WINONA Minn. – Walmart reported that a Winona woman, Audrey Kay Corey, 25, had shoplifted $29 worth of flowers and cupcakes. Confronted by police, Corey offered to return the items. Too late, the police said. They wrote a ticket.

FOLEY, Minn. – A Sauk Rapids man who highjacked a railroad locomotive and stabbed the engineer pleaded guilty. Samuel Hohman, 40, entered the plea as part of a deal that included dropping charges of criminal damage to property. In the incident, last September, Hohman climbed aboard the Burlington Northern locomotive, wrapped his arms around the engineer’s neck. and told him to speed up and get out of town. Hohman then stabbed the engineer in the forehead with a jack knife. The train came to a stop in Sartell. Hohman was arrested nearby.

Earlier: Man stabs engineer in train-jacking

LACROSSE, Wis. — The death of a 6-year-old boy at a house in rural Medary township was suspicious, said Sheriff John Siegel said. Deputies were called about 9 a.m. and found Alexavier J. Pedrin, also known as “AJ,” on a bed and unresponsive.  A deputy said the boy appeared “very stiff as if rigor had already set in.” First-responders were unable to resuscitate him. The drug overdose antidote Narcan was ineffective. The medics pronounced the boy dead 17 minutes after the initial call to 911.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – A Fargo, North Dakota, real estate development firm, Enclave. has proposed a 230-unit apartment building at the site of the YMCA on Broadway south of downtown. City approval is still required. The new building, next to Soldiers Field Park, wud be seven stories. The existing YMCA would be razed. The new building would include three rooftop terrace common areas, an on-site fitness and yoga studio, an indoor game room, and a small convenience shop.

Enclave. Firm has eight projects in Minnesota, the first in 2019 in Shakopee. In all, the Enclabe has completed 100 developments in the Midwest.

WINONA, Minn. – From 50 feet away the officers could feel the pulsating bass. No wonder a neighbor had called to complain about the loud music. This was about 2 a.m. in the 800 block of East Second Street. Cherrie Marie Christopher, 45, turned down the volume and answered the door. It wasn’t her first police encounter about music. It might help, they said, to close your windows. But this was a second offense, and the officers’ advice  went beyond a gentle warning. Christopher was written up for a city noise violation. A fine is imminent

WINONA, Minn. – To police it seemed a routine traffic stop. The driver, a 36-year-old Winona woman, had run a couple stop signs and pulled over when the cops lit their rooftop lights. The woman admitted she had been drinking and seemed compliant enough. Then, said police, she scooted like lightning across her front seat to the passenger side, swung open the door, and ran. Elizabeth Jean Smith sprinted about a block. A back-up cop sprinted faster. Her blood-alcohol tested at 0.19% — roughly 2-1/2 times an acceptable level. This was about 12:30 a.m. on Center Street downtown.

Smith. Charges: Fleeing police, drunken-driving, no driver license, running two stop signs.

GRAND MARAIS Mich. – One of Lake Superior’s oldest shipwrecks, the the square-mast Nucleus, which sank in an 1869 storm, has been discovered 600 feet deep off Vermilion Point on the Upper Peninsula. This is 90 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie.  A team from the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society found the wreckage two years ago but only recently identified it positively. The Nucleus, a 144-foot vessel, was carrying ore from Minnesota’s Iron Range. The crew made it to life boats as the ship took on water and stank. A passing ship failed to spot the lifeboat, although a second ship did. No lives were lost.

Nucleus. This drawings is from an earlier encounter in which the ship rammed and sank a side-wheeler in Lake Huron. Images: Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society

Basketball (men): Sioux Falls 67, Winona State 62

Basketball (women): Sioux Falls 59, Winona State 41

Gymnastics (women): UW-LaCrosse 190.000, UW-Eau Claire 182.550

Hockey (men): Saint Mary’s 7, St. Scholastica 4

Hockey (women): St. Scholastica 2, Saint Mary’s 0

WINONA, Minn. – A 17-year-old Stockton girl went berserk at the Courthouse after her probation officer told her there was a new felony warrant for her arrest. The officer said the girl punched and gouged her. This was about 1 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Courthouse. The girl was still uncooperative when a deputy and two jailers arrived. Once subdued, the officers said the girl went limp, which caused a back injury to one officer. The fellow officers were bruised. In the end, as the probation officer had told her, the girl was arrested on the new warrant.

WINONA, Minn. – Police brought their drug-sniffing dog to the Alternative Learning Center after Principal Jolene Danca called in suspicions about drugs. The dog sniffed lockers and found nothing, police said. The school, at  1299 West Third Street, has 69 students enrolled in nontraditional paths to graduation.

WINONA, Minn. – A handyman known around town for good work took a text about fixing a broken washer-dryer in the 200 block of Olmstead Street. Nobody was home when he arrived. So he texted back that maybe another time would be better. “Please let me know.” This was about 3:30 p.m. What followed was a fusillade of angry, vulgar messages and a threat: “I’m going kill you.” He called the police. Officers talked with the people who supposedly had the bad washer-dryer, as well as any acquaintances with a texting capability that would have facilitated the attacks. The mystery remains: Who did this? Why?”

WINONA, Minn. – Even from jail Melvin Earl Kimp, 32, couldn’t resist telephoning a former girlfriend – forgetting perhaps that a judge had barred any contact. But jailers said he did. Kimp used his jail-issued phone card to make the calls, they said. Perhaps Kimp was lonely. He had been in jail 35 days on domestic assault and false imprisonment charges when the calls were reported. Although jailers don’t monitor every inmate call, they thought because of the complaint that they better do so. Kimp’s in even more trouble now.

Kimp. Unrequited love? The eaves-dropping jailers would know.

EYOTA, Minn. – A babysitter said he heard something pop in the basement, then saw an electrical panel on fire. So he grabbed five kids and ran outside to safety.  The kids – ages 1 to 14 – were OK, although the 1-year-old was evaluated on-site for smoke inhalation. This was about 10:30 p.m. in the 200 block of Rena Belle Street Northwest. The babysitter, a 24-year-old man, said he called 911 as soon as he had the kids outside. Deputies said light smoke was coming from the home when they arrived. In the meantime, the babysitter had gone back inside and extinguished the flames with a fire extinguisher.

NODINE, Minn. – A rural couple discovered that a bullet had been fired through an upstairs bedroom window. They called the sheriff about 10 p.m. when they found the shattered window and the bullet embedded in an inside wall. This must have happened during the day when they were at work, the couple told deputies. They said they had idea who would have done it. The bullet was 9mm, probably from a handgun. Deputies searched the snow for tracks, looked for a casing, and knocked on neighborhood doors to see if anybody had seen anything suspicious. . Their best guess: The shot was fired across County Road 12 from a car on Interstate 90.

WASHINGTON – Police arrested a 26-year-old man for an early morning attack on Congresswoman Angie Craig as she was heading to work. Kendrick Hamlin, 26, was booked for assault. Craig described her attacker as acting erratically. Apparently he was  under the influence, she told police. He followed her into an elevator at her apartment building and began doing push-ups, then he punched her in the chin and grabbed her neck, Craig said. She flung a cup of hot coffee at him and he fled. Craig was otherwise unhurt.

Earlier: Minnesota rep fends off attacker with hot coffee

Lawmaker assaults

U.S. Capitol Police investigated 7,500 cases of potential threats against members if Congress in 2022, fewer than the 9,600 cases in 2021 and 8,600 in 2020. Most threats were by mail, phone or the internet

WINONA, Minn. –  A Winona driver was injured although not critically in a three-vehicle accident at the troublesome Highway 61 intersection  with Gilmore Avenue near the Hy-Vee shopping district. The State Patrol said that Paul Anthony Clark, 57, of Winona, was southbound on Highway 61, the second vehicle northbound, and the third vehicle at a stop sign on Gilmore. Clark was taken to the Winona hospital. Unhurt were the other drivers — Kimberly Ann Edgington, 32, of Altura, and Samuel Gennady Berg, 21, of Coon Valley, Wisconsin. Pavement was dry. This was about 6:35 p.m.