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
Six Black River persons arrested in foul play case
BLACK RIVER FALLS. Wis. – Police rounded up six persons related to a death in the Shamrock neighborhood south of Black River Falls. Sheriff Duane Waldera said tat foul play was suspected in the death but declined requests for details. Several of the arrested persons were charged with firearms possession and obstructing justice, court record show. Apparently no one was injured in the arrests. Arrested were:
Jeffrey Meyers-Woychik, 22, of Black River Falls, charged with possession and intent to deliver meth and cocaine; with possession of Fentanyl, a short-barrel shotgun, and a stolen firearm; and with resisting arrest.
Star Meyers, 49, of Black River Falls, also known as Star Bork, was held on a probation issue.
Savannah Pellett, 20, of Black River Falls, charged with possession and intent to deliver meth and cocaine; with possession of Fentanyl, a short-barrel shotgun, and a stolen firearm; and with resisting arrest.
Michael Petersen, 34, from Black River Falls, charged with bail jumping and resisting arrest.
Matthew Simone, 30, of Hixton, charged with resisting arrest and held also on a probation issue.
Vincent Simone, 30, of Black River Falls, charged with resisting arrested.
Earlier: Body found in remote Jackson County
Stubborn fire destroys Wykoff house
WYKOFF, Minn. – A kitchen fire spread up inside the walls to the attic of a Wykoff house. Then after firefighters thought they had quelled the flames, the fire re-ignited. It took fire crews from Wykoff, Chatfield, Spring Valley and Stewartville three hours to get the fire out finally. There were no injuries. The two-story house, just off Highway 80, was destroyed.
Traffic detoured. Highway 80 vehicles were diverted behind the block to clear the way for fire-fighting apparatus and hoses.
Pickup rolls on I-90 ice, driver hurt
NODINE, Minn. – A Dover woman was injured when her pickup truck left icy Interstate 90 and rolled four miles west of Nodine. Amy Jo Storm, 48, was taken 20 miles to the Winona hospital. Her injuries were described as non-life threatening. The accident was about 5:50 a.m.
Lurid details against Lazzaro in court docs
MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors detailed an unflattering portrait of a Minneapolis Republican hob-nobber and mega-donor Anton Lazzaro as a playboy who trafficked in underage girls and craved sex preferably if the girls were without tattoos. The portrait is in a prosecution brief filed in federal court. Lazzaro goes on trial March 20 in the sex cases, which exploded the state Republican Party 20 months ago. The GOP wreckage included the ouster Jennifer Carnahan as state GOP chair. The party has also been shaken additionally in recent weeks about irregular bookkeeping and noncompliance with Federal election Commission requirements. Those violations, going back to when Jennifer Carnahan was party chair, have resulted in $110,000 in fines.
In orange. Has pleaded innocence to “commercial sex acts.”
In happier times. When a high-roller.
Sex life allegations
Prosecutors claim Lazzaro conspired with Gisela Castro Medina, who was chair of the College Republicans chapter at the University of St. Thomas, to recruit underage girls online. This began in May 2020 when Medina was 18 and still in high school, according to the prosecution brief. Lazzaro was 30. Castro Medina, who has since pleaded guilty to sex trafficking, said Lazzaro preferred young, tiny girls without tattoos and liked them “broken” and vulnerable, Castro Medina said. She said was paid “well over $50,000.” This included her St. Thomas tuition, her off-campus apartment and her Mini Cooper. Lazzaro, according to prosecutors, often sent cars to take the girls to his luxury penthouse condo at the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis. “Once the girls Castro Medina recruited arrived at Lazzaro’s apartment, a similar pattern ensued,” the brief alleges. “Lazzaro would brag about his wealth and connections. More details from the brief: Lazaro would ply the girls with hard liquor. He would take out stacks of cash and offer the girls precise sums of money to perform certain sex acts — $100 to kiss. $400 for sex, with him and sometimes each other. He would send them home with cash, vapes, alcohol, Plan B emergency birth control pills, and cell phones.
Lazzaro largesse
An audit of campaign donations from Lazzaro found $270,000 to Republican campaigns and political committees. Some specifics:
> $42,000. To the state party.
> $31,000. To southern Minnesota Congressman Jim Hagedorn.
> $15,600.To Congressman Tom Emmer from Cities suburbs west to St. Cloud..
Carnahan and Lazzaro became friends when she ran unsuccessfully for the Legislative seat in 2016. He backed her for state party chair in 2017. He attended her 2018 wedding to Hagedorn. They hosted a podcast together for a few months. Lazzaro also helped run the campaign of Republican Lacy Johnson against incumbent Congress member Ilhan Omar in 2020. Lazzaro liked to flaunted his connections with prominent Republicans. His Facebook page carried pictures with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. He founded a political action committee, Big Tent Republicans, which promoted a more inclusive party.
Lazzaro profile
Anton Lazzaro, “Tony” to friends, graduated in physics and neuroscience from Brigham Young University. In 2009 he joined of Gold River Group, which calls itself a global custom marketing and technology solutions company. In corporate documents he listed himself as organizer, owner and manager. Online the company put down addresses at 1621 Central avenue, Cheyenne, Wyoming; at 46 East Peninsula Center, Suite 359, Rolling Hills Estates, California; and at Lazzaro’s penthouse at the Ivy Hotel, 201 South 11th Street, Suite 1920, Minneapolis. Biographers gave been unable to trace his family details. It is thought he has a partner. How he made his fortune has not been established publicly, but there seems no doubt as to his wealth. He lived in the 19th floor Ivy Hotel penthouse in Minneapolis, drove a Ferrari, wrote generous five-figure checks to Republican candidates and causes. He created a website with state Republican chair Jennifer Carnahan and staunchly supported Donald Trump’s failed reelection campaign. When arrested, agents seized $371,000 at his Minneapolis penthouse, $1 million in gold and silver, 13 cellphones, several laptops, a GPS tracker, and precious foreign coins and currency. He has been in jail without bail sinceAugust 2021. He had been under FBI watch since November 2020.
Hush money
Lazzaro has been sued by one girl who claims he offered $1,000 in hush money to her and her parents. He wanted them to sign a nondisclosure agreement, the girl alleges.
Ice likely factor in I-90 rollover
LEWISTON, Minn. – A California man, Kelly Scott Chicoine, 57, of San Diego, slid off Interstate 90 on ice and rolled into the ditch between the Lewiston and Rushford off-ramps. He was treated 10 miles away at the Winona hospital. The accident was about 12:40 a.m. Chicoine, in a 2005 Chevrolet Uplander, was headed east toward LaCrosse.
Next in Tau Center evolution: Cotter daycare
WINONA, Minn. – Cotter Schools is remodeling the former Assisi Franciscan Tau Center to house an infant and pre-kindergarten care center for 275 children. Cotter hasn’t reported the budget for the project. It will be Winonas largest daycare. Mary Eileen Fitch, Cotter’s president, said the center should be operational early in 2024. The project comes at a time that federal and state workforce spending is growing for families to make daycare more affordable. Fitch said she expects tuition to be in line the marker. Local rates range $130 to $200 a week.
Legacy of Tau. The tau symbol was taken from the Greek alphabet and used widely by the Catholic Church as a sign of conversion and a sign of the cross. In the 13th century St. Francis of Assisi used the symbol as his signature and personal seal.
Tau rotunda. The original centerpiece of the Tau Center was a an eye-stopping circular worship area surrounded almost 360 degrees by gorgeous stained glass. The Franciscan sisters took the stained glass when they retreated to their Rochester mother house and sold the building to Winona State. Whether Cotter will retain the Tau name hasn’t been announced. Cotter currently operates what it calls WeeCare elsewhere on the sprawling former St. Teresa campus on Winona’s West End.
Tau profile
The Tau Center was built in the 1960s by the Rochester- based Assisi Franciscan sisters as a retreat adjacent to the order’s College of St. Teresa. When the college fell on bad times and closed in 1989, Winona State University bought the structure as an overflow dorm and conference center. It was a continuing drain on Winona State’s budget and was sold to Cotter in 2022.
Army Corps plans tribal shoreline projects
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Army Corps of Engineers is spending $1 million on tribal shoreline restoration on the Minnesota River and on Big Sand Lake in Wisconsin. Nick Castellane, the Corps’ tribal partnership manager. said the projects will protect tribal cultural heritage. The projects:
> Granite Falls, Minnesota: $680,000 for riverbank stabilization with the Upper Sioux Pezihutazizi Oyate.
> Morton, Minnesota: $246,000 for riverbank stabilization with the Lower Sioux.
> Hertel, Wisconsin: $122,000 for for shoreline protection on Bog Shell Lake with the St. Croix Chippewa.
College scores
Softball: Central of Iowa 8, UW-LaCrosse 1
Softball: UW-LaCrosse 6, Webster 3
Legislator hurt in lake snowmobile accident
ELBOW LAKE, Minn. – State Senator Torrey Westrom was injured when a snowmobile struck an ice chunk and bounced him off. He was taken to a hospital for observation. The driver, a family member, was unhurt. Westrom, age 49, is a 10-year veteran of the Senate from District 12 in western Minnesota He is the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture, Broadband and Rural Development Finance Committee. He is the first blind member of the Legislature in history.
Westrom. A lawyer and real estate agent by trade.
Chatfield pair told to return ill-gotten $100,000
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Two people from Chatfield were sentenced for stealing $100,000 from a woman suffering from dementia. Bruce Amundson, 68, and Deborah Amundson, 67, were ordered to make restitution.
Jailer thwarts in-cell suicide attempt
WINONA, Minn. – A jailer making cell checks found an inmate who had taken a gauze bandage from a knee injury and wrapped it around hiss neck. The apparent suicide attempt was caught in time, said Sheriff Ron Ganrude. This was about 11 a.m. The inmate was taken to the hospital to be checked out, then returned to jail. The man had been incarcerated for fleeing in a motor vehicle.
Jail emergency. A fire unit, an ambulance and a sheriff’s squad car, all aglow with red flashers, rushed ro the Winona County jail after an inmate suicide attempt. Image: Steve Lunde
With ice on prow, first tow passes Hastings
HASTINGS, Minn. — The Motor Vessel Phillip M. Pfeffer with six barges locked through Dam 2 to mark the unofficial start to the 2023 navigation season all the way from the Upper Mississippi at St. Paul to Gulf ports. The Pfeffer, along with Ingram stablemate Neil N. Diehl, broke through the ice in Lake Pepin this past weekend. The lake is the last major barrier for vessels reaching the head of the navigation channel in St. Paul.
Seasonal triumph. The first tow of 2023 passed under Highway 61 bridge at Hastings en route to the navigational headwaters at St. Paul. Image: Patrick Moes
Lake Pepin as obstacle
Lake Pepin, between Wabasha and Red Wing, is the last part of the Mississippi for ice tobreak up because the river is wider and subsequently the current is slower there than it is in other parts of the river. If a tow can make it through Lake Pepin, it can make it all the way to St. Paul. This year’s first tow was about one week ahead of the average. In the last 30 years, the average opening date of the navigation season has been March 20. The latest arrival date in a non-flood year was April 4, 2008. Historic flooding in 2001 delayed the arrival of the first tow until May 11.
Tributes, memories for late Viking coach
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – There are 35 Vikings football players going back to the 1960s who hope their coach remembereed their video call a few days before his 93rd birthday. The memories were clear Saturday as the players were getting news that their coach had died. Back in May Grant had been told to expect an annual reunion call, but ruse was over when the 35-man chorus broke into “Happy Birthday.” A little gruff, as was is manner, Grant said: “What if I don’t make it to next week? “I don’t celebrate birthdays early.” At age 93 he still was his old self. He died Saturday at going on 95, going on 96. Other memories flooded sports pages and sportscasts and the web, Among them:
Ken Belson, York Times sports writer, remembered Bud Grant tis way: “A stoic, strait-laced, genial man who often appeared silent and aloof at work. Wiry and svelte, with a prematurely gray flattop haircut, he had the air of an ascetic field general in an era when many coaches were known for their hard-driving and often histrionic personalities.”
> Skolt Scott, a leader with the fan club Viking World Order: “He was Minnesota’s greatest grandfather. One of the biggest sports, if not the biggest sports legends of all figures across sports for Minnesota.”
> Rich Fenning, a fan from Mahtomedi, on Graht’s ban on the sideline benches: “All the players would be standing out there freezing. Always said gave us an advantage, being able to handle the cold weather.”
> Senator Amy Klobuchar, whose father Jim Klobuchar was the state’s leaading sportswriter and friend: “Bud Grant was a beloved coach and a dedicated outdoorsman. Even at age 88 he did the coin toss in a polo shirt in subzero temperatures at a Vikings playoff game! He gave us so many Minnesota memories. Today my heart is with all those who knew and loved Bud.”
Another memory: “As a young kid I would answer the phone, ‘Klobuchar residence, Amy speaking’ And there’d be silence on the phone, and then, this sort of a grunt — ‘Jim,’ After a while, I learned the drill. The minute I heard that silence and that voice, I ran and got my dad.”
Coffee Mill’s alpine ski season ends
WABASHA, Minn. – Three inches of new snow fell overnight for the downhill ski season finale at Coffee Mill. Even so, the machine-made snow base on the 14 trails was shrinking near to minimum.
Thank the gods: Winter slip-sliding away
Rooftop thaw. Snow hangs from eaves at the Salon on George beauty parlor on the LaCrosse North End. Officially spring begins March 20 this year. The vernal equinox will be at 5:24 p.m. Image: Steve Lunde
R.I.P.: Carol Wood
LEWISTON, Minn. – Carol J. (Wallow) Wood, 59, of Lewiston, who loved ducks and doing diamond art, died at Methodist Hospital in Rochester. She was born in Arcadia, Wisconsin. Always she was the neighborhood “mom.”
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1963-2023
R.I.P.: Michelle Olson
ONALASKA, Wis.. — Michelle Vikki (Mehaffey) Olson, 52, of Onalaska, a certified medical assistant, died at home of cancer. She worked 10 years at Winona Health and 20 years at Mayo Health in La Crosse. In LaCrosse she was chapter president of the American Association of Medical Assistants.
Detail: Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home
1970-2023
Week’s summary: Ending March 11, 2023
COLLEGES: “Sondheim” marks dismantling of SMU fine arts
POLITICS: Minnesota GOP promises post-scandal clean slate
ENVIRONMENT: Ruinous future seen in fertilizer phosphorous
ENVIRONMENT: A new place to see owls hoot, toot, trill
GOVERNANCE: Walz acts to protect trans-gender people
GOVERNANCE: How they voted: Minnesota infrastructure / 1
DOWNTOWN: Port to would-be hoteliers: Stop dallying
GOVERNANCE: An end to limits on immigrant driver licensing
GOVERNANCE: Walz signs bill: Ex-felons will be voting
GOVERNANCE: Holte commits to county government transparency
BAD BEHAVIOR: Outburst: Angry Byron solon loses it
REMEMBRANCE: R.I.P.: Parvis Emad
RESCUE: Pepin ice breaks up around ice-fishers
COMMERCE: Summer target for new Winona train
CRIME: Cops break up brawling kids, parents at East Rec
CRIME: A tale of blackberry brandy, a Glok, a car-jacking
Earlier: Week’s summary: Ending March 4 2023
College scores
Baseball: Saginaw Valley State 7, Winona State 2
Softball: Rensselaer Polytech 6, UW-LaCrosse 3
Softball: Redland 8, UW-LaCrosse 3
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Winona Winhawks 61,Austin Packers 58
Basketball (boys): Spring Grove Lions 57, Hayfield Vikings 46
Basketball (boys): Lake City Tigers 69, Cannon Falls Bombers 54
Basketball (boys): Plainview-Elgin-Millville Bulldogs 58, Caledonia Warriors 50
Basketball (boys): Stewartville Tigers 42, Byron Bears 37
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): LaCrosse Central RiverHawks 48, New London Bulldogs 44
Basketball (boys): Whitehall Norse 66, Cameron Comets 62
Basketball (girls): Chippewa Falls McDonell Central Macks 61, Blair-Taylor Wildcats 36
Basketball (girls): Rosendale Laconia Spartans 79, LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 55
Three hurt in plane’s bad Eden Prairie landing
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. – Three people escaped the crumpled wreckage of a light plane as it erupted in flames coming in to land at the Flying Cloud airport. The pilot was hospitalized with serious injuries, police said. Two passengers had minor injuries. Snow on the ground may have cushioned the impact. The plane, a Socata TB21 Trinidad, built in 2012, was on a 50-minute, 110-mile hop from Fairmont. The pilot radioed he was in trouble as he approached Flying Cloud’s Runway 10R. The plane hit the ground west of Spring Road, short of the runway. The plane was fully engulfed in flames when first responders arrived.
A Trinidad in flight. A single-engine plane with four-person capacity. Designed in 1970s by Socata of France. Max speed: 185 mph. Number manufactured: 2,100. Range: 750 miles.
Driver runs on foot after spike strips disable car
WINONA, Minn. – A daring 20-minute police pursuit on snow-encrusted highways and back streets ended when the driver ran over a police spike strip, lost his tires, and then hoofed it on foot into the Hy-Vee parkig lot on Winona’s West End. A deputy pulled his stun-gun and ordered the fleeing man to stop. The guy didn’t. But deputy ran faster and dragged Anthony Arnold Kauphusman. 51, of Rochester to the ground, and cuffed him. This was about 5:40 p.m.
The chase: Lewiston to Winona
A Lewiston police officer trailed a car east out of town and lit his lights. A mile later the driver slowed but then sped off. This was at 5:21 p.m. at the crest of the Highway14 grade at Rolling Hills Road. Despite snow and ice on the highway, the driver sped down curvy Lewiston grade and whipped through the Arches at 60 mph. He slowed a bit through Stockton, at 57 mph in the 35 zone. Then up and over Stockton Hill and its two hairpin curves, then down onto Winona. The Lewiston deputy had pulled back because of road conditions but continued on the guy’s tail. On the way over Stockton Hill, the officer radioed the car’s registration to the Winona dispatcher, who phoned the owner. A woman answered. Yes, she said, it was her car. But, she added, her husband didn’t have permission to take it. The dispatcher alerted sheriff’s deputies and Winona and Goodview police. A spike strip was laid in the driver’s path. He steered around the spikes and turned south on Highway 61, then to a frontage road and back streets. He tore through the tree-lined Ronald Avenue residential neighborhood, then to Service Drive. He wound behind the Culver’s restaurant. At El Patron cantina he turned back onto Highway 61, made a U-turn. Now heading north, he encountered a a second set of spike strips. Suddenly he was down 10 mph in the median. He jumped out and ran across two lanes of traffic. A deputy leaped into the chase, shouting out to stop or be tasered. The man didn’t stop. The foot chase continued into the crowded Hy-Vee parking lot, where among shoppers’ parked cars and grocery carts, the man lost his already jagged stride. The deputy nabbed him, cuffed him, and took him to jail. The guy reeked of alcohol, the deputy said.
Kauphusman. Driving his wife’s car. Without permission, she said.
Cops: Ex-con drug dealer back in drugs biz
BLUE EARTH, Minn. – A gun-carrying drug dealer, released from prison in October, has been caught again. Dominique Lamar Breham, 34, was arrested at 1:30 a.m. after agents saw a retinue of people approach his vehicle in a parking lot, mostly one at a time, and get in, and then leave moments later. Agents from the Blue Earth County sheriff’s office and agents from Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force closed in. Their report said they found 62.6 grams of cocaine and 790 pills suspected of being counterfeit Fentanyl-laced pain-killers. The suspected pain-killers, blue and stamped M30, could be fatal if in an overdose, agents said. A 20-year-old passenger in the vehicle was also arrested.
Breham. Booked on drug sales and drug possession charges.
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