The identities and conditions of three occupants of a single-engine airplane that crashed Saturday in Eden Prairie are not known as of Monday night. The plane was attempting to land from the west when it crashed short of a runway at Flying Cloud Airport at about 9:35 p.m. The four-seat airplane departed from Fairmont Municipal Airport in Fairmont, Minn., according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have begun an investigation into the cause of the crash. Eden Prairie Police and Fire departments responded to a report of a plane crash west of Spring Road…
Author: Jim Bayer
Jim Bayer
Jim is a retired teacher currently keeping busy as a reserve teacher, tutor, and Eden Prairie High School softball coach. Jim’s career began as a journalist, photojournalist, and editor before working in healthcare public relations and later earning a master’s degree in special education. Jim and his wife, Sue, a registered nurse, have lived in Eden Prairie for more than 25 years. Their two children, Jen and Matt, graduated from EPHS and live in Eden Prairie. Jim and Sue have four grandchildren.
Eden Prairie was recently at the epicenter of the online, hyperlocal, nonprofit, and nonpartisan news world. The meeting Feb. 25 and 26 at the Eden Prairie Hennepin County Library, dubbed Local News Shoptalk, was the brainchild of Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) Publisher and CEO Steve Schewe and Alice Dreger, founder and publisher of East Lansing (Mich.) Info (ELi). Among the 16 attendees were founders, CEOs, board members, reporters and editors of six publications in five states. EPLN and ELi were joined by representatives from NancyOnNorwalk in Norwalk, Conn.; North News in North Minneapolis; The Daily Catch, Hudson Valley, N.Y.;…
(EPLN reports on charges filed in Hennepin County District Court against defendants in felony, gross misdemeanor, or misdemeanor cases involving Eden Prairie Police Department officers. Because EPLN does not have the resources to follow all of these cases through the legal process, names are not used other than in exceptional situations involving public figures or especially noteworthy cases. In all other cases, age, gender and cities of residence are published.) DWI A 29-year-old Isle, Minn., woman is charged with two gross misdemeanor counts of second-degree operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, and a third count of careless…
Lawyers claiming to represent several Eden Prairie families notified the Eden Prairie School District Thursday of their intent to seek a resolution “in advance of formal litigation” in the case of Eden Prairie High School varsity basketball coach David Flom. “These parents express deep concern,” the letter stated. Flom was suspended from his coaching job Dec. 8, 2022, pending an investigation into a complaint about his use of inappropriate language during a team classroom session on Dec. 7. David Flom The Feb.16 letter sent to the district and obtained by EPLN, came from the Minneapolis firm of Walker Law Offices,…
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George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in May 2020 and the police shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center in April 2021 each sparked civil unrest that resulted in deaths and injuries in both cities, as well as significant property damage. Police and city leaders were criticized for how police handled both situations, but most vociferously about the abandonment and burning of the Minneapolis Third Precinct police station. The station’s perimeter was unprotected and vulnerable to violent protestors. Eventually, police abandoned the building and those protestors set it ablaze. Consortium draws 28 members Eden Prairie has…
Eden Prairie streets maintenance worker Mike Schmidt atop his snowplow. Photos by Jim Bayer Mike Schmidt got his first taste of snowplowing on Oct. 31, 1991 – the infamous Halloween Blizzard that saw 28.4 inches of snowfall over a four-day period. So, you will forgive him if the 15 inches that fell recently was something of an annoyance by comparison. That was 30 years ago, and now Schmidt has been working for the Eden Prairie streets division for 26 years. Mike Schmidt in the cab of his snowplow. Drivers track the delivery of salt to streets as well as plow…
A 31-year-old New Hope man is charged with one count of reckless driving and one count of speeding, both misdemeanors, in a Nov. 5 incident. He has been summoned to appear in Hennepin County District Court. According to the criminal complaint: An Eden Prairie police officer observed the defendant’s vehicle traveling 110 miles per hour (mph) in a 60 mph zone near E. Bush Lake Road and I-494. The officer observed the driver passing traffic in the far right lane. He accelerated as he passed the officer’s location. The officer stopped the car, which contained the driver and two passengers.…
Despite windchills below zero Saturday afternoon, dozens of hardy souls descended on Staring Lake Park for the Eden Prairie Winter Blast. The event featured free sledding, ice skating, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, horse-drawn carriage rides, bonfires, art projects, and more on a brilliant sunny – but cold – January afternoon. Top, an unidentified young tuber joined Eden Prairie friends (l-r) Ivy Phillips, 12, Camryn Sullivan, 12, and Lyla Carrell, 13, as they made their way back to the top of the Staring Lake sledding hill. Carlos Echenique, left, of Eden Prairie guided daughter, Valery, 5, on the ice skating rink. Building…
New Year’s Eve is coming up, and the Eden Prairie Police Department (EPPD) and law enforcement agencies around the state have announced that officers will be increasing patrols and watching closely for impaired drivers. One EPPD officer treats every shift as if it were New Year’s Eve. Chad Streiff, an EPPD patrol officer for more than eight years, serves as a full-time DWI officer thanks to a grant from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. As a testament to his effectiveness, Streiff has earned 18 Hat Trick Awards from the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety, each accompanied by a hockey stick.…
Depending on who you ask, Eden Prairie has, more or less, 60 different neighborhoods. They have names such as Autumn Terrace, Bittersweet, Raspberry Hill, Edenwood, Topview and Gordon, Heritage Pines and Westgate. Then there’s Cedar Ridge Estates. Located in the west central portion of Eden Prairie, nestled between Pioneer Trail and Cedar Ridge Elementary School, in a landscape of mature shade and pine trees, 1980s-vintage two-story Tudor-style homes, and the occasional front yard pole flying the American flag. Three streets in the neighborhood – Rogers Road, McGuffey Road and Douglas Drive – connect to create a “U.” But the connection goes…