Author: Stuart Sudak

Can it really be 20 years since President George W. Bush paid a much-hyped visit to Eden Prairie High School? On my kitchen table, though, there is indisputable proof of that in the form of a small poster commemorating the city’s first presidential visit. The year “2002” is in bright red letters above the headline: “WHAT A DAY! President George W. Bush visits Eden Prairie.” A few inches down, the president’s gaze off to the side in one of the photos reveals the exact date in the neighboring paragraph: March 4, 2002. Sigh. Twenty years almost to the day. I…

A motorcyclist who suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash in Eden Prairie on Sunday, March 20, is recovering from spinal surgery. Jared Wesley Farwell, 29, of Shakopee, lost control of his 2018 Indian Scout motorcycle while riding at high speed south on Highway 169 near Anderson Lakes Parkway, flipping over a guardrail. According to the Minnesota State Patrol incident report, no other vehicles were involved. In an email on Wednesday, his brother, Andrew, said that Farwell, who goes by “Wes,” had spinal surgery on Monday. According to Andrew, an eight-hour procedure left Farwell with “three rods and pins placed in…

A GoFundMe account has been set up for a motorcyclist who sustained life-threatening injuries in a crash on Highway 169 in Eden Prairie at about 6 p.m. Sunday, March 20. Jared Wesley Farwell, 29, of Shakopee, lost control of his 2018 Indian Scout motorcycle while riding south on Highway 169 near Anderson Lakes Parkway and crashed into a ditch. Farwell’s older brother, Andrew, organized the GoFundMe account. He described his brother, who goes by “Wes,” as a U.S. Marine, husband, and loving father to his daughter.  Andrew wrote that his brother’s severe injuries from the accident include a fractured sternum, severed spine,…

A 29-year-old motorcyclist sustained life-threatening injuries when he crashed at a high rate of speed in Eden Prairie at about 6 p.m. Sunday, March 20. Jared Wesley Farwell, of Shakopee, was riding on a 2018 Indian Scout motorcycle south on Highway 169 as he approached Anderson Lakes Parkway when the accident occurred. According to a Minnesota State Patrol incident report, Farwell reportedly lost control of the motorcycle in the curves, causing it to go airborne before crashing into a ditch. No other vehicles were involved. Farwell was taken to Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis. It is not known the extent of his injuries. The…

Olga Sagalovsky was born in Odesa on the Black Sea in Ukraine. About half the people there speak Russian, the other half Ukrainian. At 14, Sagalovsky moved to Moscow, when her mother remarried.  “I’m just a person who spent most of her life in Russian culture,” Sagalovsky said. “We all speak the Russian language, and we all are immersed in Russian culture. That’s what we bring to the kids.” Each Saturday, the children of immigrants from many republics of the former Soviet Union now living in the Twin Cities gather at the Russian Educational Center of Minnesota, where Sagalovsky is executive…

Fox 9 meteorologist Ian Leonard seems to be a natural when it comes to polar plunges, sort of like a duck takes to water. Of course, it could just be his outfit. For Eden Prairie’s 15th annual polar plunge on Saturday, Leonard jumped into Lake Riley dressed like a yellow duck. He quipped later on social media that he was “one cold duck.” On a wintry but bright afternoon, the Eden Prairie resident led hundreds of polar plunge participants into the frigid waters for a quick dip for a good cause. Leonard, described by an event organizer in a 2015…

Aaron Pierce’s hooded sweatshirt is emblazoned with the phrase, “Seek Discomfort.” The creators of one of his favorite YouTube channels, Yes Theory, use that motto. “I resonated with it personally,” Pierce said Thursday, March 10. “Just the idea that I want to take risks and live a life that’s not comfortable.” Pierce, the international mission director for the U.S. headquarters of Steiger International in Eden Prairie, motions to his computer screen. A few minutes earlier, he played a video where Steiger volunteers talked of their efforts to help the Ukraine people caught in the crossfire of war. “That’s what we’re doing here,” Pierce…

A Minnesota man with Russian ties has a message for Americans on what he sees happening in Ukraine. Kirill Bak-Stepanoff and his wife Svetlana Bak-Gavrilova have run the Minnesota Ballet School (formerly known as the Academy of Russian Ballet) in Eden Prairie for 21 years. Originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, the two live in Chanhassen. “We are Russian, but what (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does, this is not Russia,” he said. “It’s just the Putin government doing horrible, horrible things. We are against this war and hope Americans will not hate us because we are Russian.” Bak-Stepanoff said he heard…

Eden Prairie is thousands of miles away from the turmoil in Ukraine. But, Camp Eden Wood provided the setting for many immigrants from Russia, Ukraine, and other countries once part of the former Soviet Union and their families to show unity against the war and give financial and emotional support for the Ukrainian children caught in the crossfire. Russian Camp MN rented the facility Sunday afternoon for its “Kids Against War” fundraiser of food, music, crafts, chess, and camaraderie. Children who attend Russian Camp MN summer camps come from many backgrounds to learn the Russian language and culture. (Camp Eden Wood…

An Eden Prairie woman has started a GoFundMe page for her Ukrainian relatives directly impacted by Russia’s invasion of their country. “The last couple days just don’t feel real,” said Mariya Lysenko, who came to the U.S. from her native Ukraine at age 3 with her mother. “Everyone’s leaving, abandoning their homes, abandoning their life completely.” Lysenko said the donations raised from the page will benefit her aunt Julia, uncle Vologda and their children Vova and Anna. While still in their pajamas, the family fled their home in suburban Kyiv not long after the invasion began in the early morning hours of…