SPARTA, Wis. –A Mondovi man was arrested for the firing of a handgun over and iver at a rural strip club. Witnesses told police that Alexander Knudtson, 21, of Mondovi, had tried to go into the bar with the handgun about 1:35 a.m.  but was forced back. Outside in the parking lot, witnesses said, he fired multiple rounds from the handgun, then drove off. A little later Monroe County deputies found Knudtson in his crashed vehicle in La Crosse County on Highway 162. He was booked for recklessly endangering safety, being armed while intoxicated, carrying a concealed weapon, disorderly conduct, and drunken driving. A judge set bail at $1,000 ordered him to stay away from the Hunting Shack gentlemen’s club as well as any place with liquor. No firearms either, the judge said.

Knutdson. Blood-alcohol tested almost 0.18%when booked. Generally 0.08% is considered impaired.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – A 16-year-old student overdosed in a Century High School restroom last week, police confirmed. The student was treated on-site with the drug antidote Narcon and taken to a hospital. At the time the incident was listed obscurely as a “drugs/narcotics call for service” in the Police Department’s public logbook. Century High, in northeast Rochester, has 1,600 students.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – A Plainview man who drove into the path of a semi-truck hauling grain died of his injuries in a Rochester hospital. The name of John Warren Johnson, 83, was released belatedly by the State Patrol. He was airlifted from the wreckage at U.S. Highway 63 and County Road 121 late Friday morning.  Day was driving a 1991 GMC Sierra. The truck driver, Tyler David Kehren, 17, of Lake City, was unhurt. Also unhurt hurt were Clarence Robert Day, 77, and Anyce Weber Day, both 77, both of Plainview. Their vehicle wea stuck by debris.

Earlier: One death at Olmsted County crossroads

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 10, UW-Stout 4

Baseball:, UW-Stout 17, UW-LaCrosse 4

Tennis (men): Saint Mary’s 5, Hamline 4

Tennis (women): Winona State 6, UM-Duluth 1

Tennis (women): Saint Mary’s 5, Hamline 4

Tennis (women): Saint Mary’s and UW-River Falls, postponed

Basketball (boys): Spring Grove Lions 68, Iron Junction Cherry Tigers 43

PRESTON, Minn. – Deputies captured two men wanted for murder in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in a residential garage north of Preston. There had been an overnight manhunt after the men fled a traffic stop six miles away near Fountain. There had been several calls that the men, or at least one of them, was walking toward Preston along U.S. Highway 52.  Taken into custody about 7:50 a.m. without resistance were:

Darwin L. Green, 27, of Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Lakendrick Mosley, 31, of Des Moines.

Arrest warrants for the men were issued in Iowa four dys ago, which it was thought prompted the men to leave town. Montreail Dungy, 45, was shot to death Christmas morning on the southwest side of Fort Dodge.

Earlier: Manhunt near Fountain for murder suspect

Michael Phillis and Amancai Biraden (Associated Press, March 18, 2023): “Minnesota Regulators: Nuclear Plant Leak Didn’t Require Public Notice”

Olivia Prondzinski (KTTC, March 22, 2023):”Mayo Civic Center Catering Employees Angered Over Nontransparent Pay”

Jacob Shafer (Winona Daily News, March 21, 2023): “Winona School Referendum One of Five Such Funding Requests in Minnesota Spring Elections”

Tennis (women): St. Cloud State 4, Winona State 3

Basketball (boys): Woodbury New Life Eagles 51, Spring Grove Lions 35

FOUNTAIN, Minn. – After a man fled a traffic stop near Fountain, Sheriff John DeGeorge told people to lock their doors and cars and stay inside. The man was believed to be wanted for murder in Iowa. DeGeorge issued the alert at 9 p.m. Meanwhile, a search was launched for Darwin L. Green, for whom a warrant had been issued in Fort Dodge, Iowa, for a December slaying. Green was described as a black male, 31 years old, 6 feet tall and 199 pounds with dreadlocks. He had been  charged as an accessory in the death. It was thought he might be traveling with Lakendrick Mosley, 31, of Des Moines. Mosley has been charged with first-degree murder for the December death. Fort Dodge is 180 miles from Fountain, population 400, which is 18 miles south of St. Charles.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – One person was killed when a grain truck and a pickup collided on the Highway 63 route connecting Rochester and Lake City. The collision was north of Rochester at the crossroads with Olmsted County Road 21. The accident was about 11:30 a.m. The junction was closed 3-1/2 hours to clear debris and to sweep up tons of corn. The State Patrol said the semi-truck, driven by a 17-year-old boy from Lake City, was heading south on Highway 63 toward Rochester. The pickup, driven by an 83-year-old Plainview man, was westbound on Olmsted County Road 21. A third vehicle, carrying a Plainview man and woman, both 75, was hit by debris. The State patrol didn’t release names immediately.

 WINONA, Minn. – Two persons were arrested after receiving three packages mailed from California, each with two pounds of meth packed inside stuffed animal dolls. The meth would have been worth $24,000 retail had it reached the streets, police said. The raid was about 12:10 p.m. on Winona’s West End. Arrested without resistance:

Damien Duwjan Shade, 46, Winona, charged with drug and illegal firearm possession.

Jessica Marie Willis, 39, of Winona, charged with drug possession.

the arrests were at Willis’ apartment in the Maplewood Townhomes on Kraemer Drive. Twenty-five officers who had massed for the raid met no resistance. Deputy Police Chief Jay Rasmussen gave this account:

> Homeland Security and U.S. Postal investigators in Rochester were aware of the shipments – two packages addressed to Willis in the 1700 block of Kraemer Drive in Winona and one to Shade at his duplex in the 700 block of Fifth Street.

> A team of officers led by Winona County sheriff’s officers was assembled. These included officers from the U.S. Homeland security agency in Rochester and officers from Austin, Goodview, Preston, Rochester, Wabasha  and Winona.

> Shade was observed leaving Willis’s apartment and driving to his place a few blocks away.

> Shade returned to the Willis apartment with a single carton.

> Officers entered the apartment.

> Six pounds of meth were in the packages inside stuffed animal dolls, each with two pounds of meth.

> In Willis’ bedroom, police found a loaded syringe on a nigthtstand,  baggie with meth, and a perfume bottles with suspicious contents. Later a jailer found 0.5 grams of meth in her bra.

> At Shade’s place, officers found $2,260 cash and a 357 magnum revolver with ammunition.

WINONA, Minn. – A Wisconsin driver was arrested for drunken driving at Mark and Franklin streets about 1:35 a.m. Police quoted Emily Grace Hanson, 20, of Niellsville, as admitting to two drinks. Her blood tested at0.22% alcohol – almost triple the allowable max for driving. Police said Hanson was stopped after hitting a curb at a roundabout, weaving, and repeatedly crossing the fog line.

View from Garvin Heights. Over the Huff Street causeway through Lake Winona. The night was clear. Stars shined bright if you gazed upward  Image: Shawn Beier.

Quivering plasma bends sun rays

WINONA, Minn. – Aurora borealis, usually called Northern Lights are typically visible only close to the Arctic Circle. But they ventured south Thursday with their dynamic patterns of brilliant lights appearing as curtains, rays, spirals and flickers. Auroras are created by solar disturbances tat send sun rays into quivering plasma in Earth’s magnetosphere.