25th annual event. Invitation-only diagonal parking on downtown Winona’s blocked-off Third Street for the Steamboat Days car show. Business was hopping at Pieter’s fresh-air beer garden. “Anybody see my glitzy ’57 DeSoto?” Image: Helen Nordby

POTTSDAM, Minn — An Elgin man was injured in a three-car collision at Reikes Corners west of Zumbro Lake on White Bridge Road. Zackary Austin Peterson, 36, was taken 18 miles to a Rochester hospital. His injuries were non-life threatening, first-responders said. No one else required medical attention. The collision was about 1:20 p.m. Peterson was eastbound toward Plainview on State Highway 247. He was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Impala whose airbag deployed. Others in the accident:

> Michael Paul Halasy, 55, of Rochester, driving south on State Highway 63 toward Rochester in a 1998 Porsche Boxster convertible.

> Jon Palmer Dunham, 56, of Rochester, driving north in a 2020 Ford F150 pickup and turning west toward Oronoco.

> Tara Louise Kenitz, 54, of Rochester, a passenger in the pickup.

Anna Brennan. Crowned Miss Minnesota at Treasure Island casino event. From Byron. As talent she performed classical ballet to “Tango de Roxanne.” Studying journalism at University of St. Thomas and interning at television station KSTP.

WYATTVILLE, Minn. — A northern Arizona man, seemingly after too much fun at Steamboat Days in Winona, crashed his car into a tree 24 miles away on County Road 12. A sheriff’s deputy who came across the wreck said Joshua Ray Leach, age 37, was unhurt but drunk He was wearing a beer-tent access bracelet from Steamboat Days. A roadside breath test put his blood at 0.12% alcohol, four points more than law allows. The crash was at the 90-degree corner where County Road 12 forks into County 25.  This was about 3:45 a.m.

WINONA, Minn. –— Police responded to a call about a street fight in an East Side residential neighborhood. Although officers found people milling around, the fight was over. Police said no one would talk about what happened. Officers handed out forms and encouraged people in the remaining crowd to submit written statements in the morning when they sobered up. All appeared to be adults, officers said. This was about 1:25 a.m. on East Sanborn Street between Kansas and Liberty streets.

WINONA Minn. — The narrowing of U.S. Highway 14 up Stockton Hill on the Winona side was a one-day project, said state transportation spokesperson Mike Doughery. A crew was tarring caps on pilings that hold back new retaining walls on steepest sections of the highway. Also: Thousands of night-time  reflectors were afixed  atop  new guardrails. Pilot cars led motorists in single columns between Knopp Valley in Winona and the 1110-degree turn near the summit at Seminary Road.

Earlier: Stockton Hill 4.0: For another century

Downhill to Winona. Spray-coating the pilings. Image: Steve Lunde

Turning off the lights. The sprawling Goodview manfacturing campus , at 3760 West Fourth Street, is quiet at the end of a workday. Will become more so after the summer when shutdown completed. Operations moving to Indiana. Image: Steve Lunde

Bye: Pink slips to 86 union workers

ATLANTA, Ga. – The global lighting manufacturer Acuity is closing its suburban Winona factory in Goodview and laying off 86 employees. The announcement came as a surprise locallyin Winpna.  Atlanta-based Acuity has had a Winona presence since 2010 when it acquired the longtime local employer Winona Lighting. Acuity called its new decision part of “ongoing efforts to align our manufacturing network to best support our customers and long-term business needs.” Manufacturing currently at the Winna plant is  being shifted immediately to an Acuity plant in Indiana — a process expected to be compelted in August. The company made no mention of labor costs as an issue. Indiana has lax labor laws. Workers at Goodview have the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers as their collective bargaining agent.

Acuity profile

Acuity is the largest lighting company in North America. Headquartered iin Atlanta, Georgia. Globally it has 12,000 employees at scattered sites in North America, Europe and Asia. Its annual sales are $3.8 billion. These days the company operates as Acuity Brands. Its stock s traded publicly on the New York Stock Exchange as AYI. The president and chief executive, Neil Ashe, earns $12.5 million a year. His compensation package  includes $1 million in salary, $8.6 million in stock, $1.5 million in performance incentives, and $1.4 million in miscellany.

WINONA, Minn. – Police continued trying to trace the recent history of a handgun retrieved from a small fire in the street in front of a home near Center and Howard streets five days ago. The home-owner, who called firefighters to the fire, said he was inside and heard popping, and saw the fire out in the street.  In the debris from the fire, police found casings from eight shells that exploded, apparently from the heat. No one was injured. Eighteen unexploded live projectiles were with the gun.  Plastic components of the 9-millimeter Luger, had melted. Police said there was no reason to believe anyone was being targeted. Unanswered questions: Whose gun was it? Who set the fire? Why? And why on Howard Street?

Earlier: Mystery street fire yields melted gun, ammo

WINONA, Minn. — A police officer said that to see Aaron Patrick Devorak wheeling around town on a shiny new Trek bicycle didn’t look right The Trek matched the description of a bike stolen the previous evening from a home garage on Carimona Street, Also Devorak was dressed just like the thief who was recorded on a neighbor’s doorbell cam. Devorak, age 48, of Winona, was arrested. The bike, valued at $880, was returned.

DAKOTA, Minn. —   A vulnerable adult reportedly was swindled out of $80,000 over several months by someone posing as an FBI agent. Details were hazy until Winona County sheriff’s investors dig deeper.  It was believed that the money was sent in cryptocurrency, which investigators said makes tracing almost impossible. Investigators were called to the victim’s address up Valley View Road out of Dakota about 9 a.m. Many cash withdrawal  machines these days have have an option to convert cash to crypto.

Early evening midway arrivals Downtown’s Second Street is blocked off for the centerpiece Gold Star carnival off the Levee Park entrance. The 79th annual festival continues through Sunday. For the mood is Tyler Carter’s 2014 “Ain’t It Fun.” Midway opens Friday and Saturday at 1 p.m.. On Sunday after church at 2 p.m. Image: Steve Lunde

Festival schedule: Steamboat Days

Allison Murray (WXOW, June 15, 2026):  “Warrens Woman Charged after Kids Found Wandering Campsite; Home Deemed Uninhabitable”

Olivia Prondzinski (KTTC, June 12, 2026): “Investigation Notes Reveal Details sof Stewartville High School Shooting”

Chris Rogers (Winona Post, June 12, 2026): “Refugees Rebuild in Winona”

Harbinger of yard-sign mania. A household on a rural road flaunts support for House 26-A candidate Dan Wilson. In the works, we’re told, are yard signs for incumbent Aaron Repinski of Winona. Images: Andy Frank

LACROSSE, Wis. — The Kwik Trip convenience store chain is closing its 13 Kwik Spirits and Tobacco outlets. It’s a business decision, not a morals decision. A spokesperson for the LaCrosse-based chain, Ben Leibl, said that alcohol and tobacco sales nationwide are slipping. Employees are being offered jobs at other Kwik Trip locations. The expansion-minded chain has 880 locations in seven states and soon also in Nebraska. These other outlets carry cigarettes and vaping products and most also carry wine, beer and alcohol.

Earlier: Kwik Trip going global? No: Just Nebraska

LACROSSE, Wis. — An expanding juggernaut in automobile retailing, Dahl Auto, has purchased two dealerships 65 miles away in Rochester. Dahl, based in LaCrosse, announced the purchase of Happy Auto outlets for Hyundai and Chrysler brands. Sale price: $23 million. Dahl is a family business dating to 1911 when it began selling Ford Model T’s. Happy Hyundai and Happy Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram are side-by-side in Rochester at 4700 and 4800 Highway 52 North. Dahl’s first Minnesota dealership was in Winona in 2016.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Restaurant operator Yum Foods has unloaded its troubled Pizza Hut brand. The Louisville-based company announced its U.S. operations will go to the private-equity firm LongRange Capital of Connecticut for $1.5 billion and its China operations to Yum China Holdings of Shanghai, for $1.2 billion. Pizza Hut’s sales fell 2% last year. The company will keep its profitable KFC and Taco Bell locations.

Earlier: No pizza anymore — nor cannabis either

Earlier: Times change, tastes change: Bye to Pizza Hut

Earlier: Troubled Pizza Hut closing 250 shops