Star Tribune
Driver in fatal Park Tavern crash granted conditional release from jail
Steven Frane Bailey, the man accused of killing two people and injuring nine others after driving drunk and crashing into the Park Tavern patio in St. Louis Park, will be granted conditional release from the Hennepin County jail while his case moves through the courts.
At an omnibus hearing on Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court, Bailey, in black-rimmed glasses and an orange jumpsuit, appeared alongside his attorney Thomas Sieben. Bailey glanced occasionally at the gallery where his family sat alongside friends and family of the victims while the conditions of his release were discussed.
Judge Juan Hoyos agreed to allow Bailey, who has already posted bond on $500,000 bail, to be released on Oct. 14 to a sober living facility. Hoyos ordered that Bailey be placed on home monitoring, including remote electronic alcohol monitoring, and only be allowed to leave the facility to attend meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.
The court recently received a chemical dependency evaluation report on Bailey. At his first bail hearing in September, Bailey denied “any problematic use of drugs or alcohol” during an evaluation. The results of Bailey’s chemical dependency evaluation were not discussed in court, but Hoyos said Bailey had met the conditions for his release to a treatment facility.
“I am fine with a bed-to-bed transfer given that bail has been posted and all the other conditions I posted will remain,” Hoyos said. He added that Bailey would not be granted work release.
Sieben had no comment on Bailey’s pending release and declined to share details of what treatment facility he will be attending.
Bailey is facing 13 criminal charges related to the crash that killed Park Tavern employee Kristina Folkerts, 30, of St. Louis Park, and customer Gabriel Quinn Harvey, 30, of Rosemount.
“We’ve maintained our intent to create a space that elevates what a dispensary experience can be through a well-designed, welcoming environment that helps educate and break the stigma of what cannabis users look like,” Tess Fellman told the Planning Commission.
Currently, over 450 hemp retailers operate in the city, and they would need to apply for a state license to sell cannabis.
Planning Commissioner Becka Thompson, who sits on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, opposed the lack of a buffer from parks, and the reduction in the buffer for schools, saying it undermined the school board’s recommendation. Planning Commissioner Aurin Chowdhury, who represents the Minneapolis City Council, said there will be more discussion when the proposed regulations go to the council.
Now, I grew up in the part of Ohio that’s actually Appalachia. Zanesville, home of the Y Bridge, where you can only hope a stranger comes along asking for directions, so you can tell them to go to the middle of the bridge and turn right. My first home in Ohio was a little house built in the back yard of another house, up the hill from a soon-to-be-shuttered Armco plant.
It was a great place to grow up. How many towns have weathered not one but two tiger escape events? Tons of kids in the neighborhood. Considerate steel plant workers who swerved out of the way when we careened down the hill, out of control, butt-first on a skateboard. By dint of avoiding both car wheels and the foamy orange runoff that spilled out of the factory and into the creek where we played as kids, I am here to tell you: Ohio is pretty great. It would not kill JD Vance to say something nice about Ohio in general and Zanesville in particular.
Lord knows he’s not going to say anything nice about Minnesota. The Minnesota he and his running mate, former president Donald Trump, describe in their speeches is a crater still smoldering from 2020′s mask mandates and the murder of George Floyd. They burned Minneapolis to the ground, they lie. They burned Minneapolis to the ground.
Walz advised not lying. Not to your dog, when it’s time to go to the vet. Not to your parents, if you’re a kid making the case for a family pet. Tell the truth. Dad is probably going to be the one emptying the litter box, but you can promise to love that cat with all your heart. The dog is going to the vet, not the dog park, but you can go for a pup cone afterward, promise.
Dogs, Walz said, bring out the best in us.
Motorists who use northbound Interstate 35W in the south metro could be in for some tough driving for the entire month of October as the Minnesota Department of Transportation slims the freeway down to two lanes.
Starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday, northbound I-35W will be reduced from three lanes to two between the I-35W/35E/35 split and Minnesota River bridge through Oct. 31, the agency said.
To help traffic flow, MnPASS lanes normally reserved for carpools, motorcycles, buses and drivers with transponders who pay to use them will be open at no charge to all motorists traveling between the split and Black Dog Road. North of Black Dog, regular E-Z Pass lane rules and fees will be in effect, MnDOT said.
The lane closure comes as the agency begins prep work for a bridge replacement and pavement resurfacing project on the calendar for the 2025 and 2026 construction seasons. Crews during October will be building crossovers on I-35W and Hwy. 13.
Next year, MnDOT will replace bridges on I-35W at Hwy. 13, Burnsville Parkway and Cliff Road, and replace concrete and asphalt pavement.
