Baseball: MSU-Mankato 15, Winona State 8

Baseball: Winona State 6, UM-Crookston 2

Baseball: Saint Mary’s 8, Bethel 6

Baseball: UW-LaCrosse 13, UW-Eau Claire 1

Softball: Winona State 4, Southwest Minnesota State 3

ZUMBRO FALLS ,Minn. — A motorcyclist was injured when he veered onto the shoulder on State ‘Highway 60 and struck a guardrail. Andrew Jon Dejardin, 48, of Rochester, was airlifted 22 miles to a Rochester hospital. Wabasha County deputies believed his injuries were non-life threatening. The accident was about 6:50 p.m. west of Zumbro Falls. Dejardin was heading toward Mazeppa into the setting sun.  He was helmeted, deputies said. The vehicle: A 2005 Honda motorcycle.

WINONA, Minn. – Former Winona High School coach Eric Dione Birth is going to prison for sexually exploiting teen-age girls on his teams. The sentence could have him behind bars for 7-1/2 years. Of longer consequence, Judge Nancy Buytendorp ordered Birth to register locally as a sexual predator wherever he lives for the rest of his life — a 21st century variation on Nathaniel Hawthorn’s “scarlet letter.” He is 32. As a sexual predator Birth will be required to notify local police with his address, which police are required by law to post publicly. At the sentencing hearing, a former student read an impact statement. She called on victims of sexual exploitation generally to have courage and come forward, even if they are “scared and embarrassed.”  She described feeling “unclean” and “shame.” Birth’s close-knit family burst out in  anger. Bailiffs escorted them out of the courtroom. When arrested in 2024, Birth was charged on 10 counts in four cases with girls whose ages ranged from 16 to 18. One case was dismissed in January in a plea deal in which Birth agreed to plead guilty on the other charges. After sentencing Thursday he was taken to the Winona County jail, next to the courthouse, to await transport to St. Cloud state prison.

Earlier: Police chronicles: The Eric Birth probe

Earlier: Teacher’s bail: $300,000 over school sex allegations

Earlier: Teacher booted early in police sex misdeed query

Earlier: High school teacher accused of teen sex

WINONA, Minn. — A Rushford man was sentenced to 90 days in jail for a sexual incident nine years ago when he was driving school buses. Timothy Wilkemeyer earlier pleaded guilty in exchange for reduced charges. The issue was sex talk and showing his genitalia to a girl, 17 years old at the time, when they were alone on his bus. His sentence, pronounced Thursday, included sex therapy. He also was ordered to avoid alcohol and pornography and not to approach anyone under 18 unless approved by an agent of the court and his sex therapist. Although Wilkemeyer drove for Rushford schools in Fillmore County, the 2017 incident was across the Winona County line. After beng charged Wilkemeyer’s license to provide child care services was suspended.

Earlier: Guilty plea in school bus sex case

Earlier: Rushford driver accused of school bus sex

Baseball: Winona State 6, Mary 2

Baseball: Lyle/Austin Pacelli 12, Mabel-Canton Cougars 2

Lacrosse (girls): Rochester Century Panthers 12, Rochester Marshall Rockets 8

Softball: Rochester Mayo Spartans 13, Red Wing Wingers 3

Softball: Rochester Century Panthers 7, Kasson-Mantorville Komets 4

Softball: Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars1 4, Moose Lake-Willow River 1

Softball: Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars1 18, Moose Lake-Willow River 5

WINONA, Minn.— The mother in the 2011 Baby Angel death was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and 40 hours of community service. The mother. Jennifer Baechle, now 44, will serve no jail time. The sentence was issued by Judge Nancy Buytendorp, who accepted a plea agreement. The agreement, negotiated by prosecution and defense attorneys, was that Baeceh would plead guilty to one count of a gross misdemeanor  — interference with a dead body — in exchange for dismissal of a manslaughter charge. She also was fined $400. In 2011, when the body was found, Sheriff Dave Brand called her Baby Angel for want of any clues to her identity. The body of the new-born girl had been found packed with angel figurines in a bag in the Mississippi River. For 12 years police were stymied trying to trace the Infant’s origins. In March 2023 newly developed genetic policing tools pointed to Baechle, Also: Police knew she collected angel figurines.

Her details of an ordeal

In asking Judge Buytendorp to accept the plea agreement, Baechle offered a difficult, tearful and moving account of the pregnancy. Here are details as drawn from her courtroom testimony, many never reported before, and many drawn from  earlier investigatory reports and court documents:

Baechle, in her 20s, discovered her unplanned pregnancy. She told no one — not her family, with whom she had had a falling out.  Not her roommate. She was struggling: No money for prenatal care. No money for medical insurance. She decided to deliver the baby on her own and leave it at the door of a hospital emergency room. She went into labor in the middle of a weekend night in the Winona apartment shared with the roommate and had the baby in the early morning in the bathroom — her roommate was away. She lost consciousness. When she woke up, the baby was lifeless on the floor.

Concerned that nobody would accept the truth of what happened., she cleaned up the baby and spent the day wrapping the body in a towel and placing her inside two garbage bags and a canvas bag.  Also in the bags: Two nine-inch angel figurines, a bracelet with an eye pendant, and two porcelain bells that were decorated with angels. After dark she walked to the Winona bridge over the Mississippi River. She dropped the bags with the baby into the current.

The body was discovered later in the day seven miles downriver near the former Pla-Mor campground. The death moved Sheriff Brand emotionally. He organized a burial ceremony with deputies and police officers paying their respects and showing that someone cared. The regional medical examiner was unable to determine whether the baby had been born alive or still-born. Bruising could have been caused by river turbulence.

Baechle has remained in Winona all these years and kept her secret until the 2023 DNA revelations. In the meantime she has married and has children.  She has taught English off and on at Winona State University.

Earlier: Baby Angel judge opens some trial evidencee

Earlier: Suspect in Baby Angel death: Drop case

Earlier: Attorney: Key document missing in Baby Angel case

Earlier: Attorneys list intended Baby Angel witnesses

Earlier: Court delay to October in Baby Angel case

Earlier: Bail at $200,000 in Baby Angel infanticide

Earlier: Prosecutor: Throw book at Baby Angel mom

Earlier: Arrest made in 2011 Baby Angel death

Earlier: Sheriff: Baby Angel evidence so far only inferential

Earlier: Winona’s Baby Angel update: Search warrant

ATANTA, Ga. — The major airline Delta, which is Minnesota’s prime carrier, has taken another step to cut costs in the face of the Trump jet fuel crisis: No more in-flight meals on flights less than 450 miles. No complementary beverages or snacks either. One exception: Passengers in the premium DeltaOne front cabin. Earlier Delta began nickel and diming with a surcharge for checked luggage. Other airlines, also spurred by rising jet fuel prices, have taken the same austerity steps.

Air miles

MSP to Chicago: 334 miles

MSP to Detroit: 528

MSP to Atlanta: 906

MSP to New York: 1,028

MSP to Seattle: 1,679

MSP to Los Angeles: 1,923

Earlier: Hard to believe but true: Local gas tops $4

Analysis: Near psychologically bleak point: $4 gas

WINONA, Minn. — Police sprayed the chemical irritant mace to gain control of a Winona man after they broke up a street fight with another man. This was about 4:20 p.m. on the East Side. Jailed on preliminary charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing police was Shane Richard Oevering, age 46. An officer on patrol had run across two men fighting.  Oevering, police said, refused officer commands to get on the ground: Officers grabbed him by the arms. he pulled away and continued to resist. One officer fired a brief burst mace at his face. Impaired, Oevering was cuffed and taken to jail. Police were unsure what precipitated the fight. They quoted a witness that Oevering was the aggressor.

Oevering. In brawl on Chestnut Street between Broadway and Wabasha streets.

FAIRCHILD, Wis. — After losing a high-flying biker in a 130-mph chase, Osseo police found the motorcycle ditched at the Cenex convenience store in this southern Eau Clair County community. The biker had fled into the woods. A sniffer-dog was brought in, but the biker wasn’t located. This was about 12:50 a.m. Police obtained an arrest warrant for Kyle R. Appel, age 33, of Wheeler, in nearby Dunn County. The chase had started 14 miles away in Osseo. An Osseo police officer saw a biker at an “extremely high rate of so eed” near 10th and Harmony streets. The chase went east out of Trempealeau County on U.S. Highway 10.

Baseball: Rushford-Peterson Trojans 6, Spring Grove Lions 3.

Baseball: LaCrescent-Hokah Lancers 12, Caledonia Warriors  2

Softball: Houston Hurricanes 2, Spring Grove Lions 2

LAKE CITY, Minn. — A Lake City driver was injured when his 2001 Audi TT two-seater rolled on US. Highway 63 southwest of Lake City. Kennedy Allen Roe, 19, wasn’t hurt seriously but was taken 28 miles to a Rochester hospital. The accident was about 4:40 p.m. near the 345th Avenue intersection. Roe’s seatbelt was buckled, Wabasha County deputies said.

WINONA, Minn. — A Winona woman was charged belatedly with assault for an incident in an apartment building laundry room. Stephanie Mary Curran, age 52, was mailed a citation. Police were told there had been an argument and that Curran slapped a man in the face with an open hand. This was in the 150 block of East Fourth Street.

LACRESCENT Minn — A Brownville woman driving into LaCrosse with two toddlers in the car was injured when two vehicles collided. Belinda Jean Olson. 33, was taken three miles to a LaCrosse hospital with sustainable injuries. The toddlers, a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, were unhurt. Also unhurt was James Allen Arends, 74, of LaCrescent, the other driver. The accident was on what local people call “the pike,” a four-lane causeway through swamps to the interstate bridge between LaCrescent and LaCrosse. The accident was at Twi-Lite Road about1:30 p.m. Both vehicles were heading the same direction.

EAU CAIRE, Wis.— An Eleva man was charged with homicide in a collision that killed an Onalaska woman.

Over the weekend. According to the criminal complaint, Kirk D. Johnson, age 46, was drunk. Bail was set at $100,000. Eau Claire County deputies said Johnson showed signs of impairment at the scene. The criminal complaint listed multiple previous convictions of driving while intoxicated. These included a 2018 conviction in Sawyer County that was noted as his fifth or sixth offense.

Earlier: Onalaska teacher dies in Eleva crash

Johnson. Charged with homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle.

The difference a day makes . Unleaded gas zoomed 7% overnight at the Lewiston Kwik Trip — from $2.99 to $4.29. Winona stations also topped $4. Images: Steve Lunde

Analysis : Near psychologically bleak point: $4 gas

Golf (women):  UW-Stout (1), UW-Eau Claire (2), UW-LaCrosse (3), UW–River Falls (4), UW-Stevens Point (5)

Softball: Winona State 9, UM-Crookston 7

Softball: Winona State 6, UM-Crookston 0

WINONA, Minn. — Police separated two women after a report of a street fight on the Far West End. Issued a citation was Amber Gunn, age 37, of Winona. The other woman said that Gunn was drunk and had slapped her twice with an open-hand. Police said it appeared the women had been friends or at least knew each other. This was in the 1400 block of West Fifth Street. The argument still going on, albeit orally, when police arrived.