Mayo fleet foreman accused of $200,000 swindle
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A Mayo Clinic employee whose jobs was keeping a 10-car fleet in working order has been accused of paying himself $200,000 for unneeded repairs. Ryan Bradley Lott-Gardner, age 40, was arrested on six felony counts of swindling. The supposed repairs were over 12 months beginning in June 2024, according to the criminal complaint. The repairs purportedly were at businesses called A1 Auto and Rochester Motor Car, which, according to the complaint, Lott-Gardner had spun from whole cloth. Records show 247 payments. Where did the money go? Investigators said vacationing and school and daycare expenses. According to the complaint, Lott-Gardner initially claimed to investigators that he did some work on the vehicles himself at home even though he wasn’t authorized to do so. They quoted him also as having no idea the charges totaled anywhere near the alleged $200,000.
Driver injured in Viola car-truck crash
VIOLA, Minn. — A Rochester driver was injured when a Freightliner box truck and a car collided heading north out of Eyota on State Highway 42. Abdulkadir Mohamed Mohamud, age 27, was taken 14 mikes to a Rochester hospital with sustainable injuries. The collision was about 9:30 a.m. on wet pavement. The truck driver, Jeffery L Hense, 50, of Menomonie, Wisconsin, was unhurt. Mohamud was driving a 2019 Toyota Rav4.
Curtin now with full reins coaching WSU football
WINONA, Minn. – A cornerback on Winona State’s 1993 Northern Sun Championship team, Brian Curtin, who’s been a Warrior sideline coach for 20 years, has been named the university’s head football coach. Curtin has been interim coach since January, when Brian Bergstrom moved on after three seasons. Curtin’s time on the Winona State staff goes back to 1997, mostly as defensive coordinator. He tutored five consecutive conference defensive players of the year. These included John Tackmann, who won the award in 2005 and 2006.Curtin holds two Winona State degrees, in teaching social science and history and in educational leadership. He grew up in the Chicago suburb of Midlothian.
Curtin. Helped Warriors to eight league championships. Teams also advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs seven times. There have been three Mineral Water Bowl invitations.
Onalaska coach to WSU for cross country, track
WINONA, Minn. – The 32-year veteran high school cross country and track coach at Onalaska has joined the Winona State coaching staff. Darin Shepardson will lead the unversiuty’s cross country program and serve as an assistant track and field coach. At Onalaska he led the Hilltoppers to a Wisconsin state Division 1 state title in 2021. His girls teams were state runners-up three times. In college Shepardson ran at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He was a three-time Division III All-American. Earlier Shepardson was a student at Winona High School. In 1985 inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame.
Shepardson. Purple was already key in his wardrobe from Onalaska.
Alternate-side parking tally at 1,125
WINONA, Minn. – Police continued issued 35 citations overnight for violations of the city’s winter ordinance for alternate-side parking. The running tally:
> December so far: 394 of which 45 were tagged and towed
> November totals: 731
Menards fined $4.3 million for 11% rebate fraud
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The Eau Claire-based home improvement retail chain Menards has agreed to pay fines totaling $4.3 million for cheating customers with its heavily advertised 11% rebates. The fines were announced by Wisconsin’s attorney general, Josh Kaul. He said Menards misled customers in several ways. For one, the chain posted post-prices bt charged higher pre-rebate price as they checked out. Also: Rebates required a complex mail-in process. Too: Although Menards advertised that everything qualified as 11% off, there were exclusions: Gift cards, event tickets, and propane deliveries and rentals. Two Wisconsin locations, in Onalaska and Johnson Creek, had price-gouged on bottled water despite a CoVid pandemic prohibition, Kaul said.
Verbatim
Kaul: “Whether you’re a big business or a small shop, ensuring that you are providing accurate representations to your customers is critical. People shouldn’t have to go through an adventure to figure out how much they have to pay for items that they’re purchasing.”
Multi-state claim
The settlement was led by attorneys general from Arizona, Illinois, Iowa. Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin Menards is the third largest U.S. home improvement chain after Lowe’s and Home Depot WIth 341 stores.
Cops: Wrong-way driver stopped, booked as drunk
MNNESOTA CITY, Minn. — A St. Paul driver going the wrong way and without one headlight was arrested and booked for drunken driving. This was about 3:40 a.m. on the four-lane divided U.S. Highway 61 near the State Highway 248 intersection to Rollingstone. Arrested was James Michael Matson, age 44. The arresting deputy sad Matson had balance issues and showed other signs of impairment. His blood-alcohol tested at 0.14%, nearly double what’s allowed.
Matson. Charges include drving wrong way.\.
Federal grant boosts Spring Grove firehall plan
SPRING GROVE, Minn. — A $1.5 million federal rural development has been awarded this Houston County city toward a new fire station. City Administrator Jana Elton said the grant comes after three years of applications. “It’s just been a true trial of patience,” Elton told a KTTC interviewer. Still needed is $1 million. The campaign for a new firehall became clear after a December 2022 fire that destroyed three downtown buildings. Sub-freezing temperatures froze firefighting equipment. “Everything was freezing that night, and things were breaking,” Elton said. Firefighters finally bulldozed the buildings to get control. Fire Chief Andrew Melbostad said the equipment was frozen up because some fire trucks wouldn’t fit in the current station to thaw out. Fire tucks still are double-stacked into garages — a dangerous setup, Melbostad said. Plans call for the new fire station at 600 Maple Drive on the East End near the community pool and basketball courts with a public drinking fountain and restrooms. Ground-breaking is planned for spring.
WalletHub study rates Winona State high
MIAMI, Fla. — The financial advice website WalletHub listed Winona State as a quality bargain. The university was rated as the Number 2 public university in Minnesota and the only MinnState System campus in the the top 10. Unlike some ranking services with sloppy if not sleazy polling, WalletHub evaluates colleges on data from the sources like the National Center for Education Statistics, Council for Community and Economic Research, the U.S. Department of Education, COLLEGEdata and PayScale.
WalletHub profile
The company was founded in Miami in 2013 as a resource for personal financial advisors. Owned by Evolution Finance Inc. Headed by Odyssseas Papadimitriou, a former CapitalOne executive. The WalletHub site carries advertising to finance its proprietary tools but is explicit that advertisers do not sway its rankings. Among weighed criteria for college rankings:
Student quality (25 points): Admission rate, admission test scores, how many students in top 10% of their high school class.
Cost and financing (20): Net cost, student job availability, student-loan debt.
Faculty quality (10): Student-faculty ratios, salaries, class size, full-time vs. adjuncts.
Campus safety (5). Arrests.
Campus experience (5): Share of foreign students, on-campus domiciling, study-aboard programs, racial diversity.
Educational outcomes (15): Reteniton rate, graduation rate.
‘Career outcomes (15): Job placement, salaries after graduation, student loan debt.
After 0.10% test, driver recalls consumption details
WINONA, Minn. – In a traffic stop for expired plates, the officer thought he smelled alcohol. The driver, alone in the car, denied drinking. He explained that he was the “cab driver” for inebriated companions for the night. But, said the officer, the man’s eyes were glassy and bloodshot. Also he didn’t perform well in roadside sobriety exercises. After a breath test showed his blood at 0.10% alcohol, two points into the impairment zone, he remembered, yes, to two beers and a shot. Tyrell Dontrae Cain, age 20, of Rochester, was taken to jail. This was downtown about 1:15 a.m. near Third and Main streets.
Minnesota poll: Times look right to ban AR-15s
ST. PAUL, Minn. — More than two-thirds of Minnesotans support banning the sale of assault-style weapons like the AR-15, according to a new poll. The independent and nonpartisan Minnesota Community Survey used statistical sampling of 1,172 adults between September 25 through November 6. This was following the August slaying of two children and injuring of two dozen others at a Minneapolis church and school. The results statewide were unambiguous:
> Strongly favor ban: 62%.
> Strongly oppose: 18%.
Middling categories included undecided, somewhat support, and somewhat oppose. A breakdown found the strongest support in the Twin Cities and suburbs and lesser support outstate. A breakdown by partisanship found Democrats supporting the ban more than Republicans.
News summary at mid-week: December 17, 2025
GOVERNANCE: Rival calls on Finstad to back healthcare
GOVERNANCE: New Walz agency on easing gun violence
POLITICS: Political newcomer pursues Miller state Senate seat
POLITICS: Winona teacher bids for state Senate
POLITICS: Qualls, Demuth lead GOP candidates for governor
CRIME: Stewartville shooter himself a former wrestler
CRIME: Lake City snackwicher still in bad shape
CRIME: How police tamed Lake City shooting suspect
CRIME: Rural man duped of $3,000 in Nigerian scheme
CRIME: Homicide alleged in LaCrosse house fire
CRIME: Cops: Traffic yields 3.3 pounds of meth
CRIME: Man transferred to Winona for cop-killing threats
CRIME: Rural man duped of $3,000 in Nigerian scheme
COMMERCE: Charmand changes hands: Its future?
COMMERCE: LaCrosse brewery cuts staff: “Market conditions”
WILDLIFE: New place for lynx brothers to prowl
SEASONS: Preparing Winona’s ice park for all who dare
College scores
Basketball (men): Trinity of Illinois 74, Viterbo 69
Basketball (women): Rochester Community and Dakota Tech, postponed
Rival calls on Finstad to back healthcare
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Congressional candidate Jake Johnson is rounding up signatures to implore southern Minnesota’s incumbent delegate in Congress, Brad Finstad, to break rank with Trump Republicans to extend federal healthcare subsidies. Once he has 1,000 signatures, Johnson said he will hand-deliver the petition to Finstad. Finstad has been passively silent on President Trump’s obsession to end Obamacare healthcare assistance. However, Finstad has voted consistently on Trump to shift federal resources away from puhlic services to create tax breaks for rich people. Johnson said that ending Obamacare would be “a betrayal of our moral duty to care for the sick.” Especially problematic without Obamacare for southern Minnesota, Johnson said, would be making the math work for keeping healthcare viable in rural areas.
MN-1 rivals
Finstad: A Republican. A Trump toady. A millionaire New Ulm farmer. In Congress since 2022.
Johnson A Democrat from Rochester. A high school math teacher. Seeks to replace Finstad in U.S. House.
Showdown looms
Four Republicans, although not Fuinstad, have joined every Democrat in the U.S. House to force a vote on extending Obamacare subsidies for affordable healthcare for millions of Americans. A showdown is near. The situation is in flux, but Democrats appear a few votes short on the issue. Obamacare expires December 31 without an extension.
Lake City snackwicher still in bad shape
LAKE CITY, Minn. — The victim of shooting in a Lake City neighborhood quarrel, Daniel Ray Jankowski, remained in a Rochester hospital’s critical care unit for a seventh day. His family said Jankowski was improving albeit slowly. Jankowsk, age 61, was wounded in the abdomen in the family apartment in a log-cabin strip mall on the Lake Pepin shore in Lake City. A neighbor across a back alley has been arrested. Jankowski owns the mini-mall, including the Subway shop and a connected apartment. He also owns a Subway shop 45 miles away in Kenyon.
Earlier: How police tamed Lake City shooting suspect
Earlier: Bail at $2 million in Lake City shooting
Rural man duped of $3,000 in Nigerian scheme
PETERSON, Minn. — A. rural Winona County man reported he had been corresponding online with a woman since February and exchanged photos and videos and sent what he estimated to be $3,000 in gift cards. Suddenly suspicious, he went the sheriff’s office about 3 p.m. An investigator did some digging and concluded the correspondent was in Nigeria and may or may not have been female. The man, age 28, was advised to block his phone, change numbers, close accounts, and cancel cards. The man’s address is on County Road 29 near the Fillmore County line.
Cops: Traffic yields 3.3 pounds of meth
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Deputies confiscated 3.3 pounds of meth in a traffic stop southeast of Rochester on U.S. 52 near the Interstate 90 interchange. Arrested was Mark Steffes, age 57, of Rochester. Olmsted County deputies described the quantity as a “large amount,” like a mid-size bag of flour. The street value could be anywhere from $4,600 at the low end to $46,000 depending on purity and other variables. The arrest was about noon of the heavily traveled Rochester-Chatfield route.
Steffes. Held on suspicion of first-degree drug sale and possession.
Investigator: Nursing home overdosed patient
ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Minnesota Health Department cited a Rochester nursing home for negligence that led to a resident’s heart failure. Gigged was the Rochester Rehabilitation and Living Center at 900 Ballington Boulevard Northwest. An attendant failed to catch a pharmacy mistake and administered way too much medication, according to the state investigator. Protocol requires double-checking dosages to assure they match the doctor’s prescription. In a second lapse, the mistake wasn’t noticed until 13 doses later. The resident was sent to a hospital to recover.
LaCrosse brewery cuts staff: “Market conditions”
LACROSSE, Wis. — The last major brewer in western Wisconsin, City Brewing of LaCrosse, confirmed rumors of employee lay-offs. The company didn’t say how many pink skips have gone out. The company has 700 people on its LaCrosse payroll. The company changed hands in Augst when lenders took over. The cuts, said the company, were “necessary for the long-term health of the business.” Market conditions were cited.
City Brewing profile
The brewery dates to 1858 in LaCrosse. Today it’s the largest full-service contract brewer in the nation. Besides LaCrosse, company has plants in California, Pennsvlania and Tennessee. The La Crosse facility makes beer, flavored malt beverages, hard seltzers, premium brand non-alcoholic beverages, and spirit-based ready-to-drink products.
Emergency, fire crews make 53 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 38 emergency medical calls plus 15 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, December 16: 5 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Monday, December 15: 6 medical calls plus 1 fire calls.
> Sunday, December 14: 5 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Saturday, December 13: 1 medical call plus 3 fire call.
> Friday, December 12: 6 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Thursday, December 11: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Wednesday, December 10: 11 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 80 calls
Alternate-side parking tally at 1,090
WINONA, Minn. – Police issued 20 citations overnight for violations of the city’s winter ordinance for alternate-side parking. The running tally:
>December so far: 359 of which 45 were tagged and towed
> November totals: 731
A brief stay of execution for Mississippi bridge
LANSING, Iowa — Engineers have postponed demolition of the Black Hawk bridge one day, to Friday at 9:30 a.m. The reason: Logistics. Weather could cause a further delay. An 850-foot implosion zone has been marked off on both the Iowa and Wisconsin sides: No cars, no people. Plans call for two implosions separated five minutes, each preceded by a siren alert. Watch online.
Earlier: Lansing bridge: Good-bye, ol’ friend
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Rochester Mayo Spartans 80, Winona Winhawks 55
Basketball (boys): Winona Cotter/Winona Hope 90, Lyle/Austin Pacelli Athletics 54
Basketball (boys): Kasson Dodge County Wildcats 4, Winona Winhawks 0
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Osseo-Fairchild Thunder 63, Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates 34
Basketball (boys): Onalaska Luther Knights 79, Arcadia Raiders 63
Basketball (boys): Whitehall Norse 68, Blair-Taylor Wildcats 44
Basketball (boys): West Salem Panthers 75, Galesville Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau Red Hawks 42
Basketball (girls): Arcadia Raiders 65, Westby Norsemen 48
Mayor vetoes Rochester mega-sports complex
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayor Kim Norton vetoed the City Council’s award of a $53 million contract to build Phase One of a sports and recreation complex. Norton said the Far Southeast site is too far from downtown hotels and restaurants to boost tourism. Tourism was the original talking point of promoters for new taxes to finance the project, the mayor said. The seven-member City Council could override Norton’s veto with five votes.
Earlier: Builder chosen for Rochester athletic complex
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