Historic trial: Minnesota takes on E-cig maker Juul
MINNEAPOLIS – The $100 million State of Minnesota suit against E-cigarette marketer Juul opened. Attorney General Keith Ellison accused Juul of targeting vulnerable children with “slick products, clever ads and attractive flavors” with the goal of addicting them to nicotine. “They baited, deceived and addicted a whole new generation of kids,” Ellison said. David Bernick, an attorney for Juul, responded that Juul intended only “to convert adult smokers of combustible cigarettes to a less dangerous product that would still provide a satisfying nicotine experience.” Barnick denied that E-cigarettes were deadly.
Historical note
Minnesota won a landmark $7.1 billion settlement with the tobacco industry in 1998. That money has been arriving incrementally in state coffers over the years.
Big Tobacco role?
Until recently the tobacco giant Altria, formerly Phillip Morris, held a minority Stake in Juul. At the trial an Altria attorney asked that the company be excused as a defendant. He said that Alria has divested its Juul interest after losing $12,8 billion. The State of Minnesota claims the tobacco industry saw fruity-named and colorfully packaged Juul products as a gateway to tobacco addiction for young people. That will be an issue for Hennepin County Judge Laurie Miller to decide.
First Juul trial
Juul has has faced thousands of cases nationwide about whether its advertising targeted children. Most caseshave been settled out of court. These include cases by 39 states. The first state case to go to trial is Minnesota’s. Other states with pending trials: Alaska, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, West Virginia and also the District of Columbia.
Collision. no injuries at Huff and Second streets
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver Gretchen Cohenour, 68, was cited for failure to yield and smashing into another vehicle. There we no injuries. The accident was at Huff and Third street near Blooming Grounds coffee house. Cohenour, who was at a stop sign on Third said she didn’t see the other vehicle.
Charges filed in case of baby left in field
WHITEWATER, Wis. – A woman, apparently the mother of a child found dead in a field March 4, was charged with child neglect and hiding the body. Santos Asucena Caseres Cruz initially denied the pregnancy. Later, investigators said, she admitted delivering the baby herself on January 27. She said she didn’t call 911 for help because nobody knew she was pregnant, including her other children. She said also that she thought the child was born dead. When she was arrested, her place was cleared out. It was believed she was leaving for Mexico to join the father of the child. Bail was set at $10,000. She was ordered to surrender her passport.
Iowa college closes: Fewer sudents, out of money
MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa — The 181-year-old Iowa Wesleyan University will graduate its last class in May. The university’s governing board voted unanimously to close. The Board cited rising costs, changing enrollment, and dropping donations. There also was bitterness at Governor Kim Reynold for denying federal CoVid relief funds that were channeled through the state government. Christine Plunkett, president of the Methodist-affiliated university, said the focus now is assuring that 850 students have a smooth transition elsewhere. There are agreements, she said, with William Penn University, Upper Iowa University, University of Dubuque and Culver-Stockton College to complete degrees.
Iowa Wesleyan. Second oldest university in Iowa.
Hy-Vee recalls dinner packs with dairy allergens
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Hy-Vee recalled its store brand chili macaroni hamburger skillet meals for a dairy allergen not listed on packaging. There have been no reports of adverse effects, Hu-Vee said. The labeling problem was on a spice packet: Lot FEB0824 Y18. The packages were 5.2-ounce cardboard boxes.
Five kids suffer minor injuries in bus crash
Accident on straight stretch. U.S. Highway 53 at Nelson Road. Image: Trempealeau. County sheriff
Couple in crumpled SUV to hospital
OSSEO, Wis. – A school bus carrying 17 children was rear-ended south of Osseo, injuring five of them but not seriously. Two persons in the other vehicle were rushed, one by helicopter, to an Eau Caire hospital. The accident was south of Osseo about 8:15 a.m. Trempealeau County deputies said the bus, northbound, was slowing to turn left on Nelson Road. An SUV, driven by Ryan Strittmater, 28, of La Crosse, rammed the bus from behind. Both Strittmater and a passenger, Jada Trussoni, 24, of La Crosse. were injured seriously but it wasn’t believed the injuries were life-threatening, deputies said. Even so, both were taken to a hospital. The bus driver was not hurt.
$3.2 million gift to LaCrosse charity
LACROSSE, Wis. – The LaCrosse Community Foundation has been bequeathed $3.2 million by the late UW-La Crosse English professor Ronald Burman. The money is designated for scholarships and the arts. The Foundation’s chief executive, Jamie Schloegel, said the gift was one of the largest ever received and unexpected: “It brought a tear to my eye because I knew that this was everything that Ron had hoped for — his legacy.” Schloegel noted that Ronald and Valerie Burman never had children: “Through this legacy t now they have surrogate children that will be supported forever.”
Burman. He died in January at age 89, his wife in 2010.
Man accused of slapping, hitting girlfriend on street
WINONA, Minn. – A woman called police from the King Koin all-night self-laundry to report her boyfriend had flipped out during the night. He slapped her mouth and punched her forehead, she said, this during an argument as they were walking up Main Street near Wabasha Street. Sixteen blocks away police found Brett John Dennis, 36, at a place he was known to stay. This was in the 400 block of Mankato Avenue. He denied hitting the woman. But police, who had the seen woman’s red marks and swelling and took to the hospital, decided that an arrest was in order. The arrst was about 5:15 a.m. Meanwhile, a doctor said the woman’s injuries were expected to heal.
Dennis. Booked for domestic assault with intent to harm.
An ode to spring in Easter pastels on Highway 16
HOUSTON, Minn. – The season-mindful Beckmans, Kelly and Mike. have their driveway oak on Highway 16 in pastels for Easter. Count the Faberges.
Those hopping bunnies. They’ve reached new heights for their their Easter eggs. At giraffe height, there’s no hiding them this spring.
Southeast college president spared the rod
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The president of Minnesota State College Southeast, Marsha Danielson, has learned her punishment for overbilling the state for car expenses, seeking a gift from a state vendor, and insulting subordinates. She will keep her $188,000 job, but will:
> Reimburse the state $5,146 for 86 roundtrips between campuses for which she was already was receiving a travel allowance.
> Reimburse Xcel Energy $225 for free hockey tickets.
> Begin what are called“360 reviews,” in which Danielson seeks ongoing feedback from staff on her performance.
Winona campus.
Red Wing campus.
Already Danielson has apologized to her staff for diminutive nouns of direct address.
The state college’s chancellor, Dewinder Malhotra, meted out the reprimand and ordered the reimbursements after months of investigations, audits and deliberation. Malhotra said that he could not be unmindful of Danielson’s success at Southeast’s Winona and Red Wing campuses since he appointed her president in 2021. He noted that she had organized Winona industrialists to pick up full tuition and fees for Southeast students in job-oriented training.
Ethnic, gender slurs
Unmentioned jn the reprimand is a report that Danielson had called state colleges Chancellor Dewinder Malhotra a cheap skate for not picking up a lunch tab and attributed it his being India-born– a charge she denied. Danielson also denied mocking the accent of fellow college President Adenuga Atewologun, the Nigeria-born president of Riverland College in Austin. Daniel admitted, however, to callig staff members “hon,” “girlie” and ”babe” and other 1950-ish regionalisms and terms of endearment that have become offensive.
Earlier: Southeast leadership bailout? College: Just coincidence
Earlier: Audit: College president lied about freebies
Earlier: Ethics complaints plague Winona college chief
Malhotra. Chancellor of state colleges system since 2017.
Danielson. President of Minnesota State College Southeast since 2021.
Tough arrest after apartment door battered open
WINONA, Minn. – Police took down a man who resisted arrest violently in a Kwik Trip parking lot after a savage break-in at an ex-girlfriend’s apartment. Arrested was Airon Kamar Wiggins, 30, of Winona. Police had taken a 911 call from the girlfriend, who said Wiggins had banged on her apartment door and then bashed it in and threw things around and cursed her angrily with crude epithets. As she was calling 911, she said, he grabbed her car keys and fled. This was in the 50 block of Links Lane on the Far East End. Police found the splintered apartment door and broken lock and mayhem inside. Soon thereafter an officer spotted the girlfriend’s missing car in a roundabout and turned on his suaad lights. The driver pulled into the Kwik Trip on Homer Road. There, the officer said, Wiggins climbed out of the car, walked toward officer, and asked to be shot. He was told to put his hands in the air but refused. When the officer tried to cuff him, he tensed his arms in resistance, police said. When a backup officer arrived, he gave the still non-complying Wiggins a V-jab to a peroneal leg nerve. He fell to the ground in transitory agony and, finally, was cuffed. Wiggins as booked about 1 :15 a.m.
Wiggins. Booked for violation of a no-contact order, domestic abuse, burglary and auto theft.
Half-staff flags to mourn school shooting deaths
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Governor Tim Walz ordered flags to half-staff at state facilities to mourn the deaths of three children and three adults in a mass shooting at a Tennessee school. President Biden issued a similar order for federal facilities.
College scores
Baseball: Northern State of South Dakota 14, Winona State 12
Cops: School aide admits sex wth teen
ELCHO, Wis. – Bail for a school paraprofessional was set at $250.000 in a teen sex case. Ashley King, 31, was charged with sex with a 17-year-old boy in January and again in February at the Otter Lake boat landing. In the criminal complaint King is quoted as saying she and the boy got to talking and “it went from there” and turned into “sexual things.” The Elcho School has 280 PK-12 students.
King. Two charges of sexual assault.
Probe continues into $26,000 meth delivery
WINONA, Minn. – The Rochester-based regional drug task force continued its follow-up on a Winona drug raid that turned up $26,000 in meth. The meth had passed through the U.S. Postal Service station in Rochester on Friday for delivery to two Winona addresses. Somewhat cleverly but not clever enough, the drugs were sewn inside stuffed animals for mailing in inconspicuous packages. The packages had originated in California. The Southeast Minnesota Violent Crimes Prevention Task Force tipped Winona authorities, who made two arrests.
Grocery stiffed for $1,290 in bad checks
WINONA, Minn. – Police officers were put on alert for a man who passed $1,290 in bad checks at Midtown Foods. The checks were written in four visits to the grocery two weekends ago. Police said they have the man’s name.
Proposal: 75-cent tax on each home delivery
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Two nickel-and-diming tax bills, adding 75 cents for door-step delivery service, have been introduced in the Minnesota House. The plan, for which Minneapolis Democrat Frank Hornsten is the prime author, would generate revenue for work on roads and bridges. Nicked would be pizza, drug. grocery and Amazon deliveries and also Uber rides.
Winona composer Blunt Blade with debut album
WINONA, Minn. – The global music site Spotify has picked up the self-titled album by Winona musician Blunt Blade. It’s the debut album from the Cotter High School graduate. Blunt Blade’s debut album comprises complex vocal and instrumental tracks with themes, some moody, some joyous, on overcoming difficult circumstances in life. The album was mixed and mastered by Eric Oehler of Submersible Studios in Madison. It was released in September by Sharpening Stone Records of Winona.
Blunt Blade. His roots include Cotter High School, Saint Mary’s University and Minnesota State College Southeast.
Album tracks
> “Tension” (05:22)
> “The Build” (03:02)
> “Coarse Rection” (03:50)
> “Light Meadows” (03:09)
> “Disarmed” (04:24)
> “Outsider” (02:56)
> “The Sad Clown” (05:25)
> “Trapped” (04:15)
> “Destructive Intent” (01:50)
> “Struggling Skies” (02:53)
> “The End” (04:44)
Stomped, kicked, beaten at high school game
Outside Target Center. Bad blood moved outside after game’s final buzzer.
Good news: Contrary to initial reports, no guns
MINNEAPOLIS – Fighting inside the Target Center during the state high school basketball championship game continued later outside. One witness, Harding Smith, told WCCO: “I’m looking at that kid lying on the ground being stomped, and that’s somebody’s child.” About halftime time there had been a brawl inside, which police broke up. The melee resumed outside.
Verbatim
Smith: “Where are the adults? “It’s upon us as adults, as community activists and leaders and pastors and bishops to instill these values into our kids. If we don’t, we’re gonna lose this war.”
a nonprofit that is building a youth empowerment center in Brooklyn Park for youth activities, mentorship and job training.
Democrats set state budget targets but not details
ST. PAUL, Minn. – With eight weeks left in the Minnesota Legislature’s scheduled 2023 session, agreement has been reached on budget targets for the upcoming biennium. Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, and the Democrat leaders of the Senate and House settled on new spending that totals $18 billion. Ahead is eight weeks of hammering out thorny details with minority Republicans, like how to handle a record state revenue surplus. In broad terms, the revenue surplus issue is over the the mix of refunds to taxpayers and funds for government programs. In the 2022 session of gthe Legislature , many budget choices were bogged down in partisan stalemate. Now, said Walz: “The era of gridlock is over.” He noted his so-called “trifecta” – Democratic control of the governorship and Senate and House. “We’re able to set those targets among the House, the Senate, and the executive branch, and able to give those numbers to our chairs to go and continue to build on what we’ve already done,” the governor said. Among line-item budget targets:
> $3 billion for tax cuts, down from Walz’s originally proposed $8 billion.
> $2.3 billion for infrastructure projects.
> $2.2 billion for K-12 education and pre-kindergarten.
> $1.3 billion for children and families.
> $1 billion for housing.
> $650 million for public safety.
> $255 million for energy and climate.
> $100 million for broadband expansion.
Process ahead
The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Liz Olson, a Duluth Democrat, explained the next steps:
> Committee chairs will go back and put together their bills.
> Bills then go to joint Senate-House conference committee.
> There will be a “timely and transparent conclusion to the session.”
Republican response
Republican leaders in the Legislature were less than pleased with the Democratic targets. Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, a Republican from East Grand Forks, called the Democratic tax relief “paltry.” Said House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, a Republican from Cold Spring: “This budget is clearly focused growing government, not giving money back to Minnesotans.
College scores
Baseball: Winona State 2, Northern State of South Dakota 1
Baseball: Winona State 10, Northern State of South Dakota 6, doubleheader
Baseball: Saint Mary’s and North Central of Minnesota, postponed
Baseball: Winona State 2, Northern State of South Dakota 1, postponed, doubleheader
Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 9, UW-Stout 1
Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 5, UW-Stout 2, doubleheader
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 7, Saint Mary’s 0
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 9, Saint Mary’s 6, doubleheader
R.I.P.: Armin Prigge
WINONA, Minn. – Armin Prigge, 96, who farmed his whole life in Hillsdale Township, died at Good Shepherd Lutheran Home in Rushford. The farm was begun by his grandfather, and he began farming at age 14. He still was helping out at 91. He served on the Hillsdale District 97 School Board. He helped organize the local chapter of the National Farmers Organization. He played accordion n a band that booked in Elgin, Plainview and Rochester. At Silo Lutheran Church he was financial secretary.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1927-2023
Lewiston’s Fools Five running for 45th time
2022 race. Last year $89,000 was raised for cancer research.
Auction Friday at 5 p.m., race Saturday at 1 p.m.
LEWISTON, Minn. – Registration is under way for the annual Fools Five foot race in Lewiston. The one-mile race and USTA-certified 8K race will be April 2. Registration: $5 to $12 either online or at the race . Revenue again goes 100% to cancer research, said Judy Halvorson and Dan Goss, co-directors. A related auction will be the evening before at the Lewiston Community Center. Guest speakers are Crystal Eide, of the Caleb Eide Memorial Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to the memory of her son, and Lisa Hoover, a beneficiary of the Foundation.
Southeast leadership bailout? College: Just coincidence
WINONA, Minn. – An exodus of leadership at Minnesota State College Southeast is unrelated to the disciplinary proceedings against the college president, a college spokesperson told the Winona Post. Of the college’s seven top administrators, five departed as the case against college President Marsha Danielson was unfolding for financial and personnel misconduct. Danielson remains in her $188,000 position as college presiden while state Chancellor Dewinder Malhotra ponders possible disciplinary action. Four administrators left the college in the second half of 2022:
> Heather Conley, academic dean, who was appointed in September 2020.
>Ann Deiman, dean of faculty, who was appointed in September 2020.
> Chad Dull, vice president student success, who was appointed January 29022.
> Josiah Litant, vice president of student affairs, who appointed in Januay 2022.
A fifth administrator, finance Vice President Amy Schmidt, resigned last week.
Earlier: Southeast Tech exec leaves for Viterbo
Earlier: Audit: College president lied about freebies
Earlier: Ethics complaints plague Winona college chief
Southeast College profile
Minnesota State College Southeast comprises two campuses – one in Winona, one in Red Wing. The college was created in 2016, combining what originally was Winona Vo-Tech, which dated to 1949, and the Red Wing Vocational Technical Institute, which dated to 1971. Nobody ever much liked the new name – Minnesota Sate College Southeast Technical. It hardly hardly tipples off the tongue and is nightmarish for headline writers. The name was meant to transcend the college’s vocational roots. Shedding “Winona” from the name was intended also not to slight Red Wing and to set the college apart from Winona State University. Together the bi-campuses enrollment is 2,600, more than half of whom are part-time. There are 50 programs in vocational career fields: Business and management, Education, human services, engineering, manufacturing and trades, health sciences, information technologies, musical instrument repair, and transportation. There also is a two-year diploma in liberal arts. The split campus configuration, each 60 miles apart, has been a continuing logistically and administratively problematic.
Mayo Civic Center workers claim gratuities sliced
Mayo Civic Center. Rebuilt in 2017 as convention venue with a 40,000-quare foot ballroom and 16 breakout rooms. Festisval capacity is 7,200 , concert seating 5,200.
Caterer: Past-due checks now have been issued
ROCHESTER, Minn. – The contract caterer at the Mayo Civic Center, Oak View Group of Los Angeles, , reported that short-changed employees have all been paid in full. The announcement came on the eve of a protest meeting called by angry OVG 360 employees. At issue, in part, was a policy change in gratuity pass-downs. For large sit-down banquets, some with 1,700 participants, the staff had been receiving 40% of a service fee, which then, without notification was cut to 35% in February, then 30% in March. Employees who inquired what was going on reportedly were let go. oVG360 said the former 40% staff cut would be restored.
Verbatim
Mitchell Meurer, former OVG 360 supervisor, who organized the protest meeting: “Anyone with the courage to stand up and ask what is going on or try to put a stop to it, corporate or HR doesn’t seem to be interested and then on top of it all the people that have had the courage to stand up for the staff have been black-balled and fired, and now everyone here is afraid for their job, every manager, everybody on the food and beverage side of things anyways because they are run by OVG,”
Verbatim
OVG 360 corporate statement: “We greatly value our hospitality team at the Mayo Civic Center. All employees have now been paid in full at the original rate for their work provided.”
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