GRAND MEADOW, Minn. – A Grand Meadow man has been charged with hiding cameras in a bathroom in his home and recording prepubescent children who assumed they were behind a closed door and out of anyone’s sight. Nicholas Adam Sneed, 45, was charged with interfering with privacy. The cameras were discovered after an internet policing agency notified Mower County Sheriff Steve Sandvik that child pornography had been uploaded to Sneed’s address. Deputies with a search warrant found numerous electronic devices and data storage devices and several videos produced at Sneed’s place with hidden cameras, according to the criminal complaint. There were videos with nude children. Investigators interviewed the children, some of whom, according to the criminal complaint, became emotional at learning they had been taped.

Sneed. Accused of collecting and making child porn.

ELKO, Minn. –The body of a man was discovered at the Interstate 35 ramps at County Road 2 east of Elko.  Sheriff Luke Hennen sid the cause of death was being investigated. The body was found about 8:45 a.m., roughly eight miles from Nirthfeld  The temperature was around 10 below zero and the wind chill below 30.

WINONA, Minn. – Overnight winds, some at blizzard force, whipped recent light powdery snow into dangerously short visibility. Authorities advised against driving. At Albert Lea, state troopers lowered barricade at entry ramps on Interstate 90 for several hours. Freeborn County abandoned plowing county roads because zero-visibility posed too many dangers. In Winona ridge-top gusts were clocked at 50 mph.  Dozens of automobile and truck accidents were  reported in the Winona area since the storm arrived Wednesday, none with injuries. Overnight wind chills below zero were forecast through Monday, with a break finally on Tuesday. Meanwhile, dangerous conditions are from a giant winter storm will continue through most of the country.

WINONA, Minn. – A police car chase that began on the Interstate Bridge ended up in a bitter cold arrest on Latsch Island. Police offered this chronology:

> A vehicle struck a guardrail on the bridge and drove on.

> Police gave chase but backed off because of slippery roads.

> The vehicle was found abandoned the other side of the bridge on Latsch Island.

> Officers followed footprints in the snow from the passenger side and found the person hiding behind a tree.

> Officers also found footprints from the driver side but lost track in the blowing snow.

> Concerned about the driver in the bitter cold, officers asked the State Patrol whether a helicopter search was possible. Answer: Sorry, the weather too severe. What about the sheriff’s drone? Same: Visibility too limited, winds too harsh.

> The officers parked nearby, lights out, and hoped the driver would return. He did — obviously drunk, officers said. He was snow-covered and wearing only one shoe.

> The driver was taken to the hospital.

This all started on the bridge about 1:15 a.m. with wind chills in the minus-20s and ended on Latsch Island about 3:25.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Fire extensively damaged an exurban house northeast of Rochester, toward Elgin, in an area without fire hydrants.  One person was treated at the scene after the fire broke out about 1 p.m. One occupant was treated for smoke inhalation at a Rochester hospital. A second person who fled the house didn’t need medical attention. Fire crews arrived at the house. at 5189 Connermara Drive Northeast, to see heavy smoke and flames.  Water had to be trucked to the site, which slowed tempts to control the fire.  There was significant smoke, fire and water damage. The cause? Not immediately ascertained.

WITOKA, Minn. – A late pre-holiday dinner erupted in violence when, according to family, a rural man turned suddenly violent at the kitchen table. Everything had been fine until Carter Stephen Briggs, 20, began sputtering nonsense and  yelling and cursing, family told deputies. They said he spat at another person, age 51, and then attacked a fellow family member, age 52. When deputies arrived, in the 27000 block of County Road 9, upstream from Cedar Valley golf course, Briggs was being restrained on the floor. He was taken to the Winona hospital for evaluation, then booked for injurious domestic assault and instilling fear. One family member, a woman, showed deputies a red mark on a check and a bleeding cut on a hand.

SPRING GROVE, Minn. – Fire that was discovered mid-afternoon and burned into the night wiped out the downtown Ace hardware store and six walk-up apartments. Tenants who were home all escaped in time. Firefighters believed the blaze started in one of the apartments. Fire crews were summoned from five nearby communities. To make room for equipment and hoses, State Highway 44, which runs down Main Street, was barricaded and traffic rerouted. It was not expected that the street would reopen until dawn. The town’s power supplier, MIEnergy of Rushford, disconnected power to the South Side, also to facilitate the work of firefighters.  Water was a problem. “We drained our water tower so fast,” said Fire Chief Trent Turner. Townspeople were asked to limit their water use. A further problem was below-zero temperatures and blizzard-strength gusts.

Vexatious flames.  The fire apparently creeped between a new roof and old roof. Getting to the flames was a challenge. Not until near midnight was the fire quelled.

Basketball (men): UW-LaCrosse and Augustana, of Illinois, postponed

Basketball (boys): Neillsville Warriors 53, Alma Center Lincoln Hornets 41

Basketball (boys): Gilmanton Panthers and Holcombe Lake Chieftains, postponed

Basketball (boys): Durand Panthers and Onalaska Luther Knights, postponed

Basketball (boys): Arcadia Raiders and Tomah Timberwolves, postponed

WINONA, Minn. – The city building inspector has chained off an East End house as uninhabitable because of vandalism apparently caused by a tenant.  Windows had been smashed over the past week and finally there had been a fizzled arson attempt. Arrested at the scene about 3 a.m. was Matthew Ryan Nguyen, 37.

Earlier: Arson? Suicide? More questions than answers

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate voted 68-27 for a $1.7 trillion spending package that includes almost $50 billion of additional aid to Ukraine for defense against \Russian aggression. The bill funds the bill through the net fiscal year. The bill next goes to the U.S. House.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – A Rochester woman swung a metal pipe at John Marshall High School students who were in a melee with her son at the school.  A criminal complaint charges Tiffany Natasha Kidd, 44, with second-degree assault and third-degree riot. Both are felonies. The incident was May 10, but the investigation to sort out the confusing incident has taken seven months. The complaint outlines this sequence:

> School staffers separated juvenile boys from a serious brawl in the gym.

> Kidd arrived holding a pipe and egging on the violence.

> Kidd’s son took one boy to the ground, as she swung the pipe at the other kid.

> A staff member grabbed the pipe away from Kidd.

A judge has ordered Kidd to appear in court in January to be arraigned.

School profile

John Marshall High in northwest Rochester has 1,620 students in grades 8 to 12. It is one three public high schools in the district. Ranking in math proficiency: 44%. In reading proficiency: 41%. Rank statewide: Bottom 50%. The Marshall Rockets athletics teams compete in the Big Nine state conference.

WINONA, Minn. – A man who called rescuers for a fire that he said he started in his house was later arrested. When police arrived, Matthew Ryan Nguyen, 37, was sitting on the porch. Nguyen said he was high on marijuana and that he wanted to die. Then he changed his mind about suicide and said he just wanted a better place to live. There was no one else home, police said. In his vest, police said, were six baggies of marijuana totaling 392 grams.  There indeed had been a fire – a two-foot square patch on a front-room  carpet. The fire either had burned itself out or was extinguished by firefighters who were on-site first. This was about 4 a.m. in the 200 block of St. Charles Street on the Far East End. Nguyen was taken to the hospital emergency room, where he was cleared medically and retuned to police custody. He was booked at the county jail at 8:30 a.m. Pending charges: Drugs and arson.

Nguyen. An odd fire call, lots of marijuana.

WINONA, Minn.  – This year’s 10 Days of Giving campaign sponsored by Merchants Bank raised $120,900 in cash and 18,400 pounds of food. The total was the fourth highest in the event’s history. Over 34 years the campaign has generated 4.5 million pounds of food for people in need, the bank reported.

Earlier: Merchants Bank launches annual food drive

WINONA, Minn. – A Winona driver was found sleeping and drunk in his running car on Lincoln Street on the West Side about 1:25 a.m., police said. Arrested was Eric Mark Grzybowski, 37. Police banged on his car repeatedly to roust him. When Gryzbowski finally woke up and opened the window, police said, alcohol-laced body odor blasted at them. They described Gryzbowski’s eyes as watery and  blood-shot and his speech slurred. He failed a field sobriety tests. His blood-alcohol test didn’t go well.

Gryzbowski. sleep at wheel. Cops: Drunk too.

WINONA, Minn. – The two Winona warming centers prepared to shift into a 24-hour rotating operation for homeless people as the Blizzard of 2022 bore down on the city. One center, in a downtown basement at The Edge Church, usually open at 9 p.m. through the night, was preparing to extend hours, said Patrick Michener, director. At times that doors are locked, Winona police can arrange access, he said. The center has 20 beds. So far, Michener said, the center has not had a full night. Available are food, hygiene products, showers and a safe place for belongings. A donation closet has Warm clothing free for the taking. Meanwhile, the dayside warming center a few blocks away on Market Street, is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Both are operated through Catholic Charities.

Michener. Community engagement director.

Basketball (girls): Winona Cotter Ramblers and Goodhue Wildcats, postponed

WINONA, Winn. – People in southeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin and northeast Iowa battened down the hatches — and everything else – in anticipation of the most severe storm of the season. It’ll be a double whammy. The U.S. weather station in LaCrosse predicted 3 to 7 inches of powdery snow overnight –then the second blow: a full-fledged blizzard Thursday.  Forecasters don’t bandy around the  “blizzard” lightly. Their definition is technical:

> 35-plus mph winds with blowing snow.

> Less than one-quarter mile visibility.

> Duration of three hours or more.

Path to Winona. Winter’s next assault was predicted to hit Winona about 4 p.m. Wednesday. The blizzard comes Thursday. Image: National Weather Service

STEWARTVILLE, Minn. – A family of four escaped a fire that started in in an attached garage. No one was injured. The loss was estimated at $100,00,0 including a 2018 GMC Sierra pickup truck and a 2016 GMC sport-utility vehicle. The owner said the fire probably began in battery-operated hunting equipment he had stored in the pickup bed. The fire was in the 600 block of 12th Avenue Northeast. The fire was caught before spreading to the house.

WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 36 emergency medical calls plus 12 fire calls in recent days:

> Tuesday, December 20: 3 medical call plus n 1 fire call.

> Monday, December 19: 2 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Sunday, December 18: 7 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Saturday, December 17: 7 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.

> Friday, December 16: 4 medical calls plus no fire calls.

> Thursday, December 15: 9 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.

> Wednesday, December 14: 4 medical calls plus 1 fire call.

Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 44 calls

STOCTON Minn. – Precisely at 3:28 p.m. Winona time, Earth reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It’s the winter solstice, also known as the hibernal solstice —  the day of the year with the least daylight. The farther north, the shorter the day. In Tromso, above the Arctic Circle in Norway, they celebrate by dancing in the streets at the precise hibernal hour. It’s a twilight event. At the north pole itself the days the sun is out 24 hours, albeit it very low in the sky. In the southern hemisphere, it’s the opposite. In fact, it’s 24 hours of daylight at the southern pole.

About as low as it gets. On a recent clear day atop Stockton Hill, as the solstice neared, the sun was almost at its lowest point in the sky. Image: Steve Lunde