Death threat to WSU president “a joke”
WINONA, Minn. – A Winona State freshman was so irritated that classes weren’t cancelled that he posted a death threat online to university President Scott Olson. The message, on the social media site Yik Yak, was explicit: “I’m going to end President Olson (this is a death threat, run).” When police confronted the student at his dorm, he said that “everybody” was angry that other schools had cancelled classes because of weather but not Winona State. The student, who is 18, said he was acting out those frustrations. “A joke,” he told officers. The message went out from the student’s university-issued laptop at 6:02 p.m. President Olson was unaware of the message until after 8 p.m. when he was alerted by campus security, which had been notified by city police. Police were on campus and interrogating the student within roughly two hours of the Yik Yak post. Police Chief Tom Williams said Olson was satisfied with how fast the issue was handled. The student was not taken into custody.
Olson. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it.
Quick tracking
The death threat was on Yik Yak, a social media app that allows discussion threads within a five-mile radius. The messages are called “yaks.” This yak was at 6:02 p.m. Yik Yak filters identified the message and deleted it. Then these things happened:
> Yik Yak alerted the National Threat Assessment Center with information on the device of origin.
> The Center alerted the FBI.
> The FBI alerted the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
> The BCA alerted Winona police. All this by 8 p.m.
> Police alerted campus security.
> Police were at the student’s dorm room within minutes
Winona emergency planner: Prepared for worst
WINONA Minn. – The Winona County emergency planning manager, Ben Klinger, said the Minnesota National Guard is on standby for extreme winter moving into the area. Emergency shelters have been arranged, Klinger said. “We do a lot of pre-planning for events like this.” he said in a KWNO interview. “We are also partners with snowmobile clubs in case we need to rescue or get emergency medical personnel to people’s houses if the roads are blocked.”
Klinger recommendations
> Stay off the roads but of you must go out, give yourself extra time and turn your headlights are on even in the daylight.
> Stock your car with an emergency safety kit packed blankets, flashlights, food and water.
> If you do get stuck in your car, stay where you are.
Blizzard closes transcontinental artery I-90
The view at 1:54 p.m. From a permanently mounted remote camera at a break in the howl at Milepost 35 at Rushmore, Minnesota
Curfew violators will be billed for rescue costs
WORTHINGTON, Minn. –State troopers blocked all Interstate 90 access ramps for 45 miles to the South Dakota border as a major storm rampaged into Minnesota from the west. Cameras showed white-out conditions. Any travelers who somehow venture onto I-90 or other closed roads will be liable for all related rescue costs, the Patrol said. Closed also were these state highways in southwest Minnesota: 23, 59, 60, 75, 91 and 270. How long will the routes be close: Until the blowing and drifting lets up and plows can go out.
Earlier: Five storm-related Winona County traffic calls
Earlier: Sun-bound fliers caught in MSP cancellations
Earlier: Truck, car collide on multilane U.S. 14 exchange
Earlier: Dakota precursor: -15 degrees to -30
Earlier: Governor: Stand by for winter emergency
Like your coffee at a ritzy shop? On a park bench?
WINONA, Minn. – The Theatre du Mississippi troupe opens a three-run production of the sketch comedy “2 Sugars, Room for Cream” Friday. Tickets: $15. Shows: At the Winona Middle School ,7 o’clock., Friday, and 2 and 7, Saturday. Twin Cities playwrights Shanan Custer and Carolyn Pool created the play for their own amusement in 2008. Then it started making the rounds and took off. A dozen or so short vignettes all center on coffee. Among them:
>Two women bonding over books at a coffee shop.
> Sisters sipping bad coffee after a funeral in a church basement.
> A picky customer at a diner.
> A worried new mom being comforted by a stranger on a park bench.
Multiple characters. And ever so much coffee.
Five storm-related Winona County traffic calls
LACRESCENT, Minn. – A motorist swiped the guard rail on a bridge near LaCrescent overnight, apparently due to icy condition. The driver had moved on before a Winona County deputy arrived. The accident was one of five weather-related calls to the county sheriff’s office during the first wave of a massive winter storm. Two of the accidents involved vehicles off the road. There were no injuries. On Highway 43 outside Winona, deputies provided lights for a semi-truck struggling uphill on snow-covered and ice-covered surfaces.
Report: Bird flu losses staggering
WASHINGTON – The national turkey and chicken trade organizations reported that the ongoing avian flu outbreak has cost the government $661 million. Also, the organizations said, the flu added to consumer grocery store tabs because of shortages created by the slaughter of58 million birds in an effort slow the spread of the virus. Farmers who raise the birds have lost more than $1 billion, the report said. Overall the industry has lost more, although the total hasn’t been calculated yet by agricultural economists. The data were released in an annual update drawn largely from government statistics.
New Winona physician seeks surgery alternatives
WINONA, Minn. – An orthopedic physician from Twin Cities Orthopedics, Randall Norgard, has joined Winona Health. His specialty is hip and knee surgery. He works with patients before and after procedures and seeks alternatives to surgery.
Norgaard. Medical degree from the University of Minnesota. Interned at St. Paul-Ramsey Hospital.
A scoop shovel and catalytic converters: Any link?
WINONA, Minn. – This police case began simply enough. The Occupational Rehabilitation Center on the Far East End called to report s scoop shovel missing. Value: $25. Not a big deal. Seemingly unrelated there had been a strange police encounter during night. An officer on patrol spotted a man walking down an East End street and crouching and ducking to, it appeared, avoid being seen. The officer stopped the man, who was carrying a saw: “What are you doing?” The man answered: “I just took a cat.” The man pointed in the dark to where the officer found the “cat” that the man had thrown in the snow when he realized the officer was on his tail. It was a catalytic converter — a device that filters car fumes in a vehicle’s exhaust system and which is a frequent target for thieves, who then sell the precious metal, usually platinum, that does the filtering. Jacob Lee Bullis, 31, of Winona, was arrested and booked for possessing burglary tools and tampering with a vehicle. Later came another call to police headquarters from the ORC. Not only was a scoop shovel missing, as reported earlier, but now three ORC shuttle vans weren’t working, apparently because their catalytic converters had been sawed off during the night. These are vans that transport disabled persons to training and jobs on a strict schedule every morning. It was true, police confirmed, that the vans’ catalytic converters had been heisted. So what does a scoop shovel have to do with the stolen catalytic converters? The thief, police summarized, had used the shovel to cover his bootprints in the snow. Clever, eh?
.
Shovel as a burglary tool. Cops connecting the dots.
Emergency, fire crews make 63 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 44 emergency medical calls plus 19 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, February 21: 8 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Monday, February 20: 2 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Sunday, February 19: 9 medical calls plus 1 fire calls.
> Saturday, February 18: 6 medical calls plus 5 fire calls.
> Friday, February 17: 11 medical calls plus 3 fire call.s
> Thursday, February 16: 4 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Wednesday, February 15: 4 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 52 calls
Stockton traffic stop finds meth; bullet too
STOCKTON, Minn. — A Stockton man, pulled over on Main Street by a deputy, was found to have a drug-inhaling pipe containing meth and, curiously a lone 38-calibre bullet. A records check showed the man, Nikolas James Meyers, 43, was under a court order not to possess drugs, firearms or ammo. He was booked on a variety of charges at the Winona County jail, including a possible drunken-driving issue pending lab tests of a blood specimen. Also he was driving without a license, records show.
Meyers. Arrest about 1:40 a.m.
Mayo procedure aims to boost cardiac survival
ROCHESTER, Minn. – Mayo Clinic has installed a protocol for immediate application of ECMO treatment for heart and lung support in emergency rooms. ECMO is short for “extracorporeal membrane oxygenation,” Anuradha Luke, director of Mayo ambulances, said paramedics will alert the emergency room that an incoming patient is without a heartbeat. As soon as the patient arrives, the ECMO procure is ready. While the procedure is not new, Mayo hopes the earliest possible ECMO use will improve survival rates, Luke said. The survival rate for sudden cardiac arrest outside of a hospital is 10% nationally. At Mayo it’s 50% even without the new ECMO procedure, Luke said.
Sun-bound fliers caught in MSP cancellations
MINNEAPOLIS – Half of the flights in and out of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport have been cancelled due to the gigantic storm over the Upper Midwest. More than 400 Wednesday flights, mostly Delta and Sun Country, were cancelled. Kyle Potter, editor at Thrifty Traveler, which tracks such things, said 200-plus flights already were canceled for Thursday. The number will grow, he said. He didn’t expect full operations until at least the weekend because the airlines’ complex hub networks mis-position aircraft domino-like everywhere.
Truck, car collide on multilane U.S. 14 exchange
ROCHETER, Minn. – A Stewartville driver was hurt when his vehicle and a. semi-truck collided where Highway 14 splits off Highway 52 for Byron and points west. David Wayne Reidel, 36, was taken to a nearby hospital. His injuries were described as non-life threatening. Both vehicles were heading west through the junction. Wayne was in a 2010 Ford Edge. The accident was about 12:15 a.m. The surface was covered with snow and ice.
College scores
Basketball (men): Hamline 90, Saint Mary’s 84
Basketball (women): UW-Oshkosh 57, UW-LaCrosse 54
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Winona Winhawks and Northfield Raiders, cancelled
Basketball (boys): Chatfield Gophers 75, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 53
Basketball (boys): Plainview-Elgin-Millville Bulldogs 78, St. Charles Saints 53
Basketball (girls): Rushford-Peterson Trojans 48, Winona Cotter Ramblers 45
Hockey (boys): Winona Winhawks 5, Red Wing Wingers 0
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (girls): Augusta Beavers 57, Spring Valley Cardinals 40
Basketball (girls): Melrose-Mindoro Mustangs 57, Muscoda Riverdale Chieftains 44
Basketball (girls): Mondovi Buffaloes 74, Whitehall Norse 48
Basketball (girls): Elroy Royall Panthers 65, Eleva-Strum Cardinals 32
Quest for Pokemon cards: Fan with high hopes
WINONA Minn. – Store surveillance video caught a Rochester man shoplifting a boxed set of Pokemon trading cards from the Winona Walmart store and then going back for another set, the store said. The theft was several days earlier but discovered only in a routine review of store video. Jake Daniel Anderson, 30, was mailed a citation for theft, police said. Since the launch of the cads in 1996, 43.2 billion have been sold worldwide. Last year one collector, social media personality, actor and professional wrestler Logan Paul paid $5.3million for one card.
Staggering stats. Wrester Logan Paul may have paid a record sum, but lots of trading is private. Deals not announced.
Dakota precursor: -15 degrees to -30
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The storm due from the north may bring temperatures of minus 15 to minus 20 degrees on Thursday, the National Weather Service sad.. That means wind chills of minus 50. Expect gusts of 35 mph with some of 50 mph in western and central Minnesota.
Storm preparation nuggets
> St. Paul: The Legislature canceled all committee hearings for Wednesday and Thursday as well as floor sessions on Thursday. Legislators will reconvene Monday.
> Minneapolis: Xcel Energy put on extra crews for power outages. Hundreds of employees are ready to restore power for 3.7 million customers, the giant utility said.
> Rochester: All downtown was posted for no parking from midnight to 8 a.m., Wednesday, and then again through overnights through Monday.
> Mankato: Corey Kapaun, manager at C&S hardware, believes Mankato is ready. He’s sold 130 to 140 snow blowers this winter and around 1,000 shovels. The demand now is salt and grit.
> LaCrosse: A 72-hour snow emergency with alternate side parking rules.
> Schools: Almost every school district n cancelled classes through the weekend.
Governor: Stand by for winter emergency
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Using his peacetime emergency powers, Governor Tim Walz ordered the National Guard to pre-position equipment for a monster storm expected to arrive in the evening. Walz also told commanders to prepare soldiers to be activated. Other state agencies, including the Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Safety, were told to expect the worst. Forecasters were likening the incoming storm to the Great Halloween Blizzard of 1991, which dumped 30 inches of snow in places.
Winona forecast
The National Weather Service put southeast Minnesota under a winter weather advisory until 6 a.am., Wednesday, and then again for a second wave at noon and through 6 p.m., Thursday. Three to five inches of snow were predicted for Winona County in the first assault and then a full foot in a second assault.
Hy-Vee: Stolen credit card for $3,700 purchase
WINONA, Minn. – Police were called to the Hy-Vee grocery store about the sale of $3,700 in gift cards to someone using a stolen credit card. The fraud was reported about 2 p.m.
Walmart, Target stiffed for $2,300-plus
WINONA, Minn. – A woman with a fraudulent credit card charged $1,860 worth of goods at Walmart and then went over to Target and charged $512. Police and store security agents were checking on surveillance video to identify the woman. The transactions were about 2 p.m.
Pickup slides on ice into oncoming vehicle
ARCADIA, Wis. – Two people in a vehicle on State Highway 93 were injured when a pickup truck slid head-on into them on ice. They were taken to a hospital. The driver of the pickup, a Dodge Ram, was unhurt.The accident was about 5:50 p.m. half way between Arcadia and Independence. Deputies said the pickup was on Lewis Valley Road and attempting to slow down at the Highway 93 intersection. The pickup slid through the stop sign and into the other vehicle, a Mitsubishi sport utility. Sheriff Brett Semingson declined to release the names of those involved.
Senate acts to restore ex-felon voting rights
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Senate voted 35-30 to restore voting rights to convicted felons as soon as they get out of prison instead of continuing to require them to complete their parole. The bill now goes to Governor Tim Walz, whose signature is needed to put the law into effect. The Senate passage was less than a week after the state Supreme Court deferred on the issue and left it to the Legislature to change the law. Democrats behind the measure say it will help reintegrate former inmates. who are disproportionately people of color, back into society.
Verbatim
Bobby Joe Champion, D-Minneapolis, Senate president: “When individuals are connected to their communities and participating in pro-social activities, recidivism goes down, and the decision to do something to reoffend goes down as well.”
Verbatim
Senator Warren Limmer, R- Maple Grove: “There are some offenders that have committed heinous crimes against innocent citizens. I don’t think the Senate understands that. This bill treats it as a one-size-fits all — all criminals get the same treatment.”
Davids misses roll calls: Why? Travel commitments
PRESTON, Minn. – Eight-term State Representative Greg Davids, from Preston, missed a week of House roll calls. Asked if he was well, Davids, age 64, a local insurance agent, said he had been out of the state on business. He didn’t offer specifics. David said he also would be away another week, this time on business out of the country. Davids said that House Speaker Melissa Hortman, a Democrat excused his absences. Davids’ vote as a Republican didn’t affect roll calls in the Democrat-controlled House. As for committees, where the heavy work of legislating is conducted, Davids missed meetings and hearings of the House Taxes Committee, of which he is the GOP lead, and also of the Ethics Committee and the Higher-Ed Finance and Policy Committee. As a House member, Davids is paid $48,200 plus daily expenses.
Davids. First elected to House in 1991.
Sphinx Virtuosi opens Beethoven Festival
Self-directed chamber performance. At Winona’s Lake Park.
June 26 for classical season’s al fresco launch
WINONA, Minn. – The Minnesota Beethoven Festival opens its 16th season June 25 with the Sphinx Virtuosi chamber orchestra. The 22-day festival concludes July 16 with the Minnesota Orchestra featuring violinist Joshua Bell from the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, as well as Van Cliburn medalists Anna Geniushene and Dmytro Choni. The lineup also includes flutist Jasmine Choi, cellist Johannes Moser, and the Viano Quartet. Details.
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