Main channel flow keeps ice at bay
Afternoon in 34 to 37 range. The Mississippi remains in winter’s grip, here as seen from the Winona levee downtown. Image: Kevin O’Reilly
LaCrosse group protests Minnesota ICE deployment
LACROSSE, Wis. — About 50 protesters gathered outside La Crosse City Hall to speak out against President Trump’s deployment of armed troops in Minnesota and their fatal shooting of a 37-year-old mother. “We need to continue to look at each other as human beings regardless of gender, sexuality, skin color,” organizer, Tasha Lewis told a WXOW interviewer. “We deserve dignity and respect, and that is not what these people are getting.” A second protest against the ICE influx in Minnesota was being organized for Saturday by Students for a Democratic Society at the LaCrosse post office downtown.
Earlier: Mass Minneapolis vigil shows sadness, anger
Earlier: Woman shot dead in Minneapolis ICE raid
Earlier: Walz cancels re-election campaign
Alternate-side parking tally at 1,284
WINONA, Minn. – Police took breather enforcing the city’s alternate-side parking ordinance. The running tally:
> January 8: 10 citations
> January 7: 31 citations
> January 6: 21
> January 5: 25
> January 4: 56
> January 1 to 3: None. Officers had other priorities.
> December: 402 citations of which 45 were tagged and towed.
> November totals: 739 citations.
Driver hits snowbank, arrested as triple drunk
WINONA, Minn. — A police officer on a motor patrol witnessed a car crash into a snowbank on the West Side. The driver was unhurt but smelled of alcohol, the officer said. Asked if he had too much to drink, Jason Theodore Syrmopoulos, age 47, of Winona nodded yes, the officer said. A breath test on the spot showed his blood at 0.23%, almost thrice what’s considered too drunk to drive. Based on the breath test and his bloodshot and watery eyes, Syrmopoulos was arrested. This was about 12:20 a.m. at Gilmore Avenue and Dacota Steet. At jail Syrmopoulos declined a chemical blood-alcohol test. This elevated the DWI charge.
Syrmopoulos, Jailed as driving drunk. Also test refusal.
Minnesota scores
Basketball (boys): Winona Cotter/Winona Hope 73, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 66
Basketball (boys): Faribault Falcons 63, Winona Winhawks 48
Basketball (girls): Winona Cotter/Winona Hope 71, Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 44
Basketball (boys): St, Charles Saints 62, Caledonia Warriors 61
Hockey (boys): Winona Winhawks, 6 Red Wing Wingers 4
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Augusta Beavers 63, Gilmanton Panthers 44
Basketball (boys):Alma Center Lincoln Hornets 57, Melrose-Mondoro Mustangs 51
Basketball (boys): Osseo-Fairchild Thunder 52, Eleva-Stum Cardinals 30
Basketball (boys): Chetek-Weyerhauser Bulldogs 63, Mondovi Buffaloes 40
Basketball (girls): Viroqua Blackhawks 64, Galesville Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Red Hawks 39
Basketball (girls): Alma Center Lincoln Hornets 67, Osseo-Fairchild Thunder 31
Basketball (girls): Mondovi Buffaloes 46, Glenwood City 28
Car overturns, left untended; driver later arrested
WITOKA, Minn. — A Winona man was arrested and charged with drunken driving a couple hours after his car was found overturned 10 miles out of town. Bradley David Hudson, age 45, was tracked to his Winona home by the wrecked car’s registration data. The arrest was about 6 p.m. The accident was on County Road 15 near Witoka.
Hudson. Left scene of accident on back-country road.
Woman charged in serial disruptions
WINONA, Minn. — A Winona woman had four scrapes with the law before finally being arrested. In the end Kayla Mae Gile, age 34, was jailed for disorderly conduct. It had been a rough span of 14 hours for Gile, who seemed in continuing transit from place to place downtown. Drugs were suspected. The episodes:
> 10:25 p.m. on Wednesday: Police were called to the homeless warming center at Wesley Methodist Church, 114 West Bradway Street, about a woman causing a disturbance. She was pounding on doors and using slurs, police were told. She was escorted out.
> 6:50 a.m. on Thursday: Police were called to the area of Fourth and Market streets for a woman in the intersection yelling at passersby. Officers advised her to stop.
> 11:45 a.m.: Police were called to the Winona day-time warming center at 265 Lafayette Street to remove a woman walking around naked and causing a disturbance. She was clothed when officers arrived. She left when asked by officers to do so but shouted at them on her way out.
> 1:20 p.m.: Police arrested Kayla Mae Gile, age 34, for disorderly conduct near Third and Walnut streets. Witnesses told police that Gile took two swings at a man in the street. The man said he wasn’t hit.
It was not all that pleasant a night to be out and about on the streets. Temperatures were only in the mid-30s with drizzle and light snow interspersing.
Gile. An unhappy day for her.
High Court hears familiar Fravel appeal
ST. PAUL, Minn. —Winona murderer Adam Fravel had what may be his last day in court — a last-ditch appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court of his life sentence. Fravel wasn’t present for the event. His attorney, public defender Greg Scanlan, argued the case. In asking for a new trial, Scanlan said the death of Maddi Kingsbury conceivably may have been due to a sexual encounter gone wrong. If so, he contended, Fravel’s conviction for first-degree murder was excessive. The evidence at the trial was insufficient to establish that Kingsbury’s death was anything more than negligence. Scanlan noted that Kingsbury’s body, which was found hidden in the woods two months after she died, was fully clothed with a towel tied around her neck which covered her face. The towel was tied with a slip-knot, which he said doesn’t bespeak intentional homicide but rather a quintessential method of erotic asphyxia. Scanlan also challenged the testimony of a domestic abuse expert at the trial. The “expert,” he said, was speaking beyond her area of expertise. The prosecutor for Winona County at the trial, Phillip Prokopowicz, offered the Supreme Court the same responses he had before in a lower appellate court. Favel, now 32 years old, is in the 14th month of his life sentence at the Stillwater state prison.
News summary at mid-week: January 7, 2026
ICE SHOOTING: Mass Minneapolis vigil shows sadness, anger
ICE SHOOTING: Woman slain in ICE raid a mother, a poet
ICE SHOOTING: Woman shot dead in Minneapolis ICE raid
GOVERNANCE: How they voted: Obamacare extension /1
POLITICS: Walz, Klobuchar met quietly ahead of shocker
POLITICS: Walz cancels re-election campaign
POLITICS: Trump jumpstart in Wisconsin’s Trempealeau County
POLITICS: Klobuchar seen as gubernatorial front runner
CRIME: Suspect in Baby Angel death: Drop case
CRIME: Blood at 0.19% alcohol after snowbank crash
CRME: Pair of Hixton truck trailers up in flames
CRIME: Viroqua fugitive hauled back from Minnesota
ACCIDENT: Pair of Hixton truck trailers up in flames
How they voted: Obamacare extension /1
WASHINGTON — The U. S. House voted 230-196 to extend Obamacare three years, forestalling a Trump- plan to end healthcare coverage that bears the name of former President Barack Obama whom Trump despises. The vote was a setback not only y for Trump but also his lackey House Speaker Mike Johnson, who failed n holding his GOP majority together. It also was a slap at Tim Emmer of Minnesota, whose job as GOP whip herding party member from straying. The bill now goes to the Senate, where its prospects are unclear. In the House it was more than a dozen Repulians who defied Trump. Not to extended Obamacare, formally the Affordable Care Act of 2010, would have doubled, tripled and in some cases quadrupled healthcare insurance premiums for millions of people. Many would have found insurance too costly to keep. Every Democrat voted voted for the extension, How the Minnesota and Wisconsin delegations voted:
To extend Obamacare
> Angie Craig, D-Mn2 (south suburbs)
> Betty McCollum, D-Mn4 (St. Paul)
> Kelly Morrison, D-Mn3 (west suburbs)
> Ilhan Omar, D-Mn5 (Minneapolis)
—
> Gwen Moore, D-Wi4 (Milwaukee)
> Mark Pocan, D-Wi2 (Madison)
>Derrick Van Orden, R-Wi3 (Prairie du Chien)
Against
> Tom Emmer, R-Mn6 (north suburbs)
> Brad Finstad, R-Mn1 (southern counties)
> Scott Fitzgerald, R-Mn8 (Iron Range)
>Michelle Fischbach, R-Mn7 (rural west)
> Pete Stauber, R-Mn8 (Iron Range)
—
> Glen Grothman, R-Wi6 (Campbellsport)
> Bryan Steil, R-Wi1 (Janesville)
> Bryan Steil, R-Wi1 (Janesville)
> Tony Wied, R-Wi8 (DePere)
College scores
Minnesota scores
Basketball (girls): Red Wing Wingers 68, Rochester Lourdes Eagles 57
Mass Minneapolis vigil shows sadness, anger
Too many candles to count. On Portland Avenue, where a Trump agent fired fatal shots into a slow-moving car and killed he driver. There had been had been whistle-blowing objections to federal troops making arrests in the neighborhood.
Posters to citizens: Join whistle brigades
MINNEAPOLIS — Thousands of people on filled Portland Avenue in south Minneapolis, where just hours earlier an ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in her car. The event was both a vigil with candles and piles of flowers and whistles on the snow and a protest against President Trump for surging 2,000 federal agents into the metropolitan area. There were chants: “No Trump, no troops, Twin Cities ain’t licking boots.” The message was an unmistakable protest to Trump storm troopers in boots and riot gear. The troops were uninvited and have operated without any coordination with local police. Trump’s justification for the federal invasion was the rescue the city, which characterized as a “hell hole” hat only he could make safe again. Trump must be living on another planet, says Mayor Mayor Jacob Frey. The mayor said his city, population 430,000, has experienced only murders so far this year — and one of those was of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent. Trump is rendering the city less safe, Frey said. About the massive and uninvited federal military presence, he was direct: “Get the fuck out.” At the vigil there were fliers handed out with information on joining the watch group Defend 612, which coordinates neighborhood patrols to document excesses, violence and other bad behavior by Trump troops. NOTE: 612 is the telephone ara code for the Twin Cities.
Earlier: Woman slain in UCE raid a mother, a poet
Earlier: Earlier: Woman shot dead in Minneapolis ICE raid
On every pole, strut and standard. A reminder of her gunfire death at the hand of an ICE agent.
Policing factoid
> 2,000 agents are in Trump’s Operation Metro Surge that;s concentrated in Minneapolis the past month. The core comprises immigration and border agents but with extraordinary fire power and combat gear. Camouflage outfits are devoid of nametags or individual identification, which hinders accountability. Many wear dark glasses and masks that add to an intimidation factor.
> 100 additional agents are being added to the original Metro Surge force.
> To meet the Tump goal of 1 million federal arrests a year, there has been expedited hiring with generous sign-up bonuses. Screening standards have been lowered and allowed some hirees to join despite slight or dubiuos policing histories.
> 400 sworn officers are in the police department of Minneapolis, population 429,000.
> 300 sworn officers are in the police department of St. Paul, population 311,000.
> 470 sworn deputies are in the Hennepin County and Anoka County sheriff’s offices combined
> 13,000 soldiers are in Minnesota National Guard, most opart-time, under control of the governor but subject to presidential call-up in a national emergency.
Woman slain in ICE raid a mother, a poet
MINNEAOPLIS — The woman who was shot and killed by a Trump deportation agent in Minneapolis was from Minneapolis. Authorities identified her as Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old U.S. citozens mother who held an American Academy of Poets prize. Formerly she co-hosted a podcast with her husband. A few hours after the shooting, as soon as Good was identified, the Minneapolis City Council released a statement declaring that she had died “caring for her neighbors.” The shooting occurred near Powderhorn Park, where Trump’s U.S. Immigration Control and Enforcement agents had launched a raid to arrest immigrants for deportation. ICE ra8ds have been extremely unpopular in Minneapolis, and a community group quickly mobilized a protest demonstration. It was believed that Good was there among protesters who were exercising their constitutional right to express grievances against government excesses and demand redress. In a Minnesota Star Tribune interview, Good’s mother Donna Ganger said:
“She was extremely compassionate. She’s taken care of people all her life. She was loving, forgiving and affectionate. She was an amazing human being.”
Granger said her daughter was “probably terrified” during the confrontation. Video of the episode showed Good driving away from the heart of the demonstration when she was shot though her car window at extremely close range. Th audio picked up two shots, perhaps three.
Good. She was dead on arrival at a hospital despite resuscitation attempts at the scene.
Trump trash talk
Even as the shooting scene was still unsettled, the Trump team tried to control public impressions of what happened. The tactic was. simple: Demonize the woman who was shot and heroize the ICE agent who shot her. Within an hour Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, told reporters in Texas, where she was traveling, that the slain woman was a “domestic terrorist.” This was before any facts about the circumstances had been established — even before anyone knew anything about Renee Nicole Good, not even her name. Also without any factual basis, a Noem aide in Washington declared that the victim “weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.” Noem ssaid her CE age had acted in self-defense and to save fellow agents. Trump himself soon added to the make-believe narrative. He said he had seen video that the driver “ran over” an officer. Factcheck: No video showed any officer being run over. In response to the Trump and Noem fabrications, Minneapolis authorities were fiTrm. Mayor Jacob Frey said he had seen video and called the Trump account “bullshit.” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz added: “Don’t believe this propaganda machine.”
Suspect in Baby Angel death: Drop case
WINONA, Minn. — The woman accused of infanticide in the Baby Angel case wants a judge to dismiss the charge that she committed second-degree murder. The attorney for Jennifer Baechle filed an expected motion that there is no evidence of negligence. The basis for the motion, as reported earlier: The Winona County medical examiner, Lindsey Thomas, concluded the infant’s death was “undetermined.” The case dates to 2011 when a baby girl was found floating in a box in the Mississippi River downstream from Winona. The baby’s body was carefully backed with angel figurines. Without a cause of death being established, Bachle’s attorney says it cannot be proven that Baechle played a part in the infant’s death. A hearing on the motion has been scheduled next week.
Earlier: Attorney: Key document missing in Baby Angel case
Earlier: Prosecutor: Throw book at Baby Angel mom
Woman shot dead in Minneapolis ICE raid
MINNEAPOLIS — A Trump deportation agent shot and killed a driver almost point-blank as she steered away from an ICE raid to arrest immigrants. Citizen video showed the agent trying to force open the vehicle’s door and then firing two, perhaps three blasts into the woman’s head. The vehicle lurched a few feet and lodged into a parked vehicle. Another video a few minutes later showed a blood-splattered steering-wheel airbag. The woman, whose name wasn’t known immediately, died before arriving at a nearby hospital. The shooting was in a south Minneapolis residential neighborhood about 9:30 a.m. A contingent from Trump’s Immigration Control and Enforcement agency had been assigned to raid the area for immigrants. A citizen-alert patrol mobilized quickly to blow whistles to warn people what was happening and to stay indoors and lock doors. This peaceful tactic frustrated the heavily armed ICE agents, all in combat gear and who responded with tear gas.
First fatality in Trump’s ICE crackdown. Yellow tape marks he crime scene.
ICE in Minneapolis
Trump storm troopers have moved from Democratic city to Democratic city around the country to facilitate to his round-ups of immigrants — 75,000 as of October — but also to silence dissident voices under the cover of catching criminally violent immigrants. Trump expanded the ICE presence in Minnesota recentky. Hee escalated the ICE deployment in Minneapolis and St. Paul to 2,000 agents ostensibly to save Minnesotans from criminal immigrant gangs. The federal government’s own data, however, show violent crimes declining. Trump critics said the mega-deployments were instead intended not only as racist xenophobia but as intimidation to silence opposition to his strong-monarchical policies and to harass the state’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz. Trump has long-term and growing grudges against Walz over political differences.
River iced up: Skipper on winter break
Tour boat dry-docked. Hoisted on stilts for the season at Latsch Island marina. In touristy months Skipper Aaron Repinski operates from the Winona Levee. Fare: $10 to $20 for guided tour of Pool 6 of Mississippi River wildlife habitat. Image: Steve Lunde
Walz, Klobuchar met quietly ahead of shocker
ST.PAUL, Minn. — It was learned that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz met Sunday with the state’s senior U.S. senator, Amy Klobuchar — two days before withdrawing his candidacy for a third term. Details of the discussion are not known, but word about the meeting fueled speculation that Klobuchar, a popular figure in Minnesota for decades, may replace Walz on the Democratic primary election ballot in August. The Walz announcement sent shockwaves through the state’s whole political structure. In Klobuchar circles, sources confirmed that she suddenly was considering the governorship but hadn’t decided. For his part Walz confirmed discussing his pending departure with every Democratic c state office-holder. These presumably included
> > Keith Ellson, a former member of the U.S. House and now the state’s attorney general
> > Steve Simon, who’s been Minnesota’s secretary of state since 2014.
Both Ellison and Simon earlier had announced intentions to seek re-election to their posts. But Walz creatd a new political reality with uncharted opportunities and risks. The calendar ahead:
> August 11: Political parties nominate their 2026candidates.
> November 3: The people vote.
> January 2: Winners of the November election take office.
The calendar presents issues. State law Consider this scenario:
State law permits Klobuchar to run for governor and simultaneously retain her U.S Senate seat. If elected governor, however, she would need to leave the Senate immediately, which would leave it to Walz, still in office as governor, to appoint a successor to serve until federal election in 2027. Yes, he could appoint himself. To the Senate vacancy. It’s something that many state governors have done. But there are risks. When Minnesota Governor Wendell Anderson appointed himself to a Senate vacancy 1977, it was seen as unseemly and he lost a bid to be elected to the seat properly in the next election. His lengthy political career never recovered.
Emergency, fire crews make 56 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 47 emergency medical calls plus 9 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, January 3: 6 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Monday, January 5: 7 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Sunday, January 4: 4 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Saturday, January 3: 7 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Friday, January 2: 4 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Thursday, January 1: 8 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Wednesday, December 31: 11 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 58 calls
Alternate-side parking tally at 1,243
WINONA, Minn. – Police took breather enforcing the city’s alternate-side parking ordinance. The running tally:
> January 6: 21 citations
> January 5: 25
> January 4: 56
> January 1 to 3 : None. Officers had other priorities.
> December: 402 citations of which 45 were tagged and towed.
> November totals: 739 citations.
Notable journalism
Brian Arola Minnesota Post, January 2, 2026): “Somalis I in Greater Minnesota Feel Ripple Effect of Twin Cities Operations”
Ana Radelat (Minnesota Post, January 4, 2026): “”Amy Klobubar, Other Dems Eye a Run for Governor in Wake of Walz Decision”
Matthew Blake (Minnesota Post January 5, 2026): “What Are We Supposed to Make of Tim Walz Not Running for a Third Term?”
College scores
Hockey (men): UW-Stout 4, Saint Mary’s 1
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Winona Cotter/Winona Hope 66, Dover-Eyota Eagles 74
Basketball (boys):
Basketball (boys): Lewiston-Altura Cardinals 100, Harmony Fillmore Central Falcons 50
Basketball (boys): St. Charles Saints 79, Rochester Lourdes Eagles 62
Basketball (girls): Dover-Eyota Eagles 52, Winona Cotter/Winona Hope 50
Hockey (boys): Winona Wonhawks 3, Albert Lea Tigers 1
Hockey (girls): Albert Lea Tigers 6, Winona Winhawks 1
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Westby Norse 53, Arcadia Raiders 45
Basketball (boys): West Salem Panthers 80, Galesville Gale-EttrickTrempealeau Red Hawks 68
Basketball (girls): Westby Norse 66, Galesville Gale-EttrickTrempealeau Redhawls 68
Basketball (boys): Cochrane-Fountain Citv Pirates 73, Independence Indees 41
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