Church Near Fridley Offering Free Dinner April 9

St. Timothy's Lutheran Church in Columbia Heights offers a community meal each second Tuesday of each month.

Murder Charge Filed in Death of Woman Found inside Car at Columbia Heights Impound Lot

Alberto Prece Palmer was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Brittany Clardy. Read the criminal complaint against him here.

Anoka County Attorney's Office filed a murder charge Friday in the death of Brittany Clardy, whose body was found at an impound lot in Columbia Heights last month. Click on the PDF thumbnail to read the criminal complaint in the window above. Prosecutors charged Alberto Prece Palmer, 23, with intentional second-degree murder in Clardy's death. Palmer was arrested Wednesday in Woodbury after investigators tracked cell phone and Internet records connected with Clardy, 18, who had been working as a prostitute, officials said at a Thursday press conference. Palmer was her last client. The cause of death was multiple blows to the back of her head from a hammer.  Clardy’s family reported her missing on Feb. 11. Police found her body Feb. 21 …

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Reports: Woman Found Dead in Towed Car Was 'Happy, Healthy, Positive' Brittany Clardy

18-year-old from St. Paul was discovered 8 days after car arrived at impound lot.

Friends have told local media that the person found dead inside a towed car parked at a Columbia Heights impound lot is Brittany Clardy, 18, of St. Paul. Law enforcement authorities have not released the name of the deceased woman, but news outlets interviewed friends who identified her as Clardy, who they said left home Feb. 11 and never returned. A friend told WCCO-TV, “She had a spirit, she had a nice vibe around her.” A parent whose child attended a child care program at a St. Paul park where Clardy worked told the Star Tribune Clardy always seemed "really happy, healthy and positive. ... How could she be in an impound lot for eight days? I think we failed as a society." It's not the practice of towing companies to do any kind of …

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PHOTO: A Snowman in Columbia Heights

Winter Storm Orko didn't pack that bad a wallop but did bring the Fridley area some nice sticky snow for making snowmen. Add a photo of your creation to this post.

Winter Storm Orko didn't pack that bad a wallop but did bring the Fridley area some nice sticky snow for making snowmen. Add a photo of your creation to this post.

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MAP: Where Central Avenue NE Streetcar Would Run and Stop

Open houses planned to showcase project that would link Columbia Heights to Nicollet Avenue in south Minneapolis.

Here's a map of where streetcars would run on Central Avenue NE if the proposed Nicollet-Central Corridor transit project becomes a reality. On Wednesday, City of Minneapolis officials released the map showing proposed routes and stops for a streetcar or "enhanced bus" line from south Minneapolis to Columbia Heights. Read a Fridley Patch Local Voices blog post by Columbia Heights City Councilmember Donna Schmitt: "We Don't Need Streetcars, Mayor Rybak!" The corridor study is part of a year-long process designed to settle on a plan that can be presented to federal transit officials in a search for more funding. This 2007 City of Minneapolis study lays out the logic—and expansion options for a citywide streetcar system. If you'd like to …

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Car Slides into Power Pole at 44th Avenue and Third Street NE

No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred on an icy side street.

Updated. A car crashed into a power pole at 44th Avenue and Third Street NE, according to scanner reports. No one was injured, according to a Columbia Heights police officer at the scene. The vehicle had been towed away by 7 a.m., approximately an hour after the crash. Contrary to early reports, the pole is not down, but a power line hung low over 44th Avenue at 7 a.m. Tuesday as utility crew on the scene was making repairs. Electrical service did not appear to be interrupted in the immediate area. It wasn't clear if the crash was related to a power outage reported on Xcel Energy's online outage map, which showed that 1,275 customers in Columbia Heights and Minneapolis lost power at 5:53 a.m. The company expects to restore power by 8:37 a.…

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FRIDLEY PATCH TOP 20 OF 2012: MN Delegation at DNC includes Hinda Ali of Columbia Heights (#17)

She's said to be first Somali-American delegate at the Democratic National Convention, and one of a record number of Muslim delegates at a national political convention.

Fridley Police Help Columbia Heights Police in Search for Robbery Suspect

Authorities set up a perimeter for about an hour after midnight in response to a reported robbery of a person on Peters Place.

Fridley police aided in the search for a robbery suspect or suspects early Wednesday morning in Columbia Heights. Officer Joe Pikala of the Columbia Heights Police Department said police were responding to a report of a robbery of a person in the 3900 block of Peters Place NE. Pikala said the case remains under investigation and couldn't comment further, although he did confirm that a police K9 unit was involved in the search, which he said lasted about an hour. The Anoka County Sheriff's Office also assisted the Columbia Heights Police Department. Columbia Heights police created a perimeter shortly after 12:30 a.m., as reported at the Police Clips Facebook page, starting at the 1000 block of Peters Place. (Peters Place is a short, bending…

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UPDATED: Schools in, around Fridley Do Not Say They're Closed

Media closure listings and district websites indicate, as of 7 a.m., no snow day or late start at Fridley, Spring Lake Park, Columbia Heights and Anoka-Hennepin districts. Also open Monday are Totino-Grace, Woodcrest Baptist, Al-Amal, Calvin Christian.

As of 7 a.m., Monday, Dec. 10, 2012, no schools or school districts in or near Fridley have announced weather-related closings, including the Fridley, Spring Lake Park, Columbia Heights and Anoka-Hennepin districts, and Calvin Christian and Totino-Grace high schools, Al-Amal School, Woodcrest Baptist Academy. Confirm school information with your district or school. ANOKA-HENNEPIN announces weather-related closures on its website mainpage but there is no such announcement. The Anoka-Hennepin district also announces closures via news media. CALVIN CHRISTIAN ACADEMY HIGH SCHOOL in Fridley has no snow day or late start announcement on its website or on news media lists. COLUMBIA HEIGHTS School District isn't listed on any news media lists:  "…

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Sex Offender Notification Meeting Monday in Columbia Heights

Level III predatory sex offender is moving to the 4700 block of Fourth Street NE.

The public is invited to a community notification meeting Monday about a Level III predatory sex offender moving to the 4700 block of Fourth Street NE, Columbia Heights. The meeting is Monday, Dec. 3, 2012, 6 p.m., at St. Timothy's Lutheran Church, 825 51st. Ave. NE, Columbia Heights. Officials from the Columbia Heights Police Department, the Minnesota Department of Corrections, and Anoka County Corrections will be there to answer questions and concerns. Curtis John Mann, Jr., 23, "is not wanted by the police at this time and has served the sentence imposed on him/her by the court," according to an announcement and fact sheet from the Columbia Heights Police Department (see PDF). Columbia Heights Police Chief Scott Nadeau's announcement …

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