WINONA, Minn. – The City Council was 5-2 in favor of exempting the development company Whitewater Properties from zoning regulations to build a 63-unit apartment building at 51 Riverview Drive.  The vote:

For variance

Jerome Christenson (at-large).

Pamela Eyden (3rd Ward, downtown).

Jeff Hyma (2nd Ward, West Side).

Aaron Repinski (at-large).

Scott Sherman (mayor).

Against

Steve Young (1st Ward, West End).

George Borzyskowski (4th Ward, East End).

Pros and cons

The Winona Daily News reported these views:

Mitchell Walch, Whitewater Properties manager: The project supports the city’s comprehensive plan and coexists with other riverfront development. A tax asset.

Christopher Sanchez, chair, Board of Adjustment: Irresponsible to have so much density in an area zoned for mixed use, especially with parking.

Carlos Espinosa, city planner: Height will be a visually attractive graduation between residential, downtown fringe and downtown core properties.

Jerome Christenson, City Council member: Other structures already exceed the 40-foot vertical maximum, including both Highway 43 bridges across ghe Mississippi and the new Fastenal building on the waterfront. Could open the way for further multi-story residential development west of downtown.

Pamela Eyden, City Council member: Will make better use of city services by concentrating more people in less space. A beautiful site that should been developed long ago.

Aaron Repinski, City Council member:  An asset to ease city’s housing needs. Also a tax asset what’s now vacant land.

Steve Young, City Council member: A rather densely populated building in relatively small area poses parking issues.

Earlier: City waives height limit for Riverview Flats

HUDSON, Wis.—A recovery team found the body of River Falls man in the swollen St. Croix River. Hai Quoc Nguyen, 31, had been  missing 148 days. A tip came in about 9:30 a.m. that a body was floating in the river. Nguyen had been last seen driving in downtown Hudson. Authorities found his vehicle abandoned at the river with his phone wallet and keys left behind.

Nguyen.  A mathematician at Catalent Pharma Solutions. A graduate of Carleton College with a master’s from UW-Madison.

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 37 emergency medical calls plus 24 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, April 18: 4 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.

> Monday, April 17: 6 medical calls plus 3 fire call.

> Sunday, April 16:   7 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.

> Saturday, April 15: 2 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Friday, April 14: 5 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.

> Thursday, April 13: 5 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.

> Wednesday, April 12: 8 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews 67 calls

Seven Mexicans. Stranded fleeing at night over the frozen Manitoba border. Also rescued: Two additional men thought to be human smugglers. Image: U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Had circumvented 24/7 Warroad border crossing

WARROAD, Minn. — Nine men, all illegal aliens, seven of them Mexican, were rescued from a freezing bog eight miles south of the Canada border. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had received an emergency call from the group and notified the U.S. Border Patrol. Rescuers wearing protective suits waded into a freezing bog about 5:20 a.m. and provided medical treatment and brought the men out. Frostbite was an issue. The seven aliens, age 19 to 46, were turned over  immigration custody. The other two men, it was thought, were coyote smugglers.

Earlier: Travel agency role in human trafficking?

Earlier: Vigil honors blizzard victims

Earlier: Agents regularly patrol forsaken border

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Earlier: What happened out there in border blizzard?

Earlier: India family not desperate immigrants

Earlier: Officials target smugglers in blizzard deaths

Earlier: Charges filed in fatal blizzard smuggling

Earlier: Blizzard takes four lives at Manitoba border

Earlier: India diplomats join border tragedy probe

LACROSSE, Wis.  — A man who stabbed and killed another man during a fight at the Houska Park homeless enclave in 2021 was sentenced to 4-1/2 years prison. David Pearson Jr., 37,  was charged with negligent homicide in the death of Cameron Baker. Judge Ramona Gonzalez said she considered Pearson’s claim of self-defense in the sentence. The judge also noted that Pearson said he wants to improve himself.

Pearson. Months already in jail will count toward sentence.

Today’s 507 area code. To heck with geography. It soon no longer will be an “area code” just a “code.”

Prepare to to reprogram those ol’ familiar numbers

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The State Public Utilities Commission authorized phone companies to use a new area code – 924 – for new users in southern Minnesota. Why? There aren’t many seven-digit 507 numbers left. By next March the 507 numbers all will have been assigned. That’s when 924 kicks in. Southern Minnesota then will have two codes, both 507 and 924. The telecommunication industry wanted it that way – an “all-services distributed overlay,” they call it. The PUC went along with a unanimous vote.. Dividing the current area geographically, the phone companies said, would have been more difficult for them. So now the burden will be on users to tap 11 digits to call from 507 to 924 numbers. And vice versa. Even across the street.

LACROSSE, Wis. – Scattered but heavy thunderstorms could mean flash floods in coulees and up tributary streams to the Mississippi, the National Weather Service warned. Unlike the Mississippi flooding, with water rising only inches at a time, flash floods are sudden and can wipe out roads unexpectedly. Forecasters advised people to consider alternate escape routes and to stock up on three days of essential goods in case they are stranded at home.

Earlier: Almanac: River crests at Winona

Robinson Lake. A summer view of the 318-acre adjunct to Mississippi River south of Wabasha.

New islands planned; also better riverbanks, fishing

WABASHA, Minn. – The Army Corps of Engineers called a meeting for public input on a plan for habitat rehabilitation on the Mississippi River pool behind its Alma dam. When: 6 p.m., Wednesday, May 15, at the Wabasha-Kellogg High School. The Corps plan is to build islands, plant trees, manage invasive species, dredge out fish habitat, and stabilize riverbanks on Robinson Lake. Not coincidentally, the plan would help the Corps maintain its nine-foot deep shipping channel on the Mississippi itself. Robinson Lake is part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The project would be the second phase of a Pool 4 project that began with the nearby much larger Big Lake.

Earlier: Army Corps: Big Lake river project a win-win

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Emergency Management agency is working with local agencies to mitigate  effects from flooding. Andrew Beckett, an agency spokesperson, said roads have been closed. Evacuation plans are in place for people to leave home if necessary, Beckett said. To homeowner, he had this advice: Clear out storm drains and unclog downspouts and point them away from the property.

Earlier: Governor issues emergency flood order

Earlier: Navigation blocked by flood waters at Alma

Baseball: Winona State 6, Wayne State of Nebraska 5

Baseball: Wayne State of Nebraska 9, Winona State 1, doubleheader

Softball: Winona State 11, Wayne State of Nebraska 3

Softball: Winona State 10, Wayne State of Nebraska 5, doubleheader

CANNON FALLS, Minn. — Three children were critically burned and their mother seriously hurt in an apartment fire. The children —  an infant, a toddler and a 7-year-old — were airlifted to a St. Paul hospital. Firefighters were called to Cannon Valley Apartments on First Street North about 1:15 p.m. Outside was the mother hemorrhaging from cuts trying to rescue the children. A firefighter smashed out a window, climbed into the burning apartment, and found one child in a bedroom and anther in the living room. He handed them out to police officer. Another firefighter found the third child in a second bedroom. At that point, the apartment was engulfed in flames. Oxygen and first aid were administered on-site, then the mother and children were transported to the Cannon Falls hospital. From there the children were airlifted 40 miles to Regions Hospital Burn Center in St. Paul. Meanwhile, other tenants had been evacuated safely to an emergency shelter for the Red Cross to arrange alternate housing.

ALMA, Wis. – The rising Mississippi River forced the closing of the lock at Alma, halting commercial traffic. Navigation had become unsafe, said the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps’ operates 17 dams. each with a lock and each a chokepoint to shipping on the Upper Mississippi. The locks lift and drop barges through 169 feet of elevation over historic rapids and shallows between Minneapolis and Muscatine, Iowa.. The Corps said the Alma lock will be reopened – flood levels permitting – only when the river crests and flood levels recede. This, said the Corps, likely will be least a week. Meanwhile next upriver lock, at Dam Number 3 near Red Wing, was expected to be closed Wednesday.

Flood domino

Four days ago the Corps closed opened its Upper St. Anthony Falls lock at Dam 1 in Minneapolis to relieve flood flooding farther north. Opening the Minneapolis lock released torrents of water downriver. This a added to massive snow runoffs from the Minnesota, St. Croix and Chippewa rivers in the pools behind the Red Wing and Alma dams.

Crest expectations

The National Weather Service predicts the river will crest at:

> Lake City: On Saturday afternoon at 2-1/2 feet over flood stage.

> Wabasha: Late Saturday night at almost four feet over flood stage.

> Winona: Late Monday night at five feet above flood stage.

Prolonged problem?

Additional precipitation could significantly affect crest predictions. The water levels are expected to remain a couple of feet below the crests from 2001, when the Mississippi River rose to the second-highest levels ever recorded. The worst spring flood on record occurred in 1965.

Earlier: Corps opens Minneapolis gate as flooding looms

SPRING VALLEY, Minn. – A three-vehicle pile-up west of Spring Valley sent a Lyle woman 30 miles to a Rochester hospital. Injuries to Tasha Marie Block, 30, were non-life threatening, said Fillmore County deputies. The accident was about 2:25 p.m. on U.S. Highway 16 at Mower-Fillmore Road. 2002. Deputies described this sequence:

> A 2019 Chevrolet Express van driven by Kenneth William Mcbride, 33, of Rochester, was waiting to make a left turn onto Mower-Fillmore Road.

> A 2002 Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Tyler John Kloeckner, 29, of Adams, struck Kloeckner’s vehicle from the rear.

> McBride’s van collided with an oncoming 2015 Ford Explorer driven by Tasha Marie Block, 30, of Lyle,

Kloeckner and McBride were unhurt.

UTICA, Minn. – A rural man living east of Utica, Michael J. Herber, 57, was cited for his dog killing a neighbor’s goat and three laying hens. The neighbor, in the 17000 block of Sweningson Drive, had called for deputies about 12:40 p.m. The neighbor said the dog, uncontrolled, also had attacked other livestock and fowl.

A lovely an welcome persistence against the elements. At Lake Park on a cool spring morning in the 40s. Image: Steve Lunde

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Governor Tim Walz ordered all U.S. and Minnesota flags to half-staff through Saturday in mourning for Deputy Sheriff Josh Owen of Glenwood. Owen was wounded fatally when a man pulled a handgun during an arrest.

Earlier: Deputy killed in shootout on domestic violence call

MADISON, Wis. – Governor Tony Evers put the National Guard and state agencies on alert for emergencies along the Mississippi and other rivers that are cresting above flood stage. The governor noted that some rivers and streams already are flooding and could get even higher with more rain in the forecast.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Over the objection of educators, the Republican controlled Iowa Senate voted 32-17 to relax child labor restrictions. The restaurant and other labor-short industries had lobbied for allowing kids under 16 to work up to six hours a day — two hours longer than currently. The bill also would allow 16-year-olds to serve alcohol. Republicans argued that children would gain valuable work experience.  Democrats said longer hours would interfere with their schooling. Also, Democrats claimed, profit-minded employers were bent on exploiting a new pool of low-wage workers by luring kids from economically vulnerable communities.

Earlier: Iowa plan: Use kids to solve workforce shortfall

WINONA. Minn. – Targeted searches in Winona and Fillmore counties are continuing for Maddi Kingsbury, now missing 17 days from her Winona home. Since massive searches with 2,600 volunteers two weekends ago, 100-plus law enforcement and public safety personnel have gone into additional targeted areas based on citizen tips and clues from their investigation, said Police Chief Tom Williams. Numerous search warrants have been issued, Williams said.

Earlier: Weather delays foot, horseback Kingsbury search

Verbatim

WiIliams: “We understand just how much the community wants answers, and we are asking everyone to be patient as the investigative process unfolds. We have had two goals since we learned Maddi was missing: Bring her home and, if warranted, hold accountable the person or persons responsible for her disappearance. Releasing certain information about the investigation would jeopardize our ability to achieve these goals.”

Baby bunny time. This mama-to-be, a Florida White, is chewing shredded paper and arranging it in a nest. Babies due soon in this backyard hutch near Taylor, Wisconsin. Image: Leif Olson

WINONA, Minn. – Questions have deepened about the low public profile maintained through early phases of the Maddi Kingsbury search by the father of her children. The father’s first public statement, issued by his lawyer 14 days after her disappearance, said police had advised him not to attend a news conference by the family on April 5 nor to participate in a massive volunteer search on April 7 and 8. Asked about police advice to Adam Fravel, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Bonney Bowman, said she was unaware of “any law enforcement” telling Fravel to stay away.  Bowman was in Winona and intimately involved with the investigation at high levels. She arranged and staged news conferences. Members of the Kingsbury family, however, didn’t want Favel at the family’s April 5 news conferences, sources said. He was the last person known to have seen Maddi Kingsbury alive. That was March 31, the day she disappeared. Police have assiduously avoided calling Fravel a suspect or a person of interest.

Earlier: Police: Tips, clues aiding Kingsbury search

Earlier: Maddi Kingsbury’s partner break silence

WABAHA, Minn. – Flood waters coursing into the Mississippi from snowmelt up the Chippewa, Minnesota and St. Croix tributaries have put parts of Wabasha underwater. If weather were warmer and the water cleaner, you could swim the bases  at city ballparks. At the touristy Slippery’s Bar and Grill on the river, the patio deck suddenly is a river bottom. This, said Darren Sheele, the city emergency management director, said this is only the beginning. On Monday the river was at 14.6 on a flood scale. Expected Thursday: 15.9.

Earlier: Flood waters swamping Bass Camp