UW-Eau Claire on GOP’s ICE to-do: Yes but so?
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — To calls to discipline students in the campus Republican club for poor tate and racism at Halloween cosutune gathering, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire acknowledged the event — nothing more. An unsigned statement from university officialdom was brief: “The event was not organized by the university.” The event was in a campus classroom.
Internal GOP rift over Kresha fraud charge?
ST.PAUL, Minn. — A fellow Republican legislator called for a House investigation into claims that state Representative Ron Kresha, R-Little Falls, is guilty of financial fraud. Elliot Engen, of White Bear Lake, who is running for state auditor, said the House Fraud Prevention Committee should hold a hearing. It was unclear whether Engen sees a hearing as a way to clear Kresha, or political grandstanding, or a sign of internal GOP squabbling over political purity. Some House Republicans have derided Kresha as “RINO,” a derisive insider label for “Republican in Name Only.” Engen is at the Republican right fringes on issues like gay rights and abortion. In 2020 while in college at Hamline he started a Turning Point USA chapter to support the second Trump candidacy, although he now says he isn’t associated with Turning Point anymore.
Earlier: GOP legislator accused of loan fraud
Verbatim
Engren: In apparent reference to his candidacy for state auditor: “We need an independent watchdog who has integrity, who doesn’t selectively choose when to call out bad behavior.”
Verbatim
Kresha: In a Minnesota Reformer interview he called Engen misinformed: “Elliot Engen and I haven’t spoken. I am surprised that a potential Minnesota auditor doesn’t understand the difference between false allegations and actual fact.”
News summary at mid-week: October 29, 2025
GOVERNANCE: Walz assigns $4 million for foodbank crisis
GOVERNANCE: Ellison: Trump “cruel” for shelving food aid
GOVERNANCE: Mayor to Noem’s attack on sanctuary policy
GOVERNANCE: Walz orders outside audit for Medicaid fraud
GOVERNNCE: GOP firm on gonads to decide who plays what
GOVERNANCE: Hundreds hoist posters at no-troops-here rally
ENVIRONMENT: Army Corps on Bad River pipeline: Go ahead
POLITICS: Veteran GOP legislator accused of loan fraud
POLUTICS: Campus GOP event Light-heartedness? Cruel racism?
FAITH: Church may seek to pare abuse $4.5 million pay-out
ACCIDENT: Boat capsizes, dumps pair in Lake Winona
COLLEGES: WSU, other profs OK two-year 3.8% raises
COMMERCE: As promised, Black Horse 2.0 in progress
CRIME: Woman: Jealous boyfriend held her captive
CRIME: Shooter in family fuss criminally charged
College scores
Soccer (women): Viterbo 3, Indiana Northwest 2
Soccer (women): Viterbo 3, Indiana South Bend 2
Volleyball (women): Wartburg 3, Saint Mary’s 1
Minnesota prep
Volleyball (girls): Stewartville Tigers 3, Byron Bears
A trucker’s homecoming surprise: Drug gear
ALTURA, Minn. — A long-distance tucker called the sheriff’s office about finding drug paraphernalia in his place when he arrived home from a run. The man said a girlfriend lives with him and her teen-age son sometimes stays over. Neither was on the premises when deputies arrived. Deputies disposed of the paraphernalia.
Firefighters to Levee for deserted grill
WINONA, Minn. – Firefighters quelled an abandoned grill that was emitting significant smoke at Levee Park at the foot of Walnut Street. It was suspcted that a homeless person or a group had been spooked and ran off. Food items we left scattered. So was debris from a broken pallet and pieces of cardboard. Several pallet boards were actively burning inside the grill. This was about 5:20 p.m. The fire was extinguished easily.
Notable journalism
Jenny Berg and Christa Lawler (Minnesota Star Tribune, October 27, 2025): “Federal Heating Aid Delays Leave Minnesota Propane Users in Especially Precarious Position”
Alyssa Chen (Minnesota Reformer, October 24, 2025): “Allina Doctors, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners Plan One-Day Strike”
Quinn Gorham (KEYC, October 23, 2025): “Minesota Beginning to Feel Impacts as Federal Government Remains Shut Down”
Woman: Jealous boyfriend held her captive
WINONA, Minn. – Police arrested an ex-con whose girlfriend reported a series of assaults at her place over fidelity issues. The woman told police she was slapped and bruised and blocked from leaving. Also, she said, the man took her phone so she couldn’t make a 911 call. The woman contacted police about 4:50 p.m. — the next day. Arrested at his place was Andrew Curtis Montgomery, age 27, of Winona. The woman said the series of assaults at her place began after Montgomery examined her phone and learned that she was involved with other men. She noted that she and Montgomery were in an open relationship. Even so, she said, he was displeased. At several points, she said, Montgomery said he wasn’t going back to prison and waved a black handgun that had been in his waistband. The assaults were on-again off-again over several hours, she said. At one point they left her place and went shopping. Then while napping, she said she tried twice to get away but Montgomery awoke and blocked her exit. About her wounds, police said they saw heavy bruises on one of her thighs. She said that Montgomery slapped her face and her lip was cut. This was in the 550 block of Olmstead Street.
Montgomery. Among charges: Felony assault, causing fear and injury, threat with a dangerous weapon, false imprisonment, interference with a 911 call.
Army Corps on Bad River pipeline: Go ahead
ASHLAND, Wis. — In a setback for environmentalists and the Bad River band of Chippewas, the Arny Corps signed off on a Canadian pipeline project south of Ashland. The approval allows the pipeline company Enbridge to build 41 miles of crude oil and natural gas pipes near the Bad River Reservation but not on Indian lands. The Indian band had opposed Enbridge’s original plan to replace its aging and decrepit line, which would have have beenon exact same route on the reservation. The band also opposed Enbridge’s later longer more circuitous revision as a threat to wild rice harvests and wildlife on which Indians rely for terr wherewithal. The pipeline, called Enbridge 5, runs from a refinery in Superior, Wisconsin, to eastern Canada. The new Army Corps approval of the revised route, is an about-face for the Corps. The Corps, in effect is bowing to directives from President Trump to prioritize U.S. energy dominance. Earlier Corps positions reflected environmentally conscious Obama and Biden poliices. In announcing its new approval, the Corps was explicit that it was it was complying with the:
> U.S. Clean Water Act.
> U.S. Rivers and Harbors Act.
> U.S. Endangered Species Act.
> U.S. National Historic Preservation
> Federal Tribal Trust responsibilities.
> Public interest.
Curiously the Corps added a proviso without further explanation: “The permit does not regulate the siting of the pipeline nor any substance being transported within it.”
Earlier: Enbridge to appeal Line 5 court ruling
Earlier: Judge to Enbridge: Three years to fix Line 5 flaws
Earlier: Judge faults tribe on Bad River inaction
Existing line. Currently cuts through tribal territory. Proposed route to the south is much longer.
Still problemtic Mackinac. In limbo is Enbridge Line 5 replacement under the strait.
Michigan obstacle
The Bad River project in Wisconsin is separate from Enbridge’s plan to build a protective tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan. The current Line 5 old line is vuonerable to dropped anchore from shipping between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. At 60 years old, the pipes are deteriorating with time. Enbridge applications for the four-mile underwater Mackinac update still pending before Michigan and federal regulators. Conservationists and tribes call the Mackinac project be abandoned as too risky.
Halloween everywhere, even in unexpected places
See the ghoul? In the “Y” halfway up a poplar, which somehow was split in a devil of a storm: A howling wind perhaps? A scary lightning bolt? This is southwest of Winona behind the Brookview subdivision near Burns Valley Creek. Yes, our ghoul slowly is being strangled by invasive vines. Image: Kevin O’Reilly
Walz orders outside audit for Medicaid fraud
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Governor Tim Walz has suspended payments to 14 Medicaid providers for 90 days for an outside audit to check for fraud There have been whispers for weeks about fiscal irregularities, giving ammunition tt Republicans against Walz, a Democrat, for sloppy management by his appointees. These concerns followed federal prosecutions against food suppliers — an entirely different matter — in state-managed emergency federal programs during the CoVid pandemic. About Medicaid issue, Walz’s state Department of Human Services recently identified these providers as high-risk.
Verbatim
Walz: “We cannot effectively deliver programs and services if they don’t have the backing of the public’s trust. In order to restore that trust we are pumping the brakes on 14 programs that were created to help the most disadvantaged among us, yet have become the target of criminal activity.”
> Adult Day Services.
> Adult Companion Services.
> Adult Rehabilitative Mental Health Services.
> Assertive Community Treatment.
> Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention services for autism.
> Housing Stabilization Services (now shut down and defunct).
> Individualized Home Supports.
> Integrated Community Supports.
> Intensive Residential Treatment Services.
> Night Supervision.
> Nonemergency Medical Transportation.
> Peer Recovery Services.
> Personal Care Assistance/Community First Services and Supports.
> Recuperative Care.
The Human Servuces agency noted “vulnerabilities, evidence of fraudulent activity, or data analytics that revealed potentially suspicious patterns, claim anomalies, or outliers.” Contracted for the audit was Optum, a division of Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group.
Campus GOP event: Light-heartedness? Cruel racism?
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Campus Republicans at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire thought it would great fun for their monthly meeting on Halloween week: Come in costume as an ICE agent. It backfired when they posted photos online. The reaction was viral for making light of President Trump’s deadly serious deportation arrests, which, depending on the source, have totaled 100,000 to 258,000 since January. There is no glee in it. Not even Trump makes light of the deportation raids. William Garcia, the Democratic chair for Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District, which includes Eau Claire, was hardly alone in calling the event racist. There were Repunlicanans, however, who circled the wagons. The state College Republicans organization posted:
“Of course leftists are freaking out all over Instagram. Can we get a round of applause for these patriots?”
Fred Kappus, chair of the Eau Claire County Republican Party, dismissed negative responses as “feigned Democratic outrage.” The thrust of responses, however, was negative: “Distasteful. ‘Mocking.” “Demeaning.” “Cruel.” The Wisconsin Young Democrats organization condemned the event as “trivialization of the suffering of real people.”
GOP fun and games? Depends on who ask. One photo shows a burly ICE agent with body armor, an ICE label on his back, an American flag scarf around his neck, and dark glasses. He’s cuffing a diminutive woman dressed in a bandana, gold chain, a white tank top, and painted-on tattoos. In other words, said critics: A stereotypical yielding Latino immigrant.
WSU, other profs OK two-year 3.8% raises
WINONA, Minn. – Members of the collective bargaining unit for Minnesota State university faculty, including Winona State, have voted decisively to ratify a new two-year contract. Provisions include a 3.8% salary hike. Jenna Chernega of Winona State, president of the state-wide Inter-Faculty Organization, said acceptance is expected by the system’s governing board.
> Bemidji: 94%.
> Mankato: 94%.
> Metro: 92%.
> Moorhead: 99%.
> St. Cloud: 96%.
> Southwest: 86%.
> Winona: 97%.
Emergency, fire crews make 49 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 35 emergency medical calls plus 14 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, October 28: 4 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Monday, October 27: 4 medical calls plus no fire calls.
> Sunday, October 26: 5 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Saturday, October 25: 7 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Friday, October 24: 5 medical calls plus 3 fire calls
> Thursday, October 23: 6 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Wednesday, October 22: 4 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 40 calls
Winona YMCA lauded for abuse-apotting practices
WINONA, Minn. — The YMCA has been accredited by the Texas-based Praesidium Academy for serving children, youth and vulnerable adults. The accreditation follows an Academy review of staff training and supervision and internal feedback systems to prevent abuse. The Y’s chief executive, Janneke Sobeck, said the periodic accreditation is in effect through 2028.
College scores
Soccer (men): St. John’s 5, Saint Mary’s 1
Minnesota prep
Ellison: Trump “cruel” for shelving food aid
ST.PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, with 22 other state attorneys general, says President Trump has violated the law in cutting off federal SNAP nutritional aid. Ellison used the word “cruel” for Trump in letting people go hungry in his battle with Congress to curtail healthcare and cut taxes for rich people. Said Ellison: “It is hard to be shocked by the cruelty and illegality of the Trump administration anymore, yet I am shocked that Donald Trump is deliberately allowing 440,000 Minnesotans to go hungry.” Nationally 42 million Americans utilize SNAP assistance to buy groceries. Also: Farmers rely on income selling their agricultural products into the grocery supply chain. SNAP assistance, which averages $185 per recipient per month, ends this weekend because of Trump intransigence over the federal budget. Ellison said that Trump has the authority to allocate billions of dollars appropriated by Congress as a rainy-day fund to keep SNAP afloat.
Earlier: Walz assigns $4 million for foodbank crisis
Ellison. Attorney general since 2019. A Democrat. Earlier in U.S. Congress.
Multi-state action
Attorneys general from these states, all Democrats, signed on to the lawsuit: Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin. These Republican attorneys general also joined: Kansas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania.
Two hurt in single-vehicle I-90 crash
ST. CHARLES, Minn. — A car went off Interstate 90 and rolled into a ditch. The two occupants were taken 23 miles to a Rochester hospital with sustainable injuries:
> Kimberly Ann Kongnso, 47, of Farmington, driver of the Hyundai Santa Fe.
> David Chester Oium, 85, of Westby, Wisconsin, a passenger.
The accident was about 2:10 p.m. at the St. Charles exit. The vehicle was westbound toward Rochester.
Veteran GOP legislator accused of loan fraud
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A six-term Republican legislator, Ron Kresha, has been accused of fraud to cash in on forgivable federal loans in 2020 for employees he didn’t have. If convicted, Kresha could go to jail. About the allegations, Kresha said: “Politically motivated and false.” The allegation is that Kresha filed for $300,000 in emergency loans from the U.S. Paycheck Protection Program, which was designed to rescue small businesses in jeopardy during the CoVid pandemic. The suit was filed by Troy Scheffler, who himself has run for the Legislature, unsuccessfully, as a candidate of the far-right America First Party. The suit is novel: It seeks recovery of funds on behalf of the U.S. government under the federal False Claims Act even though the government has not involved itself in the case. There are factual discrepancies for the court to sort through:
> Scheffler asserts that Kresha claimed he needed CoVid relief funds to meet payroll, listing 17 employes in one application and 20 in another.
> In another context and for another purpose, says Scheffler, Kresha has claimed he has no employees, only independent contractors.
> Kresha’s marketing and consulting company, Golden Shovel, currently shows a team of 63 person, each with a professional portrait.
Verbatim
Kresha: On his protagonist: Scheffler “has a pattern of filing frivolous lawsuits and has proven to be an unreliable source of information. Anyone can file a lawsuit, and anyone can allege anything, even lies.”
Website: Golden Shovel Agency of Little Falls. Population 9,900. In Morrison County.
Kresha. First elected to Minnesota House 12 years ago. Age 55.
Electoral history
> 2012: Elected from House District 9-B by 53%.
> 2014: By 56%.
> 2016: By 72%.
> 2018: By 72%.
> 2020: By 77%.
> 2022: By 97% (unopposed)
> 2024: By 71% (District renumbered to 10-A)
House roles
Current House assignments: Education and Finance Committee, Ways and Means Committee. Policy positions: Pro-life. “Maintaining a competitive business environment to promote economic prosperity.” “St. Paul is driving too many decisions for our schools and we don’t trust our local officials enough. That needs to change.”
Arrest follows AI-generated child porn
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — An Eau Claire man has been charged with using artificial intelligence techhology to create child pornography. Anthony Loiselle, 42, was accused on four counts, one was for planting the face of a 10-year-old neighbor girl on a nude body, according to the criminal complaint. “Why?” he was asked. “I’m fucked up,” he told investigators. The arrest followed a tip from state-level child porn trackers
As promised, Black Horse 2.0 in progress
Under construction plastic-wrap. On the site of the Black Horse bar, grill and volleyball playground, all of which were leveled by fire in January, a smaller, sleeker venue is coming along. There will be no semblance to the familiar rambling wood tinderbox that was there before. Remaining, however, is the landmark black horse likeness that survived the inferno. So too a weathered announcement that Pickwick musician Bruce Greenwood was due to perform soon. Image Steve Lunde
Earlier: Black Horse imperiled: “What? No hydrants!”
Minnesota prep
Volleyball: Winona Cotter Ramblers 3, Dodge Center Triton Cobras 1
Volleyball (girls): Chatfield Gophers 3, Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars 1
Volleyball (girls): Caledonia Warriors 3, Dover-Eyota Eagles 1
A driver’s woes: No headlamps, booze
WINONA, Minn. — A driver showed signs of intoxication in a traffic stop near Sarnia and Franklin Streets and was arrested, police said. In a blood-alcohol test Aaron Shelley Jr., age 21, of Richfield, registered 0.11%, almost half again as much as acceptable to drive. The stop was about 7:40 p.m. for driving without headlamps. A passenger, Jackson Meyer, age 20, was cited for underage consumption.
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