Email  wendy.erlien@patch.com
Phone  763-218-7234
Hometown Maple Grove, MN
Birthday  March 12
Bio I'm a former freelance writer as well as newspaper community editor and reporter. I covered community news in the northwest metro for about five years. I was community editor for the Brooklyn Park Sun Post and Brooklyn Center Sun Post. I was also a reporter for the Osseo-Maple Grove Press, Champlin-Dayton Press and North Crow River News. I graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, MN with a double major in mass communications and English, focused on journalism. I grew up in Maple Grove, attended schools in the Osseo School District before moving to cities such as Fargo, Moorhead and Eden Prairie for several years after high school. I've have been living Maple Grove with my family for the last nine years and joined Patch in April 2011.

Beliefs
At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for us to inject our beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that our beliefs are on the record will cause us to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics
I'm not registered with any particular party. My politicial beliefs tend to be issue and circumstance based. I want to hear both points of view before deciding which side of the aisle to lean.

Religion
I am a member of Lord of Life Lutheran Church.

Local Hot-Button Issues
As Maple Grove continues to grow, residents seem to be regularly interested in development and redevelopment in the city, express concern about transportation and speculate how the growth will affect the city. Happenings in the primary public school district in Maple Grove, the Osseo School District 279, have created occasional hot button issues in the city as well.