Author: Jim Bayer

Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN) is celebrating its first two years of publication and the distribution of its first Eden Prairie Voter Guide. You are invited to celebrate with us at EPLN’s annual meeting at 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 17, at the Star Bank Community Room, 250 Prairie Center Drive. The Eden Prairie 2022 Voter Guide was mailed to all 26,000 Eden Prairie households the first week of this month. It offers candidates running in all local races the opportunity to speak directly to Eden Prairie voters. We hope that you have spent some time reviewing the Voter Guide and…

Using information obtained from the Eden Prairie Police Department (EPPD) through a public data request, EPLN has independently learned and confirmed the identity of the Aug. 22 suicide victim at Scheels. He was Jordan L. Markie, 19, of Edina. EPLN confirmed his identity through social media posts and by contacting family members. Despite several attempts over the more than five-week period since the incident at the Eden Prairie Center mall, EPLN has been unable to obtain the victim’s name from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office or information about an ongoing investigation into the incident by EPPD. The medical examiner’s office and EPPD…

A Minneapolis woman is the second person charged in the fentanyl overdose of a 2-year-old at an Eden Prairie apartment complex. Samiya Shalaun Hammonds, 26, is charged with felony child endangerment stemming from an April 18 incident at the apartment on Anderson Lakes Parkway. The second suspect, Lamondre Calvin Reece, 25, of St. Paul, was charged in August with endangering a child in a situation that could cause harm or death. According to the criminal complaint: Eden Prairie police responded April 18 to an apartment complex on Anderson Lakes Parkway on a report of an unresponsive child. Officers found Reece and…

With some metro school districts reporting significant issues finding teachers for the fast-approaching school year, Eden Prairie Schools finds itself in a much better position, according to the district’s human resources director. Teacher shortages were a problem before the pandemic hit in early 2020, especially for substitute teachers and in some subjects. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says there are over a half million fewer teachers in American schools than before the pandemic. Eden Prairie hasn’t felt that squeeze. “We haven’t been impacted as significantly by the staffing shortage that maybe you’re hearing about on the national news,” said Tom…

Eden Prairie Police say there is no danger to the public and that the scene has been secured following a lockdown and an apparent suicide in the Scheels store at Eden Prairie Center mall Monday night. Police said they responded to a report of gunfire in Scheels and found a dead adult male in the store, according to an EPPD Twitter post at 8:36 p.m. Police later stated that the man died from a single self-inflicted gunshot wound. No other injuries were reported, and the dead man’s identity was not released. Police said further information would be forthcoming. After the…

Bridges in Eden Prairie – including one built over 100 years ago – are in overall good shape, according to City of Eden Prairie and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) data. City and state inspection data reviewed by EPLN show bridge structures, including short, narrow wooden ones, all the way up to six-lane freeway bridges carrying thousands of vehicles every day, fall into the good or very good category in inspection reports. There are 89 bridges within Eden Prairie’s city limits. About 65 of those belong to the city, many of which are along walking and biking trails. The…

A Minneapolis man has been charged with possession of burglary tools used to steal catalytic converters in a July 28 incident in Eden Prairie. Dustin Raymond Sellman, 51, was arrested by Eden Prairie police near the intersection of Valley View Road and Washington Ave. S. shortly after 2 a.m. after admitting to police that he had removed 10 catalytic converters from vehicles nearby. According to the criminal complaint: An officer was patrolling the area because of a high volume of recent catalytic converter and trailer thefts. He was aware that the businesses were all closed and did not have overnight…

A nationwide arrest warrant has been issued for a St. Paul man charged in the April 18 drug overdose of a toddler in Eden Prairie. Lamondre Calvin Reece, 25, has been charged in Hennepin County District Court with endangering a child in a situation that could cause harm or death. According to the criminal complaint: Eden Prairie police responded to an apartment complex on Anderson Lakes Parkway on a report of an unresponsive child. Officers found Reece and an unnamed co-defendant, referred to as S.H., along with the unresponsive 2-year-old. Paramedics arrived and transported the child to Children’s Hospital. While…

Criminal charges related to several Eden Prairie cases have been filed by the Hennepin County District Attorney in the 4th Judicial District. Criminal sexual conduct/nonconsensual contact Rocklyn Orion Weege, 70, of Eden Prairie, has been charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony, related to an April 1 incident in Eden Prairie. According to the criminal complaint: A woman came to the Eden Prairie Police Department on April 14 to report an incident that occurred on April 1 at an extended stay hotel in Eden Prairie. She said that she and Weege met at the hotel, and he asked her…