College scores
Baseball: Saint Mary’s 8, Calvin 2
Tennis (women): Saint Mary’s 8, Albion 1
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Cannon Falls Bombers 79, Winona Cotter Ramblers 53
Basketball (boys): Chatfield Gophers 52, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 29
Basketball (boys): Caledonia Warriors 96, St. Charles Saints 71
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Spring Valley Cardinals 72, Augusta Beavers 55
Basketball (boys): Eau Claire Regis Ramblers 66, Osseo-Fairchild Thunder 50
Basketball (girls): Blair-Taylor Wildcats 57, Hillsboro Tigers 55
Basketball (girls): LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 64, Bangor Cardinals 39
Mini-meth stashes found in drug raid
PICKWICK, Minn. – A multi-agency police drug team found 9.5 grams of meth, mostly in zip-baggies, in a Pickwick house and arrested the woman who at first didn’t answer the door but later did. This was about 11 a.m. Booked at the Winona County jail was Sandra Kay Kauphusman, age 57. Sheriff’s officers, who led the arresting team, said Kauphusman admitted to meth, cocaine and marijuana on the premises, deputies said. Seized were:
> Three small zip-baggies with 0.5 gram.
> Another zip-bag in another place with 0.5 gram.
> Three yellow pills.
> A downstairs bathroom mirror cabinet with 0.5 gram.
> In another bathroom mirror cabinet with brownish crystal-like substance.
> A prescription bottle with the label ripped off.
> In a kitchen drawer, a small zip-baggie with 0.5 gram.
> In the living room, a glass container with 2 grams.
> A pipe with meth residue, a small glass jar with meth residue, a hypodermic needle, and other drug paraphernalia.
Kauphusman. Tentatively charged with fifth-degree possession of controlled substance.
Driver fails field sobriety test, also jail test
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver admitted to a couple beers earlier in the evening, but police surmised from his blood-shot eyes, slurred speech and boozy body vapors that it was more. He failed sobriety test on the spot, This was on River View Drive near the Marine Art Museum about 11:30 p.m. At the jail his blood tested way high at 0.18% alcohol. Jacob Schroeder, 38, was locked up to sober up and to see a judge in the morning. He had been stopped after police radar clocked him at 38 mph in the 30 zone driving out of the downtown bar district.
Schroeder. Police pursuit from Second Street to Huff Street to Riverview Drive.
GOP now favors tax rebates, one-ups Walz
ST. PAUL, Minn. – In a turn-about, Republican legislators want now to dip into the state revenue surplus and send rebate checks to taxpayers. The new GOP plan, called “Give it Back,” would send $1,250 to individual taxpayers and $2,500 to joint filers. A year ago when Democratic Governor Tim Walz proposed rebates, Republicans were steadfastly opposed and mocked the plan as a political gimmick they called “Walz Checks.” The Walz plan failed in the Republican-controlled 2022 legislative session. Walz is back this session with rebates, at this point $1,000 for individuals earning up to $75,000 a year $2,000 for joint filers with $150,000 income – not quite as much as the GOP’s revisionist plan. The GOP plan would cost $5 billion from the state’s $17.5 billion reeue windfall.
Other “Give Back” detail
The Republican tax plan also would provide an $1,800 tax credit for each minor child. It also would eliminate the state tax on Social Security.
Serial thefts linked to former county employee
WINONA, Minn. – The Winona County attorney began investigating a report of thefts by a county employee over several years. The case was referred to the county attorney by the sheriff’s office. The employee has been fired.
Psychotherapy recall: Being force-fed at school
WINONA, Minn. – The Winona County attorney has begun investigating a report that an autistic child was force-fed years ago in a Winona school. The report, first filed with police, came out of age-regression therapy with the individual, who now is an adult. The diagnosis points to long-term personal problems resulting from force-feeding when the child didn’t want to eat. This apparently was between 2010 and 2014 and lived on in the individual’s repressed memory.
Cops arrest man after seeing woman’s skid burns
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was arrested after being accused of pulling a woman’s hooded sweatshirt over her head and dragging her around the floor until she had skin burns. Police, who were notified by a third party a day later, said that carpet burns were still obvious. Arrested was Dax Terrence Schwanke, 34. Police said Schwanke admitted to an argument but denied physical abuse. The incident had been about 1:05 a.m. in a house in the 900 block of West King Street.
Schwanke. Arrested the next evening.
Firearm permits in steep decline
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The number of firearms permits issued in Minnesota fell almost 40% last year, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported. There were 65,000 permits approved, compared to 106,000 in 2021. Also in the Bureau’s annual report:
> 1,400 applications were denied by county sheriffs.
> 177 permits suspended.
> 27 permits revoked.
Pedestrian hit, injured crossing street
WINONA, Minn. –- A car struck a jaywalker on Third Street on the East Side before dawn. Injured was a 58-year-old woman. She was taken to the Winona hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said. The accident was about 5:45 a.m. near Liberty Street. The driver, a 58-year-old man, told police he didn’t see the pedestrian in the dark. Police did not have the names on their preliminary report.
Federal prison for Maplewood pipe bombs
Cell phone image. Maplewood pipe bombs, one ready to go. Image: U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
What can happen if you forget your cell phone
MINNEAPOLIS – A suburban man who wrapped BB-gun pellets around an explosive – creating a pipe bomb – was sentenced to prison for 2-1/2 years. Dylan Raymond Orr, 27, had pleaded guilty. Federal Judge Nancy Brasel issued the sentence, plus three years supervised probation. Federal discovered two bombs at Orr’s house after he mistakenly left his cell phone behind at Rick’s Cabaret strip club in Minneapolis last April. To find the phone’s owner, a Rick’s employee flipped through messages and ran across blueprints for building pipe bombs. The employee called police. At Orr’s house in Maplewood, federal agents found two six-inch pipes, including one with the BBs wrapped around a pipe with cellophane. Also found were four blasting caps and the explosive powder nitroglycerin and nitrate.
Strip club find. Employee first intended to return phone, then discovered scary images.
Winona High honors most all-around grads
WINONA, Minn. – The Triple A seniors at Winona High School — for excellence in academics, arts and athletics — are Anna Florness and Xavier Schultz, the school announced..Florness, who does classes at Winona State in the morning and plays in the university band, loves her music. If her house were on fire, the first thing she would grab is her tenor sax, she said. She plans to study stats and math in college and perhaps play in the marching band and jazz band. Schultz plays interscholastic sports – soccer, Nordic skiing and track and field. He plans to study film production in college.
Schultz and Florness. He to UW-Milwaukee, she to Penn State.
Chemicals, gasses escape in Dakota train crash
What caused wreck? Canadian Pacific sookesperson Andy Cummings surmised a broken rail.HEADLINE
Railroad: No human risk in remote frozen landscape
WYNDMERE, N.D. – A Canadian Pacific train derailed in rural North Dakota and spilled two hazmat cargoes — liquid asphalt and ethylene glycol. The Canadian Pacific said public safety was not at risk. There were no injuries and no fire. Of the 70 cars in the freight train, 31 derailed. This was about 11:15 p.m. near Wyndmere, population 450, about 60 miles south of Fargo on the CP mainline connecting Winnipeg and Minneapolis. A railroad spokesperson, Andy Cummings, the liquid asphalt and ethylene glycol were in six derailed cars. Also, he a car carrying propylene was punctured and released some vapor but he asn’t sure how much. No waterways were near the chemical l spills, which Cummings said were contained. Several roads in the area were shut down.
Time running out for ice shack fishing
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The deadline to dismantle and tow away ice fishing shacks is Monday in southern Minnesota, the state Natural Resources Department said. For northern counties it’s March 20. The warning: “Do it or else we will. And be sure to haul away your trash.”
Minnesota’s Mason-Dixon Line: Highways 10, 24, 200 and 2.
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Winona Winhawks 51, Northfield Raiders 49
Basketball (boys): Rochester Mayo Spartans 79, Rochester Marshall Rockets 55
Basketball (boys): Stewartville Tigers 72, Faribault Falcons 26
Basketball (girls): Byron Bears 73, Winona Winhawks 62
Basketball (girls): Farmington Tigers 58, Rochester Century Panthers 46
Finally a full-titled County exec: Maureen Holte
WINONA, Minn. – The Winona County Board voted unanimously for Maureen Holte to be the county’s chief executive. For more than a year Holte had been acting county administrator while the Board fumbled through two rounds of searches and interviewed 11 candidates. Holte is the first woman to be county administrator since the position was created 30-some years ago, although a woman, Pat Blaisdell, earlier had been county coordinator before the position was beefed up with more authority and retitled. Holte’s new salary: $178,600. She supervises departments with 250 employees and a $70 million annual budget. She reports directly to the elected County Board.
Earlier: Way paved for Holte as chief county executive
A face-saving gesture
Holte’s appointment as county executive had been stalled by rural County Baird members Steve Jacob and Marcia Ward. Jacob has since left the Board, but Ward had remained adamant for a full interview. Holte was insulted at an interview requirement. She noted as diplomatically as possible that she had been a county employee 20 years, mostly as personnel director and had been the voted-in as interim county executive for 14-1/2 months. In fact, Holte had interviewed for the job when it was vacant in 2009 and 2015. Holte’s point: She was hardly new to the job and what more was there for the Board to know. In the end with Jacob gone, Ward found herself the lone recalcitrant and changed her tune. Ward’s revisionist view: Holte comes “with a lot of experiences” to build on a lot of those experiences.” In fact, two days before the final vote. the Board did conduct perfunctory interview with Holte as a face-saving gesture to Ward.
Driver hurt in crash at Dover crossroad
DOVER, Minn. – A Rochester driver was injured albeit not seriously in a two-car collision at the 55 mph intersection of U.S. Highway 14 and County and 10 outside Dover. Audriana Clara Dugan, 19, was taken 20 miles to a Rochester hospital. Police said she was heading into the intersection in a 2020 Ford Econosport. The other driver, Tate Bradley Fieck, 21, of Rochester, was heading west toward Rochester in a 2010 Ford Edge. He was unhurt. This was about 3.45 p.m. The roads were dry.
Recidivist child-porn junkie charged again
TOMAH, Wis. – A Tomah man, already on parole for a 2017 child porn conviction, has been charged again with possessing the stuff. John Dockerty, 36, was arrested in a joint operation involving the Tomah police and the state Criminal Investigation Division. The agencies were acting on a tti from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Dockerty. Already a lifetime sex offender registrant.
More policing aimed at street thefts
WINONA, Minn. – Police have mounted overnight bicycle and foot patrols to catch a thief — or thieves — who have made a ritual of rummaging through unlocked parked cars and stealing things. The thefts have been mostly downtown and on the adjacent East Side and West Side. Deputy Police Chief Jay Rasmussen encouraged citizens to leave outside lights on. Also, he said, doorball cameras could help. Most important, he said: “Lock your car.” Among recent hauls:
> A camera and $20 change.
> A $119 jump starter.
> $200 from a front seat console.
> A baseball bag, sunglasses and loose change.
WSU: Let’s forget death threat against Olson
WINONA, Minn. – Criminal action is not being pursued by Winona State against the freshmen who went online and addressed a death threat to university President Scott Olson. The university declined comment on whether internal disciplinary action has been taken. Police said there is no reason to believe there is any further threat to public safety.
Cops: Burglar’s clothes a give-away
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Police responding to a medical call about someone passed out in a car recognized the clothing that the guy was wearing, It was the same outfit as a man who was caught overnight on surveillance video trying to pry open the door to the office at KO storage units in northwest Rochester. Brandon Andrews, 40, of Rochester, woke up in jail. He was booked for possession of burglary tools and attempted burglary.
Andrews. A morning check of overnight surveillance video ID’d man trying to pry door open.
Plague of school attack hoaxes: Eight total
ST. PAUL, Minn. – At least eight hoax school shooting calls were made to police dispatchers statewide Tuesday, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported. The calls were from a a voice-over internet source and likely from the same person. the Bureau said. The calls, all before noon, were to police dispatch centers in Austin, Albert Lea, Alexandria, Bemidji, Brainerd, Crookston and Duluth. Two were in Duluth. Last year the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension logged 27 hoax shooting calls, 17 of which were on a single day in September.
Owl fest includes excursion to call owls
HOUSTON, Minn. — The International Owl Center’s annual festival begins Friday with bus trips to remote areas to call in wild owls with expert callers. Weekend attractions include the Illinois Raptor Center’s live program featuring snowy, eastern screech, barred, barn, great horned owls and possibly a short-eared owl. These are in addition to center’s resident owls. Saturday kicks off with an owl-face pancake breakfast at the Cross of Christ Lutheran Church. Then comes lessons on nest box-building, pellet dissecting, hooting and owl calling. Details.
R.I.P.: Linda Houge
HOUSTON, Minn. – Linda Gail Houge, 76, of Houston, whose early career was at Mayo Clinic in social work, died at Valley View Nursing Home. She was a 1965 graduate 0f Houston High School, where she was involved in band and choir. She was prom queen her senior year. She graduated from Mankato State College in 1969. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which ended her social work career. She never complained, friends said. She returned to Houston the next 37 years as a nursing assistant Valley View Nursing Home.
Details: Hoff Funeral Home
https://www.hofffuneral.com/obituaries/linda-houge
1947-2023
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