight — as it did across most of far northern Minnesota and at spots in northwest Wisconsin. The National Weather Service warned the night before: “Frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered.” In Winona and throughout southeast Minnesota lows fell into low 40s. This afternoon: High 60s. There could be limited rain Friday, according toi he forecast.
Emergency, fire crews make 60 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 41 emergency medical calls plus 19 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, September 12: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Monday, September 11: 3 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Sunday, September 10: 4 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Saturday, September 9: 9 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Friday, September 8: 6 medical calls plus 3 calls.
> Thursday, September 7: 9 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Wednesday, September 6: 4 medical calls plus 3 fire call.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 78 calls
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