WISCONSIN

Wisconsin squeaks past Minnesota for the top spot in voter turnout

Clay Masters and Peter Cox / MPR News — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 22:28:34 GMT

ST. PAUL — In the race between Gophers and Badgers for voter turnout, the Badgers won.

Voters in Wisconsin narrowly outperformed Minnesota voters in the 2024 election. The University of Florida’s Election Lab reported that 76.35% of the voting-eligible population cast ballots in Minnesota. In Wisconsin, 76.64% of the voting-eligible population cast ballots.

Secretary of State Steve Simon regularly touts Minnesota’s long-running first-place voter turnout position. And he said while turnout was strong in the 2024 general election, it came up just a little bit short.

“In a heartbreakingly close contest, Minnesota lost the title of number one in voter turnout to Wisconsin for the 2024 election,” he said in a statement. “We congratulate our neighbors to the east on this victory and we’ll continue our work to earn the top spot back in 2026.”

Wisconsin was one of a handful of battleground states in last year’s presidential election. Campaigns spent tens of millions of dollars in Wisconsin, and voters sent a mixed message back by reelecting Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

Minnesota stayed in the Democratic column. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the presidential vote in Minnesota with Gov. Tim Walz on the ticket. DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar easily defeated her Republican opponent.

This story was originally published on MPRNews.org
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Unlocking Life Basics: What to know about getting a REAL ID before the May 7 deadline

Adria Peters — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 15:00:00 GMT

Beginning on May 7, 2025, U.S. travelers must be REAL ID compliant to board domestic flights. This means that if you do not have a REAL ID, you may need to provide other forms of identification — like a U.S. passport or military ID — in order to board a plane.

According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, beginning on May 7, 2025, Minnesotans 18 years of age or older will not be able to use their standard driver’s license or identification card to board domestic flights. Instead, they will need one of three options: a Minnesota REAL ID driver’s license or identification card, a Minnesota Enhanced driver’s license or identification card, or another form of federally approved identification such as a U.S. passport or passport card, a foreign-government-issued passport, a permanent resident card, etc.

To get your REAL ID, Minnesota residents must start by filling out the pre-application information. Then you must bring your personal documents to an office that takes REAL ID applications. You will need one document that proves your full legal name, date of birth and legal presence. You will also need two different documents that show your current Minnesota residence address. Lastly, you’ll need to know your Social Security number. Don’t forget to bring money for the appropriate fee.

North Dakota's Department of Transportation website states, "Your present license remains valid until its expired date, as North Dakota has received a waiver from the US Department of Homeland Security. This means your current ND driver's license and identification card is accepted for access into federal facilities, including military installations, and boarding aircraft until May 7, 2025." As a North Dakotan, to obtain a REAL ID-compliant driver's license, permit or ID card, you must present proper documentation. This includes: proof of identification, proof of name change, proof of Social Security number and proof of North Dakota residence address. Visit North Dakota DOT for more information regarding these required documents.

To acquire your REAL ID, research the requirements of your state:

To find out how to get your REAL ID today, click here.

If you have upcoming plans to travel by flight, getting your REAL ID ensures you will be able to board your flight smoothly.

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Longtime Minnesota DFL leader Ken Martin elected chair of DNC

Dana Ferguson / MPR News — Sat, 01 Feb 2025 18:21:41 GMT

Members of the Democratic National Committee voted Saturday to make Minnesota DFL Chair Ken Martin their next party leader.

Martin beat out Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, along with a handful of other candidates, on the first ballot to clinch the title. He received 246.5 votes, more than the 50% plus one of the 448 voting members.

Fellow Minnesota Democrats Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Attorney General Keith Ellison, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Martin’s family stood behind him as he accepted the position. Members of the Minnesota DNC delegation came up to the podium to cheer and take pictures.

Martin told the DNC that the party needs to “dust ourselves off and get back in this fight” after Democrats “got punched in the mouth in November.”

“A lot of people in this country right now are going to need us to walk and chew gum at the same time, meaning we’re going to have to fight the extremes of Donald Trump, while we make a sharp case to families in both red states and blue states about why they should trust us with their votes,” he said. “The thing is this, when the Trump agenda fails Americans, which it most certainly will and already has, we have to be there with a legitimate alternative to this chaos.”

Martin touted his experience running the Minnesota DFL Party over the last 14 years and said he could scale that model to boost Democrats around the country. He also said that with President Donald Trump back in the White House and Republicans in full control of Congress, Democrats need to actively tell Americans how they can serve them.

Martin will replace outgoing Chair Jaime Harrison starting this week. He said Democrats need to put the internal election behind them and unify. Martin said he’ll prioritize a review of the 2024 election to better understand where Democrats fell short and how they can do better heading into the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential election.

“What we need to do right now, is really start to get our handle around what happened this last election cycle. We know that we lost ground with Latino voters. We know we lost ground with women and younger voters, and, of course, working-class households,” Martin said. “We don’t know the how and why at this moment, and that’s what I need to get my hands around before we can be proscriptive on a plan and a solution.”

He said he would also build out a war room within the party to counter misinformation and disinformation from Republicans.

Martin added he’s ready to lead the party and serve as a foil to President Donald Trump.

“We’re taking the gloves off. I’ve always viewed my role as a chair of the Democratic Party to take the low road, so my candidates and elected officials can take the high road, meaning I'm going to throw a punch,” he said. “So Donald Trump, Republican Party, this is a new DNC. We are not going to sit back and not take you on when you fail the American people.”

Joe Salas, a Democrat from San Bernadino, California, voted for Martin and wore a “Yes we Ken” T-shirt to the meeting Saturday. He said he appreciated how Martin brought diverse communities together.

“I think he’s the man who can with the plan to put the Spam back in and the reason why I use the word ‘Spam’ is because sometimes you got to mix things up. And Ken knows how to beautifully mix things together for a good product that's going to get our working families back and move the Democratic Party forward,” Salas said.

Martin will remain chair of the Minnesota DFL until an election next month.

This story was originally published on MPRNews.org.

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3 killed in Wisconsin school shooting, including shooter, police say

Brad Brooks and Joseph Ax / Reuters — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 19:21:14 GMT

A juvenile student killed two people at a Wisconsin school before police found the suspect dead at the scene of the latest shooting to devastate a U.S. campus, authorities said on Monday.

At least six other people were wounded, according to police, who said children were among the dead and wounded in the shooting, which took place in the state capital of Madison.

Earlier, police said five people were killed in the shooting, but later said that information was incorrect.

The shooting took place at Abundant Life Christian ��, a private institution that teaches some 400 students from kindergarten through 12th grade, the Madison Police Department said.

The police department said in a written statement that at least three people were killed in the incident, including the suspected shooter, who was identified only as a juvenile student at the school. The shooter was found dead inside the school when police arrived.

At least six people were transported from the scene to area hospitals, police said in a written statement.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said the shooting took place just before 11 a.m. local time.

"Today is a sad, sad day, not only for Madison, but for our entire country, where yet another police chief is doing a press conference to speak about violence in our community," Barnes told reporters.

Barnes added: "Every child, every person in that building, is a victim, and will be a victim forever. These types of trauma don't just go away."

Video posted from the scene on social media showed a massive emergency response, including police, ambulance and fire vehicles.

Gun control and school safety have become major political and social issues in the U.S. where the number of school shootings has jumped in recent years.

There have been 322 school shootings this year in the U.S., according to the K-12 �� Shooting Database website. That is the second highest total of any year since 1966, according to that database - topped only by last year's total of 349 such shootings.

The epidemic of shootings has afflicted public and private schools alike in urban, suburban and rural communities.

Some have taken place in Christian schools. In March 2023, a former student at Covenant ��, a private academy in Nashville, killed three children and three adults before being shot dead by law enforcement officers.

Last year, two students aged 5 and 6 were shot at Feather River Adventist �� near Oroville, California, by a gunman who later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

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A killer’s confession opens the door to new DNA samples for cold case analysis

Trisha Taurinskas — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 15:55:00 GMT

DUNN COUNTY, Wis. — For decades, Jon K. Miller hid in plain sight.

The confessed killer of 25-year-old Mary Schlais, who was found dead with 15 stab wounds in a Wisconsin snowbank in 1974, has spent decades living among residents of southeastern Minnesota.

On Nov. 7, eight months after moving from Austin, Minnesota, to an assisted living facility in nearby Owatonna, Dunn County investigators obtained a search warrant and knocked on his door. When presented with DNA evidence linking him to Schlais’ crime scene, Miller confessed.

The news sent shock waves through the community — and surprised local law enforcement and facility employees, who never saw any red flags from the quiet 84-year-old.

"We were very surprised," Steele County Sheriff Loni Thiele told Forum News Service, adding that he and fellow law enforcement officers had no previous contact with Miller.

Miller’s confession culminated an investigation led by the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office, in partnership with the genetic genealogy program at New Jersey’s Ramapo College. A stocking cap left on the scene provided investigators with the DNA of the suspected killer — and extensive genetic genealogy efforts traced them to Miller, who confirmed it was his.

Miller’s arrest adds a previously unknown name to the list of potential suspects in the country’s cold cases, particularly those in the two known states where he’s lived since Schlais’ death: Minnesota and Louisiana.

His confession also cements his DNA entry into the nationwide database used by law enforcement agencies, known as the Combined DNA Index System.

Miller’s DNA did not exist in CODIS prior to his arrest. Instead, the team at Ramapo College utilized forensic genealogy to match the hair sample with the suspect’s distant relatives. That path took investigators to the doorsteps of a number of the suspect’s relatives. Ultimately, it led them to Miller.

For investigators with cold case victims’ DNA on file — in Minnesota, Louisiana and beyond — a new potential suspect has entered the national database, meaning investigators can specifically ask for a victim’s DNA to be tested against Miller’s.

Tracking Miller’s history

Miller lived at Twin Towers Apartment buildings, just one block away from the Austin Police Department, for at least 16 years, according to multiple background checks conducted by Forum News Service.

For the most part, Miller flew under the radar. A background check conducted by Forum News Service revealed one offense: a 1994 conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Austin Police Chief David McKichan told Forum News Service a search for Miller’s name in their system, which dates back to 2014, retrieved just one entry. It related to a call placed by the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office in November when they were attempting to track him down.

Newspaper archives from the 1960s indicate he was allegedly involved in at least three burglaries: two in Austin and one in Texas.

A gap in his criminal record in the 1970s through 1980s illustrates the possibility that he had straightened his life out.

Except, he hadn’t.

Schlais’ murder occurred in 1974, in the midst of the seemingly quiet party of his life. Miller had been married for roughly one year to his second wife when he picked up Schlais while she was hitchhiking in the Twin Cities area.

Schlais was on her way to an art show in Chicago. Miller told investigators he offered her a ride and stabbed her when she fought his sexual advances. After that, he found a remote area of Wisconsin, where he threw her body. He fled immediately after a witness saw him from a distance.

Six months later, Miller’s second wife gave birth to their child. By 1977, the couple was divorced. Miller has at least one other confirmed child, born in 1965.

Miller popped up on the radar again in 1988. A traffic citation printed in the Austin Daily Herald states a home address in Mandeville, Louisiana. Two background checks indicate he held a Mandeville address for a portion of the 1990s before returning to Mower County.

What was he capable of?

The manner in which Schlais was killed reveals what Miller was capable of in the winter of 1974.

In the wake of Schlais’ murder, investigators warned area women of a dangerous man with the proven capability of committing heinous murder.

Schlais was stabbed more than 15 times. When investigators arrived at the scene, they discovered the wounds encompassed her back, neck and stomach.

Cuts on her hand showed she tried to get away. Her bruised face proved she had been beaten.

“It was a brutal attack,” then-Dunn County Sheriff Daryl Spagnoletti said in a 1974 Leader-Telegram interview. “It appears she put up a big fight before being killed.”

An eyewitness observed a man — now known to be Miller — throwing Schlais’ body into a ditch of a dead-end road in rural Dunn County. He attempted to cover her body with snow before he fled the scene.

And it happened in broad daylight, at roughly 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 15, 1974.

Schlais’ lifeless body was thrown in the ditch roughly 90 miles from her Minneapolis apartment, where she was last seen.

While the Dunn County Sheriff’s Office has been the lead investigative agency on the case, Schlais was a Minneapolis resident, and she was last seen alive within the city’s limits.

That’s significant for law enforcement in the Twin Cities and metro areas.

For investigators who are grappling with unsolved cold cases, there’s now a new potential suspect: a man who drove a gold-colored Chevy Vega, who picked up — and killed — at least one female hitchhiker in 1974.

Part 2 of this series will examine the cold cases that occurred in and around the time of Schlais’ death. ]]>

Minnesota man charged in 1974 homicide cold case in Wisconsin

Jeremy Fugleberg — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 19:31:31 GMT

DUNN COUNTY, Wis. — A Minnesota man was arrested Thursday, Nov. 7, in connection with the 1974 Wisconsin killing of 25-year-old Mary Schlais, of Minneapolis, after investigative genetic genealogy allegedly led to his confession.

Jon Keith Miller, 84, of Owatonna, is awaiting extradition to Wisconsin, Dunn County (Wisconsin) Sheriff Kevin Bygd said in a news release. Court records show Miller faces a first-degree murder charge.

Schlais, a master's degree student at the University of Minnesota, was reportedly hitchhiking from Minneapolis to Chicago to attend an art show when her body was found on Feb. 15, 1974, in Dunn County, Wisconsin. The county straddles Interstate 94 about 80 miles east of Minneapolis and just to the west of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Law enforcement discovered Schlais' body after an eyewitness reported seeing a man throw a woman out of a vehicle, then attempt to cover her body with snow. The man was described as being about 6 feet tall with auburn hair and a thick dark mustache.

Schlais' death was ruled a homicide after investigators found she had been stabbed more than 15 times in her back, neck and stomach and had defensive wounds on her hands and bruises on her face.

Unearthing new DNA evidence

Despite the deluge of tips, leads and interviews by multiple law enforcement agencies, the case grew cold. To find potential new evidence, Schlais' family consented to let law enforcement exhume her body in 2009. Investigators gathered DNA from her body and told media in 2018 they had found two profiles.

"There were also several items of evidence examined and re-examined over the years as technological advances in DNA were developed. Still, no viable suspects were identified," Bygd said Thursday.

However, investigators did name a possible suspect not long after the collection of new DNA: Randall Woodfield, a former football player with the Green Bay Packers who later became known as the "I-5 killer" for a string of murders along that interstate highway. Woodfield was never charged in Schlais' death, and investigators described him as a person of interest.

Earlier this year, Dunn County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Jason Stalker told Forum News Service the case was still active.

"There are some leads we're working on currently, but I can't disclose what those are," he said at the time. "But it is very much an active investigation. That's what I'll say."

The break in the case

Bygd said Thursday that Dunn County investigators recently began working with Ramapo College in New Jersey, an institution with a program that specializes in investigative genetic genealogy.

The method uses traditional genealogy research and DNA collected from possible family members to suss out potential suspects in cases where police have DNA evidence but no matches. In recent years, the method has led to a string of cold case arrests and convictions.

The investigative partnership between investigators and Ramapo College identified what Bygd called a "viable suspect" — Miller.

When confronted with the DNA evidence by police on Thursday, Miller allegedly “admitted that he picked up the victim while she was hitching and eventually stabbed her to death," MPR reported, citing court documents.

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Top 4 ‘Up North’ getaways Al Capone is rumored to have stayed in Minnesota and Wisconsin

Trisha Taurinskas — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 17:51:01 GMT

Editor's note: This archival Vault story was first published Aug. 25, 2022.

Tales of Al Capone’s secret Northland getaways and hideouts have swirled throughout the state of Minnesota for decades. Residents of the North Shore and Iron Range have long boasted their backyard as the bootlegger’s land of leisure.

Verifying those claims has become increasingly difficult over the years, yet that doesn’t stop Minnesotans — and Wisconsites — from claiming the notorious Capone as, kind of, their own.

The stories that are told today have become somewhat of gangster lore, sprinkled with truth and laden with mysteriousness.

Northern Wisconsin escape

It might seem odd that America’s most notorious gangsters of the 1920s and '30s considered northern Wisconsin and Minnesota the place to be, particularly in the summer. Yet, when compared to the rest of wealthy Chicagoans, their retreat to the North woods wasn’t all that bizarre. It’s where many of the city’s elite traveled for summer relaxation.

Of all the areas Capone was rumored to have stayed, the location in Couderay, Wisconsin, gets the most attention.

Spanning more than 400 acres, the property includes a structure with 18-inch stone walls, providing an added dose of safety. The property also included guard towers, hovering above the nearly 40-acre lake the property bordered. It’s rumored to also have included a gun tower.

While certainly a relaxing alternative to Chicago life, the retreat wasn’t just about hiding out. Al Capone and his crew would receive shipments of alcohol from Canada, which were flown over the border by seaplanes, according to the Library of Congress.

The property, which also includes a bar and restaurant, went up for sale in 2009, with a starting price of $2.6 million. It was sold to Chippewa Valley Bank.

Naniboujou Social Club

The Naniboujou Social Club opened in 1928 in Cook County, along the North Shore. The grand, private lodge was created for the nation’s elite, providing a private — and extravagant — retreat from the country’s larger cities.

In addition to celebrity members like Babe Ruth, the members-only club is also rumored to have included members from the organized crime community, including Al Capone.

The resort itself, including the property surrounding the structures, spanned 3,300 acres. The deep woods offered attendees hunting opportunities — and privacy.

Memberships weren’t given out lightly. The 99-year memberships went for $200 in the 1920s, according to the company’s website. Rather than advertising the club, the exclusiveness was promoted through friends of friends.

Lutsen

Lutsen Resort is among the locations up the North Shore that also claims to have been a hideout for the infamous Chicago bootlegger.

According to Lutsen Resort History, Al Capone stayed at the resort in the 1920s with a female companion. Upon checking out, the resort owners noted the fish house they rented was full of bullet holes. Capone paid an extra $20 for the damage.

The story surrounding how the bullet holes came to be is now a tale of legend and lore, with some suggesting a gun battle on Minnesota’s side of Lake Superior.

Finland

Another infamous — and grand — location that Capone frequented is rumored to be located outside the sleepy North Shore town of Finland, Minn.

While difficult to pin down specifics, a story in Northern Wilds provides details from locals who recall hearing the stories of the Capone getaway.

The residence included a main lodge, a swimming pool and a horse stable. A number of cabins for guests also lined the property.

Stories of Capone's Finland getaway also include notice of a large, underground safe where it is presumed Capone kept ammunition.

The property was located along Heffelfinger Road, according to Northern Wilds.

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Cranberry harvest a family reunion for 85-year-old Sawyer County farm

Noah Fish — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 13:00:00 GMT

HAYWARD, Wis. — The sand and peat marshes in central and northern Wisconsin are known as cranberry country, and from late September to mid-October they're filled with eager growers for harvest season.

Wisconsin cranberry farmers will produce over 60% of the nation's supply and over 50% of the world's cranberries, according to Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association. There are over 20,000 acres of cranberry marshes in the state today, across 18 different central and northern Wisconsin counties.

Cranberries are the top food crop in the state and employ about 4,000 people, many of which come from a long line of cranberry growers.

A down but still solid year

Wisconsin’s cranberry growers are expected to harvest a 4.9-million-barrel crop in 2024, according to the USDA National Agriculture Statistic Services report. That's down from last year's crop of 5.4 million barrels.

Conditions weren't ideal for growing, as most of Wisconsin experienced a warm winter and wet spring this year, said Allison Jonjak, cranberry outreach specialist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.

"Wisconsin cranberries usually benefit from having a really cold winter, and that helps protect us from disease and that helps our cranberries accumulate a lot of chilling hours, but we didn't have a normal winter this year," she said. "Then this spring was so damp, and we had rain all through the season when we were putting on growth."

The crop will still be a banger when compared to the rest of the country, far ahead of the second-highest cranberry producing state, Massachusetts, which is estimated to harvest 2.2 million barrels. It's the 30th straight year that Wisconsin leads the nation in cranberry production.

"A little bit less than last year, but still on top," Jonjak said.

Around 5% of cranberries will be picked once vines are completely dry and sold as fresh fruit. The majority of cranberries are taken from fields through wet harvest and be sold as frozen, dried, juice and sauce.

Jonjak's position as cranberry outreach specialist was created in 2020 with the goal of connecting cranberry growers with research-backed information to help them create more productive and sustainable cranberry marshes. Her day-to-day includes a lot of field visits which she revels in.

"There are more than 200 cranberry marshes in Wisconsin, and I go to any and all of them," she said.

Jonjak, who also hosts virtual “brown bag” seminars and annual roundtables along with in-person group field days, said she feels lucky to work in the state's cranberry industry with a "robust" research faculty at the the university and high level of engagement from growers.

"About half of the marshes in the state will have a representative at the research roundtables," she said. "There's a lot of desire, and there's a lot of uptake, and the cranberry growers are always excited to be doing things a little bit better every year."

Jonjak family reunion

Jonjak feels at home when working with cranberries because it is. She grew up working on the Jonjak Cranberry Farm in Sawyer County, which began with her grandparents, Tony and Lucille Jonjak, in 1939. Her father, Randy, is the youngest of six children and operates the marsh today.

Every fall season, Jonjak takes two weeks off from her university job to help her parents with the 56-acre harvest. This year marks the 85th anniversary of the farm.

"I really love it, but I would not call it a vacation because it's definitely high stakes, and there's a lot of moving parts, but everybody knows their role," she said of the cranberry harvest.

What Jonjak enjoys the most is getting to see her family. Her siblings also come home for harvest every year, along with her cousins who also take time off from their jobs from the Twin Cities to northern Wisconsin.

"Right now I have four people in my house," Jonjak said on Oct. 1. "It really does feel like a family reunion — just one where we have a very real goal that we have to work towards."

It wouldn't be a family reunion without home-cooked meals, many of which are cranberry inspired.

"In my normal life, probably three times a week I have cranberry sauce, but during harvest, literally every meal I have cranberry sauce," Jonjak said. "Harvest meals are usually just roasts and potatoes in the oven, and there's nothing like cranberry sauce to go with your roast and potatoes."

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Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre says he has Parkinson's Disease

Reuters — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 18:25:50 GMT

NEW YORK — Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre said during a U.S. congressional hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 24 that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease.

Once one of the brightest stars in the National Football League, Favre, 54, played 20 seasons in the NFL and spent most of his career with the Green Bay Packers, with whom he won the Super Bowl in 1997.

Favre said at the hearing on welfare accountability that he lost his investment in a company he believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug.

"While it's too late for me — because I've recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's — this is also a cause dear to my heart," he said.

The 11-times Pro Bowler previously said that he believed he suffered potentially thousands of concussions during his football career. Favre, who has two daughters, said that if he had a son he would discourage him from playing the sport.

Beginning in 2011, thousands of former players sued the NFL claiming ongoing debilitating effects from head injuries. The league later settled for an estimated $1 billion and overhauled its concussion protocols, while outlawing some of the game's more violent hits.

Favre appeared at the U.S. House panel after he became one of several defendants named in a civil suit by Mississippi’s Department of Human Services in 2022.

The suit alleged the misuse of welfare funds earmarked for the state's neediest families, known as TANF funds. He has never been accused of crimes related to the funds and he said on Tuesday that he was innocent of wrongdoing.

"Certain government officials in Mississippi failed to protect federal TANF funds from fraud and abuse and are unjustifiably trying to blame me," said Favre.

"Those challenges have hurt my good name and are worse than anything I've faced in football."

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SAGRA Food and Wine chef devoted to sourcing foods from local farms

Noah Fish — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 13:00:00 GMT

LA CROSSE, Wis. — A sagra in Italy is a festival that gives people a chance to sample culinary specialties.

SAGRA Food and Wine, located on Front Street in La Crosse, in sight of the Mississippi River, is a festival of local harvest every week — and a chance for chef Mitchel Weber to blend his love for Italian food with his obsession for sourcing local ingredients.

"We're devoted to local sourcing," said Mitchel Weber, chef and co-owner of SAGRA. "We use Italian food as a vehicle to get local produce and vegetables onto the plate."

It's more than just the vegetables that are local at SAGRA. The meat is sourced from Hidden Stream Farm in Elgin, Minnesota, where the family farm raises lamb, pork, beef, chicken and more.

The pastas at SAGRA are handmade and extruded in house with local and imported flours. Weber said this provides room for creativity as the kitchen staff can choose "whatever shapes suit our pasta dishes at any moment."

"Local grains from Meadowlark Mill add variety as we blend our semolina recipes with bolted spelt, rye and buckwheat flours," reads an insert to the SAGRA menu. "We are lucky to have such grains, grist and legumes produced with such care right here in Wisconsin's Driftless Region."

Produce for SAGRA is almost entirely sourced from Owl Bluff Farm in Houston, Minnesota, and Harmony Valley Farm in Viroqua, Wisconsin.

"That sounds silly that we would just use two farms, but they grow such a wide variety of vegetables, and they're in two totally different parts of this area," Weber said of the farms — one nestled in the bluffs of Houston County, Minnesota, and the other around 50 miles away, across the Mississippi River and state lines, in the small town of Harmony in the Driftless Region.

"We'll see kind of these different movements of vegetables or successions, so it's nice to see, like peppers might be coming up here, and then they slow down, but now they're really popping up over here, so we can supplement those things in our menu."

Obsessively local

The staff at SAGRA likes to be challenged by the seasons, and Weber said that's what rules the menu. In the winter months, they lean on root vegetables and meat.

"We focus on a lot of like charcuterie and pasta that time of year, and it's meat heavy versus the vegetable driven," Weber said. "We flex to more of a red sauce, and I don't mean that in a bad way, but you'll see more Italian American dishes, so chicken Parmesans and hefty braises and red sauce."

But in the late summer, the menu is loaded with local produce, which Weber said can be a little overwhelming at times.

"In April, May, things are light, and it's a lot of leafy greens, kale coming through, but then one week will hit, and all of a sudden there's beans, there's peppers, there's tomatoes, there's corn, there's every herb you could ever imagine, eggplant," Weber said.

Weber is passionate about sourcing locally but admits there are challenges, and while sharing his desire to persuade more local restaurants in buying local ingredients, a representative from Sysco Corporation drops off their business card at the front desk of the restaurant.

"What I really enjoy about (sourcing locally) is the dollar that's spent here, we turn it over to somebody that's down the road, and then they turn it over to somebody that's down the road, and the hope is that eventually it comes back," he said. "We are an Italian restaurant, so we do import some things, but produce really isn't one of them."

On a recent Thursday, Weber pulls up to both farms he sources vegetables from with Eisler and Paige Shafrath, who helps the restaurant with administrative and creative aspects.

Owl Bluff

Carrie Calvo is the owner of Owl Bluff Farm in Houston, Minnesota, which is a certified organic farm that grows a variety of vegetables including specialty ones like heirloom leaf broccoli and cauliflower fioretto.

"We grow on less than an acre, and we sell to a mixture of farmers markets, grocery stores, restaurants, and we do an online store for home delivery in Rochester," said Calvo, who met Weber at the La Crescent Farmers Market in the first week of him holding pop-up dinners under the name SAGRA.

"We've been working with them ever since their second week they were open," Calvo said.

The farm is named after the barred and great horned owls that patrol it. Calvo said they'll often hear barred owls calling to each other from the bluffs surrounding the plots of vegetables. She and her husband moved to the farm in 2018. Since then, the operation, which employs a small team of growers, has added three high-tunnels and is in the process of having a deep winter greenhouse constructed after recently securing a grant through the University of Minnesota.

Within minutes of arriving at Owl Bluff Farm on the gloomy August morning, Weber asks Calvo if the wax beans are done. She shakes her head, smiling.

"There's a few out there, but not enough," Calvo said.

They head out to the field to look at what's going to be ready in the coming weeks, while talking about Calvo's young son's drawing skills and the daycare he's currently going part-time at. Weber inquires about a peach tree that she mentioned to him over the phone.

The two look at a patch of broccolo fiolaro, an old broccoli variety from northern Italy. It's one of the Italian varietals that she and Weber first bonded over at the farmers market, which Calvo said rural customers are not really looking for.

"What's the time frame on this?" Weber said of the broccoli fiolaro.

"It's getting close, so probably a couple of weeks," Calvo said.

Calvo said the business she does with SAGRA allows her to grow interesting varieties of peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, herbs and other things the farm otherwise wouldn't be able to find a market for.

"When we first met we were just trying to get this thing off the ground, but we didn't want to do it if we could only source conventional produce," Weber said. "This farm was the key to get the whole thing going."

As they walk to another section of the farm, Calvo tells Weber about the research she's done on what grows best in a deep winter greenhouse. She tells him she can get three harvests of broccoli rabe in a greenhouse, which excites Weber.

"I think what's really special is that we share some common interests when it comes to the varietals, and it's really fun," Weber said of him and Calvo. "We're able to sit down and actually look at certain seeds, and kind of handpick or tailor these things to the restaurant, which is incredible. I couldn't ask for more in a relationship like that."

Because of SAGRA, Owl Bluff Farm is growing plants that probably aren't grown anywhere else in the state, like puntarelle, which is a bitter Italian chicory.

Weber is able to make menu items like SAGRA's spicy Caesar salad work with a variety of items depending on the season. Earlier in the summer, he was sourcing baby romaine from Owl Bluff, but has now moved to using kale for the salad.

"Lettuce does not like to be humid and hot, so we try our best, but kale can do fine in the summer," Calvo said. "Switching that salad up to use something seasonally appropriate — it's nice that we have that option, that he doesn't have to have the exact same thing every week, which I'm sure would probably be easier."

With no wax beans this week, Weber said he's got to be flexible with what Calvo does have.

"It's cool to have to pivot, and say we don't have wax beans this week, so what are we going to do now?" Weber said. "Oh, we have a zucchini, so we're going to the fried zucchini instead of wax beans fried."

Harmony Valley

Later that day, Weber pulls up with Eisler and Shafrath to Harmony Valley Farm, located in the secluded valleys in southwest Wisconsin, growing over 200 certified organic crops on around 200 acres of land along Spring Creek and Bad Axe River. Richard de Wilde is the founder of the farm which he owns with Andrea Yoder and Rafael Morales Peralta.

De Wilde is known as a pioneer of organic farming in the Midwest, and started a CSA at the farm in 1993. Harmony Valley Farm now sells to over 1,000 CSA subscribers and to Whole Foods Market, Co-op Partners Warehouse, Russ Davis Wholesale, food co-ops in Madison, Wisconsin, and St. Paul and Minneapolis as well as regional stores.

Every Thursday, Weber makes the trip to Harmony Valley Farm to pick up produce for that week's menu at SAGRA.

"There are food houses like co-op partners in the cities, and Harmony Valley sells to them, and then we can buy from co-op partners, but this product is literally being grown 30 minutes away, and then it travels to St. Paul and Minneapolis, and then it sits in a warehouse and then we can order it, and then it gets shipped back to us," Weber said. "It makes no sense at all, so I just go get it. I would just rather go get it, and it's helped to build rapport with the actual employees and owners of that farm."

Weber said he's always excited about his time with De Wilde and the farmers at Harmony Valley Farm each week.

"They usually have something that is a surprise for me, and sometimes I bring them desserts," Weber said.

The previous week, De Wilde took Weber to a field called Upper Newton where the farm has planted plots of eggplant and cardoons that will be used at SAGRA.

"It's just cool to have that deep connection, because anything I learn when I'm with Richard, I can expand upon that in the kitchen, and tell our staff, and our staff can tell our customers," Weber said. "It's not a ploy, it's not a fad, and we're not trying to capitalize on that fact. It's more of like, this is what we like to do, and this is why you should like it, too."

In their visit on Aug. 15, Weber and De Wilde walk through fields of peppers, eggplant, cardoon, kale and rutabaga. The conversation revolves around the items that Weber is interested in for his menu but goes to places like various aspects of farming, equipment and life.

The two discuss the history of a new potato digger that Weber sees on his way in, and De Wilde talks about its complexity and its origin in Hammond, Indiana. They also talk about the farm's CSA business and its long history, and how the pandemic impacted membership numbers.

The conversation touches on the farm's relationships with restaurants in the past, the importance of direct delivery and the challenges of maintaining a website. They talk about the farm's use of renewable energy and the rotation of crops to avoid pests and diseases, before De Wilde shares a story about the significance of water sources on the farm, and importance of understanding the land and its natural features. He explains the effigy mounds that exist in the hills that were built by Native American tribes between 500 and 1050.

Then they're back to talking about this year's kale, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts and the bitterness of the cardoons that Weber plans to pickle. De Wilde shares the story of saving seeds from a gift of mini sweet peppers and the subsequent growth of the crop.

De Wilde said it's unique for a chef to personally pickup their produce each week.

"We've had those kind of relationships before, and we have always valued them like we value this relationship," De Wilde said. "They really appreciate what we're doing and the hard work we do, and seeing different varieties and trying different things. It's just a pleasant relationship, I think, for all of us."

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