ROCHESTER, Minn. –  A Rochester church treasurer who stole $434,000 was ordered to jail for 90 days and to repay $250,000 as restitution. There was no doubt that Patricia Radich  knew her way round books. She was a certified public accountant. For 12 years she had volunteered to do the books at Trinity Lutheran Church. When the embezzlement was uncovered, she was charged with  eight felony counts of theft by swindle. The sentence was a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines as part of a plea deal.

Earlier: $183,000 church embezzler to judge: Guilty

WINONA, Minn. – A caller, claiming to be from Microsoft, told a Winona pensioner that her online account had been flagged as unprotected and also for pornography traffic. The woman, age 75, was distressed. As requested, she provided financial information to the caller to remove the flags. Yes, it was a scam. Before the woman realized what was happening, she had lost $13,000 in bitcoin savings in two transactions. Police, who were informed about 9:30 a.m., said bitcoin scams are hardly ever possible to track.

Gundersen widens services. Tri-County Hospital provide primary care for a 30-mile radius including Blair, Independence and Whitehall and. Solar panels are expectex to cut energy costs 50% to 60%.

Contractor Kraus-Anderson ahead of schedule

WHITEHALL, Wis. — The new Tri-County Hospital, part of LaCrosse-based Gundersen Health, will be open this summer, four months ahead of schedule. Administrator Joni Olson said an open house will be July 12. The full transition from a previous facility will be complete July 14, she said. The multi-million dollar project, two stories and  69,000 square feet, has expanded space for emergency rooms, operating rooms and dedicated rooms for trauma cases, Olson said. The adjoining clinic is 17,000 square feet. There also is a separate maintenance building.

River at steps. The Dousman House, once an overnight trackside stop  on the Milwaukee railroad, before the era of sleepers., is closed off  to traffic by rising Mississippi River flood waters moving over St. Feriole Island at Prairie du Chien.

Evacuation site set up for people flooded out

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis, — Authorities barricaded access to St. Feriole Island as Mississippi flood water lapped at historic sites  where U.S. and British troops battled in the War of 1812. Parts of the city itself were flooding too. Marc Myhre, of the county emergency management office, said shelter for displaced people was available at the Hoffman Recreational Center. Already the 24-foot level for major floods was exceeded, and the river was expected to crest go higher, perhaps to 25.3 feet, between April 29 and May 2. A crest of 25.3 would be just short of the record 25.38 in 1965. Bottled water was being stockpiled at the Hoffman Center. People were advised to try to prevent flood water in their basements from entering sewage lines. Advice: Place a plastic bag and a couple sandbags over floor drains.

Earlier: Mississippi River commerce dead in the water

Baseball: Saint Mary’s 5, Gustavus Adolphus 1

Baseball: Saint Mary’s 5, Gustavus Adolphus 4, doubleheader

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 8, UW-Whitewater 2

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 6, UW-Whitewater 5, doubleheader

Softball: Winona State 10, Mary 2

Softball: Winona State 19, Mary 7, doubleheader

Softball: Gustavus Adolphus 7, Saint Mary’s 4

Softball: Saint Mary’s 9, Gustavus Adolphus 4, doubleheader

Softball: UW-LaCrosse 7, UW-River Falls 1

Softball: UW-LaCrosse 8, UW-River Falls, doubleheader

AFTON, Minn. — Two 10-year-old girls were crushed under their overturning all-terrain vehicle and killed. This happened about 5 p.m. northwest Afton, just south of I-94. The girls were dead at the scene.  Washington County Sheriff Brian Albert said family had been notified declined to release the girls’ names.

DIAMOND BLUFF, Wis. – A kayaker found a man’s body on a flooded Mississippi River inland area across from the Prairie island nuclear plant on the Minnesota side. The body was recovered about 5 p.m. There was no identification on the body, Pierce County deputies said.  An autopsy was arranged to determine the identification and cause of death.

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was arrested after a hit-and-run accident in which a pickup struck a car with two people inside. It didn’t begin as a hit-run, police said. This is how police reconstructed what happened: Brennan Luke Husman, 42, rear-ended a stopped vehicle at East Sanborn and Hamilton streets. Both drivers got out of their vehicles. Husman told the struck driver he would write a check for the damages. While this was happening, the passenger in the struck vehicle called 911. When Husman realized this, he got back into pickup and took off. This was about 2 p.m. When police arrived, they obtained the pickup plate number from the other driver and traced it to Husman. At Husman’s house on East Howard Street, they found him exiting his pickup. Husman blamed the other driver for slamming on his brakes. He said he didn’t know the proper protocol for the situation, so he left. As Husman was recounting his version, police noted he was wobbly with bloodshot and watery eyes, slurred speech, and smelling like a gin mill. Husman denied drinking but refused breath tests.  Officers took him in anyway and charged  him with hit and run, driving while impaired, and refusing blood-alcohol tests. Back at the accident scene, the other driver was OK, but his passenger complained of back pain.

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn.  – A police officer in prison for shooting a motorist fatally in Brooklyn Center in 2021 will be released after 16 months, the state Corrections Department confirmed. Kim Potter, now 50, served her time for manslaughter in the Shakopee prison The case became a case study in white-black community relations. Potter, who is white, had stopped Duane Wright, 20, a black man, because of a hangtag on his rearview mirror. The stop escalated, and Potter mistook the handgun on her belt for a taser gun, also on her belt, and killed Wright. Among upshots of the case has been a call by civil rights advocates against police using objects on hanging from rearview mirrors as a pretext for stopping motorists.

Earlier: Judge: A low-end sentence to Potter

Earlier: Jury convicts Potter after four days deliberation

Earlier: Potter jury told to keep deliberating

Earlier: Earlier: Jury ponders cop’s fate in motorist shooting

Earlier: Earlier: Walz to Guard on Potter trial: Be ready

Earlier: Brooklyn Center cop loses plea for reduced charge

Earlier: Charge upped against Brooklyn Center police officer

Earlier: State takes Brooklyn Center cop case

Earlier: Manslaughter trial set for Brooklyn Center cop

Earlier: Judge arraigns suburban cop for manslaughter

Earlier: Overnight demonstration arrests down to 24

Earlier: Officer arrested for Daunte Wright shooting

Earlier: Cop who shot Daunte Wright resigns, leaves town

Earlier: Police shooter a veteran cop

Potter. Her latest prison photograph shows her thinner if not gaunt. Her attorney, Earl Gray, said the photo just shows “it’s rough doing time.” Below is a photo  as the verdict was pronounced.

WINONA, Minn. — About 60 volunteers organized by the Minnesota United search and rescue group swept the remote Yucatan Valley up the South Fork of the Root River for the missing Winona woman Maddi Kingsbury. It was a wet, cold morning in the Yucatan area on Houston County Road 13 east off Highway 43, Police had organized searches along Highway 43 at one point but not into the Yucatan area. The valley is about 40 miles from Winona. Kingsbury went missing from her Winona. home three weeks ago.

Earlier: Maddi Kingbury’s brother honchoing new searches

ROCHESTER, Minn. – An early morning fire destroyed a livestock shed and chicken coop in the Marion neighborhood southeast of Rochester. Ten chickens perished. No people were hurt. The fire was reported about 7:30 a.m. in the 4400 block of 77th Avenue. Damage estimate: $25,000.

Rural blaze. Tankers from the Rochester and Eyota fire departments transported water to the site. Image: Rochester Fire Department

WINONA, Minn. – A man at the Port 507 bar pepper-sprayed a woman in the face after she bumped into him accidentally, witnesses told police. The guy fled through a back door. Police got the man’s name and called his place and knocked at his door. No response. The incident was about 1:20 a.m. Police were called half an hour later. The woman, by then recovered from the mace, declined medical treatment. The woman said she had bumped accidentally into the man in the crowded bar. She told police he responded: “What was that?” He then pulled out the mace.

Port 507. 128 West Second Street.

Harbor full up. Nine twin-screw towboats and at least 100 barges have anchored at the Winona fleeting harbor to wait the Mississippi River shipping shutdown due to flooding. Image: Steve Lunde

Upriver-bound barges  temporarily mothballed

WINONA, Minn. — With upstream locks shut down, it’s was any in a storm — err, in this case any port in a flood. Towboats and barges have crammed wall to wall and stem to stern in the Winona fleeting harbor and in Prairie Island backwaters behind the harbor. The tows had been heading upriver, mostly with empty barges for the first grain loads of the season.

Earlier: Flooding: Wildlife Refuge closes boat ramps

Earlier: Sandbags laid at Minnesota City dam

Fleeting harbor aerial view. Even in normal operations, the harbor sometimes is jammed with barges. Now also are barges tucked temporarily in a standing-room-only slough to the north abutting  Prairie Island. Image: Army Corps of Engineers

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 6, UW-Whitewater 4

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 8, UW-Whitewater 2, doubleheader

Softball: Winona State 4, Minot State 3

Softball: Minot State 5, Winona State 3, doubleheader

Softball: Saint Mary’s and Augsburg postponed

Softball: Saint Mary’s and Augsburg postponed, doubleheader

Softball: UW-LaCrosse 9, UW-Stout 0

Softball: UW-LaCrosse 9, UW-Stout 0, doubleheader

Tennis (men): St. Benedictine 7, Saint Mary’s 2

Tennis (women): St. Scholastica 0, Saint Mary’s 0

Sunny outing. The Mississippi River was rising above flood stage, but this pair was oblivious on a recent sunny afternoon. Que sera sera. Image: Steve Lunde

ROCHESTER, Minn. – The annual prescription drug take-back event, intended to keep drugs from falling into the wrong hands, collected 695 pounds of old or unused prescriptions. The sheriff’s office reported 471 cars made drops.

Tennis (women): Mary 4, Winona State 3