Judge to jail after drunk-driving arrest
OWATONNA, Minn. — A veteran state appeals court judge, Renee Lee Worke, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving over the weekend, jail records show. Details of the arrest were not available immediately. Worke, age 67, was booked into the Steele County jail on Saturday and released. Such releases to a sober adult are common practice pending the filing of a criminal complaint. Worke lives in Owatonna, the county seat. She was appointed to the 16-judge state Appeals Court in 2005 by Governor Tim Pawlenty. She has been elected to successive six-year terms. Her current term expires in 2031. Earlier she was a judge Minnesota’s Third Judicial District which includes Winona.
Worke. A 1980 honors graduate of Minnesota State-Mankato. Holds a 1983 law degree from the William Mitchell law college.
Oral arguments set for final Fravel appeal
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Supreme Court scheduled an appeal hearing for convicted Winona murderer Adam Fravel the second week of January. The hearing is for oral arguments. Fravel, age 31, is serving a life sentence for the 2023 murder of Maddi Kingsbury.
Earlier: Murder prosecutors deny errors in Fravel case
Single-vehicle crash injures Chatfield driver
STEWARVILLE, Minn. — A Chatfield driver was injured when her car slid on wet pavement and crashed east of Stewartville, Janet Irene Bronner, 75, was taken 16 miles to a Rochester hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The accident was about p.m. on State Highway 30. Bronner was driving 2013 Honda Accord.
Two of quintuplet St. Charles grain towers collapse
Before the disaster. One of the central towers loaded with corn collapsed. Because a neighboring tower, mostly empty, was threatened, emergency crews decided to bring it down also. The complex is owned by Big Gain, a Mankato-based producer of animal feed.
Cataclysmic structural failure: No injuries
ST. CHARLES, Minn. — Two giant grain elevators collapsed onto the Canadian Pacific mainline tracks near the Whitewater Avenue thoroughfare through St. Charles on the west edge of Winona County. Tons of grain spewed from the 60-foot cylindrical metal towers. Three grain towers remained in place. No one was injured, according to initial reports. Cracks were observed at the base of one tower about 12:20 p.m. The tower came down on itself two hours later. Meanwhile, shoppers were evacuated from nearby:
> Miller’s Market grocery.
> Ace Hardware.
> Dollar General discount store.
Emergency crews decided to bring down the second tower to control its imminent collapse as much as possible.
Cause uncertain. Fire Chief Scott Schossow declined to speculate what triggered the collapse. Speculation ranged from the weight of heavy weekend snow on the towers; to the possibility that corn inside the towers had iced up, expanded, and burst through the metal walls; to incessant vibrations from giant grain trucks that rumble in and out of the facility.
Transportation disrupted
Whitewater Avenue was closed. It’s the route of State Highway 74, which connects St. Charles to Interstate 90 a mile south of town. Whitewater Avenue also is the main link through downtown St. Charles to U.S. Highway 14, the main Winona-Rochester trunk route.
Big Gain Corporate profile
Big Gain manufactures custom animal feeds from corn. The company was founded in 1973 by Elton Klaustermeier and Mark Hinton with a truck driver, two mill workers, a secretary, and a run-down mill in Mankato. Their sons Tim Hinton and Kurt Klaustermeier later took over. The headquarters is in LeHillier, just west of Mankato. Big Gain has research facilities near St. Peter, Good Thunder and Rapidan and three smaller mills at St. Charles, Plato and Jackson. The company has a fleet of 22 trucks to haul corn to its manufacturing plants and to distribute bagged animal feed to cusomers in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota and Wisconsin, The original mill was updated in 1981. In 1991 Big Gain installed a Kahl expander from Germany to become the first to use the new technology in the United States. Another mill was added in 2006 to expand in capacity. A micro ingredient system expanded Big Gain’s line of custom formulated diets. Technology at the Mankato location now processes corn from local producers into a semi-truck load of feed in 40 minutes.
Headquarters in Mankato. Two-hundred employees and 100 dealers.
Trial lawyer Madel joins anti-Walz race
MINNEAPOLIS — Prominent Minneapolis lawyer Chris Madel joined a crowded field of candidates for the Republican nomination to unseat Democrat incumbent Tim Walz. The time is now, he said, to break the Democratic hold on every statewide elected office. “If you’re tired of losing, I’m your candidate,” Madel told supporters. “If you’re not there are a whole bunch of other ones.” He is the 11th Republican to announce. Madel, age 48, has not held public office before. His most recent prominence has been to win the dismissal of murder charges against State Patrol trooper Ryan Londregan for a traffic stop gone bad. Londregan was in the front row cheering at Madel’s one-hiur announcement event. Madel also secured the dismissal of a 2023 defmation lawsuit by Assistant Minneapolis Police Chief Katie Blackwell against Alpha News reporter Liz Collin for the documentary “The Fall of Minneapolis.” In announcing his candidacy amid an elaborate PowerPoint display, Madel promised to shake up state government, cut taxes, improve schools, fight crime and end “open season” on law enforcement by prosecutors. He blamed Walz for what he called a deterioration in public safety, fraud in state-managed programs and dwindling educational outcomes. An emphasis was on fraud, which the Minnesota GOP apparatchik has been working up as a problem created by Walz largesse. “I understand fraud,” Made said. “I actually understand how to uncover it, how to actually do something about it.: He added: “This is our money, and I truly believe that when a government holds your money, they hold it in a sacred trust.” He promised also to slim down government. Madel told supporters expects his rivals for the nomination to dig up his previous donations to Democratic candidates. These include $250 to Walz in 2006. Is response: He’s also made significant contributions to conservative organizations and represented them pro bono.
Madel. Grew up in Waseca. Graduate of Macalester College and University of Michigan Law School. Early career: Antitrust trial attorney for the U.S. Justice Department.
Crowded GOP field
> Julia leman. State senator. Daughter of former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman.
> Lisa Demuth: Speaker of Minnesota House.
> Scott Jensen: Former state senator. 2022 nominee for governor.
> Jeff Johnson: Former St. Cloud City Council member. Republican nominee for governor in 2014 and 2018.
> Patrick Knight: Food company, former Marine.
> Brad Kohler: Retired mixed martial arts fighter.
> Mike Lindell: MyPillow founder.
> Chris Madel: Minneapolis attorney.
> Phillip Parrish: Former Naval intelligence officer.
> Kendall Qualls: A businessman. Former congressional and gubernatorial candidate.
> Kristin Robbins: State legislator.
Earlier: Demuth’s campaign sidekick a Trump lawyer
Earlier: GOP gubernatorial rivals: “Negotiator?” “Softy?”
Earlier: Democrats take aim at Demuth bid to oust Walz
Earlier: GOP leader challenges Walz for governorship
Earlier: Governor on Lindell: A disaster if elected
Earlier: GOP quavering at Lindell governorship talk
Earlier: Walz mum so far about running mate
Earlier: Walz to seek third term as governor
St. Mary’s parish eyes future without school
WINONA, Minn. –The St. Mary’s Catholic congregation has launched a $2.5 million fund drive to cover the cost demolishing its abandoned parish school. The goal is to build church-side car parking spaces on the former school site and to modernize the church. Demolition of the school began in November — 1-1/2 years after graduating its last clas. The school was built in 1911 adjacent to the church at 303 West Broadway Street. The school expanded several times to accommodate growing enrollment. However, the program had declined to 69 PK-8 students when it was absorbed into the umbrella Cotter Catholic Schools system. The last St. Mary’s graduation was in May 2024.
Where once stood a school. The St. Mary’s church, now unhemmed, has new breathing room with demolition of the school. Parish leaders plan on a new welcoming entrance and landscaping among church upgrades.
Alternate-side parking tally at 731
WINONA, Minn. – Police issued 111 citations overnight for violations of the city’s winter ordinance for alternate-side parking. The running tally:
> November 30: 65
> November 26, 27, 28 and 29: Officers on other priorities
> November 25: 67
> November 24: 111
> November 22 and 23: Officers on other priorities
> November 21: 69
> November 20: 81
> November 19: 101
> November 18: 139
> November 17: 108
Finstad aide’s travel expenses ”raise eyebrows”
WASHINGTON — A political scholar at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, Cynthia Brown, said the travel spending out of southern Minnesota Congressman Brad Finstad’s office “absolutely raises my eyebrows.” The Minnesota Star Tribune went to Brown as an ethicist to respond to revelations that Finstad’s appropriated office budget has ncluded unusually large travel reimbursements to David FitzSimmons, his chief of staff. “House administration gives a great deal of latitude to individual offices to make decisions to best serve their constituencies,” Brown said. “But it’s not an open book to run up expenses in a way that best serves you individually.” FitzSimmons received $40,000 in travel reimbursements in 2023 and again in 2024 and $33,000 so far this year. Brown said the key ethics question on whether spending crosses a line involves its purpose. She noted that House ethics rules specify allows may be used only for official expenses. House members themselves — in this case Finstad himself — can be “personally liable for misspent funds,” Brown said. Although the revelations about FitzSimmons’ travel spending have raised questions of judgment, they have not gone as far as allegations of misspending. FitzSimmons knows his way around Congressional offices and how the system works. Earlier he was on the staffs of others in the Minnesota delegation, Tom Emmer and Michelle Fischbach. Since 2016, going back to his earlier positions, FitzSimmons has billed a total of $158,000 for travel reimbursement — the fourth highest sum among the 1,000-plus chiefs of staff during that period.
Finstad office profile
Finstad’s office suite is in the Rayburn House Office Building adjacent the Capitol. Amenities include a swimming pool and two gyms. A shooting range for Capitol Police, installed in 1965 when the building opened, has been abandoned for safety reasons. Each House member’s suite has a private bathroom. House members each has $1.6 million budget from appropriated tax dollars for staff and office operations. House staffs typically are eight to 12. Senior members have additional budgets and resources for separate staff and offices for the committees they head. The Finstad staff includes:
> Chief of staff: David FitzSimmons,
> Scheduler /operations director: Aaron Farris
> Legislative director : John Altendorf.
> Communications director: Jenny Luepke.
> Press secretarty: Abby Gost
> Rochester office: Aaron Eberhart.
House rules allow funds for each member to have two constituens services offices in the home district. Finstad’s:
> New Ulm. At 110 North Minnesota Street, Suite 5 (open weekdays).
> Rochester: At 2746 Superior Drive Northwest, Suite 100 (Tuesdays and Thursdays only).
Now that outdoor grilling is just a memory
Odd companions. What does a grill on a deck have in common with a snow shovel? The weekend snow storm, the first of the season, blanketed anything and everything. The deepest recorded in Winona County was 11.2 inches in Minnesota City. Image: Andy Frank
College scores
Basketball (women): Saint Mary’s 76, Simpson 70
Basketball (women): DePauw 64, UW-LaCrosse 60
Woman arrested after parking lot rant
WINONA, Minn. — A Winona woman was arrested after a disturbance near downtown in which, witnesses said, she was yelling and screaming and throwing things from a car. When police arrived, Breanna Rose, age 31, said she was angry about being filmed on cellphones. Witnesses said Rose had gone after the “photographers.” This was in a parking lot in the 50 block of East Fifth Street. One witness told police she tried to calm Rose but had her hair yanked. Another witness described pulling Rose off the other woman, police said. Rose was charged with disorderly conduct.
Burt. Angry, c laimed people filming her.
Beginning to look a lot like, well, December
Four inches in places. And wet and heavy. Arctic air settled in after the storm, dropping temperatures into the teens for highs in the teens Sunday and into early in the new week. Image: Steve Lunde
News summary at week’s end: November 29, 2025
College scores
Basketball (men): St. Leo 81, Winona State 54
Basketball (men): Saint Mary’s and Marian, postponed
Basketball (women): Winona State 78, Michigan Tech 54
Basketball (women): Saint Mary’s 77, Grinnell 49
Basketball (women): Wesleyan of Illinois 64, UW-LaCrosse 53
Football: UW-LaCrosse 9, Hope 7
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Winona Cotter Ramblers 94, Houston Hurricanes 36
Basketball (boys): Plainview-Elgin Millville Bulldogs 0, Red Wing Wingers 0, postponed at half
Basketball (boys): LaCrescent-Hokah Lancers 0, Cannon Falls Bombers 0, postponed at half
Basketball (boys): New Prague Trojans 0, Rochester Mayo Spartans 0, postponed at half
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (boys): Onalaska Hilltoppers 0, Kimberly Papermakers 0, postponed at half
Rollover on Interstate 94 claims life
BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. — A passenger was killed in a one- car rollover on Interstate 94 near Black River Falls. James P. Johnson, 69, of the Milwaukee suburb St. Francis, was trapped in the wreckage. First-responders extricated him but he died shortly thereafter at the Black River hospital. The accident was about 5 p.m. The driver, whose name was withheld without explanation by Jackson County Sheriff Duane Waldera, was also taken to the hospital. Deputies said the car was eastbound toward Madison and Milwaukee when it left the highway and slammed into a tree.
Winter blamed for serious car wreck
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A Chatfield driver lost control on slippery U.S. Highway 52 into Rochester. Janet Correen Bradt, age. 55, was taken to a Rochester hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The accident was about 12:42 a.m. It was the first Rochester serious accident in winter’s first major snow storm. Bradt was driving a 2015 Nissan Versa whose airbag deployed.
Unhappy at breakfast, inmate punches jailer
WINONA, Minn. — An inmate at the county jail, who had been incarcerated 31 days, punched a jailer in the face during a morning well-being check. The jailer suffered cuts, bruises, a black eye, and busted eye glasses. Deputies were called to subdue the inmate. And a new charge was filed against Andrew Curtis Montgomery, age 27, of Winona — assault on an officer. The jailer said Montgomery was displeased that breakfast wasn’t on time. This was about 6:40 a.m. Montgomery had been in jail since October 29 on charges of a jealous and vicious assault on a girlfriend.
Montgomery. Reportedly displeased over late breakfast.
Morning menu
Breakfast usually between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. Typically these kinds of tems: cereal, hard-boiled or scrambled eggs, toast and peanut butter or jelly, potatoes or oatmeal, fortified juice or milk.
College scores
Basketball (men): Florida Southern 88, Winona State 77
Minnesota prep
Basketball (boys): Holmen Vikings 81, LaCrescent-Hokah Lancers 37
Basketball (girls): Stillwater Ponies 69, Rochester Marshall Rockets 17
Basketball (girls): Apple Valley Eastview Lightning 59, Rochester Mayo Spartans 54
Hockey (boys): Rochester Century/Rochester Marshall 4, Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids 3 (overtime)
Hockey (boys): Albert Lea Tigers 5, Red Wing Wingers 1
Wisconsin prep
Basketball (girls): Holmen Vikings 81, LaCrescent-Hokah Lancers 37
Hockey (boys): River Falls Wildcats 12, Osseo Orioles 3
Alcohol, erratic driving, crash lead to arrest
WINONA, Minn. — Police arrested a Winona driver after he failed roadside sobriety tests and showed a. blood-alcohol level of 0.14% — almost twice the legal limit. Manojlo Stjepanovic, age 73, had been stopped about 9:25 p.m. on Homer Road after a caller reported him driving in the wrong lane. Stjepanovic also hit a parked car, police said. Officers said Stjepanovic smelled of alcohol and showed other signs of intoxication They said he admitted to three alcoholic beverages, although he later changed his recollection to six or seven shots. Pending blood tests, he was released to the custody of a sober adult.
Winona into emergency status for storm
WINONA, Minn. – With a major snow storm expected, the Winona County emergency management director, Ben Klinger, activated emergency ckntingency protocols. This was about 8 a.m. As the day wore on, more than two dozen vehicles were involved in accidents in Winona and the county. These included one vehicle roll-over. There were no injuries. Statewide, the State Patrol troopers were called to 400 accidents.
All ready for a holiday bridge game
Christmas countdown. How many more wake-ups until the big day? You count. Or ask the kids. Image: Steve Lunde
WELCOME
The worthiest goal of journalism is to promote intelligent citizen involvement. Such is our goal with Winona Journal. We focus on local issues so you can go about your daily activities with confidence that you can be a genuine and valued part of informed public dialogue on the kind of community we’re building.
Although Winona-centric, we are attentive also to regional issues. Our community doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
You will find opinion here. We quote and paraphrase with attribution so you know the source and can assess ideas and thoughts. Sometimes you will find our commentary but always clearly labeled.
As journalists we are committed to accuracy but not perfect. Please let us know if you spot an error, whether substantive or even just a dumb typo. We’ll get errors squared away promptly.
We’re glad you’re with us.