A state highway that stretches from Minnetonka to Inver Grove Heights has an identity crisis.

It’s Minnesota 62 from Interstate 494 in Minnetonka to just west of Fort Snelling, when it becomes Minnesota 55. Across the Minnesota River in Mendota Heights, its name changes yet again: to Minnesota 110, which ends at Interstate 494 in Inver Grove Heights.

Over the years, the names have caused confusion for drivers who are unfamiliar with the area and end up taking the wrong road, said Jon Solberg, Minnesota Department of Transportation south area manager. It’s especially an issue for those going to or leaving the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, he said.

Now, MnDOT says it has a solution: Starting next summer, Minnesota 110 will become Minnesota 62.

Meanwhile, the stretch of Minnesota 55 near and crossing the river will be dual-signed as 55 and 62.

Mendota Heights Mayor Neil Garlock sees the logic behind MnDOT’s decision to rename Minnesota 110, which runs through Sunfish Lake and West St. Paul. But that doesn’t mean he necessarily likes it.

“They’re just trying to tie one end of 494 to the other end of 494 with a common name,” he said. “If I had my way I would say, ‘No, leave it,’ because it’s been 110 forever. But I also know there’s nothing we can do about it.” 

According to Solberg, MnDOT decided to rename 110 instead of renaming 62 because 110 is a remnant of an old naming convention for the Highway 100 beltway system that once surrounded the metro area.

State Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, whose district includes most of 110, said he has heard split reviews from people about the name change since writing about it in a Legislative update email earlier this month.

“I think that was the first time many people in the district actually heard about it,” he said. “It’s interesting, because I got some immediate things like, ‘No, don’t do this.’ And others who said, ‘This makes sense.’ ”

Hansen said some people mentioned the cost of signage, which MnDOT estimates will be $30,000. But he doesn’t think cost is a major issue.

“We replace signs all the time,” Hansen said.

NEW SIGNS GO UP IN JULY

Hansen questions whether the name change will make any difference, considering how many drivers rely on navigation systems. 

“You put your destination in your GPS or phone and there you go,” he said. “But with the airport and it being a regional area, reducing confusion for visitors is important.”

The new signage will go up in July. To help motorists get used to the change, Minnesota 110 signs will be modified to include “old” for one year.

MnDOT said it has determined the number of address changes in each city and that it plans to meet with businesses this fall so they can prepare for the change.

Garlock said it no doubt will take some getting used to for area residents. And for some, he said, “it’ll just always be 110.”

A Twin Cities strip club was listed on the Minnesota Super Bowl Committee’s vendor guide until it was removed on Tuesday.

King of Diamond’s Gentlemen’s Club, a woman-owned business in Inver Grove Heights, was listed as a food and catering vendor in the host committee’s Business Connect Resource Guide, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.

The service guide includes more than 400 businesses that are minority-, woman-, veteran- or LGBT-owned and was given to the NFL and other companies in preparation for Super Bowl LII on Feb. 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Business Journal said it was sent out this summer.

King of Diamond’s owner, Deb Kalsbeck, said she passed the first phase of application process, a general questionnaire, but never followed through on the rest of the process. Kalsbeck told the Business Journal that she didn’t hide what her business operation was.

“I started the process not sure what they were looking for,” Kalsbeck said. “Once I went to that length (passing the first application phase), it seemed like they were looking more for product services like balloons and catering.”

After the first phase, businesses needed to receive a specific certification regarding their ownership. Kalsbeck decided Woman Business Enterprise certification wasn’t worth the amount of information required. She didn’t know her business was included until the committee told her it was removed.

“I don’t know if they were looking for a venue to host private parties, so I never completed the application process,” she said. 

The committee pulled the resource guide off its website Tuesday and said the strip club’s inclusion was an accident after the Business Journal inquired about it being on the list. The remaining businesses on the list are currently being audited, the committee said in a statement.

Kalsbeck said she didn’t have hurt feelings from being removed as she understands she didn’t fulfill all the requirements.

“I’m just happy to be included for as long as I was,” Kalsbeck added. “I understand our culture is very (politically correct) and my industry isn’t necessarily politically correct with a lot of people, but it is a legal business.”

Paul Schnell, a former police chief in Hastings and Maplewood, is among five finalists for the top cop job in Inver Grove Heights.

The finalists were chosen Wednesday by the city council and now move on to interviews and a community meet-and-greet Nov. 8. The council could decide whom to hire Nov. 9.

The city has been without a permanent chief since April 2016, when Larry Stanger was put on paid leave amid an investigation into allegations that he tipped off the owner of a Prescott, Wis., auto-detailing business that the business would be searched for stolen construction vehicles.

Scott County Attorney Ron Hocevar declined to charge Stanger with public corruption or violating data privacy laws, saying at the time that his office was not able to “connect the dots between what was alleged and the police chief to prove in court beyond a reasonable doubt.”

But Stanger, who had been with Inver Grove Heights police since 1989 and chief since January 2012, resigned in December 2016 after reaching a separation agreement with the city.

Lt. Sean Folmar has served as the interim police chief during Stanger’s absence.

Folmar, who’s been with the police department since 1995, is one of two internal candidates for the permanent job; Lt. Joshua Otis is the other. Otis has been with the department since 2001, a lieutenant since 2012.

Schnell, after a decade with St. Paul police, was police chief in Hastings from June 2010 to July 2013, when he went to Maplewood. Schnell left the job this past June, saying at the time that he intended to leave law enforcement.

The two other finalists also have résumés with more than two decades of east metro experience: Richard Clark, who has been with the Ramsey County sheriff’s office since 1995 and a commander since 2002; and Lakeville Deputy Police Chief John Kornmann, whose first police job was in Ellsworth, Wis., in 1990. He joined Lakeville police in 1996.

The search to replace Stanger began in June, when the council hired Springsted Waters, a St. Paul-based executive recruitment firm for the public sector. The city received 33 applications, and nine semifinalists were forwarded to the council for consideration this month based on the qualifications outlined in the job posting.

In Inver Grove Heights, which has just over 35,000 residents, the new police chief will oversee a department with 46 members and a budget currently at $7.4 million. The job’s salary starts out at $105,500 a year and tops out at $131,800.

An east-west artery that runs through one of the largest undeveloped areas adjacent to Interstate 494 is being considered for expansion.

Increasing traffic is expected along Dakota County 26 (Lone Oak Road in Eagan and 70th Street in Inver Grove Heights) as soon next summer with the arrival of the new Vikings headquarters and will likely continue over the next 20 years.

Last month the county, in partnership with Eagan and Inver Grove Heights, hired consulting engineering firm Kimley-Horn and Associates to study 2 miles of the road — from Dodd Road (Minnesota 55) to South Robert Trail (Minnesota 3) — where there are now two lanes.

An open house will be held Monday for area residents and business owners to learn more about the project and give feedback to county and city officials.

Jenna Fabish, a Dakota County transportation senior project manager, said the study will look into expanding the road to four lanes and adding turn lanes at all public roadways. Building trails on both sides of the highway to connect to the county’s greenway system will also be explored.

The study will review existing traffic volume and determine what traffic will be like in 30 years based on development plans, Fabish said.

County traffic counts show the 2-mile segment of the road carries about 6,700 vehicles a day. The county’s 2030 plan forecasts an increase to 17,000 vehicles.

In Inver Grove Heights, the road runs through about 1,200 acres of untouched land, where major residential and retail growth is expected over the next 20 years.

“There’s lots of change happening over there,” said Joe Lynch, Inver Grove Heights city administrator, noting the area’s first developments — with 430 single-family homes — are underway. “It’s a good thing.”

In Eagan, the road abuts the southern end of the Vikings’ 200 acres, where the team is building its headquarters and indoor and outdoor practice facilities. The Vikings’ plans call for retail, restaurants, offices, a hotel and conference center and up to 1,000 apartments over the next 10 to 15 years.

The Vikings will host training camp at their Eagan campus starting next summer. In recent years, about 60,000 fans on average traveled to Mankato to watch the camp, which runs for nearly three weeks.

The new Vikings’ traffic “has to go somewhere,” Lynch said. “It’s not all going to go back into Eagan.”

Meanwhile, Mendota Heights, on the north side of I-494, is also preparing for development. The city recently began studying how traffic from the Vikings development will affect the city’s portion of Dodd Road, which runs through residential neighborhoods down to Eagan.

Project representatives will be at Monday’s open house, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Community Room 1 at Veterans Memorial Community Center, 8055 Barbara Ave., Inver Grove Heights.

Fabish said the county hopes to present the study’s recommendations to the public next spring and have a preliminary plan in place by the summer. She said the county is aiming the project for 2020, but that could change based on what comes out of the study.

The alleged robber shot by a clerk in an August stickup at a Verizon Wireless store in Inver Grove Heights has been indicted in federal court.

Jamaal Marquie Mays, 32, of Crystal, was charged last month with one count each of interference with commerce by robbery; using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Mays is in federal custody awaiting trial; he pleaded not guilty to the charges at an Oct. 25 hearing in federal court in Minneapolis.

Because of the federal indictment, a robbery charge and two weapons violations previously filed in Dakota County District Court against Mays have been dismissed.

Federal convictions come with stiffer sentencing guidelines and require that prisoners serve a minimum of 85 percent of their sentences behind bars. In Minnesota, the guidelines call for 67 percent.

Inver Grove Heights police Lt. Joshua Otis said Thursday that local, state and federal investigators continue to work on identifying the second suspect, who fled the area in a minivan following the Aug. 17 robbery. The investigation includes the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Minneapolis and St. Paul police. 

The minivan was recovered by St. Paul police Aug. 28, and investigators are awaiting results from evidence submitted to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Otis said.

According to the Aug. 28 Dakota County charges:

Mays and the second suspect entered the store — The Cellular Connection, at the northeast corner of Concord Boulevard and Cahill Avenue — just before 11 a.m.

Mays allegedly pointed a .45-caliber handgun at a clerk’s head and told him to “make it easy on me.”

The clerk had another idea: He pulled his own gun from his waistband and fired three shots, hitting Mays twice and critically wounding him.

Mays spent several days at Regions Hospital in St. Paul recovering from gunshot wounds.

The serial number had been scratched off the gun that Mays used in the robbery, charges say.

No one else was in the store at the time of the robbery, police said.

The clerk has a permit to carry a firearm, police said. 

At the time of the stickup, Mays was on probation for a 2015 theft conviction in Hennepin County, according to court records. His lengthy criminal history in Minnesota also includes convictions for felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, being an accomplice after an attempted murder, trespassing, and misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

The second Cellular Connection robbery suspect is described as a black man 20 to 30 years of age who was wearing dark pants, a dark green jacket, baseball hat and black Nike shoes with a white swoosh.

Authorities ask that anyone with information about his identity or whereabouts call Inver Grove Heights police at 651-450-2525.

As a first-time business owner, Dan Punjani has a lot of worries.

In June, the 29-year-old opened a Super Day gas station at an Inver Grove Heights location where another gas station had shut down.

“It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be, honestly, but I take it day by day,” Punjani said. “There’s a lot to think about.”

So when an Inver Grove Heights police officer approached him last month with a voluntary program to prevent credit card skimming at his pumps, he gladly accepted the offer — and signed up on the spot.

“I had a couple customers that were worried about skimming, because a gas station down the road had it happen there and so people were starting to hear about it,” Punjani said. “You have to look out for your customers.”

Punjani and the other 12 gas stations in Inver Grove Heights are now participating in an effort launched last month by the city’s police department to help deter gas station skimming, a crime that first popped up in Minnesota around 2007 and has surfaced with more frequency in recent years.

The anti-fraud program, dubbed “SkimStop,” prevents would-be thieves from attaching or hiding “skimmers” on a gas pump. The small, nondescript electronic devices secretly record customers’ credit and debit card information, which criminals can then use to commit fraud and identity theft.

The program was created by Eagan police in March 2016 and has since also been rolled out by the Dakota County sheriff’s office and in a number of other cities, including Plymouth and Elk River.

It works like this: Gas stations affix tamper-proof tape onto gas pump credit card readers. The tape peels in layers and reads “Void” if tampered with.

Gas stations must agree to inspect their pumps at least every 24 hours to ensure that the tape has not been compromised, and they are held accountable with daily logs that can be checked by police.

Stations are given bright yellow SkimStop stickers to put on the pumps to notify drivers that they can rest easy, said Lt. Sean Folmar, interim police chief for Inver Grove Heights.

Folmar said city council member Paul Hark asked him to implement the program after hearing about how successful and inexpensive it was in Eagan.

“It’s going to cost us about $50 to $100 for the stickers … so the cost is very minor,” Folmar said. “It’s mainly the man hours of doing the checks to make sure they are complying.”

Skimming has become harder to detect as crooks have become savvier. It used to be that skimmers were placed only over a gas pump’s credit card reader; however, now criminals are breaking into pumps or using universal keys that are widely available for purchase.

Criminals use wireless technology to download the stolen credit card information to a laptop.

“Skimming is a problem not only in Inver Grove Heights, it’s everywhere,” Folmar said. “So this is another proactive way of preventing it.”

Paul Schnell, a former police chief in Hastings and Maplewood, has been tapped to be the top cop in Inver Grove Heights.

The city council last week voted 3-2 to offer the job to Schnell, who was one of five finalists who were interviewed by two panels and participated in a public meet-and-greet.

The city is now preparing a contract for Schnell to consider; a final appointment could come as soon as the council’s Nov. 27 meeting.

In Inver Grove Heights, which has just over 35,000 residents, Schnell will oversee a department with 46 members and a budget of $7.4 million. The salary for the position starts at $105,500 a year and tops out at $131,800.

Schnell was police chief in Hastings from June 2010 to July 2013, when he went to Maplewood, a St. Paul suburb with about 40,200 residents. He left the job this past June, saying at the time that he intended to leave law enforcement.

Contacted Tuesday, Schnell, 56, joked that he “failed at retirement.”

“I missed it,” he said of law enforcement. “And Inver Grove is a unique opportunity, because it’s a growing community.”

He said he is excited for the opportunity and will be meeting with city staff later this week to discuss the next steps.

Schnell started his law enforcement career as a Carver County deputy in 1993 before joining the St. Paul police as an officer in 1999.

He took a one-year leave of absence from St. Paul in 2005 for an administrative role with Metro Transit police before returning to St. Paul as a sergeant/investigator. He also served as the department’s public information officer for four years.

At last week’s meeting, council member Paul Hark said Schnell’s experience with community engagement, sharing resources with other departments and work with body cameras stuck out.

“I also heard from lots of folks that really expressed a need for change,” said Hark, who also noted that the city’s police department is young and that Schnell could provide mentorship.

The city has been without a permanent chief since April 2016, when Larry Stanger was put on paid leave amid an investigation into allegations that he tipped off the owner of a Prescott, Wis., auto-detailing business that the business would be searched for stolen construction vehicles.

Lt. Sean Folmar has served as the interim police chief.

Folmar, who’s been with the police department since 1995, was one of two internal candidates for the permanent job; Lt. Joshua Otis was the other. Otis has been with the department since 2001, and a lieutenant since 2012.

Dakota County firefighters have a new tool to practice fighting car fires.

Flint Hills Resources’ Pine Bend refinery in Rosemount has donated a $50,000 car-fire simulator and trailer to the Dakota County Fire Chiefs Association.

The remote-controlled simulator is the first of its kind in Minnesota, according to the chiefs association. Dakota County fire departments will share it, allowing firefighters to train in a way that is safe, controlled and environmentally responsible.

Flint Hills Resources has a long tradition of supporting first responders. The refinery hosts free training sessions for law enforcement from across the state at its training facility, funds annual scholarships to industrial training programs for local firefighters, and provides free fire-response training to its mutual-aid fire departments in Rosemount, Eagan, Inver Grove Heights and Hastings.

In 2014, Flint Hills donated a kitchen fire prevention trailer to the chiefs association, which firefighters use to educate the public on the proper way to put out a kitchen fire.

Dakota County will ramp up its ambitious remodeling of libraries this year, with the Apple Valley, Hastings and Lakeville locations up next.

A $5.4 million, seven-month remodel of Galaxie Library in Apple Valley will start next month.

In the fall, the county will spend $3.6 million on Pleasant Hill in Hastings and another $5.8 million on Heritage Library in Lakeville.

Margaret Stone, director of Dakota County Library, which operates nine facilities, said the renovations are part of a long-range plan that recommends renovations on a 12- to 15-year cycle to adjust program space for changing needs.

The county regularly sets aside funding to pay for items in the long-range plan.

Wescott Library in Eagan was renovated in 2009, followed by Burnhaven in Burnsville in 2010, Farmington Library in 2013 and Inver Glen in Inver Grove Heights in 2014.

For Galaxie, traditionally one of the county’s busiest locations, work will include reconfiguring meeting and study spaces, moving the children’s collection and drive-up book drop, and adding a multipurpose iLab and an automated materials-handling system, which patrons will be able to see through a large window.

“I can see the poor custodians now … they’re are going to be washing that window all the time,” Stone said, then laughed. “Kids — and adults, too — will be able to stand there and look in and watch their book go along a conveyor belt to be sorted. It should be a lot of fun.”

Built in 1990 as part of the county’s Western Service Center, Galaxie underwent minor remodeling in 2004.

Stone said she’s most excited about expanding the county’s popular iLab, a space that gives patrons access to high-tech tools and opportunities for hands-on learning.

“The walls will be glass, so people are going to watch and see what people are creating and working on,” she said. “And I think that’s just going to be very exciting. That space can also be used for demonstrations and classes.”

THE NEW iLABS

The county rolled out the first iLab at Wescott in July 2016. Patrons reserved 1,608 hours in the first six months of operation, Stone said.

“It’s constantly busy, so what we did recently is we picked the most popular pieces for the libraries that had space and we put them there,” she said.

3D printers continue to be the most used piece of equipment at Westcott, so they have been added at Pleasant Hill, Heritage, Robert Trail in Rosemount and Wentworth in West St. Paul. Apple iMac computers and Adobe Creative Suite were also brought into the mix.

At Farmington, patrons can working on sewing projects with the addition of Janome Schoolmate sewing machines.

All iLab equipment and software is available free of charge. Programs, also free, help patrons get acquainted with technology and inspire ideas for new projects, Stone said.

“So, eventually, as we remodel libraries, we’ll be putting in a size-appropriate iLab,” she said. “Remodels don’t happen every year, even though we’re having a string of them right now. We’re kind of catching up.”

INTERIM LIBRARY

Work on Galaxie will start in February. In preparation, the library will close on Jan. 29. An interim library will open in the Western Service Center atrium at about the same time.

The renovated Galaxie is expected to open around Labor Day.

Work on the Pleasant Hill and Heritage libraries is in the design stage. In October, bids will be solicited and construction contracts awarded. Both libraries will close in the fall and reopen in the summer of 2019.

A second man has been charged in the August 2017 armed robbery attempt at a Verizon Wireless store in Inver Grove Heights.

Jaquon Keshawn Moman, 25, faces two counts of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of brandishing a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, according to charges filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. The second robbery charge against Moman stems from a July 2017 holdup at a Metro PCS store in Minneapolis.

Moman’s alleged accomplice in the attempted robbery of the Verizon store, 33-year-old Jamaal Marquie Mays, was charged in November with one count each of interference with commerce by robbery, brandishing a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence and possessing a firearm as a felon.

Mays pleaded not guilty to the federal charges at an Oct. 25 hearing in Minneapolis.

Shortly before 11 a.m. on Aug. 17, Mays and Moman allegedly entered the Verizon store at Concord Boulevard and Cahill Avenue. Mays pointed a .45-caliber handgun at the clerk’s head and told him to “make it easy on me,” but the clerk drew his own gun and shot Mays twice, according to earlier charges filed in Dakota County.

Mays was critically injured and spent several days at Regions Hospital in St. Paul recovering from his wounds.

Moman allegedly fled the Verizon store in a minivan. The indictment did not say how he was eventually apprehended.

The case was investigated by the Inver Grove Heights Police Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Inver Grove Heights and Rosemount might have a fix for their ice arena issues: a partnership.

Inver Grove Heights has a rink in need of repairs. Rosemount has too little ice time for its growing hockey association.

So under a 10-year-agreement approved this month by both city councils, the city of Rosemount and the Rosemount Area Hockey Association would pay for improvements to the west rink at Veterans Memorial Community Center Ice Arena in Inver Grove Heights.

In turn, the hockey association would be guaranteed 550 “peak hours” of ice to rent each year — generally, weeknight evenings and weekend days and nights, November through February.  That’s about double what the association currently rents at the Inver Grove rink.

The repairs and improvements are expected to cost about $1 million, said Eric Carlson, parks and recreation director for Inver Grove Heights. Once a cost is finalized after bids are sought in April, the cities and the hockey association will decide whether to move forward.

This past summer, Inver Grove spent about $740,000 on improvements to the east rink at its community center. Carlson said the Inver Grove Heights Hockey Association and the Simley High School hockey programs do not need more ice.

WHY ROSEMOUNT WANTS MORE ICE TIME

Rosemount has two indoor ice sheets — the city-run arena at its community center and the Pond, a privately owned facility with a smaller ice sheet that opened in 2008 in a former grocery store.

But with more kids playing association hockey, there’s not enough ice time to go around. That means crowded practices, driving to farther-away cities, and early-morning and late-night practices and games.

The two-rink arena in Inver Grove Heights is about 20 miles from the Rosemount Community Center.

In May 2016, Rosemount voters shot down the city’s proposal to issue $15 million in bonds for parks improvements, including about $8.7 million to build a second arena.

Inver Grove’s Carlson took notice of the failed bond measure and contacted his counterpart in Rosemount, Dan Schultz.

“I knew the situation there — they need more ice time — and that we needed to find a partner to help finance the west rink,” Carlson said last week. “It seemed like a natural fit.”

HOW THE PARTNERSHIP WOULD WORK

Staff from both cities, along with hockey association leaders, have been working on a proposal for several months.

The deal calls for Rosemount and the hockey association to split the cost of 90 percent of the project, which includes a new rink floor, dasher boards and a $145,000 ice resurfacer that will cut resurfacing time to 10 minutes from 15 minutes. The shorter resurfacing time would add up, allowing more ice time to be sold.

Inver Grove would fund the project up front, with Rosemount and the RAHA paying it back over 10 years. That would be in addition to the rent RAHA will pay for ice time. Inver Grove would pay for ongoing operations and maintenance.

Schultz told the city council at a recent meeting that the 10-year agreement with Inver Grove would give Rosemount time to work on a plan to meet future ice needs, which could include a new rink or continuing the partnership.

The rink improvements would start in June and wrap up in October, Carlson said.

A vacant Rainbow Foods building in a sluggish Inver Grove Heights retail area could get new life under a plan by a local developer and Intermediate School District 917.

Interstate Development Corp. is asking the city to amend an ordinance to allow a special-education school on the site. The city’s planning commission will take a look at the proposal Tuesday night.

The building was built for the grocery in 2000, but has been vacant since Rainbow closed in late 2014. It is part of the Arbor Pointe retail area that has struggled to keep and attract businesses in recent years.

According to planning documents submitted to the city, Eden Prairie-based Interstate Development would buy the 56,200-square-foot building and lease it out to Intermediate School District 917. Located at 9015 Broderick Blvd., the building sits on 5.7 acres just west of Concord Boulevard and east of U.S. 52.

The property would not be tax-exempt during the lease term, according to planning documents.

Interstate would build classrooms, offices, a lunchroom, training rooms and other areas for the school district. The renovation would include adding more windows and new mechanical systems, replacing the roof and sprucing up the parking lot and landscaping.

Intermediate School District 917 is a consortium of nine south-metro school districts that provides special-education and vocational services for students at member district buildings and at four other sites in Apple Valley, Eagan and Rosemount.

Superintendent John Christiansen said they are out of space.

“Over the last three or four years, we’ve had referrals for services from our member districts and we’ve filled all of the spaces that we have available for programming,” he said. “And we ended up last year and this year having some waiting lists for students.”

The former grocery space would have classrooms to serve up to 70 students with autism and those with mental health diagnoses, Christiansen said.

The school district would employ about 75 workers at the site, including speech and occupational therapists and other staff that would travel to nearby school districts. Students would be bused to the site by their home school districts.

LOCATION IDEAL FOR SCHOOL

Christiansen said the former Rainbow site is ideal because of its location in Inver Grove Heights and close proximity to South St. Paul and West St. Paul. It also offers quick access to highways 55 and 52, he noted.

Interstate’s purchase of the site and building are contingent on plans being approved by the city, Christiansen said. A California-based real-estate investment firm paid $2.7 million for the property in March 2015, according to Dakota County records.

After a Walgreens and the Rainbow closed in 2014, the city hired a consultant to try and figure out why the Arbor Pointe area was struggling. The retail study blamed light traffic, limited visibility and signage, and poor access from local roads, among other factors.

WEIGHING THE PROS AND CONS

City Planner Allan Hunting noted last week in a planning commission memo that the city council has discussed whether a more in-depth small-area study for Arbor Pointe should be done, looking at the current mix of uses, zoning and what uses might work best.

The cons, he wrote, include taking away retail reuses for the building; taking away a large piece of a possible redevelopment puzzle; and the potential of it becoming tax-exempt if Interstate were to someday sell to the school district.

It wouldn’t be the first time that a school occupied a former Rainbow Foods store. In August, Universal Academy Charter School moved from University Avenue in St. Paul and into the vacant grocery store building near the Lake Street-Minnehaha Avenue intersection in south Minneapolis.

A 15-year-old South Dakota boy driving a stolen pickup truck with five other teens inside led officers on a high-speed chase in Dakota County Thursday before crashing into another vehicle, Inver Grove Heights police said.

A woman and infant child in the struck vehicle were taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul. The child was not injured, but the mother was treated for serious injuries not considered life-threatening, Inver Grove Heights Police Chief Paul Schnell said.

Schnell said the teenagers — four boys and two girls — were runaways from Sioux Falls, S.D., and that four of them were hospitalized for injuries that included bruises, cuts and broken bones.

The pickup truck was stolen at about 6:15 a.m. Thursday at the Super America gas station at 1379 Town Centre Drive in Eagan, Schnell said.

Shortly before 9 a.m., Inver Grove Heights officers spotted the truck and tried pulling it over, but the driver fled.

At times during the pursuit, the teen drove the pickup truck in excess of 100 miles per hour and blew through several red lights, Schnell said. Officers stopped the pursuit when the teen drove the wrong way on Minnesota 55.

The teen crashed into the woman’s SUV at the intersection of 80th Street and Barnes Avenue in Inver Grove Heights.

The teen driver has been booked into the Dakota County Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of criminal vehicular operation of a motor vehicle, fleeing police in a motor vehicle and possession of stolen property.

Formal charges are pending against all of the teens, Schnell said.

A man tried to lure a 10-year-old Inver Grove Heights boy out of his backyard on Tuesday, police said.

Police issued a community safety alert Thursday detailing the incident that occurred about 5:30 p.m. in a neighborhood near the Woodland Preserve Park.

According to the alert, a white man in his 30s or 40s in a black jacket and black hat beckoned to the boy from a neighbor’s yard. The man motioned for the boy and his younger siblings to come over to him. But the boy rounded up his siblings and immediately went into the house to tell his parents.

When adults checked the area, they did not find a man or a vehicle. And neighbors said they didn’t have any guests over.

Police said they didn’t have enough information to classify the incident as an official luring incident, but are increasing patrols in the area and asking residents to be aware.

Authorities said parents should remind their children about basic safety precautions, such as telling a trusted adult or parent if they are approached by a stranger, never entering a stranger’s house or vehicle, and telling a teacher if they are ever approached by a stranger at school or on the way to or from school.

Meanwhile, Burnsville police are still investigating two incidents this week in which a man driving a red Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo either followed or attempted to interact with children.

On Sunday, Burnsville officers received a report about a suspicious vehicle following a teenage girl in the 3300 block of Barbara Lane. Two days later, a man in a similar vehicle tried to speak to two children outside of their home in the 14800 block of White Oak Drive.The report noted the man said things along the lines of “do you live nearby” and “come closer to the vehicle.” The children said they ignored the man and that he eventually drove away.

Surveillance photos show a 1999-2004 red Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. Burnsville police are trying to identity the man, who was described as being white and in his 40s or 50s and wearing glasses. His vehicle was captured in surveillance photos released to the public Wednesday. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Andrea Newton at 952-895-4670.

A man and woman were killed Sunday night in a mobile home fire in Inver Grove Heights.

The blaze broke out just before 8 p.m. in the Skyline Village mobile home park off Concord Boulevard, Fire Chief Judy Thill said.

A man called 911 to report smoke coming from the Royal Avenue home. The caller knocked on the door, but no one answered.

Police officers who arrived and confirmed there were possibly two people inside.

Firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to locate the woman and remove her from the home.

The camera also located the man, but firefighters had to knock down the fire to get to him before he could be removed, Thill said.

Life-saving measures began, and the couple was rushed to the hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

Firefighters continued to fight the fire for another hour. No other injuries were reported.

Inver Grove Heights police and the Minnesota state fire marshal’s office are investigating.

A vacant Rainbow Foods in Inver Grove Heights will become a special-education school under a plan by a local developer and Intermediate School District 917.

The city council on Monday approved an ordinance amendment to allow a special-education school on the site, which is west of Concord Boulevard and east of U.S. 52.

Eden Prairie-based Interstate Development is planning to buy the 56,200-square-foot building, renovate it and lease it to Intermediate School District 917. The district is a consortium of nine south-metro school districts that provides special-education services for students at member district buildings and at four other sites in Apple Valley, Eagan and Rosemount.

The former grocery space will have classrooms to serve up to 70 students who have autism or mental health disorders.

The building was built for a Rainbow Foods in 2000 but has been vacant since the grocery closed in late 2014. No other grocers or retailers had interest in it, according to city officials.

Because the property will be privately owned, it will not be tax-exempt during the lease term, which School District 917 Superintendent John Christiansen described as being “long term.”

The plan is to have the school ready for the 2018-2019 school year, Christiansen said.

The woman killed in a mobile home fire Sunday night in Inver Grove Heights died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries, the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office said Thursday.

Tiffany Meyers, 32, died at her mobile home at 15 Royal Ave., the coroner’s office said.

Meyers’ boyfriend, David L’Heureux, 33, died at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. A representative with the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office said Thursday the cause of L’Heureux’s death was not available.

Firefighters used a thermal imaging camera to locate the couple in the home, in the Skyline Village mobile home park off Concord Boulevard.

Investigators from the Minnesota state fire marshal’s office and Inver Grove Heights police are working to determine the cause of the fire.

A former lunchroom worker at Inver Grove Heights Middle School has pleaded guilty to sending nude photos of herself and sexually explicit texts to a student in 2014.

Krista Ann Muccio, 44, of Inver Grove Heights, pleaded guilty Thursday in Dakota County District Court to one felony count of communication with a minor describing sexual conduct.

Muccio, who was charged in March 2015, had challenged the constitutionality of the state’s “sexting” law, arguing the pictures and texts were free speech protected under the First Amendment. In March 2017, the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed a state appeals court decision and ruled the law does not violate the Constitution.

“This statute was enacted for the important purpose of prohibiting sexually explicit speech directed at a child that is intended to cause sexual arousal,” Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said in a Thursday statement. “We are pleased to bring Krista Muccio to justice for violating this law.”

Judge Kathryn Messerich on Thursday ordered a presentence investigation and set sentencing for April 6.

Muccio also was charged with one count of possession of pornographic work involving minors, a charge that Messerich will address at the April 6 sentencing, said Monica Jensen, spokeswoman for the county attorney’s office.

In November 2014, Muccio shared explicit photos with a 15-year-old boy through Instagram’s direct message feature and asked for “something in return,” prompting the student to share explicit photos with her, according to the criminal complaint.

The teenager had known Muccio as the lunch lady since the eighth grade, and she began communicating with him on Instagram in June 2014, the complaint said.

Inver Grove Heights police started investigating Muccio after the boy’s father found the photos saved to an iPad.

One man was killed and a woman was wounded early Saturday morning in shooting at an Inver Grove Heights movie theater parking lot.

Officers responded to a call at about 1:30 a.m. after a fight broke out between people on a party bus, where people were celebrating a birthday. The dispute spilled out into the AMC Showplace 16 parking lot, where many of the revelers had parked their cars.

The fight escalated into a shooting. Multiple shots were fired, and one man was killed and a woman was injured with a gunshot to the leg. Another man was “seriously assaulted,” said Police Chief Paul Schnell.

Police have not yet released the identity of the victim.

No arrests has been made as of Saturday morning.

The investigation is ongoing. Schnell said more information would be available later Saturday.

Inver Grove Heights police said Monday that no arrests have been made in the shooting death of Billy Robles, a 19-year-old aspiring rapper from St. Paul killed early Saturday during a fight between two groups of party bus passengers.

Police Chief Paul Schnell said that although investigators have interviewed many of the 40 to 50 people who were at the “chaotic scene” in the parking lot of the AMC Showplace 16 on Bishop Avenue, “we believe there are still a lot of people with a lot of information that we don’t have.”

“We have a bunch of different names,” he said. “And now we’re just trying to sort through all of them.”

Evidence from the scene shows multiple guns were fired, but it’s unclear whether the shots came from one group of people or both, Schnell said.

Although a clear motive has not been established, witnesses told police that the two groups had exchanged “disparaging comments … that had gang-related overtures to them,” before the dispute turned violent, Schnell said.

“How much of that was legit kind of gang stuff, we don’t know,” he said. “But that was certainly brought up (by witnesses). We have to sort that out.”

Alcohol also played a part in the “mayhem,” Schnell said.

“There were a number of them who were intoxicated,” he said of the partygoers.

BUS REVELERS CELEBRATING TEEN’S BIRTHDAY

The pink-colored bus was being rented for a 16-year-old girl’s birthday party through Rent My Party Bus, which is out of Minneapolis, Schnell said. The driver has cooperated with investigators, Schnell said.

At some point during the night, the bus picked up several groups of people, Schnell said. Some of the partygoers, who ranged in age from 16 to mid-20s, had not known each other previously.

The fight and shooting occurred around 1:30 a.m. as the party bus was dropping off the revelers in the theater’s parking lot. Several of them had parked cars there earlier in the night.

After words were exchanged, a 16-year-old boy was punched in the face, which led to others jumping in and getting involved in the fight, Schnell said.

CHAOTIC SCENE DESCRIBED

As officers from nine law enforcement agencies worked to secure the scene and search for suspects, they found Robles unresponsive and the 16-year-old boy with facial injuries from being punched several times.

“Some people had left or were leaving as the squads pulled up, because it was mayhem,” Schnell said. “It was people running all over the place.”

A 16-year-old boy who was shot in his leg was rushed from the scene in a car that officers soon pulled over on U.S. 52, near Butler Avenue in West St. Paul. The teen was treated at Regions Hospital in St. Paul and released.

ROBLES PASSIONATE ABOUT HIS MUSIC

Darleen Tareeq, Robles’ cousin, told the Pioneer Press in an interview Saturday that Robles was shot while trying to break up the fight. She said she was not on the party bus, but had been told details from other family members.

Robles had attended Humboldt High School, where he played football and baseball, Tareeq said.Robles was passionate about rap, which he did under the moniker, BillyThaKidd, she said. In YouTube videos dating back to 2016, Robles can be seen surrounded by other young men, often rapping about growing up in poverty in St. Paul, marijuana and gun violence.

On Monday, a GoFundMe page started for the family to help with funeral expenses was over $2,400.

Staff reporter Deanna Weniger contributed to this report.