Bonfire in street, bullets popping: Why? Why? Why?
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?
9mm Luger. The weapon was an 1898 design by Austrian gunsmith Georg Luger. It’s still standard police and military issue sidearm in many countries. The total manufactured: 3 million.The cut-away illustrates bullets in a rack inside the weapon and waiting to be fired. The Luger itself is semiautomatic: Toggle-triggered and, recoil-operated.
Political season sprouts among us
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
First campaign button around. Perhaps not the ring of “I Like Ike” in 1952, But close.
News summary at mid-week: June 17, 2026
POLITICS: Aspiring lawmaker trio kick off door-knocking
POLITICS: Poll: Minnesota leans Blue for U.S. Senate
POLITICS: Klobuchar fund-raising leads Minnesota governor pack
POLITICS: Poll: Klobuchar leads GOP rivals for governor
ENVIRONMENT: Mayor quits as hyper-scale Google project looms
ENVIRONMENT: MiEnergy: No hanky-panky on our data center
ENVIRONMENT: State eyes eradication of invasive moth
CRIME: Fuller detail on Stewartville wrestling attack
CRIME: Odd theft led to disturbance led to arrest
CRIME: Bail at $2,500 in wayward mom case
CRIME: Arrest ends wild incident in bar zone
OUTDOORS: Bluff-top buzz is bees, birds and friends
OUTDOORS: Alighting briefly from the woodlands
OUTDOORS: Unexpected slithering in backyard
GOVERNANCE: No Winona splashin’ yet: Pool still closed
ACCIDENT: Driver dies in another I-90 Marion crash
Finale ahead: Kwik Trip cigarette,booze shops
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 deciiom. 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 beer and alcohol.
Dahl Auto expands car-dealing to Rochester
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.
Pizza Hut chain sold to investor groups
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
Car-truck crash at Mabel injurers driver
MABEL, Minn. — An ambulance took a Preston woman 42 miles to a Rochester hospital after her car and a truck collided at edge of town. Fillmore County deputies described the injuries to Vickie Jo Lynch, 76, as non-life threatening. The accident was about 1:30 p.m. on State Highway 44 and County Road 28. Lynch was driving a 2015 Ford Fusion. She was belted, deputies said. The other driver, Jeremy Dean Wolf, 45, of Nashua, Iowa, was in a 2013 Kenworth semi-tractor.
Emergency, fire crews make 55 calls
WINONA, Minn. – The Fire Department reported 35 emergency medical calls plus 20 fire calls in recent days:
> Tuesday, Mune 16: 4 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Monday, June 15: 7 medical calls plus 3 fire calls.
> Sunday, June 14: 4 medical calls plus 1 fire call.
> Saturday, June 13: 5 medical calls plus 2 fire calls.
> Friday, June 12: 7 medical calls plus 4 fire calls.
> Thursday, June 11: 5 medical calls plus 1 fire calls.
> Wednesday, June 10: 3 medical calls plus 7 fire call.
Earlier: Emergency, fire crews make 43 calls
No Winona splashin’ yet: Pool still closed
WINONA, Minn. — The contractor for repairs and upgrades at the Bob Welch swimming pool is more behind than expected. The city Parks Department said it can’t promiise an opening date, which was supposed to be Wednesday. What’s the problem? The Parks explanation
“This project includes the largest mechanical equipment replacement effort since the Aquatic Center first opened in 1990. Upgrades include new heaters, chemical controllers, and a modern high‑efficiency water filtration system. Although construction crews have made substantial progress, the contractor must complete final installation work, conduct system testing, finalize safety checks and inspections prior to opening.”
Meanwhile, one local alternative, the Levee Park water feature, is closed through Sunday for Steamboat Days.
Mayor quits as hyper-scale Google project looms
PINE ISLAND, Minn. — Mayor David Friese resigned abruptly amid swelling controversy over a hyper-scale AI data center that Google wants to build outside town. Friese, mayor since 2020, did not link his decision explicitly to Googe’s Project Skyway. Unmistakable, however, is that the multi-million dollar project has torn Pine Island apart and come judicial scrutiny. This was the mayor’s message announcing his resignation effective immediately:
“As my position at work continues to grow, the needed attention and service to the city is impacted. With so much good taking place in Pine Island, the residents need a leader that will continue to give attention to moving this city forward.”
Friese, age 42, did not show up for a 6 p.m. City Council meeting. The Council, whose five members normally include mayor, named Council member Vernon Pahl as acting mayor. On the agenda were new rules for citizen participation at meetings — a response to the previous meeting that degenerated into shouting and mayhem. It was impossible to gavel the havoc back to order. The Council members walked out. The new participation rules require citizens to identify themselves before addressing the Council and to limit themselves to two minutes each.
Friese. In third two-year term. Had been up for re-election this coming November.
Community profile
Pine Island, population 4,300, is 16 miles north of Rochester on the U.S. Highway 52 corridor to St. Paul. The city straddles the Goodhue-Olmsted county line but mostly in Goodhue Couny. Historically the city has an agricultural base but is becoming more a commuter bedroom community for Rochester. Median household income is $47,500, median family income $59,800. Population 91% white.
Project Skyway site. Along U.S. Highway 52 north of Pine Island.Where Google wants farmland rezoned for a hyper-scale transfer site for AI data.
Klobuchar fund-raising leads Minnesota governor pack
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Amy Klobchar campaign for governor is doing well financially. The campaign has raised $7 million-plus so far this year, 97% of which came from individual contributions. From political committee was $97,000, from lobbyists $67,000. These data are from periodic reports that candidates are required to file by law. Klobuchar, who has been a U.S. senator since2007, is the endorsed Democratic candidate for governor and has no significant opposition in the party’s August primary election. Competing with each other on the Republican side in the primary:
> Mike Lindell, of MyPillow fame: $650,000 raised this year.
> Kendall Qualls, the party-endorsed Republican candidate: $360,000.
> Lisa Demuth, Minnesota House speaker: $210,000.
Earlier: Poll: Klobuchar leads GOP rivals for governor
Earlier: Klobuchar leads gubernatorial fund-raising
Name released from fatal Centerville crash
CENTERVILLE, Wis. —Belatedly the Trempealeau County sheriff confirmed the woman who died in a collision near Centerville four days ago was Amber Shovald of Eau Claire. She was 42. Sheriff Erica Koxlien didn’t explain why she withheld the name. Shovald was a passenger in one of the vehicles in the collision. The drivers, Maidao Yang, 38, and Aleck Lehnartz, 24, were injured and helicoptered for emergency medical attention.
Charge: Anger explodes over probation status
WINONA, Minn.— Police arrested a Winona man after a woman reported a death threat in an angry outburst at her place about snitching on a probation violation. Michael Wehner, age 27, was arrested in the 350 block of West Sanborn Street about 11:10 a.m. The woman, age 58, accused Wehner of entering her place yelling and screaming. She said he broke household items in the tirade.
I-90 crash: Car crunched between trucks
EYOTA, Minn — An Owatonna woman was injured when her mid-weight 2024 Kia Carnival was caught in a collision of two Peterbilt trucks. This was about 9:30 a.m. just east of the Intestate 90 exit into Eyota. Jenna Lee Fernandez, age 41, was taken 12 miles to a Rochester hospital. Her injuries appeared sustainable, according to Olmsted County deputies. The collision was in the westbound lanes toward Rochester. Unhurt were:
> Bruce David Jacobs, age 50, of Huntington, Indiana, in a 2013 Peterbilt.
> David Bradley Marks, age 69, of Wabash, Indiana, in a 2022 Peterbilt.
Driver dies in another I-90 Marion crash
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A woman from St. James in south-central Minnesota was killed in a three-vehicle accident near Interstate 90’s Marion exit into Rochester and to Chatfield. The victim was Evelyn Marie Brye, 72. She was driving a 2023 Toyota Rav 4, which was stuck by a 2013 Nissan Altima, which had sideswiped with a 2005 International truck. This was about 9 a.m. on wet pavement. Brye, who was belted, was alone in her car. Unhurt:
> Alex Blake Whiteis. 46, of Austin, driver of the Nissan.
> Reese Jessica Whiteis, 18, of Austin, a passenger.
> Louis Antone Plaskey, 43, the trucker, of Loyal, Wisconsin, which is 140 miles away near Marshfield.
Poll: Minnesota leans Blue for U.S. Senate
MINNEAPOLIS — Asked how they’re inclined to vote in November to replace Tina Smith in the U.S. Senate, Minnesotans favor Democrats, according a new poll. The poll found:
> 49% favored the Democrats, whichever candidate prevails in the August primary.
> 41% favored the Republican, whichever one prevails in August
> 9% were undecided.
The poll was June 8 to June 10 with 800 telephone interviews statewide. The statistical margin of error was slim and made the poll a useful snapshot for analysts.
Fields in flux
The leading Democrats, both with aggressive television advertising campaigns going into the August primary election that decides who represents the party on the November ballot.
> Angie Craig, currently in the U.S. House from MN-2.
> Peggy Flanagan, the party’s endorsed candidate and currently lieutenant governor.
The leading Republicans going into the August primary:
> Michelle Tafoya, a network television sports interviewer.
> Adam Schwarze, the party’s endorsed candidate and who has federal experience in foreign affairs.
State eyes eradication of invasive moth
Spongy moth caterpillers. Incredibly voracious creatures in 360-degree chow-down around a birch trunk. At risk: Minnesota forest, farm and tourist industries.
Tool is waxy substance to suppress mating
WINONA, Minn. — The state Agriculture Department is going airborne for to battle the spread of an invasive moth that threatens Minnesota forests. The target: Spongy moths. The battleground includes 19 sites in southeast Minnesota’s Fillmore, Mower, Olmsted, Wabasha and Winona counties and cities including Austin, Goodview, Rochester, Stewartville and Winona. Crop-dusting planes will spray 112,000 acres. The weapon will be non-toxic substance that messes with the mating instincts of male spongy moths. Next year, according to the the plan, will be largely devoid of caterillars that would morph into the spongy moths. The Agriculture Department says the substance is benign to humans, animals, birds and other insects.
Yellow bird in shallow swoops. Under contract are pilots of small yellow crop-dusters with wing tanks loaded with spray. Weather permitting, the eight-day aerial campaign begins June 24. Repeated tree-top swoops begin daily at 6. a.m.
Up North toward Minnesota’s Arrowhead. A second theater of the state’s war on spongy moths. Lighter colors are infested but less so. Individually the moths appear harmless enough Typical length is 1 to 1-1/2 inches.
Fuller detail on Stewartville wrestling attack
STEWARTVILLE, Minn. — Investigation documents into the shooting on the Stewartville High School parking last December reveal a bit more about what happened and perhaps why.
> The high school wrestler who was shot, and who has since recovered, knew the shooter well.
> The shooter, Logan Moyer, a recent Stewartville graduate, who had been hanging around the team as a volunteer assistant, had two rifles the morning of the shooting. One rifle he fired from a distance at the wrestling team — a single shot — as the team
was boarding a bus. Moyer then committed suicide with a second shot. The other rifle was in Moyer’s nearby car and wrapped in a blanket with two boxes of ammunition.
> Coaches had been aware of a problem between Moyer and the wrestler who was shot. The coaches, sometime earlier, had ordered Moyer to stay away from the gym.
> Text messages on the wounded student’s phone revealed that Moyer had asked several times to meet with him. The student declined.
The fresh details were drawn from more than 40 interviews by Olmsted County sheriff’s investigators. The case was closed in February.
Earlier: Stewartville school shooter possibly upset at rebuff
Earlier: Hospital discharges wounded Stewartville wrestler
Earlier: Sheriff holds back names in school shooting
Earlier: Athlete shot at Stewartville school; suicide follows
Poll: Klobuchar leads GOP rivals for governor
MINNEAPOLIS — Five months ahead of Minnesota’s gubernatorial election, Democrat Amy Klobuchar has clear leads over GOP candidates. This is according to a poll by the Minnesota Star Tribune, KARE television and the Hubbard School of Journalism at the University of Minesota. Klobuchar is her party’s endorsed candidate and has no serious challengers in the August primary election. Here are Klobuchar’s advantage over the leading Republicans who are fighting it out in the Augyst primary for a place on the November ballot:
> Against Kendall Qualls, Klobuchar leads by 11 percentage points, with 14% of voters undecided.
> Against Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota House speaker, Klobuchar leads by 8 points, with 12% undecided.
> Against Mike Lindell, an ally of President Trump, Klobuchar leads by 17 points, with 11% undecided.
The poll used probability a sampling to identify 800 respondents likely to vote in November. The poll was June 8 to June 10 by telephone.
Earlier: GOP convention backs Qualls for governor
Earlier: Klobuchar looks to Fergus Falls for ticket mate
Earlier: Klobuchar declares for Minnesota governorship
Earlier: Klobuchar files papers for governor bid
Earlier: Klobuchar seen as gubernatorial front runner
Earlier: No GOP shortage of rivals to Walz re-election
Earlier: Walz to seek third term as governor
Fatality in Rochester motorcycle-pickup crash
ROCHESTER, Minn. — One person died in the collision of a motorcycle and a pickup truck in a Far Southeast retail district. The accident was about 7:40 p.m. on 48th Street Southeast at St. Bridgett’s Road.
Odd theft led to disturbance led to arrest
LEWISTON, Minn.— A Lewiston woman reported belatedly that personal items and money were stolen from her apartment Saturday evening. She had called deputies Monday about 7:40 p.m. about a disturbance that had just occurred at her place behind the Lewiston Country Club in the 300 block of Benson Drive North. She said the disturbance involved the man who stole from her two days earlier. Missing since Saturday, she said, were:
> A case of Michelob Golden beer in bottles.
> A comforter and pillows.
> A $20 bill and a jar with $80 in coins.
The thief, she said, had come back these two days later and just driven off in his pickup truck. Shortly after she recited her account to a sheriff’s deputy, a State Patrol trooper stopped Pierre Lamont Davis, age 36, in his pickup. But, the trooper said, he gave a false name. A second trooper arrived and recognized Davis from previous dealings in a Twin Cities suburb. Then a Winona deputy arrived and confirmed the driver’s real identification through an online photo database — and also discovered he was wanted on warrants from Dakota and Scott counties. As best as officers could determine, Davis had no permanent address but stayed off and on in Lakeville. a south Twin Cities exurb 80 miles from Lewiston. He was in Lewiston visiting a brother.
Bail at $2,500 in wayward mom case
SPARTA, Wis — Bail was set at $2,500 for a woman accused of child abuse and squalid living quarters near Warrens in northern Monroe County. Casandra Lamb, age 22, was arrested Friday after her 6-year-old and 5-year-old children were found abandoned and wandering lost in the McMullen Park campground near Warrens. They had been living in a camper. County Judge Mark Goodman scheduled a further hearing in July.
Alighting briefly from the woodlands
Gorgeous front-door greeting. At a home in East Burns Valley. With its wings folded and with striped antenna, this butterfly is of the northern pearly eye variety. They usually hold their wings together above the body, opening only occasionally and briefly. They fancy-grassy edges and openings and dirt roads and trails in mature deciduous woodlands, usually near streams, rivers or marshes. Their flight is bouncy. Adults emerge in late June and are around into August. They feed on dung, fungi, carrion, mud, and sap, but not flower nectar. Image: Andy Frank
MiEnergy: No hanky-panky on our data center
RUSHFORD, Minn. — The utility co-op MiEnergy asks people not to confuse its data-center project in Harmony with larger projects whose giant developers are using sweet-talk, secrecy and strong-arm tactics to force essential local zoning changes. MiEnergy’s chief executive, Brian Krambeer calls the Harmony project “a small edge data center.” Krambeer’s assurances come amid growing alarm about ultra-scale data centers that Google and other major players are forcing on local communities. These giant players for desperate for land to install super-computers for the new Artificial Intelligence Age. The ultra-scale data centers take hundreds of acres out of agricultural production and pose environmental concerns, among which is draining aquifers for water to cool their super-heated computers. The developers promise jobs and tax revenue to local zoning authorities, whom hey bind into secrecy agreements to fast-track rezoning without public hearings and citizen review. In contrast, Krambeer described MiEnergy and its predecessor Tri-County Electric as building on an 80-year relationship of trust and transparency. He said Harmony officials are working through public processes for zoning adjustments. About grid demands that ultra-scale data centers pose, Krambeer said that MiEnergy has sufficient existing capacity without any new transmission projects. About concerns that that the electricity demands of data centers will send homeowner and other user costs soaring, Krambeer said MiEnerry already has a large-load discount rate from Dairyland Power of LaCrosse, its electricity-generating wholesale source.
Krambeer. President and chief executive of MiEnergy. The co-op has 19,000 users in southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa.
Harmony profile
In southern Fillmore County. Population 1,000. About 1,000 Swartzentuber Amish in the area, mostly in low-tech enterprises that produce furniture, baskets, rugs, quilts, jams, baked goods and cashew crunch. Niagara Cave usa nearby tourist attraction. The area sits on a major karst aquifer that moves massive amounts of water south to the Upper Iowa River. As in most of Fillmore County, farmers are dependent on the aquifer for water.
Unexpected slithering in backyard
.
Bug-eyed. And fang-less.
Surprise visitor. A gardener was momentarily unsettled when, unexpectedly, there was motion in a rubble pile along Peterson Creek in central Winona County. The garter snake quietly slithered into the rocks. The gardener was sure the creature was six feet, maybe seyen, maybe eight. Who’s to say otherwise. But garter snakes generally are two to four feet. Garter snakes werelong thought to be non-venomous, but discoveries in the early 2000s discovered they produce a neurotoxic venom, but it’s too weak to injure humans. Also: They lack fags to deliver the venom. Image: Jackie Rislow
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