A small West St. Paul house has been causing big problems, officials say.

Since Leann Broadbent and her family moved into 210 Logan Ave. five years ago, police have been called to their house 157 times on complaints of barking and unleashed dogs, suspicious vehicles and noise.

But a January shooting at the brick 1950s-era rambler that injured Broadbent’s 25-year-old son increased the level of fear in the neighborhood and the tension between the homeowner and her neighbors.

West St. Paul is taking the rare step of alleging public-nuisance violations at the house and threatening court action, which could include barring the family from the property for one year. It’s a move other Twin Cities-area cities have taken to deal with disruptive residents.

Seeking a court order against owner Broadbent “is our last resort with how to address the criminal activity at the house,” City Attorney Kori Land said last week.

Police Chief Bud Shaver said the move is a “tool we have to pull out of our toolbox” and pointed to more than 50 instances of public nuisance or criminal activity at the house in the past year.

Broadbent, meanwhile, says that she and her family are victims of harassment by neighbors and police officers, who park at the end of the block and “pull us over for everything, anything.” She noted how the police department installed cameras on poles outside her home.

“One neighbor I know for sure is a damn racist,” said Broadbent, who is white and has biracial children. “She brought over a book with little girls in it and slaves in the background picking cotton. I wish I would’ve kept the damn book, but I tore it up.”

The city notified Broadbent in a March 1 letter of its possible court action, unless the alleged nuisance and criminal behavior stops or she enters into a voluntary abatement plan with the city within 30 days.

Broadbent said her neighbors’ dogs also cause a nuisance by barking and getting loose and “run up to us when we leave the house. Yet, when we call the police, it gets turned around on us. So we don’t bother.”

The city’s letter cites 45 incidents at the house in the past year, the most serious and violent being the Jan. 6 shooting that sent Broadbent’s son Daiezon to the hospital with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound. Nineteen incidents involve Facebook Live videos that police say were shot in the home by occupants and show people smoking marijuana, including three times with children present. A pregnant woman was seen in one video, they say.

“I talked to (Police Chief Shaver) and it’s a bunch of crap,” Leann Broadbent, 43, said of the letter. “I get it to a certain extent, but they had to go on Facebook to find something to use against me besides parking and dogs. And then my son gets shot and they say it’s gang-related … and it’s not. And we know that for a fact. If (police) would just do their job they’ll know what happened. There’s a person that does not like him.”

CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

Daiezon Broadbent was charged in Ramsey County in February 2016 with two counts of aiding an offender after 20-year-old D’Onjay Jackson was shot in the head in the Dayton’s Bluff neighborhood of St. Paul. Jackson survived the shooting. Broadbent has pleaded not guilty in the case, which is ongoing.

Lavauntai Broadbent, another of Leann Broadbent’s sons and a brother to Daiezon, was fatally shot in St. Paul in 2015 after police say he and three other juvenile males tried to rob a man at Summit Avenue and Mississippi River Boulevard. The would-be victim, who had a permit to carry a handgun, pulled his own weapon and shot Broadbent, who was to start 11th grade at Henry Sibley High School in Mendota Heights.

Another son, Dexter Jefferson Jr., 24, has a criminal record that includes convictions for burglary, felony theft, motor vehicle theft and receiving stolen property. His mother said he was not living at the West St. Paul home at the time of his trouble and does not live there now.

But the city’s letter said Jefferson, who has an active felony warrant issued by the Minnesota Department of Corrections, could be seen in the Facebook Live videos that were shot in the home.

Leann Broadbent said she has four surviving children, including Daiezon and Dexter, and five stepchildren.

West St. Paul police believe Daiezon Broadbent was the intended target in the Jan. 6, 2017, shooting at the home. The shooter stood outside the house and fired several bullets through a living-room window, hitting Broadbent once in his side.

The shooting was “really the icing on the cake,” said Anthony Fernandez, one of two council members who represent the area. “That really scared people, and we want to make sure that safety is the No. 1 priority in the city. And if it’s going to be one property or specific people, you can’t let those people spoil it for everybody else. It’s a good block and a good area.”

WHAT’S PUBLIC NUISANCE?

Nuisance laws attempt to balance competing interests and uses of property, according to the League of Minnesota Cities. As such, nuisance regulations commonly address neighborhood and land issues such as zoning and building codes, as well as more general quality-of-life concerns.

Minnesota courts have found noise, offensive odors, smoke and houses of prostitution to be public nuisances, according to the league.

In recent years, Brooklyn Park and Minneapolis have been successful in barring homeowners after several incidents of public nuisance, Land said.

To bar Broadbent from her property for a year, the city would have to prove two or more behavioral incidents committed within the previous 12 months. The city would also need neighbors who are willing to testify in court to the behavior as witnesses — a prospect that Land admits could be a challenge.

Last week, one neighbor declined an offer by the Pioneer Press to share her feelings about Broadbent’s house.

“People are scared,” she said, refusing to give her name. “But if I have to testify for the city, I will.”

THE KRENGEL CASE

Land and West St. Paul successfully barred a homeowner from her house in 2006, after a series of public-nuisance violations. However, the action was overturned by the state Supreme Court three years later.

In taking its action against Alice Krengel, the city cited incidents when Krengel’s guests were drunk and taken to detox and when intoxicated men assaulted each other with hammers, among other infractions. After city officials said she repeatedly violated an abatement agreement, Krengel was barred from her house for a year in August 2006.

In July 2009, the justices concluded the city did not have authority to seek an injunction banning Krengel from her house because she was not a nuisance at the time the injunction was requested 15 months earlier.

“I feel beyond vindicated,” a 57-year-old Krengel told the Pioneer Press at the time. “I feel totally exonerated.”

Krengel died in May at age 65.

Land said last week that in her mind the city lost the case “because of a technicality. They were saying you had to have new nuisances. I don’t think the statute says that. It says if you have a nuisance activity, you start your action, and if they violate the abatement plan you can re-initiate your action. And that’s what I did.”

Land said it will be up to Broadbent to “be good for 30 days” or negotiate an abatement plan with the city.

She said an abatement is a negotiation. “It’s a contract, and whatever we think will be the answer to solving the nuisance activity, that’s what I would suggest putting in the abatement plan,” Land said. “But she has to agree to it.”

Broadbent said she plans to hire an attorney and fight the city. Or, she said, “If they want to buy my house for $250,000, give me the money and I’ll go.”

The 21-year-old son of former Inver Grove Heights Police Chief Larry Stanger was killed Sunday night in a western Wisconsin car crash, authorities said.

Jacob Stanger was driving his 2008 Infiniti G37 east on U.S. 10 near County Road O in the town of Trimbelle when it collided head-on with a westbound 2012 Ford F350 at about 10:15 p.m., said Andrew Thoms, a patrol sergeant with the Pierce County sheriff’s department.

Stanger, of Cottage Grove, was pronounced dead at the scene. Trimbelle is between Prescott and Ellsworth.

The driver of the F350, Charles Hill, 38, of Ellsworth was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul with undetermined injuries. A hospital spokeswoman said Monday afternoon that he was in fair condition.

“It’s tough for anybody,” Thoms said.

The Wisconsin State Patrol is investigating the crash, Thoms said. There was no indication at the scene that alcohol played a part, he said.

“All of that, including toxicology tests, will be part of the investigation,” Thoms said.

On Feb. 9, Jacob Stanger posted a picture of his Infiniti G37 on his Facebook page. He wrote that he had just bought the car in Illinois.

Larry Stanger resigned as police chief of Inver Grove Heights in December after investigators determined that he inadvertently tipped off the owner of a Prescott, Wis., auto-detailing business that the building would be searched for stolen construction vehicles.

An investigation found that the business owner learned of the search beforehand because Stanger had asked his son Jacob questions about the building. Jacob Stanger and the business owner’s son were friends.

A developer is zeroing in on West St. Paul to build the state’s first co-branded Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins store.

Saman RE Holdings is seeking approval from city officials to redevelop a South Robert Street site that’s home to JT’s Hamburgers, which closed in November, and the former Suburban Ace Hardware building, which has been vacant since 2011.

The hamburger joint, which dates back to the 1950s, would be demolished, as would part of the former hardware store, according to West St. Paul  Planning Commission documents.

The commission on Tuesday will consider plans for the proposed 1,990-square-foot Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins store, including a request for a drive-thru lane.

Plans could go before the city council March 27.

Jim Rutzick, who owns the site, was given the OK by city officials in 2014 to build a Jimmy John’s fast-food restaurant there, but the franchisee withdrew from the project.

Rutzick said Monday that he and Saman RE Holdings have a purchase agreement in place for the property, pending city approvals.

Saman RE Holdings is the development arm of Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee Eliasco, which plans to build 15 stores, mostly in the southeast metro. Other cities on its radar include Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan, Lakeville and Woodbury.

Lisa McCormick, an attorney for Saman RE Holdings, said construction of a West St. Paul store could begin this year.

“If everything works out, this would be the first co-branded Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins store in the state,” she said. “We’re really excited about it.”

In December, the group was given preliminary approval by Eagan city officials to build a co-branded store along Yankee Doodle Road, just south of Pilot Knob Road. But construction won’t begin until after City & County Credit Union moves off the site, which could happen in 2018, McCormick said.

Eliasco is led by Elias Saman, a Burnsville resident who owns and operates several gas and convenience stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin, McCormick said.

After a decades-long absence, Dunkin’ Donuts is making a comeback in the Twin Cities. Its Baskin-Robbins brand also had a presence in Minnesota, which is dominated by Dairy Queen.

In recent months, Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees have opened stores in Roseville and New Hope and at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The Massachusetts-based coffee and doughnut giant would have close competition on retail-heavy South Robert Street. A Caribou Coffee is across the street from the proposed site; a Dairy Queen is about a block away; and family-run Granny Donuts has been in business down the road since 1987.

Authorities are looking for the vandals who deliberately stripped bark from several trees in Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan in an apparent attempt to kill them.

The group Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists discovered the damage this week near the park’s west trailhead on Johnny Cake Ridge Road. The group alerted the Dakota County Parks Department.

On Wednesday, park officials found two cherry trees — one 12 inches in diameter, the other 16 inches — that were “girdled,” a term meaning cutting through the bark around the trunk. A park crew spent the day searching for up to four other trees the group saw that had been girdled, said Steve Sullivan, the county’s parks director.

Also called ring-barking, girdling is sometimes used by arborists and foresters to thin out forests because it almost always results in the death of a tree. In other instances around the country, people have girdled as acts of vandalism or to poach trees for the wood.

A motive for the damage in Lebanon Hills is unclear, Sullivan said.

“It’s hard to know why anyone would want to kill trees deliberately in such a beautiful park,” he said. The county has not encountered girdling in its parks before, he added.

The Dakota County sheriff’s office is investigating the incident as criminal damage to property and the case could rise to a felony level depending on the dollar value of the trees, Sheriff Tim Leslie said Wednesday.

“We need to catch someone first,” Leslie said. “It’s very disconcerting that someone would actually go out there and do that kind of misbehavior.”

On Monday, the cyclists group posted a picture of a girdled tree on a Facebook page for users of the park’s mountain bike trail. It prompted many emotional responses.

“I just can’t get my mind around this one,” a commenter wrote. “Literally a serial tree-killer.”

Dakota County Board Commissioner Tom Egan commented that it was a “malicious” act and thanked the group for notifying county officials.

Another Facebook user who described himself as a board-certified master arborist said whoever did it knew what they were doing because it was a “double girdle.”

“The only possibility of repair would have had to take place within the first 24 hours, and the process is difficult on mature trees and a 10 percent chance at best,” he wrote.

Sullivan said the girdling goes against the county’s effort to enhance and restore the 2,000-acre park, which is in Eagan, Apple Valley and Rosemount. Since 2015, the county has invested about $700,000 to restore prairies, improve woodlands, enhance water quality in ponds and remove buckthorn, he said.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation’s plan to raise speed limits along some roads in Hastings isn’t sitting well with city residents who say higher speeds will mean less safety.

Now Rep. Tony Jurgens, R-Cottage Grove, has taken the issue to the Capitol, where bills are moving through the Legislature to stop MnDOT’s plan.

Following what he described as a “disappointing meeting” with MnDOT, Jurgens drafted legislation that would require the transportation agency to maintain a 35 mph speed limit on a stretch of Minnesota 316 at the south end of town. Sen. Dan Schoen, DFL-St. Paul Park, has introduced a companion bill.

After conducting a speed study in 2015, MnDOT recommended that the speed limit on Minnesota 316 from U.S. 61 to just north of Tuttle Drive be increased 10 mph. After listening to concerns from city officials, the agency dropped the increase to 5 mph. That’s not good enough, Jurgens said last week.

Jurgens said he has heard from residents who live on or near Minnesota 316 (Red Wing Boulevard) who fear for their safety because of the high number of vehicles and the speeds they are traveling. A 5 mph increase would only make things worse, he said.

“People who live on those neighborhoods that have to come out and make a left-hand turn onto (Highway) 316 tell me that sometimes they’re sitting there for five to 10 minutes waiting for a safe opening,” he said.

Jurgens said he experienced the road’s danger firsthand while door-knocking on the campaign trail last fall.

“I had to walk through the ditch because most of that stretch of Highway 316 doesn’t have any shoulders or turning lanes,” he said.

His bill has the support of at least three city council members and Mayor Paul Hicks, who wrote a letter this month to Jurgens and Schoen asking for their help. The letter was distributed to members of the House Transportation and Regional Governance Policy Committee on March 8.

MnDOT’s plan for Minnesota 316 and other roads in Hastings received pushback from city officials and residents first in 2015 and then again earlier this year after the agency issued its final recommendations.

Although MnDOT decided to scrap the idea of increasing the speed limit on a pedestrian-heavy stretch of Minnesota 55, the agency notified the city that it is moving ahead with speed limit increases on part of U.S. 61/Vermillion Street and on the stretch of Minnesota 316.

Jurgens says the study of speeds along Minnesota 316 failed to take into account its lack of a shoulder in some of the residential areas and its lack of turning lanes and sidewalks and crosswalks.

“They determined that the majority of the vehicles are driving at a certain speed and therefore that supports raising the speed limit,” he said. “That’s one way to look at it. But there’s more to it.”

Besides seeking a moratorium on the speed-limit change, the proposed legislation would require MnDOT to submit a report explaining the decision-making process, as well as copies of recent traffic and engineering studies.

Burnsville police say they have arrested a man suspected of robbing a TCF Bank branch inside a Cub Foods last week.

Faisal Kipngetich Khan, 31, was arrested Sunday at his apartment in the 12000 block of Portland Avenue in Burnsville, police Sgt. Matt Smith said Monday.

On Friday, Burnsville police issued a news release asking for the public’s help solving the bank robbery, which occurred about 2:20 p.m. Thursday at the Cub Foods off Minnesota 13 and east of Nicollet Avenue.

The robber handed a note to a teller demanding money, police said. The teller gave an undisclosed amount money to the robber, who then fled. No weapon was seen.

Tips from the public led investigators to Khan, Smith said. Khan remained jailed Monday on suspicion of felony robbery and for an outstanding Hennepin County warrant for second-degree drunken driving.

A veteran Mendota Heights police officer has been suspended for inappropriately looking up driver’s license data of current and former co-workers, city council members, a girlfriend and others.

Following a five-month internal affairs investigation, Mike Shepard was suspended on Feb. 17 for 30 days without pay. He was accused of misusing state driver and vehicle services data and for insubordination for discussing the investigation with the city’s mayor, according to city documents obtained by the Pioneer Press.

Shepard, a Mendota Heights officer since 2006, could not be reached for comment Monday. The suspension runs until April 16.

The state’s Driver and Vehicle Services database is accessible to law enforcement agencies and other government employees for limited official purposes. State and federal privacy laws govern law enforcement officers from misusing driver’s license data, which includes information such as a person’s home address, driving record, physical description and photo.

In recent years, several high-profile cases locally have cast light on the misuse of the information and led to federal lawsuits against state agencies and cities. Last month, St. Paul agreed pay $29,500 to settle a lawsuit brought by a Minneapolis police officer who accused St. Paul officers of snooping in her personal driver’s license information.

LATEST TURMOIL FOR DEPARTMENT

Shepard’s discipline is the latest turmoil for the Mendota Heights Police Department, which had other internal investigations of two of its officers in the past year and the December resignation of its longtime chief, Mike Aschenbrener.

According to McCarthy’s investigation report, Shepard ran the vehicle license plates of 12 people for nonbusiness reasons between June 1 and Oct. 11. People he searched information on included his girlfriend, City Administrator Mark McNeill, an unnamed local police chief and his wife who live in Mendota Heights, city council members and a female Mendota Heights firefighter.

“(Shepard) admitted to previously telling co-workers that he found the (firefighter) attractive,” McCarthy wrote in her report.

The report also concludes that Shepard accessed the driver’s license photos of an acquaintance, as well as a “young female” who recently reported a theft and was identified in the report only by her initials, EDL.

“When asked, “(Shepard) could not provide a business purpose for accessing EDL’s photo or for accessing (the firefighter’s) data while her car was at her house,” the report reads.

OFFICER HAD BEEN WARNED

Shepard had been forewarned that inappropriate use of driver’s data would result in disciplinary action. In 2009, an internal audit at the state Department of Public Safety notified then Chief Aschenbrener that Shepard had misused driver’s data to look up two people. He has since completed training four times on accessing the state’s Driver and Vehicle Services system.

McCarthy said Monday that although misuse of the driver’s data is against the law, charges will not be pursued against Shepard because her internal affairs investigation did not begin with the misuse allegation.

“He was compelled to talk about it, so any statements he made during the investigation could not be used for criminal charges,” she said.

CRIMINAL CHARGES RARE

Charges against officers misusing driver’s data is rare. The most well-known case locally was in 2014, when a former Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officer was sentenced in Ramsey County District Court to two years of probation for improperly accessing driver’s license data on and off the job.

A 2013 report by the state Legislative Auditor’s office found that more than half of Minnesota law enforcement personnel with access to driver’s license data in fiscal year 2012 might have used the access inappropriately — looking up friends, family or even themselves. It recommended that agencies tighten access and better train officers.

McCarthy noted in her report that federal privacy laws governing driver’s license data set minimum damages for abusing personal data at $2,500 per incident.

“Each time Officer Shepard accessed DVS data without a valid reason, he exposed the department to financial liability,” she wrote. “I believe there is no reasonable officer in 2016 who doesn’t understand that inappropriate access of the DVS system is a major infraction.”

OFFICER DISCIPLINED IN PAST

Shepard has been disciplined by the department four times, according to his personnel file.

In 2011, Shepard received a four-day suspension for violating the department’s harassment and discrimination policy stemming from his treatment of a female co-worker, McCarthy’s report said.

In August 2011, he was suspended one day for insubordination.

Shepard has two written reprimands in his file — for disobeying an order and insubordination in January 2010, and for driving at excessive speed and “reflecting a poor image” of the department in September 2010.

An open house Thursday will help shape the future of Lake Byllesby Regional Park, which is nestled in the scenic Cannon River Valley on the Lake Byllesby reservoir.

The open house, part of the county’s yearlong process of updating the park’s 2005 master plan, is set for 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Cannon Falls City Hall, 918 River Road. Participants will be able to give feedback on concepts for recreation, natural resources and interpretation.

Community feedback will help influence a draft of the plan, scheduled to be completed this summer.

Input also can be submitted online through April 5. For more information, go to Dakota County website’s Lake Byllesby Master Plan page.

West St. Paul officials have given the OK to a developer’s plan to build Minnesota’s first co-branded Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins store.

The West St. Paul City Council on Monday unanimously approved plans by Saman RE Holdings to redevelop a South Robert Street site that was home to JT’s Hamburgers, which closed in November, and Suburban Ace Hardware, which closed in 2011.

The hamburger joint, which dates to the 1950s, will be demolished, as will about 3,000 square feet of the former hardware store.

Construction of the 1,990-square-foot Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin-Robbins store, which will include a drive-through, is expected to begin this summer.

Saman RE Holdings is the development arm of Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee Eliasco, which plans to build 15 stores, mostly in the southeast metro. Other cities on its radar include Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan, Lakeville and Woodbury.

An Inver Grove Heights man is the latest Twin Cities chiropractor to be indicted in connection with an alleged health-care fraud scheme related to “no-fault” auto insurance.

Timothy Wayne Guthman, 43, has been charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud, the Minnesota Commerce Department said Wednesday. Guthman owns Inver Family Chiropractic in Inver Grove Heights and Team Chiropractic in Minneapolis.

Guthman then billed auto insurance companies for treatments or for services that were not provided, according to the March 22 indictment, which is the result of a continuing investigation by the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau and the FBI.

In December, federal prosecutors charged 21 people, including six chiropractors, with conspiring to commit health care fraud by allegedly billing insurance companies more than $20 million in a similar scheme.

Guthman had an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on March 24 and pleaded not guilty. A trial is set for March 31.

An Eagan daycare provider is accused of seriously injuring a 13-month-old boy to the point where he suffered severe brain damage.

Mariel Alexandra Grimm, 33, was charged Wednesday in Dakota County District Court with felony first-degree assault for the alleged abuse, which prosecutors say happened Sept. 22 at her house in the 2000 block of Copper Lane.

Grimm’s attorney Marc Kurzman said Wednesday that his client did not harm the boy. Kurzman said the child’s mother told police that he had fallen in his home the day before the injuries were discovered.

“What we know at this point is the child was unnaturally drowsy, lethargic and had expressed what might have been flu-like symptoms before being brought over to Ms. Grimm,” Kurzman said.

Kurzman said he filed a motion in court Wednesday asking that a trial date be advanced to April 10 “because Ms. Grimm has been under a cloud of suspicion now for six months before they got around to charging.”

Grimm called 911 about 1 p.m. Sept. 22 to say that an infant in her care was unresponsive. When police and medics arrived, Grimm was holding the child, who had a pulse but was taking shallow breaths.

The child was taken to Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, where he was diagnosed with massive subdural hemorrhage, or bleeding around the brain, and underwent surgery to relieve the pressure.

The child’s mother told police she had left her son at Grimm’s house about 7:15 a.m. that day and that neither she nor her husband had noticed anything wrong with him.

Grimm told investigators that the child woke up crying from a nap and became “stiff” then unresponsive when she was changing his diaper. She said she “tapped the sides of his face to get him to wake up, and when that didn’t work, she brought him into the bathroom and began splashing cold water on his face,” the complaint reads.

Grimm then called the child’s mother, who told her to hang up and call 911.

In a follow-up interview with police, Grimm said that before the infant’s nap, he had been playing on the floor with some toys and seemed fine.

Grimm said she was the only adult in the home that morning, and that none of the other children appeared to have unsupervised contact with the infant.

A Gillette child abuse pediatrician who examined the infant said his brain injury was consistent with abusive head trauma, which could not have been caused by a short fall or injury inflicted by another child in the daycare, the complaint says.

The expert also indicated that subdural hemorrhage is the type of trauma associated with a violent acceleration-deceleration event, such as a high-speed motor vehicle collision or violent shaking or throwing.

The neurosurgeon who performed the emergency surgery concluded that the child would have become unresponsive immediately or shortly after this head trauma occurred.

“Abusive head trauma to infants and young children is a serious problem that often results in permanent brain injury or death,” Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said in a statement Wednesday. “Our sympathy is extended to the baby’s parents and family.”

Grimm has never had a child-care license in Minnesota, according to the state Department of Human Services. A license is not required if care is provided to related children, to one unrelated child, or to children for a cumulative total of less than 30 days in any 12-month period.

For Gail Lewellan and her fellow preservationists, historic Pilot Knob is much more than a spectacular view.

The site that overlooks the Minneapolis and St. Paul skylines, Historic Fort Snelling and the Minnesota and Mississippi river valleys is of cultural importance to Native Americans and significant in Minnesota’s statehood, Lewellan notes.

“It’s a gem in our midst,” said Lewellan, co-chair of the all-volunteer Pilot Knob Preservation Association.

Now 112 acres of the site are federally famous, having been added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 14. It’s a designation more than a decade in the making and one that will usher in renewed public awareness and education, said Lewellan, whose group spearheaded the nomination process.

“People know about this site because it has a beautiful view or because as teenagers they used to go up there and neck with their boyfriends or girlfriends in their car,” she said. “Or, people know the name Pilot Knob because there’s a road named Pilot Knob Road. But I think people do not understand that this site is of historic and sacred significance, and that’s the thing that changes with it going on the National Register of Historic Places.”

For centuries, the land was an indigenous gathering place and sacred burial ground, earning its Dakota name “Oheyawahi,” or the “hill much visited.” American Indians signed away land to the U.S. government on this hill in the 1851 Treaty of Mendota, and some may have been buried there, outside the two recognized cemeteries in the area.

Because Pilot Knob was such a distinctive landmark for early settlers, U.S. Sen. Stephen A. Douglas in 1848 proposed it as the place for the territorial capital.

The prospect of development led to the formation of the nonprofit Pilot Knob Preservation Association, which in 2003 began fighting for protection of the land as a cultural and historic resource. Within months, the group nominated the site to be listed with the National Register of Historic Places and was told that it would be eligible, Lewellan said.

But the group did not have the backing of the majority of the private owners, some of whom were bound to contracts with the developer, Lewellan said. The group eventually withdrew its application.

A 15-year push to keep developers away from historic Pilot Knob and restore the land to its natural habitat was just beginning.

After the developer’s plan faltered, community groups and residents nudged Mendota Heights to start investing in the property. From 2006 to 2008, the city acquired 25 acres using grants and funding from governmental entities, organizations, Dakota County and individuals.

Over the past decade, the city’s land has been undergoing restoration to oak savanna by St. Paul-based Great River Greening, an effort to reflect the native vegetation that existed before European settlement.

A trail system, which includes interpretive signage, allows visitors to experience the site’s impressive historic vistas.

Although the federal status does not give the land any extra protection, it does “add strength to our position” in case a developer has interest in building on certain areas of the site once again, Lewellan said. Some public areas of the site are protected by terms of grants awarded to the city, while others — like the off-leash dog park — are not.

“I would argue that if a developer came in with a proposal that (we would) come back in full force and say, ‘Um, this is part of the sacred area, too. And that it’s also now been recognized by the National Register of Historic Places,’ ” Lewellan said.

Dakota County law enforcement on Wednesday will kick off a monthlong effort to stop distracted driving.

In addition to extra enforcement targeting distracted drivers, police officers and sheriff’s deputies will be distributing cellphone sleeves to younger, more inexperienced drivers. The sleeves stop incoming calls and messages.

A daylong crackdown Wednesday will be a prelude to a distracted-driving enforcement campaign run by the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety from April 10-23.

Each year in Minnesota, distracted or inattentive driving is a factor in one in four crashes, resulting in at least 70 deaths and 350 serious injuries, according to the state Department of Public Safety.

“We see people who are reading newspapers or books, and we’ve got those people who are grooming, whether it’s applying makeup or shaving,” said Pat Enderlein, a captain with the Dakota County sheriff’s office. “So we’re looking to educate or cite when appropriate, too.”

In Minnesota, the fine for texting while driving or in traffic is $125 for a first offense and $350 for subsequent offenses. Motorists caught for general inattentive driving such as applying makeup or reading are fined $115.

In April 2016, 92 citations were issued in Dakota County to drivers who were texting or otherwise illegally using their wireless device or phone.

Law enforcement officers from 34 agencies across Minnesota will play in a basketball tournament Saturday in Mendota Heights to raise money for families of fallen officers.

Donations from the Vikings, Twins and Lynx are among the items that will be raffled off during the event.

All proceeds will be given to the Minnesota chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors, which helps families of officers who died in the line of duty. About $6,500 was raised at last year’s tourney, and it was given to the family of slain Aitkin County sheriff’s investigator Steve Sandberg, who was killed Oct. 18, 2015.

Players in the tourney include troopers from the Minnesota State Patrol; deputies from Ramsey, Dakota, and Hennepin counties; and police officers from St. Paul, Eagan, Mendota Heights, Roseville and Rosemount.

For more information, go to the Facebook page “Ballin in DC Annual Charity Tournament.”

Dogs finally might have a place of their own in Inver Grove Heights.

Supporters of a pooch park say it is long overdue and would go a long way toward building up Heritage Village Park, a former contaminated railroad yard site that is pegged for passive recreation but has been slow to be developed.

The city acquired the park land from the Rock Island Railroad after the property went into tax forfeiture about 20 years ago. In 2008, the process of top-filling the polluted land with clean soil began.

Other than the Mississippi River Regional Trail, which has wound through the site since 2010, the park is barren land without amenities to draw in users. Long-term plans for the 60-acre park — which is along the river, east of Concord Boulevard and north of 65th Street — call for a multipurpose building with picnic shelters, playground areas and small amphitheater.

“It would be a start,” Eric Carlson, the city’s parks director, said of a dog park. “There are people there now using the trail, but this would bring more people down there. And that’s been our goal for the whole area from day one.”

At a city council work session last week, Carlson was given the go-ahead to seek bids from consultants to design a 10-acre dog park. Council members also asked for more accurate costs for all parts of the proposal, which was created by Mark Freer, a member of the city’s parks and recreation advisory commission.

The city has discussed the idea of a dog park several times since 2009. Two years ago, the city held public open houses, formed a committee to explore sites and surveyed residents to gauge their interest. But discussions eventually fizzled out.

This latest go-round, however, is different, Freer said.

“I believe this is the right time,” he said at a recent parks commission meeting.

With past proposals, he said, city officials could not nail down a location or funding.

But he noted how the city has state grant funds that could pay for half the cost, which is pegged at $300,000 and includes a parking lot for users of the entire Heritage Village Park.

Also, he noted, Heritage Village Park is not adjacent to homes, which was seen as a drawback by some residents in previous years.

“And we have a community (showing support),” he added.

He noted how a group of residents are organizing online on Facebook and are showing up at city meetings to voice support for the plan.

Lori Mo told the parks commission that she and other residents are already buying permits from nearby cities to use their dog parks.

“We’ve talked about it a long time,” she said. “We’ve got a viable site now, some financing benefits. I think it’s time to move ahead.”

Added resident Charlotte Svobodny: “This is the most concrete thing I’ve seen for a dog park in Inver Grove Heights in my 40 years here. We’ve got those funds. Let’s take it and run with it. Let’s go.”

One person was injured after a gun was accidentally discharged at a University of St. Thomas dormitory Friday night, St. Paul police said.

About 7 p.m., a round fired from a firearm at Flynn Hall grazed the male victim, who suffered a minor injury, St. Paul police acting Cmdr. Jennifer Corcoran said. Corcoran was not sure where in the residence hall the shooting occurred and if the shooter and victim were university students.

The university posted an alert on its website about the shooting Friday night, but otherwise provided no additional details. St. Paul police are investigating.

Flynn Hall was built in 2005 on the north campus and is the university’s newest residence hall, according to the St. Thomas website. Formerly called Selby Hall, it offers apartment and suite-style housing to 422 sophomore, junior and senior students. 

A Maple Grove man has pleaded guilty in Hennepin County District Court to fatally stabbing another man while they argued in a car in Minneapolis’ Dinkytown neighborhood in August.

Brandon Kenneth Bockoven, 24, pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree unintentional murder in the death of 21-year-old Sean Mwangi Maina, also of Maple Grove.

Bockoven will be sentenced April 18 and as part of a negotiated guilty plea is expected to receive 15 years in prison, the Hennepin County attorney’s office said Friday.

On Aug. 25, Bockoven and Maina were sitting in the front seats of a car parked near University Avenue Southeast and 13th Avenue Southeast, just off the University of Minnesota campus. Two women sitting in the back seats told officers the two men were arguing over money that Bockoven said Maina owed him for auto parts, according to a criminal complaint. 

Bockoven stabbed Maina twice in the torso, according to the complaint. He died a short time later at a hospital.

During questioning by Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Dan Allard, Bockoven admitted that when he pulled out the knife, he intended to either scare Maina or stab him.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has agreed to leave the speed limit alone on a stretch of highway in Hastings.

A proposal by MnDOT to increase the speed limit on Minnesota 316 from U.S. 61 to just north of Tuttle Drive was met with resistance from city officials and residents who say higher speeds would mean less safety.

Last month, state Rep. Tony Jurgens, R-Cottage Grove, and state Sen. Dan Schoen, DFL-St. Paul Park, brought the issue to the Capitol, where bills were moving through the Legislature to stop MnDOT’s plan.

Last week, Jurgens said that a compromise has been reached with MnDOT where the speed limit will remain 35 miles an hour in that stretch of highway, instead of the planned 5 mph bump.

Jurgens said MnDOT agreed continue to work with city staff to develop a plan that seeks input from community members and businesses prior to a Minnesota 316 resurfacing project, which is set for 2021. The plan will evaluate possible safety options, such as turn lanes, intersection control, lighting and crosswalks.

After conducting a speed study in 2015, MnDOT recommended that the speed limit be increased 10 mph. After listening to concerns from city officials, the agency dropped the increase to 5 mph. But that wasn’t good enough, Jurgens said.

Last week, a bill introduced by Jurgens to stop the speed limit increase was approved by the House. It was part of a larger transportation omnibus bill that was sent to the Senate. The bill itself also was scheduled to be debated as a stand-alone bill before the full House.

“Now, I’m happy to report this legislation won’t be necessary,” Jurgens said in the statement.

Once the 2021 improvement project is completed, MnDOT will conduct a new speed study to determine if speed limits should be increased.

A Burnsville High School music teacher is accused of having sexually explicit electronic communication with a student over the past several weeks, police said.

Erik Micheal Akervik, 29, of Burnsville, was arrested at the high school about 11:30 a.m. Monday and booked into Dakota County jail on suspicion of using the internet or a computer to distribute material that relates or describes sexual conduct with a child, jail records show.

Akervik is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Wednesday.

Akervik has been employed by the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage school district since August 2013, working as a high school music teacher the entire time, the district said Tuesday in a statement.

The district received a complaint about Akervik on Saturday, and began their own investigation and contacted police, according to the statement.

“We find the reported allegations to be very upsetting,” the district statement read. “We are committed to fully working with the Burnsville Police Department in their investigation and to take appropriate action to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for our students.”

The church put Akervik on administrative leave Monday and notified church parents of the allegations through an email, Enestvedt said.

Akervik, who grew up in Duluth, Minn., received a degree in vocal music education from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., in 2010.

West St. Paul has another idea for dealing with a problem property: buy it.

The city’s economic development authority, which is made up of city council members, voted unanimously Monday night to enter into a purchase agreement with the owner of 210 Logan Ave., where over the past five years police have responded to more than 160 calls — mostly for complaints of barking and unleashed dogs, suspicious vehicles and noise.

In January, a shooting at the home injured the homeowner’s 25-year-old son and increased the level of fear in the neighborhood and the tension between the homeowner and her neighbors.

It also prompted the city to take the rare step last month of alleging public-nuisance violations at the house and threatening court action, which could include barring the family from the property for one year.

Monday’s decision by the economic development authority to enter into a purchase agreement with homeowner, Leann Broadbent, followed a closed-door session that lasted nearly an hour and included Police Chief Bud Shaver and City Attorney Kori Land.

Land said afterward that the city could not disclose terms of the purchase agreement, citing a state statute that keeps all data pertaining to negotiations over the purchase of the property private. She said the sale’s closing is scheduled for June 15.

Broadbent paid $155,900 for the house in April 2012, real estate records show.

Several city council members contacted Tuesday said they have been told not to comment.

When asked about the city’s justification for the planned purchase, Ryan Schroeder, interim city manager, said that in general “the thought process on anything like this, whether it’s West St. Paul or another community, comes down in large part to an economic question.”

“Is there a rational basis, an economic basis for making a choice for one direction or another?” he asked.

With a purchase, West St. Paul seemingly would be rid of problems that have irked neighbors and tied up police resources. The city could then sell the property on the open market.

West St. Paul also would be avoiding any legal fees if Broadbent were to fight a court injunction — a battle she told the Pioneer Press last month she was prepared to take on.

The city notified Broadbent in a March 1 letter of its possible court action, unless the alleged nuisance and criminal behavior stopped or she entered into a voluntary abatement plan with the city within 30 days.

The city’s letter cited 45 incidents at the house in the past year, the most serious and violent being the Jan. 6 shooting that sent Broadbent’s son Daiezon to the hospital with a gunshot wound. Nineteen incidents involve Facebook Live videos that police say were shot in the home by occupants and show people smoking marijuana, including three times with children present.

Last week, Shaver said that Broadbent had not entered into an abatement plan with the city. He said that since March 1 there had been “some minor issues, nothing that I would think would evoke the injunction process.”

Last month, Land said that seeking a court order against Broadbent would be the city’s “last resort with how to address the criminal activity at the house.”

Land and West St. Paul took that approach in 2006, successfully barring Alice Krengel from her Allen Avenue house after a series of public-nuisance violations. However, the state Supreme Court overturned the action three years later.

Broadbent, 43, did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking comment.

She said last month that she and her family are victims of harassment by neighbors and police officers. She said she planned to hire an attorney and fight the city. Or, she said: “If they want to buy my house for $250,000, give me the money and I’ll go.”