ROCHESTER, Minn. – A jailer making his usual 5 a.m. rounds found a detainee unresponsive in his cell. Resuscitation efforts failed. .An  ambulance crew was called. The detainee, Russell James Simon Jr., 59, of Rochester, was declared dead. Simon was in custody for a felony assault charge in Olmsted County. He also was being held on a state prison warrant. Sheriff Kevin Torgerson said the regional medical examiner, located at at Mayo Clinic, would perform an autopsy. Under usual protocol, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension will investigate as an external agency, the sherff said.

Simon. Held on a Rochester assault charge and  probation violation on a 2008 Itasca murder conviction

WINONA, Minn. – A defrocked Catholic priest who skipped a court date in September on a sex charge remains unaccounted for. Still, five months later, an arrest warrant for Ubaldo Roque Huerta, 50, remains active. He was last seen briefly in southwest Minnesota but apparently has moved on. As a Winona-Rochester diocesan priest, heHuerta had been popular in St. Charles and several other parishes for lively Spanish services in which he paraded, sang  and danced among congregants in the pews.

Earlier: Cops stymied on finding ex-priest in sex case

Earlier: Ex-priest misses court date on sex charge

Earlier: One year prison possible for ex-priest

Earlier: Ex-St. Charles priest accused sex misdeed

Basketball (girls): LaCrosse Central RiverHawks 63, Sparta Spartans 46

Hockey (boys): LaCrosse Aquinas Blugolds 5, Madison West Regents 1

UTICA, Minn. — A 19-year-old Utica man, Carter JoshueBurt,  was found face-down and dead in an alley at Center anf Main streets. Deputies suspected a medial issue but were continuing to investigate. This was about 9:10 p.m.

Burt. Death tentatively attributed to unexpected medical crisis.

WINONA, Minn. – Displeased with two guests that his housemate had invited over, Hugh Thomas Grant asked them to leave. Further displeased when they didn’t go, he drew a 10-inch knife to persuade them more vigorously. This according to a police report on the arrest of Grant, 30, whose address is the 900 block of East King Street. The incident was about 5:15 p.m. Police said Grant admitted to threatening the visitors because he was uncomfortable with them in his space. No one was stabbed. Police said Grant willingly surrendered the knife.

Grant. Charges of assault and threats of violence could mean 13 years in prison.

HUDSON, Wis. – Hundreds of people in this river town were without power a couple of hours after a bald eagle flew into a power line. This was about 3:30 p.m. The first outage was a minute or so for 2,700 Xcel customers. Then came a 2-1/2 hour outage for 860 customers. The eagle died.

STOCKTON, Minn. – Deputies received a report of a man in a tan Chevrolet Tahoe attempting to entice juveniles to buy marijuana from his vehicle. He was gone when deputies arrived. There had been similar earlier reports from Levee park and elsewhere in Winona between 4 and 10 p.m. There too police didn’t find the vehicle. Police said the purveyor, a black man, was believed to be from LaCrosse. Whether he he made any sakes was not established.

LACROSSE, Wis. – An Onalaska man accused in an online child pornography case, Anthony Schmidt, 34. pleaded not guilty. At the hearing, Judge Elliott Levine lowered bail from $50,000 to $10,000. Schmidt was released pending further court appearances on condition that he move in with his parents, not leave town, and wear a an electronic tracking bracelet on an ankle.

Earlier: Child porn counts face Onalaska man

ROCHESTER, Minn. – A judge has been imported from Goodhue County for proceedings in the murder trial of Mustafa Bush. Of the pool of six Rochester judges from which one normally would be named to preside, four have been involved in previous cases involving Bush. Two others, judges Lisa Hayne and Katherine Wallace, recused themselves because they feared a taint from their close working relationship with the other four judges. Hearing the Bush will be Judge Douglas Bayley. His usual jurisdiction is Carver, Goodhue, Dakota, LeSueuer, McLeod, Scott and Sibbley counties.

Earlier: $3 million bail in Rochester murder case

Earlier: Ex-con booked in Eyota woman’s death

Earlier: Autopsy: Eyota woman’s death a homicide

Earlier: Body found in snow northwest of Rochester

Verbatim

Mark Ostrem, Olmsted Cunty attorney, to television station KAAL:: “Judges and Attorneys are very cautious not to cross ethical boundaries and always err on the side of caution when such an issue comes up.”

Basketball (men): Saint Mary’s 58, St. Scholastica 57

Basketball (men): Winona State 84, UM-Duluth 72

Basketball (men): UW-Oshkosh 78, UW-LaCrosse 73

Basketball (women): UM-Duluth 66, Winona State 40

Basketball (women): Saint Mary’s 58, St. Scholastica 57

Basketball (women): UW-Oshkosh 61, UW-LaCrosse 53

Hockey (men): St. Olaf 5, Saint Mary’s 2

Hockey (women): St. Olaf 2, Saint Mary’s 1

MINNEAPOLIS – A Delta flight from Orlando made an emergency landing at its MSP destination after the pilot suspected a mechanical problem. The landing, about 9:30 p.m., was uneventful. Flight 1103, a Boeing 757-300, was carrying a full load of 234 passengers.

THEILMAN, Minn. – More than 300 truckers in 82 trucks convoyed behind a hearse from the Lake City funeral of a 12-yea-old boy who aspired to be trucker to his burial in Thielman The convoy was half a mile long. Truckers were there from all over the Upper Midwest. Blaze Himl died a week earlier in a snowmobile accident. The body was carried in one of the trucks. Convoy organizer Erik Madison said “We’ll bring little Blaze home with what he loves, trucks you know.” At the funeral Blaze’s aunt Renay told about Blaze ’s traveling to California with his trucker-grandfather last summer. “His smile was never bigger than when he climbed in that truck.” she said.

Earlier: Truckers massing to honor one of their own