Calling all foodies, cooks and would-be cooks: Whatever your skill level in the kitchen, become a master just in time for the holidays and have fun while doing it at the Taste of Home Cooking School show, presented live at Prior Lake High School in Savage on Saturday, Nov. 6.

This event is the first time the national company has presented the cooking school in the Twin Cities area. It is sponsored by Southwest Newspapers and Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools Community Education.

By Lori Carlson, Editor
Visitors to this year’s Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 29 might have watched a border collie mix named Hailey jump through hoops, run through tunnels and weave around poles.

Coaching Hailey through the agility course was 13-year-old Danielle Oss of Prior Lake. Ever since she and her family adopted Hailey at 6 weeks of age from a rescue shelter in Eau Claire, Wis., Danielle has had high hopes for the pup.

By Meryn Fluker, Staff Writer

A Montessori by any other name could be just as sweet, according to Karen Fisher.

“There are a lot of schools that use [the Montessori method] but don’t call themselves ‘Montessori,’” she said. “There are differences in Montessori. There are differences in training.”

By Meryn Fluker, Staff Writer

After a long process of trimming $3.7 million from the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District’s budget, students, staff and parents will begin to see the effects of those cuts when the new school year begins next week.

School starts Tuesday, Sept. 7 for students in grades one through 12 and Wednesday, Sept. 8 for kindergarten students. When the bell rings, there will be changes – most of which Superintendent Sue Ann Gruver is excited about.

The Prior Lake Fire Department responded to the following fire and medical calls Aug. 22-28:

Sunday, Aug. 22

Firefighters responded to a carbon monoxide alarm in the 4500 block of Lords Street. There was no reading of carbon monoxide in the home.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer 

For the second time in one year, people living within blocks of Grainwood Elementary School watched drug task force agents converge on a home and leave with evidence of a marijuana growing operation.

Motorists can expect heightened DWI (driving while impaired) enforcement efforts statewide this Labor Day weekend, which is the seventh deadliest weekend of the year for alcohol-related deaths, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Office of Traffic Safety.

Around 400 Minnesota law enforcement agencies will conduct intense DWI enforcement throughout the weekend, accompanied by 10,000 agencies nationwide. Police departments from Shakopee and area cities and the Scott County Sheriff’s Office will participate.