WSU to augment school Rochester mental health aid
WINONA, Minn. – A $2 million federal grant has been awarded to Winona State University and Rochester schools to place advanced university students into mental-health counseling jobs. The five-year grant will cover scholarships for 30 students in a two-year master’s program to get into the workforce early. Rochester schools have 17,000 students. The grant was announced by Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, on a swing through southeast Minnesota. The senator noted 32% of Rochester 11th graders have seriously considered suicide and 11% have actually attempted. The district has 32 mental health counselors. Klobuchar’s point: “Not enough.”
Verbatim
Klobuchar: “We all know that we have come through a lot as a country. Through the pandemic everyone was in 300 million separate silos all over our country. People were isolated. And it made people who already were feeling a bit isolated in an ever-changing world even more so.”
Teens arrested after harassing school drive-bys
LACFOSSE, Wis. – Everyone at a LaCrosse grade school, including 200 students, were ushered inside after three teenagers drove by the playground and repeatedly shouted treats. This was about noon. Police responded and launched a search for the car. They found it. Arrested were:
> Hunter Gundlach,19: Charged terrorist threats, disorderly conduct, and bail jumping.
> Brady Hove, 19: With terrorist threats and disorderly conduct.
> Alex Pataska, 18. With terrorist threats and disorderly conduct.
The Blessed Sacrament School, 2400 King Street, has students in Grades 3 to 6.
Austin High in lockdown after bathroom ruckus
AUSTIN, Minn. –Austin High School went on lockdown after an officer on duty at the school asked for back-up because word was circulating that someone was flashing a gun. Other police responded but were unable to substantiate the report. Police Chief David McKichan said the report was traced to embellishments regarding an altercation in a school bathroom. No injuries were reported in the altercation. Officers took the boys from the fight, age 16 and 15, to he police station, then released them. This was about noon. The school has 1,350 students in Grades 9 to 12.
Daleys yield on suit against feedlot foes
MINNEAPOLIS – The Daley dairy farm family withdrew its federal law suit against opponents of its expansion plans, including individual members of the Winona County Board and environmentalists. Magistrate Judge David Schultz granted the withdrawal. The Daleys noted, however, that they free to revive the suit in the future. Also, they still have litigation pending in a state court. The Daley decision was a surprise, coming after years of persistent appeals in the courts and regulatory agencies and the county government to quadruple their feedlot near Lewiston. Some dynamics in the Daley fight with the county changed seriously in the November election when they lost key supporters:
> Ken Fritz, retired county administrator, who was backed by the Daleys, lost decisively, 62% to 37%, to incumbent Chris Meyers, who had opposed a Daley expansion.
> Steve Jacob, a County Board member who favored the Daleys, won a seat in the state Legislature, which left his County Board seat vacant for the next eight months.
> Marcia Ward, a County Board member who backed the Daleys, was left the only member on record on their side.
In general, whatever support that the Daleys had in the general public seemed seemed to be dwindling. Call it Daley Fatigue. The last straw may have been the latest lawsuit, filed un November, which forced individual defendants to hire lawyers at their own expense to defend themselves. This seemed petty. The defendants, all public-minded citizens of modest means, called the suit bullying intimidation. One their attorneys called the suit. frivolous.
Feedlot issue
Winona County has a limit on livestock feedlots — no more than 1,500 animal units, which figures out to 1,071 dairy cows. The Daleys wanted an exception to expand to 6,000 animal units.
Litigants
The Daleys filed the suit in November 2022, the latest in a four-year campaign to expand their herd.
Plaintiffs: Daley Farm of Lewiston, Ben Daley, Michael Daley and Stephen Daley.
Defendants: Marie Kovecsi, Chris Meyer, Greg Olson, all County Board members as individuals; Cherie Hales, Bobby King, Doug Nopar, Johanna Rupprecht, Barb Sogn-Frank and Kelley Stanage, all as individuals, all associated with the Land Stewardship Project, and LSP itself.
Earlier: Daley dairy accused of stifling farm policy dialogue
Earlier: Daleys accused of spiteful political attack
Earlier: Daleys back in quest to grow herd exponentially
Earlier: County’s attorney: Dead-end ahead for new Daley suit
Earlier: Not giving up: Daleys persist for 4,500-cow farm
Earlier: County to Daleys: Let’s spell it out: N-O
Earlier: Feedlot opponents organizing resistance
Earlier: Mega-feedlot ban again before County Board
Earlier: Daley dairy expansion denied again
Earlier: Daley expansion critics go door to door
Earlier: Next Daley move: “All cards on table”
Spring’s in the air: Alt-side parking ends
WINONA, Minn. – Life in Winona just got easier for people who park their cars on the street overnight — at least until next winter. The city’s alternate-side parking rules expired for the season. It’s been a typical winter with roughly 2,400 tickets at $25 a pop and 100 tows for whatever Borkowski Towing charges, which can be more than $300 with storage fees to retrieve your car. A year-to-year comparison from Police Chief Tom Williams:
2023: 2,392 tickets and 104 tows.
2022: 2,498 and 96.
2021; 1,556 and 227.
2020: 2,410 and 190.
2019: 2,601 and 408.
Emergency, fire crews make 45 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 34 emergency medical calls plus 11 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, March 14: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Monday, March 13: 2 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Sunday, March 12: 9 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Saturday, March 11: 6 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Friday, March 10: 4 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Thursday, March 9: 6 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Wednesday, March 8: 3 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews 39 ca1ls
Some injuries in three-car Plainview pile-up
PLAINVIEW, Minn. – Two cars and a pickup collided on ice just west of Plainview, causing non-life threatening injuries. The accident was about 6:55 a.m. Injured were:
> Emily Ann Scripture, 27, of Elgin, who was taken 30 miles to a Rochester hospital.
> Adam Gerrit Dornink, 35, and Sarina Marie Dornink, 35, both of Pine Island, to a Rochester hospital.
Unhurt was Nicholas Lloyd Quimby, 33, of Millville. The Dornicks’ Mazda 3 was eastbound Highway 247. Scripture’s Ford Focus and Quimby’s Chevrolet Silverado were westbound.
Crash on icy road kills Owatonna driver
OWATONNA, Minn. – An Owatonna driver was killed when two vehicles collided on snow and ice-covered State Highway 218. Terry Jon Pelovsky, 59, was dead at the scene, police said. The accident was about 6:55 a.m. Pelovsky was northbound leaving Owatonna in a 2009 Toyota Corolla. Becky Linn Schwering, 58, of Claremont, in a 2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee, was taken to the Owatonna hospital with non-life threatening injuries. She was southbound.
Car hits tree, tree hits power line. road blocked
HOMER, Minn. – A large tree was stuck by a car and toppled on a power line on Old Homer Road. Sheriff’s deputies said there were no injuries. This was about 3:30 a.m. in the narrow bluff-side residential 35000 block.
$40,000 grant to Winona Volunteer charity
WINONA Minn. – the Otto Bremer Trust awarded a $40,000 grant to Winona Volunteer Services to help with its food shelf, individually tailored assistance, and home-delivered meals. The grant is the third from the Bremer Trust for general operations.
A bit ‘o snow for Saint Patrick
WINONA, Minn. – Saint Patrick will freeze his bippies when he drops in on namesake celebrations of the 1,532th anniversary of his death. A storm system from the southwest will bring light snow showers off and on Friday, leaving a light coating in some spots with temperatures in the low to mid-20s. Gusts will drop wind chills to the single digits. Until then, expect partial sunshine and highs in the low 30s.
Earlier: Root River oak sprouts shamrock
Miller floats plan for failsafe tax refunds
ST. PAUL, Minn. – State Senator Jeremy Miller thinks he has the answer to avoid future gridlocks over refunding state revenue surpluses to taxpayers. Miller. a Winona Republican, has proposed automatic refunds if the Legislature and governor fail to pass tax relief. Were Miller’s plan in place now, $8.7 billion would be on their way to 2.2 million filers on March 1, he said. Married couples would have checks for $5,100 and single-filers $2,550. The bill had no co-sponsors in the Senate initially but was referred to the tax committee. There was no companion bill in the House.
Charges: Erratic, drunken driving; cocaine too
WINONA Minn. – A Winona man admitted he had been drinking when police pulled him over for wandering out of his traffic lane near Sugar Loaf and even hitting a curb. After a field sobriety test showed the blood-alcohol level of Bryan Daniel Moore, 37, at 0.08%, a drunken-driving cherge seemed imminent. Then, police said, Moore told them he had cocaine on himself. Sure enough. At the jail the cocaine was weighed at 3.2 grams. Also, his blood-alcohol had spiked in 50 minutes since the stop to 0.17%.
Highway 43 stop. At Sugar Loaf Road.
Moore. Charges: Alcohol-impaired driving, cocaine possession.
College scores
Baseball: Mount Mercy 12, Winona State 5
Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 4, Southern Maine 3
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 11, Dickinson of Pennsylvania 2
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 6, Webster 3
Teen sex rendezvous climaxes in arrest
LACROSSE, Wis. –A La Crosse man was caught in a police sting in which a cop posed online as a 15-year-old girl. James Wooden, 47, was arrested when he showed up for a rendezvous, police said. Wooden was charged with using a computer to entice a child into sex and being a repeat offender. Her. The sting involved online chat conversations over nine weeks beginning in January. “Jim” sent a photo, which helped identify him, police said.
Wooden. Snared in police sting.
Duluth mall’s roof breaks under weight of snow
DULUTH, Minn. – The roof collapsed over a wide interior pedestrian corridor inside the 98-store Miller Hill Mall. No one weas injured. Most affected was the Essentia Health fitness gym, which was evacuated. Most mall stores were only opening when the collapse occurred about 9 a.m. They too were evacuated. The collapse apparently was due to tons of snow on the roof. Fire Chief Shawn Krizaj said a crew of shovelers had been clearing snow off the roof but clamored down when they heard popping noises. Inside people reported smelling gas on their out. Krizaj said the city promptly shut off gas and water valves.
Mall shopping? Not today at Miller Hill Mall in Duluth. Image: AJ Miller
Mall map. Red circle marks cave-in. Image: Northern News Now
Chivalry lives: Maced man says no charges
WINONA, Minn. – Police responded to a report from a passerby that a woman had maced a man during an argument on the street and walked off. Officers arrived as the man was wiping his face with snow. The man declined to name the assailant and said he didn’t want to pursue charges. This was about noon on West Service Drive.
State Senate leader home after cancer surgery
MINNEAPOLIS – The State Senate majority leader, Kari Dziedzic, underwent surgery Monday to remove a cancerous tumor, she confirmed. Dziedzic said the surgery was a success. Dziedzic, a Mineeapolis Democrat, said her doctors have advised her to do her Senate work from home through recovery. She was diagnosed in January after a pap smear test suggested further examination. On Friday her doctors scheduled surgery Monday at the University of Minnesota.
Verbatim
Dziedzic: “There is never a good time for anyone to learn they have cancer. I prefer being on the Senate Floor debating the issues, but like others facing health issues, I am following my doctor’s advice. I plan to physically return to the Capitol soon. Until then, I will continue leading the Senate DFL caucus, and doing the work for the people of my district and all Minnesotans through the remote technology.”
Dziedzic. First elected to Minnesota Senate in 2012. She is 61.
Missing Elba saloon money bag returned
ELBA, Minn. – Tony of the namesake Tiny’s Saloon in Elba wasn’t too pleased to discover $1,800 in a money bag missing from the bar’s safe. He confronted an employee. It turned out that the employee’s juvenile daughter had the money. She returned it. Tony was pleased. He told deputies that he wouldn’t press charges.
Tony’s Saloon, Known for bingo, raffles, live music, bikers, snowmobilers.
R.I.P.: Frank Johnson
TREMPEALEAU, Wis. – Frank E. Johnson, 87, of Trempealeau, a retired educator, died at the Mayo hospital in La Crosse. He was a supporter of numerous charitable causes benefiting disabled children who could not afford medical care. He took pride in crafting art that depicted wildlife Perrot State Park. adjacent to his home. He won numerous awards for his garden.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1937-2022
College scores
Baseball: UW-Superior 8, UW-LaCrosse 7
Softball: Coe 8, UW-LaCrosse 0
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 13, Rochester Tech of New York 1
Cops to thief: We have you on camera
ROCHESTER, Minn. – A man armed with what looked like a stun gun robbed a Casey’s convenience store, probably not realizing he as walking into the sight of a security camera. From the video police know a lot about him: White, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-9, 150 to 160 pounds, brown hair, low brows, metal-rim glasses. Police have circulated he photo widely Know him? Then report him. The robbery was just before 9 p.m. at Casey’s General Store at 4500 Service Drive Northwest.
Robbery details
Two employees were on duty, one at the register, the other outside at the moment. The robber threatened the clerk at the register with a baton-type taser and demanded that she open the store safe. The clerk was unable to open the safe. Then the robber swept cash from the register and fled on foot.
Armed. Taser in left hand.
Free school meals bill now to Walz
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Senate voted 38-26 to provide free school meals for all children. The aid would run $420 million over two years and cover daily breakfast and lunches. The bill’s chief author, Senator Heather Gustafson, D-Vadnais Heights, called the bill an investment in children that represents less than 1% of the state’s education budget. The House earlier passed the bill 70-58 Governor Tim Walz is expected to sign the bill. How southeast Minnesota senators voted:
For free meals
Liz Boldon, D-25 (Rochester)
Against
Gene Dornick, R-23 (Hayfield)
Rich Draheim, R-22 (Mankato)
Steve Drazkowski, R-20 (Mazeppa)
Jeremy Miller, R-26 (Winona)
Carla Nelson, R-24 (Rochester)
How southeast Minnesota House members voted:
For free meals
Kim Hicks, D-25A (Rochester)
Tina Liebling, D-24B (Rochester)
Gene Pelowski, D-26A (Winona)
Andy Smith, D-25B (Rochester
Against
Peggy Bennett, R-23A (Albert Lea)
Greg Davids, R-26B (Preston)
Marj Fogelman, R-21B (Fulda)
Steve Jacob, R-20B (Elba)
Patricia Mueller, R-23B (Austin)
Bjorn Olson, R-22A (Elmore)
John Petersburg, R-19B (Waseca)
Brian Pfarr, R-22B (LeSueur)
Joe Schomacker, R-21A (Luverne)
Proposal: Huge manure processing plant at Wilson
WILSON, Minn. – A Shell Oil Company subsidiary, Nature Energy, wants to build a giant manure-digester plant just off the Interstate 90 exit to Winona. The plant would create natural gas. The multi-million dollar proposal has been circulating mostly unnoticed in Winona County and Wilson Township government circles for months but didn’t come public visibility until it appeared on the Wilson Township Board’s agenda for Tuesday. The company needs environmental and other permits to proceed. The first news of the plan spread immediately over the weekend among environmentalists who rallied to organize objections at the Township Board meeting. Margaret Walsh, an opposition organizer, said the proposal had been moving forward “in a somewhat shrouded manner.” The mature, in liquid form, would be “land applied.” Like all of Winona County, the site is interlaced underground with porous limestone that ground-water vulnerable to contamination. The plant would process 1.5 million pounds of manure a year, mostly from dairies, according to documents that the resistance has obtained. The manure would be trucked from dairy farms within 20 miles with 90 to 100 loads a day. Concerns include odor; damage to property values; safety including spills, explosions, hazardous chemicals; truck traffic, noise, water contamination and nutrient management.
Aerial view. Of a Nature Energy methane plant proposed at Roberts, Wisconsin, and rejected last fall by the Village Board.
.
Manure’s full circle
The Nature Energy proposal would haul manure away from dairies free. In return, farmers would receive what’s called “digestat” in the form of fertilizer products custom-tailored to their soil. The natural gas would be injected into an existing natural gas pipeline system.
Stacks above the tree line
A similar project rejected in August by local officials in Roberts, Wisconsin, included these structures:
> Eight digesters as tall as 85 feet.
> Three stacks, each from 100 to 200 feet tall.
> Three storage ranks, each 47 feet tall.
> Five buildings, each 35 to 50 feet tall.
These would be immediately west of the Wilson Fire Station off State Highway 43.
Fire aid bill launched for Spring Grove
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Two bills have been proposed in the Minnesota Senate for $250,000 to help Spring Grove recover from a downtown fire in December. The fire destroyed the Houston County town’s hardware store and displaced 11 tenants upstairs. State Senator Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, introduced the bills. He noted that a housing shortage in Spring Grove, population 1,250, has been exacerbated by the fire. The bills would exempt taxes on construction materials and directly offset reconstruction costs. The bills have been sent to the Senate taxes committee. One of the bills has a House version introduced by Greg Davids, R-Preston.
Earlier: Theory for Spring Grove fire: Layered re-roofing
Earlier: Fire levels Spring Grove hardware, apartments
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