By Lori Carlson, Editor

Prior Lake’s “un-senior” center will turn 1 on Tuesday.

By Shannon Fiecke, Correspondent

November is only a couple of months past, but the pledges of
election season are already promises of a bygone era, before the $5.27 billion
deficit.

Without the financial reserve cushion of the last big state
budget shortfall, legislators have told an assembly of local mayors, county
commissioners, school board members and others that the state is entering
unchartered territory.

These are some of the biggest stories the Prior Lake American
covered in 2008.

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Police

February

The Laker Hall of Fame committee is now taking nominations for 2009 inductees and a 2009 Team of Distinction.

The Hall of Fame recognizes deserving graduates and members of the Prior Lake-Savage Area community for their accomplishments while students at the high school or as adults.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer 

Don Kes of Prior Lake was recently awarded the Optimist of the Year award.

Kes has been a member of the Prior Lake Optimist Club for the past 11 years. He acted as the group’s gambling manager since April 1999, a position Kes retired from earlier this year.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer 

Two stores failed tobacco compliance checks police conducted on 14 businesses that sell tobacco within the city of Prior Lake and the reservation last week.

A 23-year-old Prior Lake woman was upgraded to serious condition Tuesday following a head-on crash Monday morning at highways 169 and 62 in Edina.

Kimberly Moreno was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center on Monday. The three-car crash occurred just before 7 a.m.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer

A 27-year-old Rosemount man died Monday afternoon after he was crushed by a piece of equipment at Applied Ecological Services, 21938 Mushtown Road in Spring Lake Township.

By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer 

Leaving behind him a legacy of serving the country in the Army and reaching out to other veterans young and old, lifelong Prior Lake resident and businessman Jim Speiker died of a heart attack Sunday in Prior Lake. He was 62.