During these past seven years I've covered Lakeville as a community reporter and editor, you've likely noticed two things about me: I'm tall, and at times, you can't shut me up. So I'll make this short(ish). Pun. This is my final week as editor of Lakeville Patch. After two and a half years covering this wonderful town for Patch—and five years before that with the old Life and Times newspaper—I'm heading down a new career path. I've accepted a new job as communications specialist with the Anoka-Hennepin School District—Minnesota's largest, with more than 39,000 students. I adore community …

Almost two years ago, Patch launched a blog platform—sort of like an open community opinion page—and in that time we've gotten some fantastic contributors filling our Local Voices section, posting entries about everything from fun places in Lakeville to have a picnick, to real estate advice, to opinions of middle schoolers on the Vikings football team. In addition to providing locally focused news coverage for Lakeville, we're looking for even more residents to host their own blog on the Lakeville Patch site. For the most part, anything goes, if it's legal. We want bloggers to own their blogs…

When Lakeville Patch launched in December of 2010, you and your workers may remember myself, or other local editors and freelancers wondering into your small business to create a listing of your business for our super-comprehensive directory, called Patch Places. Now, 14 months later, Patch Places is thriving. Each month, crazy-large numbers of people from all over the South Metro visit our directory, and your business listings, to find out addresses, hours of operation, descriptions, and even contact information for hundreds of Lakeville businesses. Patch users can add events taking place at…

President's Day ... for many, it's one of those odd holidays that's more a day off for the municipal and government workers around Lakeville than anything. But did you know President's Day doesn't actually exist? Officially, the holiday is called Washington's Birthday. Huh? Good question. Let's explain. What we call President's Day first became a holiday, albeit just for federal workers in the District of Columbia, in 1879. The holiday—which was celebrated on George Washington's birthday of Feb. 22, was appropriately called Washington's Birthday. By 1885, congress adopted the holiday for all …

Did you know thousands—yes, thousands—of your friends and neighbors get the Lakeville Patch newsletter in their email inbox each morning? I mean, we're so totally different than the local newspapers; we cover local news every day, not every Thursday or Friday when the paper arrives. Which means that every single day we're covering Lakeville like nobody else can. You can read about breaking news in town as it happens, not just when it arrives to your doorstep at the end of the week. So you really should sign up today for our free newsletter so you don’t miss out on the latest Lakeville news, …

On Jan. 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born. He was a man who would eventually become the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a renowned leader in the advancement of civil rights around the world. Every third Monday in January, we observe the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., and this year, it falls on Jan. 16, we celebrate the birth of King as a day to promote equality among all people, regardless of background or ethnicity. Among his best-known accomplishments, King was a chief motivator in the movement to end racial segregation in the United States. He was the youngest man to be awarded …

When Lakeville Patch launched in December of 2010, you and your workers may remember myself, or other local editors and freelancers wondering into your small business to create a listing of your business for our super-comprehensive directory, called Patch Places. Now, more than two years later, Patch Places is thriving. Each month, crazy-large numbers of people from all over the South Metro visit our directory, and your business listings, to find out addresses, hours of operation, descriptions, and even contact information for hundreds of Lakeville businesses. Patch users can add events …

On Jan. 15, 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born. He was a man who would eventually become the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a renowned leader in the advancement of civil rights around the world. Every third Monday in January, we observe the birth of Martin Luther King Jr., and this year, it falls on Jan. 16, we celebrate the birth of King as a day to promote equality among all people, regardless of background or ethnicity. Among his best-known accomplishments, King was a chief motivator in the movement to end racial segregation in the United States. He was the youngest man to be awarded …

As you know, Lakeville Patch has madea hobby of finding fun facts and trivia fodder for most major holidays. Why? So you can drop some fantastic knowledge bombs on your family while at the feasting table, or while unwrapping presents. So in that spirit ... we know that there were three Wise Men, 12 days of Christmas and that Santa delivers all his presents around the world in one night. But did you know... $23,439.38  How much it would cost to buy your "true love" all the gifts in the 12 Day of Christmas. 12.9 billion hours, $447 billion How many hours Americans were expected to spend …

From all of us here at Lakeville Patch, we want to wish you a happy holidays and merry Christmas. In that spirit, I felt personally compelled to take a moment and remember the victims of the Dec. 14 Newtown, CT, tragedy who will not be with their families today. We can remember by simply taking two minutes and watching this beautiful rendition of "Silent Night" by the New York City Children's Chorus. The choir sang the song to open the Dec. 15 episode of "Saturday Night Live" to honor the victims of the shooting. It's simply beautiful. I still find it unimaginable that there are 26 new angels…

Just so you know, we all made it. The world didn't end. I know—shocking, right? "But it could still happen," you thinking. Nope. The end of the world was supposed to happen today at 11:11 UTC, which is 5:11 a.m. for everyone living in the Midwest—6:11 a.m. for those East Coast folks. What did you do to "celebrate" at the time?  The folks here at Lakeville Patch—we were sleeping. Catch up on all our end of the world and apocalypse news (but remember, it was all light-hearted to begin with): Lakeville Pastor Discusses How to Prepare for Today's Apocalypse Doomsday Poll: Will Today Really Be the…

Jesus is the reason for the season, the old saying goes, but that’s only partially true. December is also a special time for people from other faith traditions, and those with none at all. Did you know today is the shortest day of the year? It's also, supposedly, the day of the apocalypse. For instance: HanukkahIn the spectrum of Jewish observances, Hanukkah is a relatively minor event, says Rabbi Lynn Liberman of the Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights. The holiday has grown in prominence largely because of its proximity to that other big religious holiday that comes along at about …

(Editor's note: This is the first in a three day series discussing the Mayan apocalypse/end of the world. Check back with Lakeville Patch later on Dec. 20 to see what local religious leaders say you can do to prepare spiritually (yes, really) for doomsday.) People have called NASA and asked: "Should I worry about finishing Christmas shopping on Saturday if the world is going to end on Friday?" To answer that, let's look at the National Weather Service forecast for the end of the week (world) here in Lakeville:  Thursday: Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 19. Wind …

Today marks the two-year anniversary of Lakeville Patch. That means you actually may have seen our one-year anniversary post (yeah, probably not). Yes—we've managed to stick around for two whole years. Most importantly, I've managed to stick around for two years at the helm here. That says something since I had spent the previous five years covering Lakeville for the cross-town paper. So you're not sick of me. That's saying something. (Some nostalgia: to the right, check out that wicked-cool video of your editor, Derrick, from a story posted exactly two years ago. Hilarious.) As I said last …

Schools in Lakeville weren't delayed or cancelled today, despite yesterday's monster snow-storm, and by the looks of things on social media, students weren't too thrilled. So Lakeville Patch took to Twitter and compiled a a few of the best posts from students who complained: "We never get snow days."  Our favorite: "If everyone pitches in ten dollars I'm sure we could bribe kare 11 to change 'lakeview' to 'lakeville.'"

Old-man winter doesn't seem too interested in showing up this year. That or Mother Nature has a message for all of us: No December for you. The past few days, the weather has been more like October than December—and for winter-weary folks in Lakeville, it's a good thing. But it's tough to be weary of winter before it even begins. The National Weather Service says the typical high temperature on Dec. 1 in Lakeville is 32 degrees. This year it was 50. On Dec. 2, it's usually 31 degrees. This year: 51. Today is no different with a forecast high temperature of 55 degrees. In fact, as of 11 a.m., …

Gastric gluttony, or good business? Evidently, that just depends on how you look at it. Lakeville's newest McDonald's location is set to open Friday morning at 4 a.m., and when it does, the restaurant will give the first 100 customers a free value meal every day for a year. When Lakeville Patch first reported in April that Lakeville's City Council approved plans to demolish the old Dino's Gyros building sitting at 179th Street West and Cedar Avenue—in the Cub Foods anchored Lakeville Crossing mall—so McDonald's can construct a new restaurant in its place, the reaction among readers was harsh…

The first Thanksgiving dates to 1621, a three-day celebration of the Plymouth colony Pilgrims' good harvest that year. Since then, the tradition of feasting and giving thanks has persisted, especially along the east cost, but finally became a national holiday in 1863 by proclamation of President Lincoln. But did you know that the first American Indians to visit the feast weren't invited? According toNational Geographic, men from the Wampanoag Indian tribe crashed the feast after hearing gun shots from the men at the colony who were target shooting for fun, much like men today play football …

Election day is nearly here. Tuesday, Nov. 6 is just around the corner. Are you ready? Once it's past—and I for one cannot wait—we'll no longer have to deal with campaign mailers, television, radio and print ads, campaign workers knocking on our doors or calling our phones, or letters to the editor proclaiming a candidate's awesomeness clogging Lakeville Patch. That said, I'm sure there are plenty of letter writers chomping at the bit to get one last letter in before the election. See the Lakeville Patch letter to the editor page. The deadline for election-related letters to the editor to be …

We're slowly plunging into more and more darkness.  The dreaded "fall back" day is coming to clocks across the nation. Daylight Saving Time ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4.  The result: sunset will be more of an afternoon thing than an evening thing for a while. Well, until it begins again on March 10, 2013, when we spring forward once again. Until then, the upshot is your 7 a.m. commute to work will have more light again. Daylight saving time ... remember, you’ll “fall back” and set your clocks back one hour. Many electronic devices automatically adjust when Daylight Saving Time begins or …