Winona Journal – Home
3April 2023

College scores

Baseball: Winona State 8, Southwest Minnesota State 1

Baseball: Winona State 10, Southwest Minnesota State 3, doubleheader

Baseball: Saint Mary’s 6, St. Scholastica 2

Baseball: Saint Mary’s 9, St. Scholastica 2, doubleheader

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 10, UW-Platteville 0

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 6, UW-Platteville 1, doubleheader

Softball: St. Cloud State 8, Winona State 5

Softball: Saint Mary’s 4, Hamline 3

Softball: Hamline 6, Saint Mary’s 5

3April 2023

Police: Kingsbury an “endangered missing person”

WINONA, Minn. – The search for a missing Winona woman has shifted to eastern Fillmore County. Jay Rasmussen, deputy police chief, said a dark blue mini-van, matching the description of Madeline Jane Kingsbury’s vehicle, was seen reported traveling on the Highway 43 south from Winona toward Rushford. Rasmussen was not specific on the location of the sighting, but Highway 43 goes 45 miles to Mabel near the Iowa border and crosses the east-west Highway 16 along the Root River. Rasmussen also updated the police sequencing of events on Friday when Kingsbury disappeared:

> Kingsbury left for work about 8 a.m. in a 2014 dark blue Chrysler Town and Country minivan.

> She failed to show up for work.

> She failed to pick up her children after school from daycare, and she hadn’t made alternate arrangements..

> Numerous calls and messages from friends and family went unanswered.

> Police made a welfare check at the request of family and friends..

> The next morning the family called, about 9 o’clock, to express alarm.

> Police declared Kingsbury an “endangered missing person,” mobilized for an investigation within an hour, and began inquiries.

> Investigators canvassed the Far East End neighborhood, where Kingsbury lived, for clues and began collecting video surveillance.

> Residents and landowners in eastern Fillmore County were asked on Monday to check their properties, including any video cameras, doorbell cameras and game cameras, for signs of the dark blue minivan passing through or stopping.

> They were asked to check for signs of any disturbance or other suspicious activity.

“We are specifically looking for information during the timeframe of 8 a.m. on March 31 to 4 p.m. on April 1, along the Highway 43 corridor of Winona and Fillmore counties.” Rasmussen said. Any information should be phones to (507) 457-6288, he said.

Earlier: Leads few: Winona woman missing four days

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Kingsbury. Missing since leaving for work Friday morning.

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Minivan. A look-alike for Kingsbury’s dark blue 2014 Chrysler Town and Country.

3April 2023

City Council renews Bird e-scooter license

 

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Scooter pick up points. Scattered around town. This trio on Mankato Avenue. Image: Steve Lunde

Hoofing not only way to get around town on foot

WINONA, Minn. – The Winona City Council renewed the license of the Bird Rides e-scooter company for a second season. Bird will be allowed 150 scooters, up 50 from a year earlier. Patrick Menton, city rec director, said there were 15,000 rides last year for 21,000 miles total. A success, he called it. Other changes this year:

> Scooters will be allowed to and around parks, with the exception of Levee Park, Lake Park and Aghaming Park nut not in parks themselves or on city trails.

> Riders don’t need a driver license anymore, although the age minimum remains 18.

The charge: 39 cents a minute.

Earlier: City Council OK’s e-scooter rentals

Earlier: Rent-a-scooter firm seeks Winona site

3April 2023

Biden’s 20-state tour starts at Fridley factory

FRIDLEY, Minn. — President Biden visited the Cummins diesel engine factory in Fridley and praised the company for helping boost U.S. manufacturing with a major green initiative. Cummins is retaining 600 employees to manufacture decarbonized engines. “Instead of relying on equipment made overseas in places like China, our supply chains will be again made in American,” Biden said. “Companies and utilities across the country will use those products to make clean hydrogen and trucks made in America with zero emission engines powered by clean hydrogen.” The Cummins plant was the first stop on a 20-state swig across the country that Biden calls his Investing in America tour. He noted that the Cummins’ transition to electrolyzers was funded in part by tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act he ushered through Congress.

Earlier: Biden due Monday in Minnesota

Electrolyzer profile

Electrolyzers are devices that use electricity to break hydrogen out of water molecules. As a fuel he so-called “clean hydrogen” reduces emissions in engines that power vehicles and other machinery that now use petroleum-based fuel.

Biden arrival

Biden landed at MSP t on Air Force One around 12:30 p.m. Among greeters: Governor Tim Walz, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, Representative Ilhan Omar, and Mayors Jacob Frey of Minneapolis and Melvin Carter of St. Paul.

3April 2023

Leads few: Winona woman missing four days

WINONA, Minn. – Kidnapping is among possibilities that Winona police are considering in the disappearance of a 26-year-old Winona woman from her home. The search, with no clues, has included:

> Foot patrols up an down every street and alley on the Far East End.

> Interviews with family, friends from her college days at Winona State, ex-boyfriends, and anyone police can find who knows her.

> Checking for cell phone pings and social media traffic.

> Asking anyone with Ring doorbell or other video systems to check for anything suspicious.

> Alerting other police agencies for help, including every adjoining county and jurisdiction, and the state, the regional Violent Crimes Task Force an the   State Burau of Criminal Apprehension.

Kingsbury was last seen at her townhome on Kerry Drive, off Cottonwood Drive, about 10 a.m. on Friday. Friends and family said it was out if character fir her to just walk off. A boyfriend and family are taking care of two pre-school children.

Earlier: Search widens for missing Winona mom

3April 2023

Town hall’s future at issue: Democracy in Homer?

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Hardly stately but endearing. Built 1919 as a schoolhouse for first-graders to sixth-graders, many still with fond memories. Now the Homer townhall. Image: Steve Lunde

Town Board wants to raze it, build anew

HOMER, Minn. – Townspeople claim the Township Board has proceeded under the radar with a plan to tear down a 103-year-old building where many went to school years ago. They rallied last week to save the school and have been gathering signatures since on a protest petition. In response, Board members noted that they post their agenda at the Townhall, which now occupies the old school, but nobody drops by to look. For 14 months the Board agenda has included a new townhall, but no residents showed up at monthly meetings to challenge the project. In an interview township Treasurer Kim Skappel said the current building has accessibility issues. A new building, Skappel said. would increase space for meetings and elections, improve handicap access, and comply with current building codes. So will the schoolhouse-cum-townhall survive? Stay tuned.

Verbatim

Jim Driscoll, townsperson: “It’s a part of history that can’t be replaced. We call this irreplaceable. This is just a wonderful place. You know kids went here first through six grade”

Verbatim

Jeanne Nelson, townsperson: “We know we have not attended meetings as often as we should. But the problem is that we don’t have a website for Homer Township that makes it easily available for everyone to see when the meetings are, what the agenda will be, and who we can contact.”

3April 2023

Search widens for missing Winona mom

WINONA, Minn. – The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been called by Winona police to help hunt for a woman missing from her house since Friday. Friends and family said they last saw Madeline Jane Kingsbury, 26, at home in the morning. They asked police to conduct a welfare check in the evening. By 8:30 a.m., Saturday, police declared Kingsbury a missing person and launched a massive search. Officers walked a one-mile radius of her townhouse in the 150 block of Kerry Drive on the Far East End. Jay Rasmussen, deputy police chief, quoted the family that it was unlike Kingsbury to disappear. It was not believed that she had not driven off on her own, Rasmussen said. At Kingsbury’s townhouse were a live-in companion and two children under 5.

Earlier: Police issue alert for missing woman

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Kingsbury townhouse. On Kerry Drive on Winona’s Far West End.

3April 2023

A cooler interlude until Easter warming

WINONA, Minn. – After a seasonally warm weekend, thunderstorms will usher in a couple days iof cooler weather Tuesday. On Thursday, the National weather Service said, temperatures will ease higher ahead of  Easter weekend. Highs Sunday maybe in the mid-60s.

3April 2023

Storm cuts power to 160,000 in Twin Cities

MINNEAPOLIS – The energy company Xcel mobilized 1,200 linemen and other crew members for a storm-caused weekend power outage mostly in the Twin Cities and eastern and western suburbs. Lights were out at one point to 160,000 customers, although it was only monetarily for 120,000. Problems began Friday night with heavy snow, rain and strong winds. Still on Monday morning power hadn’t been restored at 700 sites.

3April 2023

Mid West Music Fest taps new director

WINONA, Minn. – A Saint Mary’s University alum, Sam Trueson, has been named executive director of Mid West Music Fest. Most recently Trueson has been audio, lighting and events manager at Island City Brewing. The festival this year is May 12-13 in Winona and November 3-4 in LaCrosse.

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Trueson. In SMU’s former music industry program.

3April 2023

Ashley signs Walk the Moon for music fest

ARCADIA, Wis. – The music festival Ashley for the Arts has lined up its final main stage event – Walk the Moon. The Ohio rock band, known mostly for the single “Anna Sun.”  will perform August 12 at the finale series of three-day festival. General admission: $35 to $200. The line-up:

August 10

August 12

Restless Road: 8 p.m. Country band from Nashville. “Growing Old with You.”

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Raelyn: 3 p.m.  A country singer from Texas. “Bra Off,” “Keep Up.”

August 11

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Sawyer Brown: 3 p.m. Country pop band from Florida.

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Walk the Moon: 5 p.m. A pop and rock band from Ohio. “Anna Sun,” “Shut Up and Dance,” One Foot.”

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Trace Adkins: 5 p.m. Louisiana-born country singer from Nashville. :Something Going On,” “Redneck Tendencies.”

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Tyler Hubbard: 7 p.m. A Georgia-born country, rock and pop singer. “5 Foot 9,”  Dirt.” :Sun Daze,” “Sippin’ on Fire.”

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Jake Owen: 7 p.m. Country singer from Florida. “Don’t Think I Can’t Love You,” “11 Beers.”

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OneRepublic: 9 p.m. Pop rock band from Colorado. “Apologize,” “Stop and Stare,” and “All the Right Moves.”

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Reo Speedwagon: 9 p.m. Rock band from Illinois. “Keep On Loving Yiu,” “Can’t Fight This Feeling.”

Johnny Holm: 10:30 p.m. On side stage. A Minnesota-based cover band.

Boogie and the Yo-Yoz: 10:30 p.m. On side stage. A Wisconsin cover band.

2April 2023

College scores

Baseball: St. Cloud State 12, Winona State 5

Baseball: Winona State 8, St. Cloud State 7, doubleheader

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 12, UW-Platteville 5

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 16, UW-Platteville 9

Softball: Sioux Falls 7, Winona State 6

Softball: Sioux Falls 4, Winona State 3, doubleheader

Softball: UW-LaCrosse 5, Dubuque 2

Softball: UW-LaCrosse 8, Dubuque 4, doubleheader

Tennis (women): St. Catherine 9, Saint Mary’s 0

2April 2023

Winona man’s death looks to be overdose

WINONA Minn. – A 27-year-old Winona man died apparently of a drug overdose. Police received a call about 8:10 a.m. that Anthony Xavier Glubka, 27, had been found dead in his place in the 350 block of Chestnut Street by his father. Police reported no evidence of foul play. Glubka was alone and there were no signs of struggle, police said. An autopsy was ordered.

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Glubka. Toxicology exam under way.

2April 2023

Homeless relocate but told again to leave

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Beyond the cyclone fence. Unsightly and unsanitary debris left behind at the former enclave of homeless people at Houska Park on the Mississippi River in LaCrosse. City crews begin clean-up this week. Image: Steve Lunde

Were to go? LaCrosse’s conundrum for everyone

LACROSSE, Wis. – Depending on your point of view, the LaCrosse homeless population has been either ushered or herded from scattered North Side sites where they had relocated after being evicted from their enclave at Houska Park two weeks ago .The city had declared the park, south of downtown, a health hazard for masses of flotsam and debris. From Houska the 100 or so homeless drifted north, mostly to wooded sites near Wittenberg Park and off George and Rose streets. But last week the city took down tents and makeshift shelters too. Where to now? The city Homeless Services agency, the Salvation Army and Independent Living Recourses scrambled to find housing.

Earlier: Homeless ordered out of LaCrosse park

Verbatim

Brian Sampson, Homeless Services coordinator the city, asked citizens to be kind: “Be empathetic. These are real human being with feelings, emotion. It’s not easy to be unsheltered and to not have a place to live or call home. So please be empathetic and understanding of where people are at and what their current situation.”

1April 2023

Week’s summary: Ending April 1, 2023

1April 2023

College scores

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse and UW-Platteville, postponed

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse and UW-Platteville, doubleheader, postponed

Softball: Saint Mary’s and St. Catherine, postponed

Softball: Saint Mary’s and St. Catherine, doubleheader, postponed

Softball: UW-LaCrosse and Dubuque, postponed

Softball: UW-LaCrosse and Dubuque, doubleheader, postponed

Tennis (men): Macalester 8, Saint Mary’s 1

Tennis (women): Winona State and Augustana

Tennis (women): Macalester 9, Saint Mary’s 0

1April 2023

“Forever Trump” enthusiasts flying colors early

HOMER, Minn. – Every other citizen has yanked up political yard signs but not at this address on Old Homer Road. An oversize red 2020 for Trump-Pence reigned until recent months but now has been updated in anticipation of Trump landing the 2024 Republican nomination, this time without Pence. What are Trump’s chances of carrying Winona County if he makes it to the next ballot? Winona County went 44% for Trump over Clinton in 2016. For 2020 the county went 49% to 48% for Biden over Trump.

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Presumptuous? Prescient?  Partisan for sure.  Twenty months ahead of the next presidential election, this household already has made up its mind. The bluff-side yard sign is impossible to miss coming or going on Highway 61. Image: Steve Lunde

1April 2023

Police issue alert for missing woman

WINONA, Minn. — Police asked for public help to locate a 26-year-old Winona woman missing since early Friday. Police posted a photograph but released with this description:  5-foot-4 inches, 135 pounds, hazel eyes, short, curly, brown  hair.  Tips to police at (507) 457-6530. Kingsbury, known to friends as Maddi, graduated from Winona State University’s health service program in 2019. She worked at Mayo Clinic helping review research involving human subjects for compliance with ethics protocols.

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Kingsbury. Last reported seen early Friday.

1April 2023

Sun shines on Fools Five event

LEWISTON, Minn. – The sun broke out after an overnight snow storm for 1,000-plus runners to go the distance in the annual Fools Five foot race. Even with he sun, it was a chilly run. The night before $90,000 was raised on an auction for cancer research of which $37,000 was earmarked for a local support group.

Earlier: Lewiston’s Fools Five running for 45th time

1April 2023

Kids say drunk threatened them with gun

ARCADIA, Wis. — An Arcadia man was arrested after a report that a gun was pointed at children at a gathering 13 miles away in Blair. Arrested was Douglas Stegerwald, 59. Charges, include recklessly endangering safety. Trempealeau County deputies responded to a call about 8:45 p.m., Friday, that a drunk man had threatened juveniles inside a building at 144 West Mill Road in Blair. The man had fled before officers arrived. The next day, deputies executed a search warrant at Stegerwald’s home and found a pistol that looked like the one in the Blair encounter.

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Stegerwald. No explanation yet for incident.

1April 2023

Airlines out of LaCrosse? Only way is to Chicago

LACROSSE, Wis. – Mayor Mitch Reynolds said the city will keep working to maintain commercial air service to LaCrosse. “Our region is vibrant and thriving in so many ways,” the mayor said in respoonse to once-dominant Delta’s pending departure. “We will continue to seek transportation alternatives for those traveling to and from La Crosse.” The La Crosse airport manager, Ian Turner, said that passenger demand was not the issue in Delta’s decision. The number of seats filled is the highest it’s ever been, exceeding 85%, Turner said: “Throughout the last four years we have done everything we can to maintain our air service despite the challenges facing the overall aviation industry.” Delta said its main reason for leaving was a pilot shortage that has resulted in unpredictable flight cancellations systemwide in recent months. Other airlines have faced the same issue and also have cut back their route systems.

Earlier: Delta drops last its lone LSE flight

LSE choices: Few

The pending end of Delta air service to LaCrosse leaves only American Airlines flying in and out of southwest Wisconsin. American has three flights a day, all to Chicago, departing at 6:14 a.m., 11:07 a.m. and 2:53 p.m.

1April 2023

This is no April Fools joke

WINONA, Minn. – The snow plows were out all night. The storm, however, wasn’t as severe as predicted. The precipitation fell mostly rain, albeit torrential, as temperatures danced up, down and around the freezing mark. The rain didn’t turn to snow until later than expected. Totals were one to three inches, mostly heavy and wet and not expected to stay long.

Earlier: Don’t pack away your snow shovels yet

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Winter not departing easily. A last hurrah? We can only hope. Image: Steve Lunde

1April 2023

Feds to railroad: You wreck, you pay

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sued Norfolk Southern railroad over its February train derailment ihat spewed toxic materials in East Palestine, Ohio. The suit doesn’t claim negligence but wants the railroad to pay for clean-up. The suit comes within days of two other major derailments with chemical discharges  in the Upper Midwest, both within 150 miles of each other:

Minnesota: A 40-car Burlington Northern train south of Willmar at Raymond.

North Dakota: A 70-car Canadian Pacific train south of Fargo at Wyndmere.

31March 2023

College scores

Tennis (women): Sioux Falls 5, Winona State 2

Tennis (women): UW-LaCrosse 6, Carthage 2

31March 2023

Angry microwave wouldn’t quit smoking

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Six people tried to put out a microwave fire with a fire extinguisher but gave up when the smoke just kept coming and fled the kitchen – and the house. One of them was taken to a hospital for smoke inhalation. This was about 8 p.m. at 3111 15th Avenue Northwest. Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire, which was limited to the microwave. Smoke damage was estimated at $10,000 not counting the microwave.

WELCOME

The worthiest goal of journalism is to promote intelligent citizen involvement. Such is our goal with Winona Journal. We focus on local issues so you can go about your daily activities with confidence that you can be a genuine and valued part of informed public dialogue on the kind of community we’re building.

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